Published: 11/11/2010 14:03 -
Updated: 11/11/2010 14:13
STARTING this week, Harlow MP Robert Halfon answers questions on the issues – both local and national – that matter to Star readers. We will select the best questions submitted by you and put them to Mr Halfon, who will then give his opinion in this fortnightly column. “I want to get as much feedback from Harlow residents as possible and the Star is the ideal forum in which to discuss readers’ questions on key issues,” said Mr Halfon.
STEVE TAPPENDEN: Do you know how far along the sale of the GlaxoSmithKline North site complex is to the Health Protection section of the Department of Health? Do you know when the final decision will be made if the Government will release the funds for the move from Porton Down to Harlow or not?
ROBERT HALFON: Steve, this is a really important question so thank you for asking it.
Despite the difficult economic situation, it is encouraging that the health budget will increase by £2bn next year because of the Government’s commitment to the NHS. The Government is committed to giving the work of the HPA a viable future.
As you know, unemployment in Harlow is very high at the moment – at over five per cent it is the highest in West Essex. We desperately need to bring jobs to our town.
If the HPA came to Harlow it would not just create around 1,000 jobs but would probably have the potential to add hundreds of extra jobs because all the surrounding shops and businesses would benefit if the Glaxo site is utilised properly.
The problem we face is that the Unite union came out against the HPA coming to Harlow, and inevitably those at the existing site in Porton Down want it to remain there.
At the end of the day the decision will be made on grounds of what is best value for money for the taxpayer, and how best to improve biomedical research in the UK. The final decision will be made after the Department of Health has considered the business case. We're not yet sure of the exact date. It could be at the end of the year or early in 2011.
Since I have become MP I have met with the Health Minister Anne Milton to make the case and also made a speech in Parliament about this. I have written a number of letters to the Department of Health inviting ministers to visit Harlow.
Just to reassure you and other residents, if the HPA did come to Harlow it does not mean we would have biological warfare here. In fact, many of their public health laboratory tests are carried out in hospitals up and down the country every day.
To have the HPA here would confirm Harlow's status as a place of scientific excellence and achievement at the heart of biomedical research in the London-Cambridge corridor, with excellent road and rail links
It would also provide much-need help to our economy, bringing jobs back to Harlow.
