As this newsletter hits your inbox on this festive Sunday morning, I would like to wish you and your loved ones a Happy Easter! I do hope that you will have time to enjoy a well-deserved break and catch up with your family and friends. Special thoughts and thanks to all those working over the Bank Holiday weekend. Overall, I would say March has featured quite a lot to celebrate. We expressed our gratitude to the wonderful women in our lives and around the world on Mother’s Day and International Women’s Day. 

And on the subject of great women, it was lovely to meet up with some members of the Alverstoke and Bridgemary Women Institutes (WI) who came on a tour of Parliament. I was also surprised and honoured to be among a host of amazing women of this year’s 100 Women in Westminster. See the full list and read more here. 

In other good news, I am glad to say that NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight will receive £535,025 as part of the Department of Health and Social Care’s Accelerating Reform Fund. This will support the reform of adult social care services, developing options for carers’ breaks, and increasing the support available to outpatients’ post-discharge.

I know there are still some issues concerning access to NHS treatment and care, I would like to reassure you that your voices are heard. This month, I met with NHS Hampshire and Isle of Wight in order to once again raise concerns about the local provision of dental care and GP services, and I stressed the need for more professionals in our area, to clear the backlog and reduce waiting times. Our next one is coming up in April and I’ll keep up the pressure!

From my last newsletter, many of you will remember that the Government has launched the Children and Young People Cancer Taskforce which I campaigned for, and this month I chaired three sessions at the Department of Health and Social Care on better models of treatment and diagnostics, genomics and research. 

As we have seen with our Princess of Wales’ terrible news, cancer can affect us all, and so I am pleased to be leading an effort to protect our nation’s young from this cruel illness. I am very grateful to the panel of experts who joined me in these important discussions, including my campaigning ‘partner in crime’, Stubbington’s Charlotte Fairall.

To boost standard of care, we must work on the efficiency of the NHS and I welcome the Government’s decision to introduce £2.5 billion of extra funding for NHS day-to-day activities and £3.4 billion to reform the way the NHS works. These measures, that were recently announced in the Spring Budget, will focus on digitalisation and technological transformation of NHS systems, reducing the 13 million hours of time that our doctors spend on dysfunctional IT.

The Spring Budget also brought a raft of policy announcements. The Chancellor’s cuts to National Insurance contributions from 10% to 8% will save the average worker £900 a year. Moreover, the Government’s decision to raise the threshold for Child Benefit Charge to £60,000 while increasing the taper rate to £80,000 will save half a million families an average of £1,260. For more information on the Budget and how it will put more money in your pocket, you can watch my video here.

Another very welcome piece of legislation that not only received overwhelming support up in the House of Commons during its Second Reading, but closer to home from doggy Dave Dinenage, is the Puppy Import (Prohibition) Bill. The Bill introduces firm measures to protect dogs, cats, and ferrets and deter evil-puppy smugglers. This is just the latest of measures which together make this the best country in the word for animal welfare. You can see Dave and I talking more about this here.

Local authorities received additional funding from the Department for Transport’s Bus Service Improvement Plan. This means that from May we will see an increased bus service between Gosport and Fareham. The investment will enable new late evening services on First Solent routes E1/E2 and 9/9A between Gosport and Fareham, as well as an increased daytime frequency of bus services on the First Solent X5 corridor between Fareham and Gosport via Stubbington.

You will not be surprised to hear that as ever I’ve been knocking on doors across the constituency with my ‘Caroline Consults’ survey on Policing and Crime. You can contribute your thoughts online here. 

We also had a lot of helping hands at an action day with my friend and colleague, Penny Mordaunt, in Portsmouth North and Gosport.  

This month, I met with our Police and Crime Commissioner, Donna Jones, to hear more about her plans to reopen Gosport Police Station and the introduction of the ‘99 local bobbys’ scheme. You can find out the name of your local police officer here. 

Donna and I visited the Safer Gosport Community Day together where we had a chance to talk to local police officers and other emergency services from across our area. 

I never doubt the dedication and bravery of our police and would like to extend massive congratulations to Sgt Gibbs, PC Davies, PC Clarkson, PC Fulton and PC Thomson, all from Gosport who will be representing Hampshire at the National Police Bravery Awards in July! When faced with an armed suspect carrying a viable IED, they all showed extreme courage and I am very glad that I will be able to personally thank them when they come to Westminster in the summer.

