Well done to A-level and BTEC students for achieving such fantastic results in Blaenau Gwent last week.
It was great to pop along to Coleg Gwent Ebbw Vale on results day and see so many students being rewarded for their hard work.
It was especially good to catch up with students, and staff, from the cyber security course I helped set up a few years ago.
I’m very pleased to see the course thriving, giving young people not only the skills needed to pursue a career in cyber security, but also the adjacent digital security skills and qualifications that are so important in so many workplaces today.
Before Parliament rose I asked the Leader of the House for a statement on those affected by the collapse of funeral plan provider Safe Hands.
I had been contacted by a constituent who lost a chunk of his life savings, one of around 46,000 customers who lost more than £60m combined, after the firm folded last year.
While I am glad that administrators are investigating what happened here, I am also very concerned that opportunities to prevent it were missed.
It appears those with oversight may have acted too slowly. Now, tens of thousands of older people are out of pocket with no real sense of if, or when, they will receive compensation.
This is not right. I will be picking this up again when Parliament returns and pushing for anyone affected to receive what they are due.
During his statement on the NATO summit, I challenged the Prime Minister over his government’s plans to shrink the British Army to its smallest size since the Napoleonic Wars.
Defence is something I pay close attention to, not only through examination of spending in my role on the Public Accounts Committee but also in my support for our steel industry, championing the use of British Steel for defence contracts, and also pushing for a resolution to the Ajax armoured vehicle saga, something important both militarily and also for the local economy – with the vehicles being built in Merthyr Tydfil.
It is very troubling that our military has become a target for such short-sighted cuts, papering over the cracks of a decade of financial mismanagement.
While other countries invest in their military, ours has been hollowed out.
The government must rethink its defence plans and stop the army cuts to keep us safe and ensure our NATO obligations are met.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here