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We’re keeping up the pressure on ATOS

Posted by Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston, at 09:57, Fri 22 November 2013:

It’s been a busy week in parliament, so I’m not best pleased to have arrived at Euston this evening to discover trains are seriously delayed because of a fire near Tamworth. We’re being diverted round the West Midlands. I’m looking forward to getting home!

But this week has flown by. I got into London late Sunday evening, checked out twitter, and was interested to read a report that ATOS, the company that carries out health assessments for disability benefits for the Department for Work and Pensions, was no longer advising the DWP on the most complicated applications for disability living allowance.

ATOS’s performance is highly controversial, so this looked like big news.

First thing Monday, we decided to apply to the Speaker to ask an urgent question about the matter. My researcher, Liz, began assembling the facts. Numerous phone calls and inquiries later, we were ready to submit the application. But there was a very heavy timetable for parliament on Monday, and the Speaker turned us down.

No matter. It happened to be our team’s turn to ask questions of government ministers that afternoon. This comes around approximately every 5 weeks, so Rachel Reeves was able to take advantage of the opportunity to put Iain Duncan Smith on the spot.

As is his wont, he shouted and blustered, but he didn’t deny what we said.

Meanwhile, disability campaigners had arrived in London to present a petition to parliament, complaining about the DWP’s misuse of statistics. They’d collected an impressive body of evidence, and met their local MP, my colleague Liz Kendall – who is also our spokesperson on social care – and me, to hand us the petition. Liz promised she would deposit it in the bag that hangs behind the Speaker’s chair to receive such petitions (we’re a bit technophobic in parliament, things are still done the old fashioned way).

Then I headed off to meet a professor from Coventry University, who is an expert on race equality. He’s done some very interesting research, including in Old Trafford, and visited me in the constituency last year. He came to talk to me about his latest work.

Thankfully, we didn’t have any votes on Monday evening, so after I’d caught up on emails, I was able to go home.

Up early on Tuesday morning to host a very exciting event, bringing together poverty and fairness commissions from across the country, to compare good practice and look at ways of working together. This was hosted by the all party parliamentary group on poverty, which I chair, but I was especially interested because I’m a member of the Greater Manchester poverty commission, and I was keen to compare notes with members of other commissions, and hear what they’ve been able to achieve.

Around 40 people squeezed into a slightly-too-small committee room to share ideas. The discussion was fascinating. Some commissions had been set up by local authorities, others were being driven by local community groups. Some had been going for some years, others are just starting up. All have been concerned with the effect of public spending cuts in their area, and how to protect the poorest families from greater hardship.

My parliamentary assistant, Roxanne, had done a fantastic job getting everything organised, and it was clear everyone really enjoyed and valued the day. We agreed to go on working together. We’ll be producing a report on the work next year.

In the afternoon, I went into the chamber to contribute to a debate on the impact of austerity measures on women. Afterwards, our shadow spokesperson on women and equality, Gloria de Piero, suggested going for a drink. A few of us headed off to the bar, and had a great evening. It was nice to hear what other colleagues are working on, and to have a bit of a gossip too.

I spent Wednesday rushing from one thing to the next. First, I met Carers UK, a fantastic organisation which does great work nationally to advise on public policy on carers, and locally I’ve been hugely privileged to work with our fabulous Carers Centre too. We talked about how we could help more carers to get or stay in employment. Too often, when someone becomes a carer, they have to give up work. But many wouldn’t choose to do so. Carers UK agreed to organise for both employers and carers to meet Rachel Reeves and me to discuss some of the barriers they face to working, and what could be done to dismantle them.

Then Rachel and I met another group of disability campaigners, to talk about disabled people and employment. Then it was time for Prime Minister’s questions – the usual zoo. Afterwards, I went to a reception to meet the new regional manager for our area for the Royal British Legion, then popped into another reception organised by road safety charity, Brake, who’ve helped with my Safer Trafford Streets campaign. I was delighted to find they were serving sandwiches – you don’t always get the time to eat in this job!

I dropped into a debate on the cost of childcare, then went to a meeting about forthcoming legislation, organised by our chief whip. The Mesothelioma bill, which will at last mean the insurance industry will start to pay more sufferers of this terrible disease, will be debated in parliament in the next couple of weeks. I’m leading on that bill for Labour, so I went along to discuss the timetable, and what we hope to achieve.

Then into the chamber for a couple of votes, then back to my office to finish emails. And then – hurrah – an early night!

Today, I started with a meeting with the lone parent charity, Gingerbread. I used to run One Parent Families, with whom Gingerbread have now merged, so it’s always great to catch up with them. We discussed the sweeping changes to the child support system which are being made by the government. I’m very concerned about the implications for separated families, and will be looking out for new statistics on how they’re being affected due out next week.

Then Liz and I had a couple more meetings about mesothelioma, I had lunch with some colleagues from the House of Lords, I spoke to a journalist about our questions about ATOS from Monday, made a few phone calls, and finally set off for the train to Manchester around 7pm. Unfortunately, it’s delayed by more than an hour, so that’s not so good.

I’m looking forward to spending tomorrow in the constituency. It’s Children’s Commissioner Takeover day, when organisations are asked to invite children and young people to come in to run their office for a day. So we’ll be welcoming two students from Broadoak school in Partington, who will be taking over the management of my office. Meanwhile, I’ll be off to the Centre for Local Economic Strategies, to discuss a possible project to work with employers to improve low paid workers’ income from work. Then I’ll be meeting Ring and Ride, who provide transport to and from our hospitals and shops, to learn about their service, and raise concerns that constituents have about the booking system, reliability, and getting through on the phone.

My usual surgeries in the afternoon, then I hope to make it to the switch-on of the Christmas lights in Urmston town centre, before heading out for the evening with my constituency staff, to say goodbye to Carl, my office manager, who’s leaving to start a new job in London next week.

Many of you will know Carl, and you can imagine how much we will miss him. He has been such a support to me since my election, and I’m very sad to see him go, though delighted that he’s got a brilliant new job in local government. Tom, also known to many of you, is taking over as my office manager from next week. I’m so pleased he’s stepped into the job.

Saturday, I’m doing another surgery, then out on the doorstep to talk to local people, then I’m looking forward to attending a tea party in Davyhulme to raise awareness of a little known brain disease, progressive supranuclear palsy. A final meeting with the family of the lung transplant patient with whom I’ve been campaigning for a fairer system of organ allocation. Then the rest of the weekend off, except for writing a speech for a conference on disabled people and employment, that I’ll be giving at a conference in Birmingham next week.

It’s been a hectic week, and I’m sure it won’t be any different next week! But I couldn’t have a more rewarding job.