Sometimes in life you’re in the right place at the right time. For me that’s what happened last week as my friend and colleague Dr Liam Fox MP brought forward the Down’s Syndrome Bill. My nephew, Joseph has Down’s Syndrome and I’ve seen the hugely positive impact the right support and education has had on his life and the lives of my brother and sister-in-law. I had the privilege to support the Bill on behalf of the Government, which will help more families access the support they need by placing a duty on local authorities to both assess and provide social care to the 47,000 people estimated to have Down’s Syndrome in the UK.
Another exciting piece of legislation that the Government brought forward this week was the Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Bill, which will restrict the ground rents, which are a charge to leaseholders with no clear service in return from the freeholder. I first became aware of this issue in 2017, and before entering Government was a member of the cross-party group on Leasehold Reform. Therefore, I am hugely supportive of this Bill as it will bring an end to unfair and often financially devastating charges for all future leases.
Last week, the group I co-founded with my fellow MPs Penny Mordaunt and Alan Mak; the Southern Water MP Regional Forum, met again to hold Southern Water to account. The meeting which included the Environment Agency, Natural England and Ofwat focused on how Southern Water will comply with the Environment Act, that was recently passed into law; calling on water companies to reduce the damage caused by sewage discharges, and eventually, end them. Southern Water have already committed to a reduction by 80% by 2030 so much of the conversation focused on how they intend to achieve this goal and what their key milestones are.
