Dear Constituent,
After a busy Remembrance weekend (where we were so fortunate with the lovely weather) I headed up to Westminster for a busy week of meetings, Health and Social care committee sessions, charity events and some important debates.
I am currently visiting Lympstone Commando Training Centre with the Armed Forces Parliamentary scheme as I have joined the Naval section. There will no doubt be some interesting updates of what I have been doing in next week’s edition.
As always, if you have any questions or concerns I can help with or raise on your behalf, please do send me an email via [email protected], and my team and I will endeavour to help where possible.
With every good wish,
WHAT'S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER
ARE LABOUR 'CRACKING DOWN ON THE SMUGGLING GANGS'?
Early into my role as the Member of Parliament for Farnham and Bordon, I raised the question to the Home Secretary about illegal immigration and Labour’s “plans” to “smash the gangs”.
The gangs have evidently not been smashed as illegal entries have instead INCREASED under this Labour government.
So this week I raised it again with the Minister, a disappointing response to a very important question for my constituents.
I will keep raising this until I receive a proper answer from this Government.
SHOOTING STARS HOSPICE IN PARLIAMENT
I caught up with Paul Farthing, the CEO of Shooting Stars children’s hospice, a palliative care facility used by constituents across Surrey and Hampshire.
I signed their letter to the Government to unlock the £25 million funding commitment to children’s hospices.
Hugely important to the child social care sector.
MEETING THE MINISTER RE THE RAIL-BUS LINK BETWEEN BORDON AND LIPHOOK
I have been continuing my work on the proposed Rail-Bus link, most recently with having a meeting with Lord Hendy, the Minister for Rail. At my previous meeting with the Minister for Local Transport, the Government unfortunately made it clear that they do not intend to offer us any support, despite the Government’s intention to wholly assume control of the relevant franchised rail operator - South Western Railway - in May next year.
Lord Hendy was however sympathetic to my repeated calls and was willing to speak to Stagecoach about the issue, but like his junior minister, would not commit to government funding at this stage.
Next week I am meeting with South Western Railway to discuss this on their end, I have also made contact with Stagecoach to further understand their costings and commercial requirements for a viable bus link.
We need to secure funding for the Rail-Bus link, either the Government or rail operator, and as such I will continue my work at all levels with relevant Ministers and local decision-makers to reach a solution.
SEND APPG MEETING
As an Officer in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), I attended a meeting with my fellow Members to discuss our upcoming evidence session where we will be talking to commissioners and regulators about how we can work on a cross-party basis to improve SEND services.
As a group, we also outlined plans for future work and setting up a SEND Parliament to get a group of SEND pupils together to visit Parliament and the APPG to best understand the work that we do.
This will help both Parliamentarians and pupils engage better and even allow the pippins to practice their debating skills with Members.
PARLIAMENTARY ARMED FORCES SCHEME
With some of my colleagues, I am currently at The Commando Training Centre, Royal Marines, Lympstone meeting new recruits, officers and the training staff - updates to come in next week’s newsletter.
Earlier this month, I visited the Defence Academy at Shrivenham with the Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme to hear high-level briefings on defence and security from the Ministry of Defence and serving personnel - including from Ukraine and Russia, China and Iran.
As a new MP getting involved in Parliament on international relations and security issues, these visits provide me with greater understanding of how my position in Parliament can raise industry experts concerns and hopefully enable the Government to commit to the 2.5% defence budget increase.
CATCHING UP WITH KEY PARTNERS
I have had the opportunity to engage with multiple charities this week in Westminster.
Firstly, I spoke to representatives from Ofwat, the water regulator to discuss Thames Water (which covers 95% of Farnham and Bordon) infrastructure renewal programme, and how the regulator is monitoring their progress to ensure that customers are getting value for money with their bills.
Last year (the most up-to-date statistics) Thames Water faced significant financial penalties. The company was fined a total of £3.3 million in relation to multiple environmental violations, particularly concerning the discharge of untreated sewage into rivers and seas. The fines were the result of a series of breaches of environmental laws and regulations. Ofwat use their role to ensure that companies deliver on their environmental responsibility commitments.
I look forward to reading Ofwat’s next report at the end of this month.
I also met Blue Cross policy advisors to understand how I can advocate for improved animal welfare in Parliament. Conservative-led animal welfare bills were dropped in the wash up of the former parliament but we must continue to legislate for improved animal welfare provision.
DLC 3: CRIMINAL FINANCES ACT 2017 & ECONOMIC CRIME AND CORPORATE TRANSPARENCY ACT 2023
Some Acts of Parliament give ministers powers to make changes to the law after the Act has been passed. This is known as delegated legislation. These changes can be minor technical changes which fill in details, or they can be more major revisions which alter the law. Delegated legislation is sometimes known as secondary legislation (to distinguish it from Acts of Parliament, which are primary legislation).Statutory instruments are the most common type of delegated legislation. All delegated legislation is part of the statute book.
This week I was selected to sit in on DLC 3: The draft Criminal Finances Act 2017 and Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023.
More can be found through the following link: Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023: Factsheets - GOV.UK
WHAT'S GOING ON IN FARNHAM AND BORDON
A WEEKEND TO REMEMBER
Last weekend was a very important one in my calendar as we gathered in our communities, towns and villages to remember those who sacrificed their lives to secure our future.
