Richmond and Kingston Covid-19 Update: April 23
Parliament has been sitting virtually this week, and so far everything has been working well. MPs have been discouraged from attending in order to follow stay at home guidelines, so I have been joining in from home. At the moment MPs must apply to take part in discussions, but we are hoping that will be opened up soon.
SUMMER SCHOOL TERM BEGINS
Pupils went back to virtual work this week, too. Whether this was greeted with joy or dismay in your house, I just want to remind everyone of how hard schools have been working since the lockdown began. They have been looking after key workers' children on site while also providing a curriculum to their pupils at home. We know that many teachers are doing this difficult work from home while looking after their own children at the same time. On behalf of everyone in Richmond and Kingston, I would like to thank our teachers and schools for taking on these extra responsibilities and quietly going about doing this hugely important work. Your dedication and resourcefulness have been inspirational.
SUPPORT FOR TRAVEL INDUSTRY TO BE LINKED TO CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVES
As Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson I wrote a letter to the Chancellor yesterday urging him to offer support to airlines, but to tie this government support to the industry's action on reducing and offsetting emissions. My letter had cross party support and was co-signed by twenty other MPs.
I was motivated to write to the Chancellor about this because I was concerned about the loss of tens of thousands of jobs if airlines collapse, many of them in my constituency. My view, though, is that if public money is used to save them, they must be required by law to do more to tackle climate change.
I received a lot of emails in response to my request for ideas about how we can all do our part to improve air quality. Most of them were calls for government action, rather than personal action, and I have accordingly written to various local and city officers about them today. I will summarise your ideas and the responses to them tomorrow when I have more feedback. If anyone would like to email me with fresh ideas about what steps individuals can take themselves, please send them to ellen.purton@parliament.uk .
NEW COVID-19 BUSINESS SUPPORT FINDER TOOL
The Government launched a new online tool to help businesses and self-employed people quickly and easily determine what financial support is available to them. The questionnaire takes under a minute to complete and will signpost you to relevant loans, grants or other schemes they could be eligible for. Use the business support finder on the Government website https://www.gov.uk/business-coronavirus-support-finder
