There are lists of planned events for this week in Parliament. On Friday there is an opportunity for James MacCleary, the Lewes Liberal Democrat MP to submit his personal Bill, a Second Reading of the “Football (Gender Inequality) Bill”. So far, the public information is very modest because the first reading, at the end of October stated “James MacCleary presented a Bill to require the Secretary of State to publish proposals for measures to address gender inequality in football.” The planned Bill on Friday, is currently listed in second place in a range of thirteen potential items so hopefully it will be read even though these planned events are subject to change.

Today there is an important session involving an e-Petition. Dave Robertson is organising the event. He is the Labour MP for Lichfield and this e-Petition is 658365 states “Allow students to be taken out of school for two weeks a year without penalty”. This was created in March this year and on 1^st April it had 285 signatures, at the beginning of May it achieved 225,911 signatures and by the end of May when the former Government closed down it had achieved 254,530 signatures. The largest areas for Sussex were Hastings and Rye with 756, Crawley for 686, East Worthing and Shoreham for 679. The support for Sussex was 4,293 for West Sussex, 2,396 for East Sussex and 1,092 for Brighton & Hove. The words initially were

“Families face school fines for taking their children out of school to go on affordable holidays. This can be a particular issue for low-income families, and families with children that have additional needs, who want or need to avoid busier and more expensive periods.”

The additional items were

“I feel these families are being discriminated against as they may not find it possible to travel outside of term time, as it could be too costly or overwhelming, with travel, queues, noise, busy airports, busy public transport, busy resorts etc. We think it’s unfair that these families and children might not be able to go on holiday because they can’t take time off during term time. Parents may also have additional needs that would make travelling at busy times difficult.”

The first e-Petition in Parliament was last week listed as item 631412, there are several others planned over the next few weeks. Item 631412 is called “Offer healthcare workers on tier2 visa ILR after 2 years instead of 5 years” with 52,962 signatures from January to July in 2023. The largest signatures in Sussex were Eastbourne with 231 all of West Sussex recorded 712, East Sussex 544 and 293 for Brighton & Hove. None of the Sussex MPs took part in the session last week, however, some of our MPs could attend to today’s debate.

So far there has been around 120 new e-Petitions that were published when the Government opened the system at the end of October. Currently, one of them has reached 100,000 signatures, “Introduce 16 as the minimum age for children to have social media” published on 7^th of November. Here in Sussex, there are many supporters across Mid Sussex, Hove and Portslade and Brighton Pavilion are currently the most significant groups.

On 12^th November, Jess Brown-Fuller, Liberal Democrat commented during the “National Youth Strategy” session

“I am pleased that the Secretary of State’s statement talked of widening the Creative Careers programme. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for performing arts education and a proud graduate of Chichester University with a creative degree, I am living proof that a creative degree can take people many places, including Parliament.”

There was a debate on Thursday 14^th November about “Environment, Food and Rural Affairs” opened by Beccy Cooper, the Labour MP for Worthing West. She began with “If he will make a statement on his departmental responsibilities.” The person who responded was Steve Reed, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, he stated

“As we have heard this morning, the public are rightly furious about the filthy, polluted state in which the previous Administration left our rivers, lakes and seas. That is why there is such strong support for the Water (Special Measures) Bill, which is working its way through Parliament. I urge all Members to make submissions to Sir Jon Cunliffe’s review, and to encourage their constituents to feed in to it. This is our chance to conduct a root-and-branch review of the entire sector to ensure that it is fit for the future and will properly serve both consumers and the environment for decades to come.”

Beccy responded with

“Research estimates that as many as 170 dolphins and other mammals are caught and killed every year off the Sussex coast, yet no bycatch data is recorded. Will the Secretary of State please outline how he is ensuring that supertrawlers operating in UK waters are fulfilling their legal duty to report marine mammal bycatch to the Marine Management Organisation?”

A few minutes later, Tom Rutland, Labour MP for East Worthing and Shoreham added

“Sewage spills are a scourge for my residents, and not just in the sea but in the street too. Raw sewage and used toilet roll flooded a street in Southwick recently. What are the Government’s plans to force the water companies to upgrade their infrastructure and bring an end to those foul, smelly spills that are blighting the lives of local residents?”