Reshuffle The main political news of the past two weeks has obviously been the ministerial reshuffle. In my view the ministerial changes show that this government means business and I'm delighted that so many doers have been put into ministerial positions to help drive implementation forward. As many people will have heard me say before, the devil is often in the detail, and it is the detail of implementation that is so incredibly important as we deliver our ambitious reforms of welfare, deregulation and education. Changes to Planning Post the reshuffle came announcements on planning and house building designed to unlock sites with existing planning permission that are currently considered economically unviable due to social housing requirements. Developers will be able to apply to reduce the percentage of social housing required by their planning conditions and the Treasury will be providing additional funding to ensure that the number of social houses delivered doesn't reduce. Overall I think this is a very positive move and I hope it will help bring forward some of our the stalled sites that already have planning in the constituency such as the eye-sore Cattle Market site by the train Station in Stratford. We're also relaxing rules on extensions for commercial and residential property. Permitted development rights for semi detached properties will be extended from allowing a 3m single storey extension to a 6m single storey extension (and from 4m to 8m for detached properties), and businesses will be allowed to expand to the edge of their property boundaries. Contrary to some reporting no changes have been made to greenbelt policy. Council's already have existing powers to remove areas of land from the greenbelt (which is the development exclusion zone around cities, not any piece of countryside) if they replace it with new land elsewhere. This has been used to great effect by council's like Cambridge that have been able to swap site within the greenbelt for pristine land outside it, retaining the amount of green-space / land in the process. Reducing Red-tape One of the most common requests when I visit a business is to reduce the burden of red-tape. The government has already done a lot in this area; the red-tape challenge has found 887 regulations that can be scrapped or significantly revised, we've extended the period of eligibility for unfair dismissal claims from 1 to 2 years and taken steps to reduce the cost of employment tribunals. However last week further changes to employment law were announced These new changes include looking at reducing the cap on compensation for unfair dismissal claims, streamlining employment tribunals to make it easier to dismiss weak cases and bringing in settlement agreements to make it easier for employers to dismiss staff deemed to be under performing. I have long been an advocate for a more flexible labour market and very much welcome these changes. Having run businesses on 3 continents I have personal experience of the labour markets of 12 countries and fully believe that putting in place a more flexible system, that still protects the rights of employees is a sure-fire way to support long term growth. Communicating our Support for Business I spent the morning of Thursday the 6th of September talking to businesses in Battersea and filming a party political broadcast to air on Channel 4 during the Conservative Party Conference. The theme of the broadcast will be the support for business and the Government's plans to generate long term sustainable growth. As regular readers will know this is an area I am passionate about; Government is already doing a lot to support business yet many businesses I speak to don't know about the red-tape that's been cut, the changes to unfair dismissal rules, or changes to employment tribunals. That's why I was delighted to be given the chance to communicate this, and many other policies directly to businesses. Daily Politics & Newsnight I've appeared twice on the Daily politics in the past 2 weeks, firstly in a review of the summer with colleagues from the Labour and Lib Dem benches (during which I was very proud to win a special edition Silver Medal Daily Politics Mug in the summer quiz) and secondly discussing the cost of living with money expert Martin Lewis. You can watch the piece with Martin Lewis here I also appeared on Newsnight with fellow backbencher and BIS Select Committee member Brian Binely MP, discussing what was then the forthcoming reshuffle and Brian's views on the leadership of the Conservative Party. SI Committee on the draft National Minimum wage (amendment) regulations Last week I was nominated to sit on a Statutory Instrument Committee to consider the draft National Minimum Wage (Amendment) regulations. Committees like this are a large part of the work of Parliament, but one not often seen by the public or discussed by the media. In a SI Committee a minister presents the regulation and it is then considered line by line with committee members from all parties being able to question a clause or propose amendments. In this case the Government laid out its reasons for accepting the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission on the minimum wage, namelly increasing the adult minimum wage and holding the Youth Development Rate and 16-17 year old rate at the same level. Following a division on the regulation (which Labour members and the Shadow Minister opposed) members approved the statutory instrument. In the Constituency With Parliament resuming my time in the constituency is back to Fridays only and I've had two very full days of meetings and surgeries in the last two weeks as a result. I've met with two small scale developers in recent weeks, the first developing a small number of high end units in Ardens Grafton and the other who had developed a small number of flats in Shipston. Both wanted to raise concerns about efficiency in the District Council, both in the planning department and elsewhere (issues that I will be taking back to the relevant portfolio holders) and access to finance, both for developers and for buyers. If the Council is to deliver on its dispersal strategy as outlined in its draft core plan then it's important that smaller developers are supported in delivering appropriate distributed development across the area in the coming years. Last Friday I also met with the 10 largest businesses in the constituency to discuss their views on barriers to growth and jobs, both nationally and locally. It was an interesting discussion with a very diverse range of businesses but a similar set of views on the challenges local businesses face in growing. I have pledged to feed back their views both locally and to my ministerial colleagues. Two weeks ago I met with Paul Wright, head teacher of Henley High School to discuss the next steps in their plan to add a sixth form to their school. It was very disappointing that the school's plans for a new free school sixth form were turned down by the Department for Education but that wasn't the end of their journey towards a sixth form. Paul and his team (supported by local parents) are determined there should be sixth form provision for Henley and the surrounding area. I am very happy to support their application to the DfE to increase the school's intake age and request for associated funding. Last week's school related appointment was a visit to Alcester Academy, where I met with staff to discuss general issues and the school's future plans, toured the school to look at maintenance issues and then took questions from a small group of students on a wide range of topics. Continuing the youth theme I was also privileged last week to re-open Shipston Youth Club. Last year the County council made the difficult decision to cut funding to a number of youth clubs across the county but its rebirth as a community run facility is a true example of the Big Society in action. The management committee pulled together to raise the funds, the school stepped up by agreeing to take on the physical asset and the Rotarians, in a typical act of generosity, supported it. Most importantly though it's the young people and the staff who are really making the place and proving that it's people not buildings that matter. Finally I held two surgeries, one in Shipston and one in Stratford. Topics covered included immigration, housing allocations, right to buy, traffic, pension, funding for a children's play area and tax. As always a very broad spectrum of concerns and issues that I hope to be able to help with.