Chris Coghlan MP

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The OBR pointed out that the government hasn’t shown where the money will come from so maintain that cuts are a risk.

This week, I asked Members from the Office for Budget Responsibility about their prediction that the government will reduce SEND funding by £2.2 billion in 2029/30. The Department of Education said that the OBR's predictions were "fundamentally wrong".

UK Power Networks told me they fixed a power fault in August and are monitoring the situation. The interim water pump is also now remotely resettable, which should stop extended water outages now. This is great news, and I’ll keep a close eye on this to make sure it happens.

SES will be spending £600,000 between January and April to fix Betchworth water tower. After hundreds of people suffered frequent power cuts and loss to water, I spoke to UK Power Networks and SES water to get this sorted.

Instead the government has put businesses in my constituency out of business through tax rises. My speech in the budget debate 2/2

Americans are twice as rich as they were in 2008. Why are we 10% poorer? Short-termist policymaking has ignored decades of research that policies to support innovation raise growth, such as public R&D. 1/2

The Chancellor needs to consider more long-term solutions going forward to turn things around. I spoke about this on BBC Politics South East this weekend. 2/2

The Budget was another missed opportunity to address the fundamental challenges we face. Brexit left a £90 billion black hole and was a disaster - a customs union with the EU would lower borrowing costs overnight. 1/2

This follows similar concerns over SEND governance raised by the (then) Chair of the Children’s Select Committee at Surrey County Council Fiona Davidson with the Education Secretary.

They have also asked us to forward the instances we are aware of where Surrey reclassified complaints as enquiries to manipulate complaint volumes, or failed to implement tribunal or LGSO decisions.

The Local Government Ombudsman has written to the Ministry of Local Government given the seriousness of the concerns raised by @alpinkerton.bsky.social and I about governance at Surrey County Council on SEND.

Phone reception has improved in Dorking after I raised the issue to VodafoneThree.I met them again yesterday because other areas are still experiencing problems. In Walliswood they’ve recently deployed a new site which has extended coverage and are working to do the same in Ewhurst.

Unfortunately that downgrade is because the OBR had very little robustness behind its previous forecast. This is significantly distorting economic decision making when we face huge economic challenges in any case.

Much of the tax increases in today’s budget are driven by the Office of Budget Responsibility downgrading UK productivity growth by £16bn.

This is an opportunity to discuss local issues, share your views and connect with neighbours. Whether you have something specific to raise or just want to be part of the conversation, I’d be very glad to see you there.

Let's talk about our community - together

After a great event in Newdigate on Monday, I'll be in Salfords on Friday 12th between 12:30 - 14:30 for an afternoon of conversation and questions.

🕖 12:30 - 14:30

📍 Salfords Village Hall, 5 Honeycrock Lane, Salfords, Redhill, RH1 5DG.

Looking forward to seeing you all this coming Monday in Newdigate at 6:30pm for an evening of questions and community discussion!

Thanks to Steve and all those who have been involved and thanks to Travelodge for doing this.

Travelodge Dorking is resurfacing its carpark. I’ve been pushing for this since my election; writing to the CEO and social media. It will take four weeks, and the drainage will be replaced to stop the flooding.

Audiology services to return to Dorking Community Hospital Services moved to Kingston-upon-Thames earlier in 2024, but will return to Dorking on Monday.

Read the BBC article here: www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Thank you to everyone who signed my petition to bring back this important service.

I spoke to BBC Radio Surrey this morning about audiology services returning to Dorking Community Hospital this week. Hundreds of my constituents were left stranded without warning after its abrupt closure at the end of May due to an IT error.

Thank you to everyone who signed my petition to bring back this important service.

Our next SEND parent/carer support coffee morning will be on Monday the 24th of November in Horley. Helyn Clack, the Surrey County Council Deputy Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning will be there to listen to SEND parents share their stories. I look forward to seeing you all.

Four months on, the Education Secretary has not replied to these concerns (beyond a holding reply) about the safety of vulnerable children in Surrey. I spoke about this on LBC last night.

This misconduct is not an isolated incident- in July I submitted 120 family testimonies of misconduct by the same department with Al Pinkerton to the Education Secretary- including children losing their lives to avoidable suicide.

One month later the home-ed team turned up, with no background information, no flags, to the wrong address. The day before Sara was murdered…

Two months later on realising the mistake, the Council requests another copy, and illegally tells the school to remove her from roll but backdate the request. They also failed to update the new address and just sent the file to the Home Education Team.

Surrey lost the form. The Review shows Sara remained ‘on roll’, but not attending school, for nearly 2 months. None of the checks that should have been completed were been completed.