Apologies that the posting of this update was a little delayed due to some technical difficulties. Lords Reform The week begun with a focus on Lords reform and I appeared on the World at One explaining why I am against the introduction of elections into the second chamber. You can listen to the piece here: Blog post - Lords reform on the World at one. As I said in last week’s update you can read the full details of my position in the Observer but in short I am concerned that these proposals make significant constitutional changes without properly thinking through their effects, particularly on the primacy of the Commons. Primacy of the Commons is important as it ensures that a Government can deliver it’s legislative agenda, amended by the Lords but not blocked by it. In looking at these reforms we need to ask ourselves if we really want a US style system of legislative deadlock, which is where an elected 2nd chamber will ultimately lead. We will have to wait to see the full details of the Bill, but so far I am not convinced that writing in a line that primacy of the Commons will remain is sufficient. In fact it is my understanding that such a line was not written into original proposals because of concerns over its efficacy and the impact it could have. Broadband I’ve received a number of emails about poor quality broadband speeds in the past week, mainly asking when speeds would be improved in our rural areas. Improving access to broadband and rolling out super fast broadband is vitally important for businesses and people working at home, and I’m delighted that there is now a plan and funding for improvements. The Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Super Fast Broadband partnership is a partnership between three councils and the Local Enterprise Partnerships, who between them have secured £4.07m of funding to improve broadband in our area. This partnership and the associated funding is designed to deliver on the Government’s aims of providing everyone in the UK with a connection of 2Mbps and 90% of the population with superfast speeds (24Mbps or more). At present the partnership is collecting information and needs your help to identify areas with the most need. So if you’re unhappy with your broadband speeds go to www.cswbroadband.org.uk and complete their survey. Birmingham Road, Stratford This week I was also asked by @skybluecola on Twitter what was happening with the roadworks on the Birmingham Road in Stratford. As a local resident she described the situation there as “taking my life into my hands every time I turn out of Hamlet way” and was concerned at the over-run of the works, which were supposed to be completed at the end of May. Having got in touch with the County Council I was told that severe rain and some unmapped utilities had caused significant delays to the works. However as a result contractors had been told they now had to work 10 instead of 9 hour days and on Saturdays. This means that the work will be finished within 2 weeks and in time for the Olympic Torch relay. I understand from @skybluecola that work is now progressing well. Deportation of Criminals & The Human Rights Act This week MPs also voted on a motion stating that right to a family life, enshrined in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, is not an absolute right. There has been a great deal of concern that Article 8’s right to a family life has been wrongly interpreted by the courts and has allowed foreign criminals to avoid deportation at the end of their sentences. Last year 185 foreign criminals successfully appealed against deportation by invoking article 8, a situation that is not acceptable. The motion was unanimously passed by MPs from all parties and will support new rules that come into force on the 9th of July. The new rules state that “only in exceptional circumstances will private or family life, including a child’s best interests, outweigh criminality and the public interest in seeing the foreign national deported where they have been sentenced to a custodial sentence of at least four years.” Raising Standards in Education This week also saw the beginning of a debate on the future of our GCSEs and exam systems after a leaked document was published in the Daily Mail. In discussing this we should remember that no policy decision has been made, but as Michael Gove made clear to Parliament our current system is letting down our students and doing nothing is no longer an option. Particularly concerning is the the culture of competitive dumbing down which we need to tackle by ensuring that exam boards cannot compete with each other on the basis of how easy their exams are. We also need to ensure that there is a curriculum that prepares all students for success regardless of the post 16 route they choose to take. The current system has seen record results year on year but at the same time our students have fallen in the international PISA rankings. In the latest rankings (2009) we stand only 27th out of 65 countries, in 2000 we were 8th out of 32. In just 9 years we went from being better than 75% of the world to better than just under 60% despite a huge investment into education. In his statement to Parliament the Secretary of State was right to point out that turning this around will be challenging and will require careful implementation. As always the devil will be in the detail and that is why the Government is committed to having conversations about this that are broad and inclusive. The end result though has to be a State school system in which children are challenged to do better and in which there are no excuses for failure. Unemployment Figures This week’s unemployment figures were positive news but we have to remain cautious over the next few months, particularly given the continuing challenges to the global economy. Nationally there are more jobs available in the economy with 7,000 more vacancies now than this time last year meaning there are 465,000 total vacancies. At the same time the number of people employed in the private sector is up 205,000, more than offsetting the 39,000 fall in public sector employment. Stratford on Avon continues to be an area with low unemployment. In May 2012 there were only 739 unemployed claimants in the Stratford-on-Avon constituency 40 lower than a year ago and 50 lower than last month. This is very positive but not something we should be complacent about The Weekly Update I'm experimenting with different approaches and formats to my weekly update. Do you prefer the diary approach I took last week or the more topical approach I took this week? Please let me know in the comments.