Claire Perry MP meets with local trade union members and Chairs the new APPG on Connecting Communities

Ahead of the spending review I welcomed some local trade union members to my office to discuss its impact and the importance of building flexibility into negotiations with the public sector work force. Prior to this meeting, I chaired the inaugural meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Connecting Communities. This group strives to work with a coalition of some 45 agencies which believe in the power of twinning partnerships between communities of all kinds (towns, local authorities, schools, universities hospitals and medical and nursing schools, faith, youth, sports and cultural groups) here in UK with counterparts in the developing world.

My hope is that the APPG will provide an opportunity for these agencies to work with senior politicians and government departments to promote the effectiveness of these community-based partnerships. As Chair of the APPG I was delighted to invite our first guest speaker of this Parliament, Stephen O'Brien, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for International Development who fully endorsed what was a very positive initial meeting.

Following this I dashed over to the parliamentary sessions on the Strategic Defence and Security Review. In the debate that followed I asked the Prime Minister when the Government planned to alleviate uncertainty for soldiers and families in the MOD and announce the underlying details of specific issues like the review about the boarding school allowances and the Army recovery centre at Tidworth. The Prime Minister stated that the Review is exploring various ways to seek savings, but has ultimately been forced to make some difficult decisions. He did however offer one bit of reassurance that with 20,000 of the Army coming back from Germany, the £250 million a year currently spent on allowances for those troops will inevitably allow for changes in the cost structure to some of the allowances at home.

Later in the evening I had a meeting with the Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP and his team to talk about the Strategic Defence and Security Review in more detail. The army, which has such great importance in our constituency, will be maintained at current strength in Afghanistan. There will be some reductions in jobs over the next four years, hopefully to occur by natural attrition over time. However, the further details on the impacts on our constituency are to be released in the next few weeks.

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