I have received the e-mail below in response to my comments regarding the closure of Barclays Bank in Wokingham later this summer. I would be interested in hearing the views of my constituents who will be affected by the closure.

Dear Sir John Redwood,

Thank you for your email regarding the closure of our Wokingham branch.

I want to reassure you that we know face-to-face banking continues to play an important role for some of our customers in Wokingham, and following the branch closure we are seeking to provide a continued presence in the community via a new alternative physical touchpoint, either at a local retail outlet or via a local community space. This is aimed at providing dedicated in person colleague support for customers with complex financial needs and non-transactional services, without the need for travel. We are progressing the local arrangements as we speak and we will of course let you and our customers know more details once finalised.

Turning to shared banking hubs, as a result of the new arrangements announced by Cash Access UK (formerly the Cash Action Group), LINK (the organisation that oversees the ATM network) undertakes an independent review of each community to be impacted by banking service closures to assess their cash needs. Following that review, LINK has the autonomy to commission new cash services, which could be an ATM, enhancements to local Post Office facilities or a Bank Hub, if an unmet need is identified. To confirm no additional access to cash facility needs have been identified following Barclays Wokingham branch closure and the removal of the ATM. As outlined below, the nearest free-to-use ATMs are located at Lloyds and HSBC, Market Place, Wokingham.

More broadly, we continue to work with Cash Access UK on shared solutions with our peers, as we continue to collaborate on innovative and sustainable solutions for customers to bank in different ways or lack confidence in a digital world. In addition, communities are able to request a review from LINK should they feel they have an unaddressed problem with access to cash https://www.link.co.uk/consumers/request-access-to-cash/access-to-cash-in-your-area/.

Finally, we would encourage any of our customers with concerns to talk to colleagues at the Barclays Wokingham branch, or if you are contacted and able to pass on their details, I will organise for one of my colleagues to reach out directly.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can help further and I am of course very happy to arrange a call with Liz Smith, Barclays Customer Care Director, to discuss this in more detail. If you have any questions in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me.

With kind regards,

Julia Husband

Please find below my interview with Times Radio where we discussed the need for tighter controls on immigration and a focus on economic growth.

You can find it between 2:10:06-2:16:47.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/show/20230516-16757/2023-05-16

I  now have a letter following my question to the Minister. This confirms that taxpayers will put up £20bn, there will be a new tax added, and levies on customer bills. Will all our competitors do the same? The problem with this “investment” is it entails doing something no-one wants to pay for. It needs more taxes to deliver. It will help make the UK less competitive, speeding the transfer of jobs in energy intensive areas to other countries.

Dear John,
Thank you for your question in the House of Commons on 30 March, and for your written
questions tabled on 14 April, regarding the source of the recently announced £20 billion
in Carbon Capture, Usage and Storage (CCUS) funding.
In the Spring Budget the Chancellor announced £20 billion in funding to store carbon and
create jobs through Track-1 CCUS clusters and beyond. This is an unprecedented
investment in the early development of CCUS to help meet the Government’s climate
commitments.
The announced funding will come from levy and Exchequer sources. We expect it to
crowd-in billions of pounds of additional private capital, creating jobs and bringing
investment to our industrial heartlands.
The Government will use Exchequer funding to support industrial carbon capture business
models and the Carbon Capture and Storage Infrastructure Fund (CIF). A dispatchable power
agreement for power generation with CCUS will be funded through consumer levies. Support
for CCUS-enabled hydrogen projects will be funded by a new hydrogen levy on energy bills,
subject to consultation and legislation. As currently proposed, the Revenue Support
Agreement (RSA) for transport and storage will use both taxpayer and consumer funding.
Thank you again for your questions.

Please find below the link to my interview with Justin Webb of BBC Radio 4. We discussed the need for tighter control on immigration, given that the Centre for Policy Studies today announced that net migration for this year is expected to surpass 700,000.

You can find it between 1:36:07-1:41-21.

Today – 15/05/2023 – BBC Sounds

Apparently people want me to go over this again. Here’s a few of the proposals I have put to government

1 Legislate to remove the NI Protocol by resuming the Bill in The Lords which passed the Commons with a majority of 71. That will remove EU laws from NI.

