My week in the constituency
Posted by Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston, at 09:58, Fri 17 February 2012:
This week, the Commons is in recess, though the House of Lords has been sitting. It seems the government's business management is all over the place.
It's meant I've had a week in the constituency, catching up on visits and meetings locally. I've spent 3 days this week with the Big Life Company, visiting their projects to support longterm unemployed people in Partington, helping out at an adult numeracy class, and joining the Stay and Play session at Old Trafford family centre.
I've had an unexpected companion for the visits - Tory MP Chris White. Chris and I are participating in a programme which has us visiting each other's constituencies to look at work to tackle poverty and disadvantage. Later this year I'll spend three days in his constituency in Warwick and Leamington.
Big Life is a great organisation. They're able to take on many different kinds of contracts to support people, and I'm pleased to see them doing so well. But bidding for contracts and stop-go funding from the Council, NHS, and others make their job very complicated, especially with so much change going on, for example in the NHS.
I was keen for Chris to see this firsthand, and I was pleased we both had the chance to meet the chief executive of Voluntary Sector North West, who rammed home the point. If the government's serious about its Big Society, it could start by making the process of getting contracts a whole lot more straightforward for organisations like Big Life.
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