Frank's Westminster Blog

The Sunday Telegraph and the Guardian have covered the amendment that Nadine Dorries and I have tabled to the Health and Social Care Bill which will be debated in Parliament next week.  The reports both misunderstand the point of the amendment and the Parliamentary procedure which will be followed.   The aim of the amendment is to ensure that the advice and counselling services, which tax payers provide for women when considering abortion, are provided independently from the body...

Last week I reported that over 2,500 applications had been received for the ASDA jobs. The work ethic is alive and well in Birkenhead.    That number however drives home the point of just how many people would be working in Birkenhead if the jobs were available.   But that does not mean that everyone is as keen to work as these 2,500 applicants.  There are some constituents who have never worked since leaving school, who have totally unrealistic aspirations about the...

By the time applications closed for ASDA's 400 jobs, 2500 people had applied online. This shows just how strong the work ethic remains to so many in Birkenhead.   Getting an application in online is only the first hurdle. Asda is now going through the 2500 applications to choose those who will move into the interviewing process.   Two thought struck me. How many other big companies insist on applicants applying online? It cannot have been that long ago when a young person wishing

The public meeting is alive and well.  That is the conclusion I draw from last week’s public meeting on Arrowe Park Hospital.   It was well ordered, dealt with a single issue, and kept to time.   We met at Charing Cross Methodist Church at 7pm last Thursday and finished dead on 8.30.   The meeting was called to see how far staff and the public shared the concerns of Wirral MPs on falling staff morale.  A whole range of staff spoke.   All showed a...