I was also impressed with the local Rapid Relief Team, a group of volunteers who step up during times of need. I noticed them helping our firefighters with hot drinks and food during the terrible Osborne View fire in Hill Head and met them to find out more about the work they do, from food parcels and care packages to help the homeless to sending 4 million meals to Ukraine.  What an incredible organisation!

I would like to celebrate the achievements of our amazing health staff and organisations too. To that end, I am calling for nominations for individuals or teams who have innovated and made a real difference to how the NHS cares for patients. You can find out more here. The deadline for submissions is 19^th of April, so don’t miss out and ensure your ideas are heard by emailing me at [email protected]. Last year, my nomination “Pets as Therapy” proved to be a very popular winner in the Volunteer category, as some of the four-legged members of the team went up to receive their prize.

Towards the end of the month, I welcomed the Minister for Disabled People, Mims Davis MP, to Gosport. I invited the Minister to visit the Gosport Job Centre Plus, one of the eleven Health Model Offices (HMOs) across the UK and hear more about the additional assistance the team provide to claimants with complex needs.

Some of you may be aware that March also saw English Tourism Week. To celebrate the occasion, I visited the National Museum of the Royal Navy’s Night Hunters at the new Coastal Forces Museum by Explosion! in Priddy’s Hard. I also took the opportunity to catch up with Hannah Prowse from Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, who own the site, to hear about their plans for an Artist’s Quarter. Together we visited a couple of the talented artisans who have already made their home in the old Carpenter’s Square, Port and Lemon and The Antiques Repair Shop.

I couldn’t resist the chance to check out some of the lovely stalls from more of our local creators at Lee High Street Mini Market, and enjoy the sea shanty’s of Lee on the Solent’s very own answer to the Fisherman’s Friends: Rocks N’Groynes!

I met with e-sports students at St Vincent College to see first-hand the whizzy hi-tech facilities on offer and learn about the wide range of exciting career opportunities stemming from this relatively new digital field. Some of the students rank among the best in the UK for their sport and gave me a crash course in Formula One driving - it literally was a ‘crash’ course for me sadly, and it will take a lot more practice before I’m at a remotely acceptable level!

Back in Westminster, I have been raising constituent’s complaints regarding the installation of telegraph poles by toob in parts of Gosport and Stubbington, highlighting the lack of transparent communication from the company. I brought this issue first to the attention of Ofcom and then to the Minister for Data and Digital Infrastructure, Julia Lopez MP. 

I asked Ofcom to urge toob to offer a better complaints response and hold a public meeting to address the questions of those concerned. With the Minister, I discussed the need to tighten existing regulations, to ensure that the interests of residents are well protected. The Minister is looking at ways to clarify the legislation.

As the Chair of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee, I asked the Director-General of the BBC, Tim Davie what changes to BBC local radio and growth of digital news mean for our well trusted existing ecosystem of local print and broadcast media, like The News and our commercial radio stations. 

On BBC Politics South, I had a chance to discuss fast-fashion and so much more - you can still watch it here.

In Parliament, I asked the Minister for Defence Procurement, James Cartlidge MP, for the update on the future of Fort Blockhouse. The site that was marked for disposal no less than 8 years ago still remains unresolved. I urged the Minister to visit the Fort and speed the process of its disposal, as it currently does not bring any benefit to MoD or local residents. 

In other news this month, I welcomed the introduction of the Football Governance Bill that will give more recognition to the voices of football fans and create the much-needed Independent Football Regulator.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman released its report on WASPI women and the State Pension age communications. The Government will carefully consider the findings and respond in due course. Check my socials for more updates on the issue.

Some of you may remember that last year the Chancellor announced the biggest investment in childcare in England’s history with the decision to provide 30 free hours of childcare for children of working parents from nine months old to when they go to school. I am glad to say that the first 15 hours of childcare for two-year-olds will be introduced from the 1^st of April. This vital legislation will support hard working parents who are struggling with childcare costs and help to create the much-needed balance between work and family commitments.

The Government announced £200 million funding to strengthen the UK’s nuclear deterrent. This partnership with the private sector will mean at least £763 million of investment in the nuclear sector by 2030, creating 44,000 new jobs.  

Lastly, we heard that the UK has had the fastest growth of any European G7 nation since 2010! Very glad to see that our plan to boost the economy is working, despite all the barriers created by the pandemic and international volatility.

So, that’s it for March! As ever, my team and I are here for any questions, thoughts or concerns you may have. Please do get in touch via [email protected].