The Procurement Bill completed its remaining stages in the House of Commons on Tuesday before the Bill was sent back to the Lords for consideration of the changes that the House of Commons has made. The Bill will establish a set of transformative new rules which rip up bureaucratic EU regulations and make it easier for small UK businesses to win more of the £300 billion worth of contracts for goods, services, and works that the government buys each year. Value for money will be at the heart of any purchase decision the government makes, along with wider social and environmental factors. This is great news for local business, as the ability to create more local jobs will hold greater weight in deciding contract tenders – a Brexit dividend for sure!
And I also had the chance this week to meet the Devon, Torbay and Plymouth sustainable food partnership, who could be a recipient of these changes that the Procurement Bill is intending to make! We should be using the incredible food infrastructure expertise we have in Devon, building relationship between farmers, local producers and local government to ensure they have fair access to local government contracts for supplying school canteens and hospitals with healthy and nutritious food. We want to level-up our region, we want to cut our carbon footprint by reducing airmiles - we have solutions staring us in the face! Let’s get on and do it now.
I met with Network Rail this week to discuss mobile connectivity on trains. Trying to complete work or a phone call on certain sections of the line in between towns and villages in the South West is a nightmare! Mobile coverage is not continuous on any line, regardless of the mobile network operator you use. Although the rail industry has already invested in the deployment of Wi-Fi equipment on trains, it is often unreliable because of the lack of overarching signal in the area. This needs to change. If we want people to use the trains, to help reach our Net Zero targets, then confidence in a strong enough signal to complete work tasks whilst travelling is essential. Project Reach, a Network Rail project with government funding, can help facilitate these changes and I will be raising this with Ministers to ensure the South West is not forgotten!
On Friday, Devon MPs met with the leader of Devon County Council, Councillor John Hart, to discuss road maintenance in Devon, and particularly potholes. I understand the frustration that constituents feel when they see that one pothole has been filled in on a road, but the one right next to it has not! However, this is a result of prioritisation of resources for safety purposes given how stretched the budget is to maintain the some 8,000 miles of roads we have across Devon. The expanse of the road network across Devon also includes a large chunk of unclassified and ‘C’ roads, these are the roads that link our communities and are roads that people use day-in-day-out. When the budget is so stretched, the Council has to prioritise the A-road network at the expense of the unclassified roads. I will be writing to the Chancellor to raise this issue and to seek more funding to ensure our road networks are safe for use.
And at the weekend I attended Armed Forces Day in Dawlish. A great event that celebrates what our armed forces do for us. It is important we show our appreciation of those who have served or are currently serving – a march through the town and some prayers is the least we can do. The lawn was full of stalls, exhibitions and activities to mark the day. Well done Dawlish!
We have surgeries coming up soon in Teignmouth on the 7th July, Dawlish on 28th July, Newton Abbot on 17th August, and Kingsteignton on 25th August. These will be by appointment only. If you would like to book a surgery appointment, please call my office on 01626 368277 or email annemarie.morris.mp@parliament.uk to arrange an appointment.