The Shampan Masala restaurant is owned by Mr Ayna Yasin and is based in Greenways, Sawtry and provides a dine-in, as well as take-away service.
The opening was attended by local business people as well as some of the restaurant’s staff.
Following the opening, Mr Vara said:
“Indian food is very popular and there is always room for another good restaurant. It was a pleasure to do the official opening and I am especially pleased that the restaurant is employing some local people. I particularly liked one of the curries and will doubtless be making more visits in the future.”
Owner of the restaurant, Mr Ayna Yasin added:
“We were delighted that Mr Vara was able to join us and perform the official opening.
Opening a new business is never easy but we have so far had a good response and hopefully matters will improve as more people get to know about us. We are very grateful to the community for their support.”
Vara opens Indian restaurant
Mr Shailesh Vara (North West Cambridgeshire) (Con): What assessment has the Minister made of the support available to disabled people through the Access to Work programme?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (Esther McVey): Last year 30,000 disabled people were supported through Access to Work. We have extended that programme and added an extra £15 million, and it is working very well.
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Mr Vara: I am grateful to the hon. Lady for giving way. Does she accept that, with 2 million households on social housing waiting lists in England alone and 250,000 families living in overcrowded accommodation, it is simply unfair for people to live in houses larger than their needs?
Dr Whiteford: The problem of under-occupation will not be solved by shuffling people around. That will do absolutely nothing to resolve the underlying problems, which I think we all know are related to the supply of affordable housing.
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Mr Vara: The hon. Lady is being most generous and I am grateful. Does she accept that it is important in this debate to ensure that the facts are clear? Under the previous Labour Government house building was at its lowest since the 1920s, and in the 10 years before this Government came to power social housing costs doubled. Does she accept that that system simply cannot continue?
Dr Whiteford: The hon. Gentleman is having a go at the record of the previous Government but he cannot abdicate all responsibility from previous Tory Governments who made it impossible for local authorities to build houses without them being sold off at below market value to tenants who bought them at knock-down prices. That underpins the whole shortage of supply and Government Members cannot pass off responsibility for having created the problem in the first place.
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Mr Vara: Does my hon. Friend accept that one of the central themes of this reform is to bring fairness into the system? It cannot be right to have 250,000 people living in overcrowded accommodation, while lots of other people have surplus accommodation.
Steve Webb: I am grateful that someone has brought a voice to the voiceless in this debate. I have heard nothing about the 250,000 people shamefully left in overcrowded accommodation by the last Government and the nearly 5 million men, women and children on housing waiting lists up and down the land. Their voice deserves to be heard, so I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his intervention.
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Shailesh Vara, Member of Parliament for North West Cambridgeshire, was delighted to learn of the recent Sport England award of £50,000 to the Cambridgeshire Target Shooting Association (CTSA) for their proposed indoor shooting range at Norman Cross, near Peterborough. The award is as a result of a bid by the Association to Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund.
Mr Vara has been supporting the Association and believes that the facility will be of enormous benefit to the surrounding area and that it will attract both local and national interest.
The proposed facility will provide local shooting clubs and aspiring shots with access to a state of the art range. The range will offer coaching and training at all levels of the sport and will have the potential to provide for all small-bore target shooting disciplines. The Association will also be giving special consideration to ensure that full access is provided for less-abled and disabled shooters.
Mr Vara said:
“The Cambridgeshire Target Shooting Association is an excellent group playing an important role both locally and nationally for aspiring shots of various abilities. We already have a local Paralympic Champion in Matt Skelhon and I am sure that these facilities will act as a driver for new talent and that the range will be used by many people including those from further afield.”
Fred Haskett of the Cambridgeshire Target Shooting Association said:
“There is no permanent shooting legacy from the 2012 London Olympic and Paralympic Games. This is the only range of its type being built in the country and will provide much needed training facilities for aspiring Olympians of the future. Being awarded Inspired Facilities funding is a major success for the Cambridgeshire Target Shooting Association and demonstrates the value Sport England place in this project. However, the CTSA still requires additional funding before the project can start and seeks support from local businesses and other sponsors. It also needs Huntingdonshire District Council to give this project a zero rating on the Community Infrastructure Levy.”
