Visit to the credit union

Had a very interesting chat with James Berry, the Chief Exec of Bristol Credit Union today, on a visit to their new(ish) offices in Stokes Croft, which are a huge improvement on their old premises in Old Market. James told me I'd come at a quiet moment, but customers were still queueing out the door. The CU has gone from strength to strength since most of the local credit unions merged into one. They've increased their customer base from c.2000 to c4500, and their assets from c£450,000 to c£2 million. They've now got a current account cash card, which James proudly told me he'd used recently in Egypt and Washington DC, and are doing a sterling job administering loans from the DWP's Growth Fund and the Child Trust Fund. They're also planning to widen their coverage soon to all of CUBA (the Counties that Used to Be Avon as we say here), and are in talks with housing associations about whether they can provide mortgages to people on relatively low incomes on part buy/ part-rent schemes. (In fact they've got a conference coming up on September 16th on housing-related issues, and I've agreed to be a guest speaker). All good stuff - and nice to know my (modest!) savings are in safe hands.

Actually, I should also flag up where the Government is with its review of credit union legislation - see here for more info. All good stuff, as I've already said!

Just a little of what I've been up to...

One of the good things about recess is that it gives MPs a chance to catch up with people from some of the key local institutions/ stakeholders. (The best thing about recess is not having to flit from one city to another every three or four days; in fact I gave up my London flat at the start of recess and won't start looking for another until the new parliamentary session is upon us in October).

So this week for example I've met with the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive of Bristol City Council, along with my fellow Bristol MPs Doug Naysmith and Dawn Primarolo, for a very useful chat about how we can work together in future to get the best deal for Bristol, for example in accessing new funding streams. We also talked buses! (You can't have a meeting with the Council without talking buses - the Chief Exec told us she'd met with Sir Moir Lockhead from First Group and Justin Davies of First Bus in Bristol recently, but the thrust of that conversation seemed to be that First Bus is a ringfenced operation and can't be subsidised by First Group's profits - and fares aren't going anywhere but up. But the fight goes on).

And today I had a really interesting meeting with the Vice Chancellor of UWE. Nothing to blog about, but a really useful overview of how the university's funding stacks up (e.g. the NHS is a big funder because UWE runs nursing courses), and how they make decisions on student numbers and which courses to offer (e.g. whether every uni should attempt to offer courses across the board, or accept that it's not worth running under-subscribed courses and stick to their areas of strength). UWE is big on the STEM subjects, teacher training, nursing (etc) and creative/media courses, so we had an interesting chat about the value of vocational courses. And UWE doesn't differentiate between so-called 'hard' and 'soft' A level subjects. After all, if you're doing a media studies degree, an A Level in Media Studies is a hell of a lot more useful than Classics. We also talked about student finance, of course, and the availability of bursaries. And we also talked buses! The Uni puts on its own free bus service for students, (free at point of use but paid for as part of the initial package) to ferry them between campuses and from the city centre - and this is because First Bus is basically too unreliable. Under the terms of their licence the buses have to be available to everyone, not just students.

Tomorrow I'm catching up with the head of the Bristol Credit Union for an update on all that's happening there.

Money-go-round

Glad to see the BEP is still backing Bristol's credit union. It's given it a lot of decent - and well-deserved - coverage over the past year or so.

Credit unions and social fund

I suppose as Chair of the mighty APPG on Credit Unions I should add my bit on the social fund story that's doing the rounds today. At the last meeting of the All-Party Group we touched on the social fund issue, and whether credit unions could play a role in administering it.

Obviously it's better for applicants if they can get loans from the social fund, rather than having to borrow from credit unions, but if, say, they can only get part of the money from the social fund, it's surely better that they look to a credit union to lend them the rest, rather than relying on doorstep lenders like Provident, who can charge up to 1000% interest. See also logbook loans (on here, I think, or the main website).

