Each year, thousands of grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings and family friends step up to support a child who is unable to live with their birth parents. They deserve more support.

Yesterday, I introduced the Kinship Care Bill in the House of Commons. This bill calls on the Government to provide all friends and relatives who look after a child who cannot live with their birth parents with an allowance of at least £137 a week: the same level as for foster carers.

Exeter City Council is struggling with a variety of issues at the moment. We are told that Exeter is thriving, but this is passing by our public services with failures increasingly evident. The Echo (23/6) revealed that the Council is 'way off track for emissions cut' according to a University of Exeter report. Meanwhile, bottle banks are again overflowing, the St Thomas splash park was out of action for weeks and brown bin collections are being skipped again. The remaining public bins are frequently overflowing and our streets are increasingly littered. The announcement of the demolition of Clifton Hill Leisure Centre is a reminder of the loss of facilities and the closed public toilets dotted around the city remain as a picture of decline since Labour took over a decade ago following their high profile campaign to keep them open. The grand plans to regenerate the old bus station site have stalled with a £1 million cost to mothball the site. The Council has also stepped in to buy the Guildhall Shopping Centre from private operators. Let's hope it works out.

After "blowing hot and cold," Labour have finally agreed to work on a plan to insulate Exeter's homes, a move warmly welcomed by the Progressive Group of Green, Liberal Democrat and Independent Councillors on Exeter City Council.

The announcement came at the Council meeting held on the hottest day of the year in response to a question by Green Councillor Carol Bennett, who said:

Exeter Labour has made a sharp U-turn on employing a permanent Planning Enforcement Officer to oversee adherence to planning rules and conditions. An amendment to the Council budget to create such a post was proposed by the Progressive group in March 2020 and again this March. Each time the ruling Labour Group voted down the proposal. In January they appointed an expensive agency Enforcement officer on a temporary basis to try to clear the 180 job backlog. Now at last they have conceded the council should employ its own enforcement officer and are now advertising a permanent role [1].