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Comment

MPs' expenses are in the news and I have received the first report of the Review of Members' Allowances.

It is unfortunate that this is an internal review but at least it has agreed immediately that the threshold of £250 for invoices and receipts must be reduced.

The report does say that the committee responsible will consult widely among MPs and also that it will welcome suggestions from outside the House.

It is unlikely that the Speaker will suffer from the revelations about his own expense claims as he has a broad base of support here and he may not have broken any rules but if it leads to re-writing, clarification and opening up to public scrutiny of these rules then it will have been very useful.

Several people have written to me in appreciation of the care they receive from our local general practitioners and supporting the doctors in their confrontation with the Government over extended opening hours.

I had a meeting with representatives of our GPs last week and am arranging a meeting with the Primary Care Trust bosses to pass on the doctors' concerns about the Government's lack of planning in the kneejerk reaction to their apparently recent discovery that surgeries are not open at weekends or evenings.

Of course, it was the Department of Health that negotiated the GP contract that removed GPs from evening and weekend working. This has allowed them to concentrate on their care of patients with long-term conditions and health promotion and has improved morale and recruitment.

I attended an inspiring Service of Celebration in Cookley last Sunday to mark the creation of a local ecumenical partnership between St Peter's Church and Cookley Methodist Church.

The coming together of denominations like this gives such strength to both and underlines the sadness that the differences between the Roman Catholics and the other Christian denominations remain so unbridgeable.

Last week I took part in a debate on the Health Committee report on the Electronic Patient Record.

This is part of the NHS IT system developments that have been so badly delayed and are over budget.

I supported the majority of the committee in not calling for an independent inquiry into the implementation as I felt this would further delay what ought to be a huge step forward for safety and quality of care.

On Tuesday I went to three well attended meetings in the House. One was about flood prevention and alleviation when the Secretary of State (Hilary Benn) gave a brief overview of lessons learnt from recent floods and responded to questions. I was impressed by his efforts to keep all MPs in affected areas fully informed during the crises.

Then there was a meeting to mark the First European Rare Diseases Day to be held on February 29 to emphasise the importance of research into the causes and treatments of rare, often genetic diseases which risk being overshadowed by the more common illnesses.

Finally there was a meeting to celebrate the success of screening programmes for cancer of the breast, the cervix and now the bowel. MPs were given questions to pass to their PCTs about the progress of screening in their areas.

n If readers wish to write to Dr Taylor, they should address correspondence to his constituency office at 137 Franche Road, Kidderminster DY11 5AP.

9:03am Wednesday 27th February 2008

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