Parliamentary business carried on during July and life in the House of Commons is forming a pattern. Due to the slim Conservative majority we are often on a three-line whip. Whips ensure all MPs are available in the House for voting, a little like the role of a senior prefect! Television screens around the offices, meeting rooms and corridors livestream Parliamentary business so you can be carrying out other duties whilst being aware of what is going on. My office is some five minutes from the Chamber and when the division bell rings you stop your meeting or phone call and go.
My personal highlight of the month was making my maiden speech on July 1st which was a surprisingly enjoyable experience once I started and will probably be the only time I ever get to talk in that place for eight uninterrupted minutes. I discussed issues that are important to me and my constituents; people, fairness, health, business and the environment in the main. Having delivered it, there is now no part of parliamentary business in which I cannot take part as prior to this monologue you are restricted in your ability to fully join in.
You can watch it here: (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201516/cmhansrd/cm150701/debtext/150701-0003.htm#15070135001331)
The big day in July was obviously the delivery of the Summer Budget on July 8th. The Chamber was full and noisy. The quaint process of putting your prayer card into the rail behind your seat in order to ‘bag’ it and then having to attend prayers at 11.20am in order to secure it, had been done. The queue at 7.30am that morning was unsurprisingly long. A seat two rows behind the Chancellor afforded a perfect view. The Budget allowed for some of those issues we had campaigned for on the doorstep to become a reality. I was particularly pleased to see the two percent defence spend but not, may I add, as pleased as Rory Stewart and Julian Lewis who were seen to high five! As the Chancellor said, the Budget was ‘a plan for the next five years to keep moving us from a low wage, high tax, high welfare economy; to the higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare country’.
The big announcement was the National Living Wage; a fantastic aspiration in my view, but one that won’t be without issues for some. Certain sectors, in particular elderly care and childcare, are going to find things challenging, as are traditional low paid sectors such as retail and hospitality. I made this point in the Budget debate that followed the Chancellor’s speech.
Another demand on time are All Party Parliamentary Groups, which are prolific. I have chosen to get involved with a few that have relevance to the constituency and my policy interests. There are those linked to health, in particular Bio-science and Technology, driven by my passion for health, business and the fight against cancer. I am also involved in the groups on Pigs and Poultry, Housing and Beer, due to the significance that these sectors have in the constituency and Suffolk more broadly. These help inform MPs and serve to highlight specific issues.
I also sit on the Women and Equalities and the Environmental Audit Select Committees and work has got underway for these. I will talk about them further in the coming months. Again, these are cross-party and allow for those broader issues that affect all of us to get scrutinised.
In the constituency, I have been busy with surgeries and visits. The most blistering day of the summer allowed me to enjoy fetes in Fornham and Gislingham. A visit to Stowmarket Football Club was interesting and I look forward to visiting them and others now the new season has started! I celebrated with constituents in Drinkstone who welcomed a community defibrillator to their Village hall. I had visits to Howard Primary and the Priory School in Bury St Edmunds. I am a believer in education being an enabler and it is always fantastic to learn from those professionals delivering at the coalface.
The provision of mental health services for our young people is also an issue. This month I have spoken and written to Ministers in both education and health about the lack of Child and Mental Health Service tier 4 beds in particular. The theme of health in the broader sense was further discussed with local GPs who have highlighted GP shortages in the constituency and their thoughts for improving the situation. This is of particular relevance in light of burgeoning patient numbers, an ageing population and our aspiration for a 7 day NHS.
The month finished with a trip to Cyprus on the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme. This is a 15 day annual commitment to learn more about defence and the Armed Forces. The primary objective of the trip was to talk to serving men and women about the challenges and positives of life in the military. We also got to shoot (not bragging, but I came 3rd) and see a working field hospital. I had a fascinating conversation with Army doctors and medics about the transfer of knowledge between the NHS and the frontline as well as the implications this has for improving patient outcomes in both places. We were also able to speak to soldiers of 3 SCOTS, who are patrolling the buffer zone at the moment with the UN in Nicosia.
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