– Improved and strengthened Statutory Sick Pay
– Establishing Bereavement Leave and making Flexible Working the default
– A ban on exploitative zero-hour contracts and “fire and rehire”
– Establishing the Fair Work Agency to make sure everyone is playing by the same rules
– Bringing forward measures to modernise Trade Union laws
– Improving pay and conditions through Fair Pay Agreements
– Increasing protection from sexual harassment
– Introducing Equality Menopause Action Plans and strengthening rights for pregnant workers.
We promised to make work pay by fixing a labour market that has seen too many people in low paid, insecure work, and that is what we’re doing.

Safe Hands
46,000 people, including some local people, lost a total of more than £60m in the collapse of Safe Hands funerals, a firm which is now under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office.
I took up this issue on behalf of constituents who had lost money, pursuing this through questions in the House and correspondence with the regulators, who I believe let customers down here.
This week the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner upheld a complaint that the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) did not act on “significant and concerning allegations, including allegations of fraud” it received about Safe Hands in April 2021, nine months before the firm collapsed.
I was extremely disappointed that the FCA responded to say it disagrees with the findings and will not be considering compensation for those affected.
I believe that warnings were missed, and I agree with the Commissioner that earlier action may have led to a different outcome for those who have lost money.
I have written to the FCA to relay my concerns about the way this has been dealt with, to ask further questions about their decision and to ask that they look at this again given the scale of the matter.

British Coal Board Pension Scheme
I am continuing my work to push for former members of the British Coal Staff Superannuation Scheme (BCSSS) to be given a pension boost. More than 1600 former Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme members in Blaenau Gwent & Rhymney are benefitting from a pension uplift thanks to our Labour Government and we should aim to ensure that BCSSS members are not left behind.
BCSSS members would include not just ex-mineworkers but also pit staff such as managers, supervisors, and also women who worked in the canteens and offices.
When the changes to the Mineworkers’ Pension Scheme were announced last autumn, I wrote to the Minister handling it to raise this and have followed it up with questions to Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones MP and Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP.
I’m pleased that the latest response I have from Industry Minister Sarah Jones MP confirms that talks are under way with the trustees and that these discussions are being treated with an urgency. I’m grateful for the work being put in to putting this right and I look forward to hearing about more progress.
We should do our best to make sure no one is left behind in ending the mining industry pension injustice.

House of Commons Commissioner
In recent months I’ve become a House of Commons Commissioner and Chair of the Administration Committee. Part of my duty includes the oversight of the parliamentary estate and, this month, alongside members of my committee, I took a look at the nuts of bolts of Portcullis House to consider its refurbishment in the period ahead.
Pic: @HouseofCommons

Wales Week
It was good to mark St David’s Day and Wales Week in Parliament with a series of events, including meeting with Food 7 Cymru, a coalition of seven trade associations representing Welsh food and drink, to discuss policy priorities for Wales.
I also invited Mark Langshaw to the St David’s Day reception at No.10. I introduced Mark to the Prime Minister who thanked him for his work leading the business community in Blaenau Gwent. Mark is Chair of the Blaenau Gwent Enterprise Board, the Tech Valleys Strategic Advisory Board and Coleg Gwent Corporation Board, he sits on the Welsh Apprenticeship Advisory Board and is Managing Director of Continental Teves UK in Ebbw Vale.
It was also great to meet with King’s Trust Young Ambassador Tom Gullick who attended the House of Commons for an event celebrating the work of the Trust, highlighting how it supports young people in Wales.