Many senior citizens will be concerned and need advice on how to stay safe during the COVID-19 outbreak.  Please note: this is the most updated available advice as of Tuesday 17 March 2020.

Following calls from the Opposition, the Government announced reforms to Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) and benefits on Friday 13 March 2020 which will help delay the spread of Covid-19 and ensure people are not penalised for doing the right thing. These measures will provide a boost of almost £0.5 billion to our welfare system. They come into effect from Friday 13 March 2020 and will:

During Business Questions on Thursday 12 March 2020, I urged the Government to think again over TV licence charges for over 75s. On Monday 16 March 2020 the Government and BBC announced their decision to delay TV licence fee changes for the over 75s until August in light of the coronavirus situation. Free TV licences for up to 3.7 million people had been due to be scrapped on 1 June 2020, but that has been put back to 1 August 2020.

I responded to the Government's Business Statement on Thursday 12 March, a day after the Government announced this year's Budget. You can read my full speech below:  

To mark British Science week, I hosted an event with the Royal Society of Chemistry in Parliament on Wednesday 11 March. The event helped MPs understand the importance of chemistry and other sciences to the UK. I spoke with the Royal Society of Chemistry about the importance of chemistry in addressing challenges facing Walsall South and the whole of the UK.