2015

As a member of the Panel of Chairs, I chaired two debates on Wednesday 4 November 2015 in Westminster Hall, the Wanless Review and the Dickens file and the Regulation of Care homes.

On Tuesday 3 November 2015 I attended a National Pro Bono week event to highlight pro bono work undertaken by the legal profession. Pro bono legal services are not, nor can they ever be, a substitute for a properly funded system of legal aid. However for those who are not eligible for for the public funding system and are unable to pay for legal advice, free advice and representation provided by volunteer lawyers is often the only means of obtaining access to justice in order to enforce their rights.

I have voted on three occasions in the last two weeks against the Government’s plans to cut Tax Credits for nearly 5,000 families in Walsall South.

At Questions to the Leader of the House on Thursday 29 October 2015, I raised the Prime Minister’s recent changes to the Ministerial Code:

On 28 October 2015 I voted for HM Opposition Labour Party motion calling on the Government to guarantee that no junior doctor will have their pay cut as a result of a new contract and calls upon Government to withdraw the threat of contract imposition. Unfortunately it was defeated by the Government: Ayes 260- Noes 301.