Charities and community groups are the cornerstone of our communities. From the coffee morning I joined recently to support the Upper Stratton Baptist Church to the recent quiz in aid of the Wiltshire Air Ambulance; one of my favourite parts of being an MP is being able to visit and support the residents who give their time to support fantastic causes of all sizes.
In Swindon we are very lucky to have a wonderful voluntary sector and it’s great to see them supported by the local business community. This is often through Corporate Social Responsibility schemes which I know that many local employers take part in, not only through fundraising efforts but also by donating staff hours.
This week we’ve seen that generosity yet again from Nationwide employees who volunteered their time as part of the spring clean refurbishment efforts at the Museum of Computing in the town centre. Not content with just volunteering their time, the group also made an important donation to the Museum which will make a massive difference to this fantastic local facility which was the first Computer Museum in the country. A big thank you to everyone involved.
I’ll be celebrating more community success this evening at the Inner Flame Young Champions awards. Inner Flame helps young jobseekers to build confidence and recognise their potential. They offer courses to enhance skills, establish personal goals and assist young people with making positive choices for their future.
Having grown up at a school where many young people weren’t given these opportunities, I saw a number of my friends go down the wrong path with some ending up in prison. This is what motivated me to get into politics – ensuring that everybody, regardless of background, is given the opportunity to succeed in life. Organisations like Inner Flame help to provide the right guidance and advice to ensure that young people seize those opportunities. That’s why I have supported them for a number of years and am very much looking forward to congratulating the latest group of Young Champions this evening.
We’ve also heard this week of the success of Rotech – a local firm based in Highworth – which has received the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the category of International Trade. Thousands of businesses locally and across the country are rightly taking advantage of the Government’s GREAT campaign, which is helping firms reach markets in 144 countries around the world. These firms are also benefitting from the fact that the UK remains the world’s top investment destination.
This positive news is also being reflected in the latest independent employment statistics. Figures show that the number of people in work is at a record high of almost 33 million; 457,000 more than last year and a 3.5 million increase since 2010. Wages have also risen at their fastest pace in a decade.
Perhaps most importantly, contrary to some of the inaccurate stories pushed by some, 80% of all of the new jobs created since 2010 have been in full-time employment, and the number of zero hours contracts are down (accounting for just 2.3% of all jobs in the economy).
From charities in the community, to businesses thinking globally, our town is a hive of activity and we can all be proud of these efforts.
