Submitted by Karen Bradley, Member of Parliament for the Staffordshire Moorlands:
One of the many things that I spend time on as a back bench MP are the All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs). There are hundreds of these and I am a member of many of them as well as chair and vice chair of some. These are important cross-party groups with members from both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
In the past, as Minister for Modern Slavery and Organised Crime in the Home Office, I brought in the Serious Crime Act to help protect people in the UK from organised crime and just before Parliament was dissolved in March 2015, I secured the passing of the Modern Slavery Act. This is a landmark piece of legislation that will protect people from the evil of slavery today.
I am therefore honoured to continue with this important work and co-chair the APPG for Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery and last week hosted an event to discuss what is happening at our borders. The panel discussion included the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and representatives from law enforcement agencies.
I also took part in an interesting and useful APPG for the Peak District call together with other MPs and representatives from the Peak Park Parishes Forum. We discussed many local issues including how despite needing the visitors for our local economy and to help keep our villages vibrant, we do have the problem of traffic, litter and other issues that have been highlighted even more over the pandemic.
On Thursday I continued with my efforts to help combat loneliness and chaired the APPG on Loneliness event on Transport with the support of the British Red Cross. It was great to hear from the Transport Minister on the role of government in loneliness proofing transport to address loneliness and social isolation.
