James Asser

Apprenticeships

4. What steps he is taking to help increase the number of apprenticeships available to young people.

Apprenticeships

I very much welcome the work being done to prioritise and expand apprenticeships, but all too often their image is dated and the modern situation is not fully understood. While my local university tells me that good work on promoting apprenticeships is being done in private and grammar schools, that is not always reflected across the wider state sector. Will the Government consider how we might tackle the issue, working with apprenticeship bodies, industry organisations and the unions, to ensure

Child Poverty

5. What steps the Church of England is taking to help tackle child poverty.

Child Poverty

Child poverty is a major concern in my east London constituency, and faith and community organisations play an incredibly important part in providing support. While my constituency is very much multi-faith, the Church continues to play a hugely important part through its churches, schools, community facilities and experience. Can my hon. Friend assure me that the Church will continue to work across faiths, and with community and charity organisations, to make sure that that network of support, o

Meningitis Outbreak

I join other hon. Members in sending my condolences to the families of the students who have died. As my right hon. Friend will be aware, I was once upon a time the National Union of Students officer responsible for national health campaigning, and a meningitis outbreak on campus was always one of our great anxieties. We used to run awareness campaigns that, as we know from feedback at the time, enabled students to be aware of the symptoms and get urgent medical treatment. Although this is a loc

Business of the House

This weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the West Ham station attack, in which an IRA bomb exploded on a tube train, injuring nine people. Post Office engineer Peter Chalk was shot and seriously injured, and the tube driver, Joseph Julius Stephen, was shot and killed, as they attempted to stop the attacker escaping. Mr Stephen was posthumously awarded the Queen’s Gallantry medal, and we are marking his sacrifice at the station this week. Will the Leader of the House join me in marking this ann

Trade with Europe

14. What steps he is taking to increase trade ties with Europe.

Trade with Europe

I put on record my role as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for Bulgaria. The APPG recently visited Sofia, where we met businesses that are keen to build their trade relationships with this country, particularly in the energy and tech sectors. We also saw the good work being done by our embassy in partnership with the UK-Bulgarian chamber of commerce. Does the Secretary of State agree that we need to look at trading with many of the newer markets in eastern Europe, which are keen to cr