PARLIAMENTARY REPORT 2010-14 Jesse Norman MP CONTENTS: At a glance Letter from Jesse Norman MP Boosting Herefordshire’s economy Protecting local healthcare Extending education and opportunity Building our communities Standing up for Herefordshire Voluntary work Influencing the national agenda What I have not (yet) been able to do What other people say Four years in brief Financial statements About Jesse 2010-2014 AT A GLANCE NUMBER OF PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS CONSTITUENCY RECEIVED: EVENTS ATTENDED: 500-1,000 PER WEEK 264 TREASURY SELECT SURGERIES: COMMITTEE 89 HEARINGS: CONSTITUENCY CASES COMPLETED: 170 2,884 PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS: 227 HIGHLIGHTS: LOCAL Working with Herefordshire Council, Bill Wiggin MP and local partners, Jesse has: WON THE NEW ENTERPRISE ZONE AT ROTHERWAS, CREATING UP TO 6,000 SECURED NEW JOBS £15M WON BACK THE RIGHT FOR NEW INVESTMENT 3,500 CONSTITUENTS TO USE IN FAST BROADBAND ENGLISH NOT WELSH NHS SERVICES AND AN EXTRA SUPPORTED LOCAL SHOPS, £3.5M+ RESTAURANTS AND PUBS TO FIX POTHOLES, ABOLISHING THE THROUGH DISCOVER 10P CIDER TAX RISE, HEREFORD AND DISCOVER TWO JOBS FAIRS … AND 1,001 OTHER ROSS CAMPAIGNS THINGS WON AN EXTRA LAUNCHED PROJECT FOR NEW UNIVERSITY OF HEREFORDSHIRE £2.6M P.A TO LIFT WAGES, BOOST THE IN SCHOOLS LOCAL ECONOMY AND GIVE FUNDING MORE CHOICE TO LOCAL FROM 2015-16 YOUNG PEOPLE NATIONAL AWARDED SPECTATOR PaRLIAMENTARIAN OF THE YEAR 2012, THE HOUSE BACKBENCHER OF THE YEAR 2012 AND REBEL OF THE YEAR 2013 PIONEERED REFORMS SAVING TAXPAYERS £1.5-£2 BILLION ON PRIVATE CONTRACTors’ PFI COSTS VOTED IN FAVOUR OF THE EU REFERENDUM BILL RELUCTANTLY LED A MAJOR REBELLION TO DEFEAT THE ELECTED HOUSE OF LORDS BILL REFUSED TO SUPPORT THE GOVERNMENT ON THE PROPOSED BOMBING OF SYRIA, AND LEFT THE NO. 10 POLICY BOARD MAKING THE ARGUMENT Publications include After PFI (2012), Crony Capitalism (2011), The Big Society (2010) Biography of Edmund Burke (2013) listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Political Book Awards and the George Orwell Prize Columns in the Hereford Times, Hereford Journal, Telegraph Online and Conservative Home Numerous articles in almost all major broadsheet newspapers Regular appearances on TV and radio including Newsnight, Channel 4 News, The Daily Politics, BBC Midlands Today, Today, Any Questions?, BBC Hereford and Worcester, Sunshine Radio and Free Radio LETTER FROM JESSE NORMAN MP It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat. President Theodore Roosevelt, 1910 I love this quote from Teddy Roosevelt, even though it is a bit pompous, because it is full of his amazing life-force and personal energy, and because it epitomises what public service should be about: high ideals and the sustained drive required to achieve them. At a far lower level, this is what I have been trying to do as Member of Parliament for Hereford and South Herefordshire. MPs are elected to act as representatives and legislators. They have a double duty, to their constituents and to the nation as a whole, and they must be held doubly accountable. My own priorities have been the same since 2006, when I first became a candidate for Parliament: to be a strong voice for Herefordshire, and secure fairer central government funding for our county; to protect and enhance our public services; to promote local economic growth, higher wages and better jobs; to support our communities in Hereford, in Ross and in rural areas; to legislate on and debate public matters in the national interest; and above all to be an effective constituency MP. An independent voice I promised I would exercise an independent voice, and I have done so. I have not hesitated to press matters with Herefordshire Council where a constituent or community interest was at stake. Similarly with the elected Lords Bill and the vote on bombing Syria. These issues raised profound constitutional and international issues, and I disagreed with the Government at some personal cost. This Parliamentary Report reflects my belief in the importance of personal accountability. It charts what I have done as MP since 2010, both successes and failures, and it tries to give some insight into the work of an MP, and into the persistence required to do the job well. BOOSTING HEREFordshire’s ecONOMY We need growth, and a thriving economy, with good jobs, high employment and decent levels of pay. Only with a successful economy can we support the local public services on which the county relies. At present local economic activity is too low, and so are local wages and incomes. So getting the economy moving must be our top priority. Since 2010 I have worked alongside Herefordshire Council, I