It was significant that three UK MPs mentioned the work of the YMCA in their comments this month.

The first was Bradley Thomas, the Conservative MP for Bromsgrove, on the 3rd December in the discussion about “National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill” with three votes.

Later, Catherine Atkinson, Labour MP for Derby North, on 16th December commented as part of the “Youth Guarantee” discussion.

On the following day of 17th December, Gareth Snell, the Labour/Co-operative MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, who referred to YMCA in the “Clause 1 – Rate of secondary Class 1 contributions” the day of the three votes.

As it happens I have also referred to the end of this year were four MPs that referred to YMCA’s during in October which are here and then during on November there were two other MPs who referred to YMCA’s which can be seen here. Below the three YMCA December comments are shown:

So for December, Bradley Thomas was speaking here:

Two thirds of businesses claim that they are looking at freezing recruitment or making job cuts. We have already heard hon. Members talk about the impact on the charity sector. In fact, during this debate, I received an email from YMCA, which said that because of the increase in national insurance that it will have to pay in Worcestershire, it will look to freeze all recruitment and probably make redundancies. It will not be able to give a pay award to any of its staff, and it will look at cutting services. That is damning. We see from the Government an ideological pursuit of a policy that is really a false economy. Labour is failing the very working person that it claims to be protecting.

Then Catherine Atkinson spoked it and also Liz Kendall from the Government speaking here:

Catherine Atkinson: Mel was out of work and homeless, but YMCA  Derbyshire saw only her potential, not her disadvantage. Now, she is at Toyota and on track for a leadership role. Its working assets programme has a 70% success rate in supporting homeless young people into employment. How will the youth guarantee help the Government join up with, enhance and champion local programmes like that?

Liz Kendall: That sounds like a fantastic programme by the YMCA in my hon. Friend’s  constituency. That is precisely why we need to join up with what local colleges are doing, with the support provided by local councils and with supported employment programmes run by the NHS. If we join that up and base it on local needs, her young constituent and many others like her will get the chance they need and deserve to build a better life.

Last in December was the comment from Gareth Snell from here:

The second largest impact I was told about is to the YMCA North Staffordshire, which will see its NI contributions rise by £101,000. That organisation routinely provides homes for young people who would ordinarily find themselves on the street, works with families to ensure that family units can stay together, supports community meal initiatives to bring together different Stoke-on-Trent communities, and does a lot of work on community cohesion, which is a particularly contentious issue in my city.