Kate Osamor MP
Weekly Update – Friday 25th September 2020
It is now very clear that the UK is experiencing a second wave of coronavirus infections. Cases are rising particularly quickly in London and it is likely, but not inevitable, that further restrictions will be imposed in the next few weeks. It is vital that we continue to follow public health guidance and advice to keep safe and slow the outbreak. This has undoubtably been made difficult by the confused messaging of this Government. However, for anybody who has questions about how to keep safe there are plenty of resources that you should use and trust;
Enfield Council’s COVID-19 Response page
Main NHS COVID-19 Advice and Information Page
This Chancellor has abandoned workers
For months, the Labour party has been calling on the Chancellor to extend the furlough scheme for those sectors that need it and to announce a package of measures that will get workers through this Crisis. I recently wrote to the Chancellor to explain the impact that not extending the furlough scheme would have on local businesses and the self-employed in Edmonton.
The Chancellor’s response, announced on Wednesday, was not good enough and puts thousands and thousands of jobs at risk. I know that many of my constituents will have been bitterly disappointed and now face an uncertain future as we head towards Christmas. While I welcome a wage subsidy scheme as a replacement for the furlough scheme, the specifics of what have been announced are very week. Workers who have access to the scheme will still face a huge drop in wages which may be unsustainable and there is no real incentive for employers to keep workers on the scheme if their fundamental business model is threatened by COVID.
The Government is clear, they will not support companies to stay in operation for the duration of this crisis. That is wrong. Many companies are viable and can flourish once this Virus has been defeated, but if Government abandons them now those jobs may never reappear.
NHS 111 is broken
As part of the Government’s response to the Coronavirus Pandemic they placed the NHS 111 service on the front-line and in March, as cases were spiralling out of control, they asked anybody with symptoms to contact the service. Unsurprisingly calls to 111 increased hugely and the flaws with the NHS 111 service which were previously outlined by myself and other MPs were laid bare.
While we need a full Government inquiry to explore the specific failings of NHS 111 in dealing with our response to COVID-19, it is clear that it did fail on many levels. Many critically ill people were given inadequate advice and told to stay at home. Some of those critically ill people tragically died without ever reaching hospital. It also seems that the underfunded service, outsourced to many different private companies, wasn’t able to cope with the predictable surge in demand at the start of the pandemic. Calls rose to almost 3 million in March with a staggering 38% of those calls being abandoned after callers were left waiting for an answer for lengthy periods of time.
That is why I hope the Government will support my NHS 111 Bill, which is a Private Members bill due to get a second reading in Parliament this November. This bill, if passed, would improve training and clinical oversight in NHS call centres which would help to ready the service for its central role in the continuing pandemic and to prepare for future crises.
It’s clear now that changes are needed for the service to be up to the standards we should expect. I believe there is cross party support for those changes and that my colleagues across the house will now understand how urgently we need to make those changes happen.
I voted against the Overseas Operations Bill
This week a lot of my constituents contacted me about the Overseas Operations Bill, which I voted against on Wednesday. The bill badly lets down our Armed Forces by preventing Armed Forces personnel from holding the Ministry of Defence to account when it fails to properly equip troops or makes serious errors which lead to death or injury abroad. The bill also undermines the Geneva Convention and if passed will make it almost impossible to prosecute British service personnel if they take part in torture or other war crimes. That is morally wrong and I was unable to vote for the bill on those grounds. This is yet another example of the Government’s disregard for international norms and rules as well as its indifference to human rights.
Air Pollution needs to be treated seriously the Government
Air pollution kills over 40,000 people in the UK each year. It is an urgent and deadly public health crisis which the Government needs to start taking seriously. It is those from disadvantaged backgrounds, ethnic minorities and people living in poverty who are disproportionately the people who suffer as a result of air pollution. Often the decision makers and the people who carry the weight of responsibility for increases to air pollution don’t then suffer the consequences of their action.
The Edmonton Incinerator, for example, is being pushed forward by people who overwhelming live in wealthier, greener parts of London and won’t suffer the adverse impact of the increased air pollution which will be pumped out by the incinerator if it is expanded. That is why I wrote this week to the Minister responsible for Air Quality, Rebecca Pow MP, calling on her to take action now and enshrine into law the WHO recommended PM2.5 target for air pollution when the Environment Bill comes back to the Commons. It’s time this Government recognised the deadly nature of this crisis and acted with more urgency.
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Thank you for taking the time to read my latest update, if you have any issues that you would like to raise directly with me then please do email edmontonconstituency@parliament.uk. I’m always happy to help whenever possible.
Kind regards,
Kate Osamor MP