Westminster Report

BY David Burton-Sampson MP for Southend West & Leigh.
I am delighted that Wes Streeting, the Labour Government’s health secretary, came to Southend to announce the roll out of the government’s new Best Start centres with the news that one is set to open here in Southend West and Leigh.
There will be another centre in the east of the city.
Best Start centres help parents with early years support and are designed to improve the life chances for children.
The Health Secretary, who also met supporters, said that Southend was at the forefront of benefitting from this initiative.
Best Start centres will give families the support they need to help shape children’s life chances and opportunities.
As well as making sure more families can benefit from quality early education, Best Start centres will help parents to access help with infant feeding, parenting advice and early support for children with SEND, in one place, to make life easier for families.
On top of savings of up to £200 a year through free stay and play sessions, many hubs will also provide access to debt advice and welfare guidance.
Southend has had lots of good news lately, including a brand new Youth Hub.
I have been making the case for more youth support in our community, so I am really pleased to see that we are to have one. This will expand opportunities for young people and improve their life chances.
It is vital to address the problem of young people not earning or learning.
The hub will bring together Jobcentre Plus, local authority services, employers and training providers under one roof to support young people aged 16 to 24.
The aim is to ensure young people can access on-site jobcentre, skills and training opportunities, careers guidance and direct connections to employers with job and apprenticeship opportunities.
The hubs will also be providing advice on mental health, as well as well as advising on housing support.
There is also £2m of new funding going directly in SEND high needs support for families in the city. All of this is fantastic news.
The new government funding is set to transform the future of children with special educational needs and disabilities in Southend. Families will no longer have to fight to get the education their children deserve.
The money will change the school system so that young people with SEND get the right support earlier and closer to home if they need it. It is a breakthrough moment and one the families have waited a long time for.
We have been holding meetings with parents, school leaders, health representatives and the charitable sector to make sure we get the changes right. I am proud that our reports have been sent to the Education Secretary and local voices have fed into public policy.
It’s no April Fool that this month sees more money in families’ pockets.
They are benefiting from significant uplifts to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, as well as increased protections for workers.
Day one rights for paternity, unpaid parental leave and strengthened statutory sick pay are among measures coming into force this month.
I am celebrating these changes that mean that the lowest paid workers in Southend West and Leigh could take home £900 more a year.
Constituents have told me of the strain that insecure work and low pay has had on their lives for far too long. People deserve security in work and to know that if they’re sick that they’ll be protected – and that’s exactly what these changes deliver.
It is extremely welcome news that Pensions will also go up this month by £574 a year, prescription charges remain pegged at £9.90 and energy bills are due to go down, as the energy price cap drops by £117 per year.
While the lifting of the two-child benefit cap will take thousands of children out of poverty. It is not only the right thing to do for them and their futures but for all of us.
We need to help families with the cost of living and invest in the next generation.
Graduates worried over the cost of their student loans have been in touch with my office, so I know how worrying this can be. I support the Labour government’s new plans to put a cap on the interest on Plan 2 or Plan 3 student loans for a year from this September.
With all this, plus a chocolate feast now Lent is over, what more could anyone want?
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