Shailesh Vara MP will be holding a coffee morning at The George Hotel in Ramsey this Friday morning. Mr Vara will be joined by Vicky Ford MEP and local resident Mrs Madeleine Jackson.
This will be an informal ‘drop-in’ session at which local people can come and raise issues over a cup of coffee.
The coffee morning will be from 11am to 12pm at The George Hotel, High Street, Ramsey
Shailesh Vara MP will be visiting the Tesco store in Ramsey on Friday 1st March and will be joined by MEP Vicky Ford and local resident, Mrs Madeleine Jackson.
The store is one of Tesco’s most energy efficient in the country and the visitors will be given an explanation of this key aspect of the functioning of the store.
Mr Vara said:
“Tesco’s are one of Britain’s leading retailers and it is right that they should be considering ways to ensure energy efficiency. I am looking forward to seeing how the store deals with its energy usage and see if there are lessons to be learnt for other sectors and the wider community,”
Mr Shailesh Vara (North West Cambridgeshire) (Con): I congratulate the Prime Minister on rejecting the calls for a further review of our rebate. Does he agree that it is high time for the Labour party to apologise for giving away nearly half the rebate when it was in power, which is costing the country billions of pounds?
The Prime Minister: My hon. Friend makes a good point. I am sorry to disappoint him, but I am afraid that the Labour party has not learned the lesson. Its group in the European Parliament, the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, has called for an end to all rebates, including ours. Its EU budget reform submission stated that the socialist and democratic group
“calls on the Commission to propose to put an end to all form of rebates”.
Far from learning from its mistakes, the Labour party would like to do it all over again.
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Mr Vara introduced a Private Member’s Bill in 2006 to raise the test for the amount of force a householder can use in their home when acting in self defence. At present, a householder can only use “reasonable” force, but Mr Vara has argued that the test should be at a higher level, so that the force used is not “grossly disproportionate” in the circumstances.
The Crime and Courts Bill seeks to put into law what Mr Vara has long argued for and during the Bill’s Committee stage today, where the Bill is considered line by line, the proposal was approved despite reservations being expressed by Labour MPs.
Mr Vara spoke in favour of the measure and spoke of the need for clarity in the law to avoid householders having to go through the stress and anguish of going to trial before being finally acquitted. He also quoted the present Metropolitan Chief Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe as well as previous Commissioners, Lord Blair and Lord Stevens who take a similar view.
Moreover, Mr Vara cited overwhelming public support for raising the test.
After the Committee debate, Mr Vara said:
“This legislation is long overdue. Since my Private Member’s Bill in 2006, I have argued for the law to be amended and I am very pleased that from today we are one step closer to that happening. People acting in self defence in their homes should know that the law is on their side and not the intruders. They should be allowed to use whatever force is necessary to defend themselves and their loved ones and not be restricted by using only “reasonable” force. This is common sense and it is high time that the law reflected this. An Englishman’s home is still his castle.”
Sticky Fingers is owned by Mr Geoff Cannon, who first started as a market trader on the Great Whyte in Ramsey selling a range of end of line items. However, more recently, with the encouragement of the Ramsey Initiative, he has taken up a retail unit selling sweets and treats.
Mr Vara said: -
“In difficult times it is always a pleasure to see new businesses starting up and meeting with success. Mr Cannon is a truly positive story for Ramsey and I really do wish him well in his new venture. I was particularly impressed with his wide variety of confectionary and in the short time I was in the shop, it was good to see a steady stream of customers.”
Geoff Cannon, proprietor of Sticky Fingers said:
“ I would like to thank The Ramsey Initiative for all the guidance, help and support I received from them whilst planning and opening my new shop, Sticky Fingers, in the Darling Mews. Without their support I would not have been able to accomplish what I have achieved so far. My advice to anyone who has an idea about starting a business in Ramsey is that their first port of call should be to The Ramsey Initiative.
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the whole community of Ramsey for their support and custom since I opened up and to add keep watching my little shop as I have some very exciting things planned for 2013 including a new range of fresh whipped ice cream.”