2. Abolish VAT on domestic fuel

3 Abolish permanently VAT on green products

4 Repeal The Ports Directive

5. Replace product specifications with a strong general duty on product safety and a merchandise quality rule

6. Suspend the emissions trading and carbon tax scheme which makes the UK very uncompetitive leading to more imports of energy intensive goods with no CO 2 savings

7. Remove the ban on making petrol and diesel cars after 2030

8. Change rules and taxes governing UK auction houses to match New York, removing EU imposed charges and taxes which lost us market share

9. Amend General Data Protection Regulation to cut costs and bureaucracy  to small charities and businesses whilst keeping suitable protections for individuals

10. Change fishing regulations to give priority to UK vessels and landings in UK ports

Some  of the ones from the Duncan Smith report:

.
1.5. Use digital sandboxes to test innovations more quickly and ensure regulation
is based on evidence of impact.
1.7. Give regulators statutory objectives to promote competition and innovation in
the markets they regulate.
1.8. Delegate greater flexibility to regulators to put the principles of agile regulation
into practice, allowing more to be done through decisions, guidance and rules
rather than legislation.
1.14. Set a UK standards strategy to promote the use of British standards
internationally as a way to boost UK influence and promote trade and exports.
SECTOR PROPOSALS
UK START-UP AND SCALE-UP FINANCE
3. Amend the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and the Enterprise
Investment Scheme (EIS) to maximise Private Equity and Venture Capital
investment in growth industries.
3.1. Amend the age eligibility requirements for companies to access investment
through EIS and SEIS to ensure businesses outside London and the south
east benefit equally.
3.2. Increase the maximum level of SEIS investment.
3.3. Commit to the continuation of EIS beyond 2025.
DATA
7. Replace the UK General Data Protection Regulation 2018 with a new, more
proportionate, UK Framework of Citizen Data Rights to give people greater
control of their data while allowing it to flow more freely and drive growth
across healthcare, public services and the digital economy.
7.1. Reform GDPR to give people meaningful control of their data.
7.2. Reform GDPR for artificial intelligence, including by removing Article 22 of
GDPR and focussing instead on the legitimacy of automated
decision-making.
11.6. Streamline clinical trial set up by HRA adopting automated AI or digital
processing of ethical and trials approvals.
11.7. The MHRA and HRA should accelerate the adoption of novel clinical trial
processes through better digitising of trials applications and data and use of
novel models like UK Trials Acceleration Programme (TAP) and IMPACT with
the capacity to deliver registration level trials.
11.8. Replace the Caldicott data guardians with a HRA Single Data Controller
˜One-stop shop€™ for Health Research Information Governance with
harmonised committees to reduce bureaucracy and standardise processes.
11.9. Establish a centralised health dataspine, where all data is stored for ease of
access by approved users across the health network, with standardised
format and approval routes for data collection and curation.
11.11. Accelerate Access to innovation by establishing clear digital framework for
Conditional Approvals and Adaptive Licensing of new therapies like gene
therapies based on data including from the new Electronic Patient Recorded
Outcomes Measure (EPROMs) dataspine.
11.12. Expand the MHRA remit and Innovation Team to include promotion of UK
leadership in innovative trial design, new accelerated access regulatory
pathways, standardising format and approval routes for data collecting,
curating and collation, and use of novel clinical and digital biomarkers and AI.

11.14. MHRA to work with stakeholders to establish a UK Regulatory Innovation Hub
on the same model as the US Centers of Excellence in Regulatory Science14. MHRA to work with stakeholders to establish a UK Regulatory Innovation Hub
and Innovation (CERSIs).
11.15. Regulation of medical cannabinoids and medicinal CBD should move from
the Home Office to DHSC / MHRA to create a regulatory pathway for
assessment and approval based on patient benefit.

AGRI-ENVIRONMENT
13. Replace EU rules with an integrated agri-environment framework which better
supports the development of more environmentally sustainable agriculture,
with more proportionate and evidence-based, outcomes-focussed regulation…
13.6. Deliver a common-sense solution to transitioning chemical registrations from
EU to the UK REACH.
13.10. Remove burdensome EU regulation on the animal feed industry, whilst
maintaining rigorous safety standards.
AGRICULTURAL GENOMICS
14. The UK Government should actively support research into and commercial
adoption by UK farmers and growers of gene edited crops, particularly those
which help the transition away from agrochemicals to naturally occurring
biological resilience.
14.1. Interpret current GM rules on a case-by-case basis, to permit specific crops
with proven benefits and which are consistent with the UK s rigorous
standards on food safety and environmental protection.
SPACE AND SATELLITES
15. Through reform of the Space Industry Act, the Government should address the
indemnity and liability issues currently holding back investor confidence in the
UK as a satellite launch and operations hub.
15.1. Amend the Space Industry Act 2018 to cap liability and indemnity
requirements for licence applicants to launch and operate satellites from the
UK.
(EO) data regulatory policy framework.
NUTRACEUTICALS
OTHER TARGETED REFORMS
17.1. Amend the Weights and Measures Act 1985 to allow traders to use imperial
measurements without the equivalent metric measurement.
17.2. Develop an optional e-labelling system for devices with screens or that can be
connected to a screen, to display compliance information.
17.3. Repeal the Port Services Regulation 2019 (SI 2019 No. 575) to remove
unnecessary, EU-derived regulatory burdens on UK ports.
17.4. Liberalise parallel import laws to reduce prices and increase choice for
consumers.
17.5. Urgently review guidance on hand sanitisers so that tested, effective
non-alcohol based sanitisers can be used