Jen Craft
Main Page: Jen Craft (Labour - Thurrock)Department Debates - View all Jen Craft's debates with the Leader of the House
Business of the House
Jen Craft Excerpts(1 day, 9 hours ago)
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Sir Alan Campbell
The hon. Gentleman will know that the Government take this important matter seriously, and through the safer streets summer initiative, we applied additional resources. We are doing so in the winter as well, particularly for town centres, so there should be no excuse for inactivity on these matters, in the run-up to Christmas or beyond. Our commitment is absolutely to ensure increased numbers of police officers, because, quite frankly, we inherited a system that was chronically underfunded. We are bringing forward the police grant, which will be debated in the new year, and I encourage the hon. Gentleman to make his strong case during that debate.
Jen Craft (Thurrock) (Lab)
A merry Christmas to you, Madam Deputy Speaker, and to everyone who works in the House. [In British Sign Language: Merry Christmas.]
Last Sunday, I had the absolute pleasure of joining the Mar Dyke Valley Rotary club and volunteers from Re-engage on their annual Santa run through Aveley. I am assured that the Santa who accompanied us on the run is the real one—he is a constituent of mine, and he is open to suggestions about who should be on the naughty and nice lists—but Mar Dyke Valley is just one of the more than 1,000 Rotary clubs in the UK doing similar things up and down the country throughout the Christmas season, bringing festive joy to young children and raising thousands and thousands of pounds for local good causes. Will the Leader of the House join me in offering our thanks to all those who give up their time on cold wintry nights to go out and raise money for their local community?
Sir Alan Campbell
A Rotary Santa is certainly very much a part of Christmas tradition now. I join my hon. Friend in thanking volunteers for their fantastic work and generosity, particularly but not exclusively during the Christmas season. Rotary clubs play a really important part in our local communities across the country. I pay tribute to my hon. Friend for championing them.