So if they're using the credit union for part of the funding, then perhaps the credit union could play an administrative role with the social fund element too? Although then the temptation might be for the DWP to point people towards credit union loans instead of the social fund loans... but that might mean the social fund goes further, i.e. meeting the essential needs of more people rather than running out around this time of year as it usually does!

Certainly my impression at the meeting though, which was attended by lots of credit union insiders, was that this was only a bit of kite-flying by both sides and no firm proposals were being made. And finally, I think Kitty's right in her comments to the BBC that we need to remove the deception surrounding social fund applications, where people feel they have to say they desperately need a new bed or a fridge, whereas they really need money to buy the kids Christmas presents. Although I think that's a classic example of where a credit union - either with loans or with its savings schemes - could fill the need.

Other things I did today

So, the rest of the day including chairing a meeting of the APPG on Credit Unions, with a Treasury Minister as guest speaker. Part of our discussion was about whether credit unions could work more closely with post offices to help them offer more services and ensure their survival. I later discovered that the APPG on Post Offices had been meeting at exactly the same time, with a DWP Minister in attendance, to discuss way in which post offices could expand their range of services.... Typical example of joined-up working!

As for my stint in the Chamber - I actually managed to arrive only 30 seconds before Bill Cash sat down, which is about the right length of time to listen to Bill Cash on Europe, and got to hear an excellent speech from Natascha Engel, about how growing up in West Berlin, till she came to England at the age of nine, shaped her views on 'the European project'. Some of it - the interaction with the Euro-sceptic Tories on the benches opposite - was really funny, but Hansard will probably tidy all that up.

Also made the tail end of a meeting today at which Friends of the Earth were launching their new 'What's Feeding our Food' campaign, which is really good stuff and hopefully I'll be working with them on it in 2009. They want people to put pressure on MPs... you might be pushing at an open door in my case, but feel free to push!

My week - Tuesday

Tuesday: Started with another session of the Banks and Building Societies Dormant Accounts Bill, which I'd agreed to do on condition I was allowed out at 12 to meet 45 pupils from a Polish school in Bristol. Then it turned out I wasn't. Then I was. Then I wasn't. Got to meet them eventually. They're all fairly recent arrivals in the UK, and attend regular local schools as well as their weekend Polish lessons.

Rushed off from that for another spell of PPS-ing in Westminster Hall, in a very well-attended debate on Sri Lanka. 15 MPs turned up, which for a 30 minute debate is pretty impressive (actually, pretty good going for any debate!), and so many Tamils that they had to create an overspill area for those who couldn't get into the Grand Committee Room.

Stayed on after that to make a few interventions in a slightly bizarre debate on Cosmetics Testing on Animals, called by Oliver Letwin. He basically said he'd chosen the title of the debate because a ban has already been agreed, so wasn't going to talk about that, and then launched into something of a philosophical treatise on where the ethical boundaries lie. When is human life or happiness important enough to warrant the suffering of animals? Are some animals more deserving of protection than others? To give a flavour... "Philosophers call it the sorites paradox. For example, when is a pile a pile? One stone probably does not amount to a pile, but 50 certainly do. However, where does one hit the pile? Is it at two, three or four? That is a feature of one of the most difficult issues that we face as human beings." Indeed.

All of this somewhat bewildered the DBERR Whip who'd been designated to reply on behalf of the Government. Cosmetics is DBERR's business, I assume because it's a commercial thing, bringing in a ban on the production and marketing of products tested on animals. But animal testing in general is a Home Office responsibility, as they issue the licences, and animal welfare is Defra's call. Sensibly she chose to stick to her script, and gave a good account of what the Government has done to ensure a ban on cosmetics testing. I hope household products are next.

Rest of the day taken up with a meeting of the APPG on Credit Unions to talk about our response to new legislation, then into the Chamber for the start of the Banking Bill Second Reading debate. I really wanted to stay to make some interventions on John Redwood, but he wasn't called till gone 8pm, which would have meant sitting through nearly 4 hours of it, including Vince Cable. Decided after an hour or so that I was better off in the office instead.

