Tom said: “This ‘Advice Day’ will be held from 9.30 am to 1.00 pm in St Timothy’s Church, at the heart of Hemlington, at the Viewley Centre on the 28th February coming.

“The purpose of the event is to tackle advice issues for local people, and hopefully to try and solve any problems there and then. The kind of problems dealt with can range from resolving debt problems, giving one to one benefit checks and help with claims, advice on employment issues, housing / homelessness matters and Rent and Council Tax arrears. In addition, experts will also be there who can advise on saving money on energy bills, joining a Credit Union to help save as well as helping with job searches.”

“I know from my day-to-day experience in the Hemlington area that many people suffer from problems like these. The aim of Middlesbrough Council is to get caseworkers from different agencies – Erimus Housing, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Council itself and work programme agencies – into one room to try and get things fixed on the spot.”

“I am more than happy to accept any referrals that might come up where an MP can help. This is a bold and exciting step for the council and, hopefully, other sessions can be held elsewhere in South Middlesbrough in the future.”

Central task is to support policy casework and parliamentary tasks such as parliamentary questions, early day motions, speeches etc to link in with priorities of constituency based issues.

Excellent interpersonal, customer, organisational and computer skills required.

£18,000 per annum – 4 days per week (30 hours)

Closing date for applications is 24 February 2012, with interviews on 2nd March.

Apply in writing with a full CV and two references to joe@tomblenkinsop.com or Tom Blenkinsop MP, 8 Wilson Street, Guisborough, TS14 6NA.

For a job description, please contact Joe Keenan on 01287 610878 or email joe@tomblenkinsop.com.

Tom said: “Last week, I asked the Second Church Estate Commissioner a Parliamentary question regarding the impact of metal theft on the Anglican Church in my constituency. The answer shocked me: in 2011, £115,000 worth of metal was stolen from Church of England property in the Diocese of York, an increase of 62% from the previous year.

“I have written to local Church of England vicars, as well as the Roman Catholic Bishop of Middlesbrough, to ask about whether they have experienced metal theft, and the steps that they think the Government should take to tackle it. Although I have already urged the Government to act, I hope that this information will put me in a stronger position to lobby for the necessary action to be taken.”

Any other churches in Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland who have been victims of metal theft are encouraged to get in contact with Tom’s office at 6-8 Wilson Street, Guisborough, TS14 6NA.

Tom said: “The demand for sustainable energy sources should have been a fantastic opportunity for business and jobs in Teesside, so this news is very disappointing.

I would have hoped that since the windfarm is being built off Redcar, that EDF Energy Renewables would have given strong consideration to using local industry for parts such as the monopiles.

The Government has failed to take the necessary action to ensure that those building windfarms in Britain and in British waters use British suppliers. At the moment, they are simply not providing the economic benefit that they should be.

I will be writing to the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills to ask him to look at the way in which procurement decisions are made. I will discuss this matter with my colleagues in the Shadow Energy team.”

Tom said: “The DCMS Select Committee recently published a report on football governance and the Government responded. I took the opportunity in this debate to establish what progress has been made by the Government on these issues. One issue I was keen to raise was that the Government asserted in its response to the report that “every club should have a dedicated and mandatory supporter liaison officer” and that “every club should officially recognise the relevant supporters groups or trusts and keep an open dialogue with them” and that “these conditions should be an explicit condition of the football licensing model recommended by the Committee”. Football Clubs are, and should remain, part of the fabric of local communities and it is essential that their supporters have a role in influencing the future direction of the Club that they love.

“It is vital that the Government continues to push for greater fan involvement, and that real change and reform is implemented, rather than a half-hearted solution perhaps preferred by certain people with vested interests.

“Our local clubs, Middlesbrough and Guisborough Town, which I regularly watch have dedicated supporters clubs like the Middlesbrough FC Disabled Supporters Association, the Official Supporters’ Club and Middlesbrough Supporters South who keep Teessiders together in the South, and even arranged for parmos to be made for Boro fans in central London for last night’s Middlesbrough v Sunderland FA Cup replay.

“I am looking forward to talking to supporters from both clubs when they meet in the North Riding Senior Cup Semi-Final Wednesday 15th February.

Tom said: “There are already 8,000 fewer police officers maintaining law and order in England and Wales than there was under the Labour government, and it looks set to get worse.

“In Cleveland Police alone, police numbers have reduced by 155 between March 2010 and September 2011. The amount of recorded crime in Cleveland has also been increasing.

