Banking Summit for Norfolk & Suffolk (ES article 16th January)

I joined a Norfolk/Suffolk banking summit with MPs and regional directors of the big banks last week. It is vital that businesses with good business plans can access finance to keep their businesses running and for investment.
The summit offered opportunities for members of the Federation of Small Business to interact with those bank managers that can make decisions and for MPs to press the case for accessibility to finance, not always through your local bank. Credit unions have just been given powers to extend small loans to businesses. Foundation East is a community foundation that can also help. Finally, the British Banking Association are setting up a network of mentors who can help businesses review their business plans. I hope to set up a surgery soon. Having a Treasury Minister at the summit, Chloe Smith, was a bonus and she can take that message directly to George Osborne.

This is Big Energy Week – focusing on how you can pay less for your heating while still staying warm. Some quite simple changes to your home can reduce your heating bills while keeping you warm. All the energy companies are doing something. British Gas is offering free loft or cavity wall insulation for all existing customers. People in target groups can all get help. I bought insulating tape for my windows and door frames which cost less than £4 and will make a difference. The best innovation though comes from uswitch.com for those of us who don’t have internet access. Simply send them your latest bill via Freepost Uswitch or call for free to 0800 0930607.

I raised the issue of rural Post Offices in Parliament with the Prime Minister last week. I am pursuing this as it is a classic case of a government agency being given plenty of money to do a job (it has increased substantially under this Government) that is wanted by the public but somehow, it just doesn’t get done. I was also able to praise the postmaster, Tony Whatling, who has served for over 60 years and is still carrying on. My debate on deregulation went well. The Minister agreed that we need to go further. Regulation is something that affects many people. I spoke about a variety of examples but an obvious one for us to look at is the regulation of childcare. The cost of childcare doubled under the last Labour government, while the number of childminders halved. A lot of this was regulation required to be a childminder. I am sure we all remember those policewomen who were threatened with prosecution for looking after each other’s children. It turns out OFSTED spends the majority of its budget on inspecting childcare facilities while the number of inspections has reduced. Why does this matter? Cost. The amount of subsidy for childcare has increased. More hours are offered “free” though costs continue to spiral. We need to change this.

It was very disappointing that the ambulance targets were again not met in the East of England. I will continue to put pressure on the Board and our local NHS so that Suffolk residents do not get forgotten. The week ahead brings further debate on the NHS, high streets and ports. All important topics for readers in Felixstowe, Ipswich and east Suffolk.