To ensure I attended and laid wreaths at each of the four towns in my constituency of Farnham and Bordon (including Haslemere and Liphook), I started Remembrance commemorations early in Farnham last Friday.
To mark Remembrance Sunday, I read a lesson at St Bartholomew's Church in Haslemere. The service was followed by a parade through the town joined by army and air cadets, councillors, veterans, schools as well as both the local girl-guiding and scout groups. I then drove to Bramshott and Liphook for a quiet moment to pay my respects at the war memorial in St Mary’s church, Bramshott.
On the 11th of November, I attended Bordon and Whitehill’s remembrance service by Reverend Lloyd-Jones and Reverend Mallas, I particularly enjoyed Nikita's poem which encouraged younger people to continue remembering those before them.
ALL HALLOWS SCHOOL
It was fantastic to be invited by Headmaster Mark Baines, of All Hallows Catholic School, to tour the school. The tour gave an in-depth overview of the school’s chapel, the new SEND support area, The Ark as well as the newest St Thomas building - a dedicated quiet space for exam periods.
While in the Ark, I met Amy who handed me her letter to the Prime Minister, highlighting the importance of renewable energy sources. I have contacted the Prime Minister’s office on her behalf as well to encourage his response to my constituent.
The tour ended with a Q&A with some of the A-Level Politics students who asked very interesting questions including my views on the US Election, our new Party Leader, my big political focuses and how I am showing my constituents that I was the right choice to represent Farnham and Bordon.
BREAKFAST WITH BRANSTON ADAMS
I joined Branston Adams at a special business breakfast event at The Castle in Farnham to hear from businesses in my constituency, set out my priorities for our area and talk about current affairs both here and abroad.
It was a pleasure to be hosted by Paul and meet so many others; it was clear that the Budget has created a sense of unease and scepticism in the commercial sector, with many in the hospitality industry particularly worried about the impact of Labour’s new proposals. I will be meeting with the relevant businesses again in the very near future to hear more about their concerns.
If you are interested in listening to our full discussion, Branston Adams have kindly uploaded it to their YouTube channel.
VISITING ISLAMABAD IN TILFORD
Last week, I was invited to Islamabad, the home of the Ahmadiyya Muslims community in Tilford. I received a warm reception, starting my visit with a cup of tea and some deliciously prepared food.
I was then toured around the Mubarak Mosque to appreciate its fascinating design and structure.
I have recently become an Officer on the Ahmadiyya APPG which receives support from the community and has previously done some amazing work locally, nationally and internationally to support the people within the community. I hope to continue to highlight and raise their work in Parliament and work closely with Ahmadi representatives to relieve some of the problems that the community is facing, both in the UK and Pakistan.
GRAYSHOTT GIGABIT
It was great to sit down with Mashood Ahmad - founder of Grayshott Gigabit - to hear of both the success of this local company, as well as some of the difficulties they are facing with customers wishing to transfer to Gigabit from a different company, such as other companies not adhering to the new ‘One Touch’ switching process.
I’ve been working with a number of businesses and speaking to residents about their access to broadband, so it was great to meet and offer my support to this local business, particularly as they are strong advocates of online safety and have developed an app alongside their fibre software which provides extended protective controls and restrictions to protect our young people online.
TALKING TO THAT'S TV ABOUT BORDON'S HEALTHCARE
Following ongoing campaigns, my questions in the House of Commons and letters to Ministers, I joined That’s TV to talk about the new Health Hub for Whitehill and Bordon.
I know how there are a lot of residents concerned about the time it is taking for progress to be made on this. To date I have held meetings with relevant local representatives and the developers in the town, and will continue to press for answers from stakeholders.
There are also concerns around The Chase, including the risk that it closes before the new Health Hub opens. I have made it clear to the Government that this would be an unacceptable scenario and have again called on them to intervene and meet with me and the Integrated Care Board to discuss this further.
THE FUTURE OF FRIMLEY PARK
I sat down with James Clarke, Chief Strategy Officer at Frimley Park Hospital, to talk about the Hospital’s rebuild and the future of healthcare for those in the northernmost part of the constituency.
After the election the Government cast into doubt the future of the New Hospitals Programme which included RAAC-affected sites like Frimley; after a strong local campaign and my continued pressure on the Government I was pleased to hear that the Hospital was confirmed to receive the funding required for the rebuild.
The new site will be local to the existing facilities, so thankfully will not be too much of an inconvenience for those that already use the site. The search for a new location is progressing well and, subject to various circumstances, we should have a new facility around the end of this decade.
It was reassuring to hear that transport and patient access were in the top priorities for the team, which includes looking at a new Hospital Hoppa. I’ll be continuing conversations with the Trust about this going forward.
VOTE NOW FOR THE WINNING CHRISTMAS CARD DESIGN
This week I’ve been going through all the designs submitted by schoolchildren across my constituency in my inaugural Christmas Card Competition. Now, in advance of the weekend, I have selected the final few to go to the public vote on my website.
It would be great to get as many votes as possible to show support for the winner, so please do take two minutes to choose your favourite and vote!
