Kevan Jones MP

MP for North Durham, Kevan Jones, this week (21 November) paid a visit to Intersnack, the Stanley-based snack manufacturer. The visit followed the MP’s nomination of Intersnack’s Penn State Pretzel brand to the Made By Britain initiative – a parliamentary project intended to highlight the quality and diversity of products manufactured in contemporary Britain.

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Kevan Jones, Member of Parliament for North Durham, has thanked local schoolchildren for their efforts in raising awareness of Commonwealth War Graves in his constituency. Schools from across North Durham took the time to visit local cemeteries and churchyards to lay poppy crosses on the war graves in the week leading up to Remembrance Day.

On Remembrance Sunday, Kevan attended the service at Pelton Fell, which included the unveiling and dedication of a plaque on the Cenotaph to Sgt. Steven Campbell, a soldier from Pelton killed serving in Afghanistan.

During a debate in Parliament, Kevan Jones has welcomed moves to ban the payment and receipt of referral fees in personal injury cases by regulated persons, such as solicitors and claims handlers.

Mr. Jones said, "I welcome the banning of referral fees, and I congratulate the Minister and the Government on doing it. The scandal is that, frankly, it should have been done years ago. My hon. Friend the Member for Bassetlaw and I campaigned hard to expose the scandal surrounding the miners compensation scheme, which created a feeding frenzy not just for solicitors but for claims management companies."

He went on, "(The Minister) must ensure that the multitude of scams that existed to hide the way in which referral fees were being paid before 2004 does not re-emerge. If this is going to work, he must ensure that those who dream up inventive ways of charging referral fees are looked into."

To read more of Kevan's speech, and the rest of the debate, visit http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2011-11-01b.822.0

Kevan Jones has welcomed recent grants made by the Big Lottery Fund to help projects in his constituency. Over the last few months projects including Cornerstones at Chester-le-Street Methodist Church, and the Edmondsley Parish Hall Improvement Project have benefited from grants.

To find out if your organisation could benefit, visit http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk for further information.

Three North East Members of Parliament took part in a sponsored walk for the Royal British Legion on Saturday 29 October.

Kevan Jones, M.P. for North Durham, Phil Wilson, M.P. for Sedgefield, and Ian Mearns, M.P. for Gateshead, joined ex-service personnel from around the North East taking part in the ’90 for 90’ challenge, to mark the Royal British Legion’s 90th Anniversary Appeal. Participants chose to walk, cycle, run or wheelchair a 10 mile route along the Tyne, from the Millennium Bridge to the Scotswood Bridge and back.

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Kevan has nominated the 'Penn State Pretzel' produced by Intersnack in Tanfield Lea for the Made by Britain Project. The project is being run by the Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group and aims to show the diversity in modern British industry.

In nominating Intersnack, Kevan said, "The Penn State Pretzel is a high quality snack manufactured in Stanley, Co. Durham. This region has a proud history in manufacturing and the Penn State Pretzel is a great example of innovation and adaptation in the region's manufacturing sector. Intersnack also employ around 180 in my constituency."

On 15 October, Kevan visited Beamish Museum to present the awards at the Ploughing Match and Dry Stone Walling Contest.

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