Interesting to watch the change in George Osbourne's demeanour. It would be wrong to say the cockiness has entirely gone - it's in his DNA I fear - but he's definitely rattled and not quite sure what he should be doing or saying. How can the Tories call for tougher regulation when they've spent the past decade criticising us for being over-fond of regulation and putting burdens on business? How can they argue for a greater role for the Government and regulators in telling banks and customers what they can/ can't lend and borrow, when they're so vocal in their opposition to the 'nanny state'? Which is why I could have had some fun with John Redwood. Banking Bill surprisingly finished early, so home before 10pm.

There is power in a union

I didn't get time to post Monday's good news (although the turtles being set free was quite heart-warming, wasn't it?) Anyway, I launched a new APPG on Credit Unions and the Minister, Kitty Ussher, used the occasion to announce fundamental changes in credit union law. This was what we were being set up to lobby for, so it left us in a bit of a quandary as to whether or not to disband immediately, mission accomplished. But we have decided to trudge on, ploughing our not very difficult furrow, which will mostly involve talking to the Treasury about the detail of the proposed new laws.

To get a bit anoraky on you for a moment... The idea of a 'common bond' is to be revised, which will basically mean that if, for example, First Bus decided it wanted an employees' credit union, it wouldn't need to have separate ones in each geographical location where the company operates; it could have a company wide one. (And some big companies are very interested in that, which could hugely boost the credit union's coffers). The bit I'm really excited about though is the fact that groups, as well as individuals, will soon be allowed to open credit union accounts. This opens the door for Bristol's huge number of voluntary sector organisations to start supporting the credit union - and for the credit union to support them when they hit cash flow problems towards the end of the financial year and are waiting for new funding to come on stream.

Speaking of the voluntary sector, today - Tuesday - the Government announced another £500m for New Deal for Communities , which includes Bristol. It's been a year since the smoking ban was introduced on 1st July 2007 and the results are pretty good (98% compliance and 76% public support, but I've already blogged about that). And the sun was shining at Wimbledon. But it's going to rain tomorrow.

All-Party Groups

Tomorrow I'm launching a new APPG. (That's All-Party Parliamentary Group). There are hundreds of APPGS, and most MPs, myself included, lose track of which ones we belong to. We're active in a handful, and silent supporters of the rest. Just to give a flavour of it - this week's Whip includes notices of meetings for:

- the Furniture Industry;
- Classics;
- Slimming World AND Weight Watchers;
- Sewers and Sewerage;
- Rugby Union;
- Rowing;
- Jazz Appreciation;
- Myodil;
- Praseg;
- War Grave and Battlefields Heritage;
- Town Centre Management;
- Betting and Gaming;
- Adventure and Recreation in Society;
- Youth Hostels.

Not to mention a whole host of country-related APPGs, including: France, Bolivia, Australia/ New Zealand, South Africa, Nepal, North Korea, Africa, Singapore, Palestine, Algeria, Israel... and they're just the ones that are meeting in July.

Perhaps the most bizarre is the APPG for Cheese, which has been set up by a Lib Dem MP. (It just would be, wouldn't it?) I have toyed with the idea of forming my own Cheezly APPG (one member - me), but then who would stand up for the needs of the Scheese lobby?

I wouldn't want to give the wrong impression. There is some excellent work being carried out by APPGs, particularly in the International Development field. There's an APPG on the Great Lakes region, and its most active members are incredibly well-informed on what's going on in the DRC and use every opportunity they can to raise it in the House. Some of the health APPGs are very good too.

The APPG I'm launching is on Credit Unions, and has a very specific remit - to push for new credit union legislation which will allow them to expand and enhance their services. It's been nearly 30 years since the last Credit Union Act.

I was approached to head up the new group, in part because of Bristol Credit Union's excellent reputation; it's seen as one of the best in the country. We've got Kitty Ussher, the Treasury Minister, coming along, and we're told she's going to make an announcement, so watch this space.