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Figures released by HMRC in January stated that £5.8 billion was fraudulently taken from Government pandemic relief schemes such as furlough, self-employment support and business loans, and that the taskforce set up to recover the losses only expected to recover £1.5 billion of that. On 24 January 2022, the Government’s own Minister for counter-fraud in the House of Lords resigned

The Government is due to establish an Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA), a new public body which will focus on science and technology projects which are judged to be high-risk, high-pay off, as well as ‘blue-sky’ research. On Monday 31 January 2022, the ARIA Bill returned to the Commons for the consideration of Lords Amendments.

It was a very sad day to have to attend the funeral of Jack Dromey MP on Monday 31 January 2022 a close friend and colleague and West Midlands MP. I have known Jack for a long time. The Service was conducted by the Speaker’s Chaplain the Venerable Tricia Hillas Canon Steward and Archdeacon of Westminster who said this:

On Thursday, I signed the Holocaust Educational Trust’s Book of Commitment, pledging my commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day and honouring those who were murdered during the Holocaust, as well as paying tribute to the extraordinary Holocaust survivors who work tirelessly to educate young people today.

On Wednesday 26 January 2022, I participated in an Environmental Audit Committee meeting on Net-Zero shipping.