have also: Bill Wiggin MP and local partners to: • Supported independent retailers, cafés, restaurants • Win the new Enterprise Zone, with the potential and pubs in Hereford and Ross-on-Wye through my for 6,000 new jobs. Discover Hereford and Discover Ross competitions. • Secure £15 million in new investment • Worked with Cllr Graham Powell and the local from central government for fast broadband. community to secure Vodafone 3G wireless coverage This has been matched by Herefordshire Council. for Ewyas Harold. • Win £3.5 million in new money to fix potholes, and • Made the case for an Eastern Link Road and second lobby for improvements to improve the A49 road river crossing as an inexpensive means to open up surface in Hereford, the Lea and other locations. access to the Rotherwas Enterprise Zone and the eastern side of Hereford, while reducing congestion • At the national level, Bill Wiggin MP and I have on Edgar Street. successfully pressed for the abolition of the 10p cider tax rise; the freeze in fuel duty and • Lobbied for a new Parkway station at Rotherwas. scrapping the beer duty escalator, among many • Worked a shift at local businesses including Saxty’s, other things. the British Heart Foundation Charity Shop, Wye’s • For the rural economy, alongside Anthea MacIntyre Buys and the Golden Crust, to stay in touch with life MEP we have pushed for robust measures to on the ground. tackle bovine TB, support rural post offices, • Held two successful Jobs Fairs at the Shire Hall in improve the Common Agricultural Policy, enhance Hereford. rural mobile telephone services and mitigate the effects of flooding,among other things. • Many of my other initiatives are intended to support the local economy, such as the New University project described below. PROTECTING LOCAL HEALTHCARE Healthcare is another hugely important issue in Herefordshire, and has been a key campaigning focus for me. The very first debate I ever called in Parliament in 2010 was on car parking charges at Hereford Hospital. It turned out that the money raised did not go to the Hospital at all, but to private contractors… the inspiration behind my campaign against the Private Finance Initiative, which has so far saved taxpayers £1.5-£2 billion. PFI As well as this I have: I did a major investigation into the PFI contract at the Hospital, • Pushed the Government for fairer funding of and concluded that the Hospital was being overcharged by at our healthcare services least £1 million per year, or about 6% of the £16 million annual • Fought to keep the Minor Injuries Unit operating charge. I persuaded them to hire independent specialists to at Ross Community Hospital assess the contract. They discovered that the Hospital was non-compliant in a range of areas including fire safety and • Helped to win back the right for 3,500 Herefordians ventilation, leading to several million pounds of recovered costs living on the Welsh border to use English, not and contract savings. Welsh, hospitals. Hospital • Worked with local GPs to secure a £2.7 million investment from the Prime Minister’s Challenge In 2012 it became clear that the Hospital could be at risk of Fund for 7 day a week out-of-hours services. merger or franchising out as part of an internal reorganization • Campaigned in Parliament against illegal alcohol and within the NHS. I called a public meeting with Bill Wiggin MP tobacco sales, and called a Westminster Hall debate to highlight the issue, then launched a website to rally support, on the issue. while the Hospital looked at strategic options. We were able to persuade NHS chiefs to drop the idea of a merger and continue funding the Hospital, a position I confirmed with the NHS Trust Development Authority in 2014. July 2011: dubbed the £1.5 billion backbencher by Conservative Home EXTENDING EDUCATION AND OPPORTUNITY One way and another, I have been involved in education all my life, and long before I became an MP. In the 1980s I ran an educational charitable project working in Eastern Europe, before and after the fall of the Iron Curtain; I helped to set up one of the first online learning companies; and I taught and did research at University College London for six years. Since 2010, I have worked to improve education in Herefordshire Karen and David have done a huge amount of work to specify at every level, visiting lots of local schools and hosting visits and design a really exciting proposal for a New University to Parliament by many more, and working with the national specialising in science, engineering and technology; we charity Chess in Schools and Communities to bring chess to have discussed it at the Hay Festival; Herefordshire Council two local schools.