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Summer Recess Adjournment

I wish to raise several points before the House adjourns for the summer recess. Nicky Avery, 27, became the youngest man ever to be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006. His mother is a constituent of mine, and I very much hope that the Government will raise awareness of this disease among young men. The Proprietary Association of Great Britain has advised me that the top 10 minor ailments account for 75 per cent. of consultations. I agree with that organisation's view that we need to have increasing responsibility for taking care of our own health by treating minor ailments in the knowledge that the NHS is really there for more life-threatening and serious conditions. I have in my constituency the greatest number of centenarians in the country. I hope that this autumn we will again be successful with the "Guinness Book of Records" attempt at the greatest gathering. Many of these elderly people are in care homes, which are dependent on residential fees. Have the Government taken into account the fact that many elderly widows, for instance, are unable to sell their homes because of the recession? Last week, I was privileged to attend Belfairs high school's prize giving. There was a young lady there called Jo-Jo Cranfield. She was born with her left lower arm missing and she is a remarkable athlete. She missed out on going to Beijing by 0.06 seconds and she is the second fastest swimmer in her discipline in the country. She has a place at Millfield school, but she desperately needs funding, so I greatly hope that someone, somewhere will come up with assistance for her—not least the Government, who say that they will do everything they can to support gifted and talented athletes. An organisation called PERA has advised me that numerous companies in south Essex, including Ford in Dagenham, have been preparing to deliver training to 1,700 people—more than 100 are in Southend, West—only for the Learning and Skills Council's financial collapse to bring a halt to the programme. I hope that the Government will intervene on the matter. I draw the House's attention to an article, which appeared in The Times on 6 July, about chief constables' salaries. Senior police officers apparently receive off-book payments and secret perks, which total hundreds of thousands of pounds. The House has come under great scrutiny, and I welcome the fact that all sorts of other publicly funded bodies are coming under scrutiny. Our local chief constable in Essex was paid slightly more than the Prime Minister. Yet again, we have a chief constable taking early retirement in Essex. We have had several senior officers; it is like a merry-go-round—one minute, one person is in place, the next, someone else is there. If police authorities are to be worth their salt, there should be much greater scrutiny. The Independent Police Complaints Commission should also be given more teeth. It is a shocking state of affairs when police constables come to MPs' surgeries, complaining about their treatment by the police authorities. That illustrates their powerlessness. Mrs. Katie Greatorex—she said I could name her—has suffered the most appalling harassment, including death threats. She has been arrested and bailed without evidence and she came to my surgery with a long-serving police officer. Her ex-husband is a serving police constable. A proper investigation has not taken place, despite forensic evidence, so I hope that the Deputy Leader of the House will pass that on to the Home Secretary. Seat belts were once debated at great length in the House, and many hon. Members were against their being compulsory—they were mistaken. The fine for non-compliance used to be £30. I have tabled several questions about that and I shall take credit for the fine's increase to £60. I also support the fitting of seat belt reminders on all new cars. A disgraceful incident took place recently, whereby a community nurse parked her vehicle in a development at the end of Hamlet Court road because she was treating a terminally patient—incidentally, the patient died—and was charged £483 by LBS Enforcement Ltd for her car's release. I am currently achieving nothing with that. I heard the comments of my hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend, East (James Duddridge) about Southend airport. It is a difficult issue and I am glad that the owners of the new airport are meeting local community representatives. They must convince them that any increase in flights must mean quieter flights than at present and that the road changes will take place without disruption. I was recently made chairman of the all-party group on the Maldives. The high commissioner said that no funding has been received from the Department for International Development and that she cannot get a meeting with the relevant Minister. I hope that the Deputy Leader of the House can pass on the message. There has been controversy about slow answers to questions. I received an answer from a Treasury Minister, dated 1 July 2009, responding to a constituent's inquiry on 30 September 2008. An apology is not sufficient. The House is in a state of drift, there is confusion about swine flu and we have heard about difficulties in Afghanistan. The sooner we have a general election, the better. Before then, I wish all my colleagues and all those who serve the House a very happy summer.