Kings Langley Villager Article, November 2008
Parliamentary Diary
We’ve settled back into our routine at Westminster and the recess seems a long time ago. Already I’ve found myself involved in a wide range of diverse subjects. I’ve taken part in Commons debates on issues ranging from promoting the donation of umbilical cord blood to – something that perhaps has a bit more relevance to Kings Langley or at least the anglers of Kings Langley – the maintenance and dredging of our canals.
Some of you may know that David Gauke (MP for South West Hertfordshire) and I share an office in Westminster. It’s worked very well as quite a lot of issues straddle the two constituencies in Dacorum. In fact there are three MPs sharing our office. The third is David Burrowes who is MP for Enfield, Southgate. It was his Private Members Bill that caused me to be debating the donation of umbilical cord blood and I was given the task of winding up the debate on behalf of the Conservative health front bench team.
It is an interesting subject, not least because of the excellent work of the Anthony Nolan Trust (with the added local dimension in that the little boy Anthony Nolan lived in Hemel). David is supporting the work of the Trust which is establishing a new Cord Blood Bank. His Bill would require hospitals to promote the donation of cord blood from women after giving birth. Currently there are only four NHS hospitals with collection points (one of which is the Luton and Dunstable). Sadly the Bill will never become law as the slates are wiped clean when the Parliamentary session ends at the end of this month. If nothing else it will have raised the profile of the issue so that perhaps the Government will add a clause or two onto a new related Bill in the near future?
On a totally different subject, I took part in a debate on Britain’s waterways last week and called on the Government to ensure that whilst promoting new projects they don’t neglect our existing canal infrastructure.
Historically the Grand Union Canal has played a major role locally. Now it is pretty much entirely a leisure facility where people can enjoy its mix of industrial history and wildlife habitat.
I was lucky enough to be able to spend some time fishing on the Grand Union Canal recently – something I used to enjoy in my youth – and was surprised to discover how shallow the canal is. Silt is a major problem on our section of the canal.
British Waterways has tight budgets and it is imperative they look after what we already have.
