Meetings at the Labour Party Conference 2013

The Annual Labour Party Conference took place in Brighton from the 22 September to 25 September 2013. Valerie held a number of meetings with various charities and organisations.

Valerie said:

“On Tuesday 23 September 2013 I met with Sue Ryder to discuss their latest campaign ‘Dying isn’t working’ and discussed their work to improve the standard of end of life care.


The British Lung Foundation updated me on their campaign to ban smoking in cars where children are present.

At the meeting with The Open University I heard about their world leading use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and they explained their commitment to developing future innovation techniques to aid education.

Macmillan Cancer Support discussed the challenges facing cancer services and those caring for cancer patients.

At the meeting with the MS Society They said that 73% of people with MS in Walsall are not taking any treatment for their condition.

Dr Peter Carter the Chief Executive of the Royal College of Nursing raised the issue of staffing and the RCN’s plans to address the recommendations of the Francis report.

In the evening I attended the General Medical Council dinner where the progress of revalidation, the Francis Report, and how Clinical Commissioning Groups, (CCGs) are working were dicussed with Niall Dickson the Chief Executive and others.”

“On Wednesday 24 September 2013 I met with Royal Mail to discuss the privatisation of the service and what is being done to prevent dog attacks to postal workers.

I discussed the growing obesity problem with The Royal College of Physicians and the Future Hospital Commission.

During my meeting with the Children’s Society topics ranged from free school meals, immigration and legal aid.”

“I was pleased to meet with USDAW about their campaigns with retail staff and attend the Leader of HM Opposition, Ed Miliband’s wide-ranging vision for society after the next election. Many constituents have told me how the “bedroom tax ” has hit them, so repealing this legislation is necessary. Fuel costs have spiralled and eroded peoples standard of living.”