“The link between reducing police numbers and rising crime should be obvious, but this out-of-touch government would rather spend millions on unwanted and unnecessary bureaucratic changes to the Police and NHS than protect frontline services. Instead of maintaining the crucial frontline capacity of police officers actually making our streets safer, this Government is wasting many millions of pounds on electing police commissioners.

“I will be urging the Government to reconsider this unfair police funding settlement, for the sake of my constituents, whose safety is being threatened by it.”

He spoke today in the Chamber of the House of Commons in support of Labour’s four point plan to tackle this damaging criminal activity.

Tom said: “Metal theft is becoming an epidemic and the Government must stop shirking its responsibility to take action and deal with it. Labour MP Graham Jones has introduced a Private Member’s Bill in Parliament which could really make a difference but instead of doing the right thing the Government played party politics and blocked it. They also blocked Labour amendments in the House of Lords last night.”

“The Church of England alone lost £4.5 million last year due to metal theft and, as reported in the today’s Evening Gazette, St Agnes Church in Easterside could be facing repair costs of more than £100,000 due to metal theft. St Leonard’s Church in Loftus was also seriously damaged due to metal theft last year. In addition, cable theft from railways in Britain went up from 1,593 in 2009/10 to 2,712 in 2010/11 and on North Eastern railways from 593 in 2009/10 to 1087 in 2010/11.”

“I will take the opportunity today in the House of Commons to urge the Government to put aside party political issues, for the good of my constituents and the wider economy, and take urgent action to put a stop to this organised crime and dangerous trade. I have also asked the Second Church Estates Commissioner a Parliamentary Question to ascertain what the cost of this crime has been locally in our area.”

TNT Post, who have been keen to buy a significant stake in Royal Mail since the Government opened the door to privatisation, have been campaigning to remove the VAT exemption on postal services.

Tom said: “If the Government get their way with our postal services, companies like TNT will be able to buy a significant stake in Royal Mail and their influence will inevitably increase. They are determined to remove the VAT exemption, even taking the issue to the European Court of Justice, which would inevitably make postal services more expensive for the consumer and could put many local post offices out of business.”

“This is another example of the Government’s casual disregard for the important role local post offices play in their communities.”

Tom said: “The heads and governors at local primary schools are now being told by Mr Gove and his civil servants that they must make a decision to become self-governing academies rather than stay as part of the Middlesbrough Council school family.”

“I have been told by governors, teachers and parents – who will remain nameless as they feel intimidated by the whole process – that Mr Gove’s civil servants at the Department for Education are putting pressure on schools to make a decision within weeks. These are fundamental decisions affecting the whole future direction of these schools but they are being presented with no financial plan and no knowledge of who, if anyone, is willing to become sponsors.”

“My message is simple: Mr Gove should back off, and allow these schools the time and the space to make their own decisions. If schools want to become academies then they should be allowed to do so but should not be forced by the Secretary of State into making snap decisions.”

“On the one hand he claims to be giving schools more autonomy yet on the other – as we can see in this case – he is trying to force them to accept his will without fully considering the impact. This is typical of the Education Secretary and is happening across the country – in one case I know of this is being challenged in the courts. Our schools and our children deserve better.”

Tom asked Vince Cable in a formal Parliamentary question how many applications had been received by UCAS from residents of his constituency to university. Statistics released by the Government in response to Tom’s question showed that applications submitted by Teesside residents have fallen by 10.2%, whilst UCAS figures show that applications to Teesside University have fallen by 12.5%.

Tom said: “In 2010/2011, before the Government introduced their £9,000 tuition fees, 700 of my constituents had submitted applications by the deadline to UCAS. This time around, only 646 have — a decrease of nearly 8%. Meanwhile, Teesside University has seen a drop of 12.5%.

Whilst I would still encourage anyone who wants to go to university to apply, the Government’s decision to triple tuition fees appears to have deterred many Teessiders from applying to go to university. This could have potentially catastrophic effects on our area’s future, as our workforce could find itself without the skills and education it needs to compete in today’s global economy.”

Dan Johnson, Chair of Teesside Young Labour, said: “Applications to Higher Education from Teessiders have plummeted. Redcar shows an 11.4% drop, Hartlepool a 16.4% drop, Stockton North a 14.2% drop and Stockton South an 11.5% drop.

It is clear that Cameron and Clegg’s Higher Education policy is not working; they are hurting the North East the hardest, and they are apparently discouraging young people in Teesside from going to university.”