Today I went along to a local care home in the constituency as part of Good Care Week; a UK-wide annual awareness campaign which sees local initiatives come together to create a national presence with which to celebrate and promote excellence in social care and influence Government. It was great to meet residents and find out how important their carers are in enabling and supporting them in …
Met with @ofcom on proposed changes to @itvcentral region. To maximise local impact & reach, must link withbirminghamculture.org/news agenda
— Richard Burden MP (@RichardBurdenMP) April 23, 2013
Last Friday (12th April) I met with senior representatives of Birmingham City Council to discuss how the City can take up the challenge issued by the Birmingham Commission on Youth Unemployment in January to create at least 1,000 jobs for young people in Long Term Unemployment. The Commission called for a Birmingham Jobs Budget to be set up. Not long after its report was published, people were …
One bit of good news in today’s Budget (read my main response here) was that the government said they are backing Lord Heseltine’s report for a new pilot which will allow the Birmingham area to decide local priorities when it comes to investment in jobs and infrastructure.
Again, though, this will not work properly without the resources to make it happen.
Two hours ago the Chancellor George Osborne finished delivering his Budget Statement in the House of Commons.
However much George Osborne may try to duck or dive to shirk his own responsibility, the facts won’t go away. He is borrowing nearly £100bn more than he planned but the economy is still flat lining three years after he took over.
Last week was National Apprenticeship Week. I was delighted to celebrate the start of the week by attending an event on apprenticeships in the motor industry organised by the Society of Motoring Manufacturers and Traders and Semta. In particular it was great to meet Carolyn Lee and James Doughty, two new Jaguar Land Rover apprentices from the West Midlands. If anybody ever doubted the value of …
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.