GOOD AFTERNOON & welcome to my weekly update no.305

Westminster is gearing up for the Chancellor’s Spring Statement which was supposed to be a quiet affair but looks like it won’t be because she has run out of money. Locally we have a huge gala dinner on Friday to raise money for the Royal Surrey’s new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre. 
 

WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER

NOT A TIME FOR TINKERING  I added my twopennyworth as former Chancellor to flood of advice Rachel Reeves has been getting ahead of her Spring Statement in an article in the Sunday Times. I also spoke about it on LBC. The Autumn budget was a disaster for business but my biggest worry is that if the Chancellor is not bold enough on Wednesday, we will back in the same place later in the year. Getting the adult age welfare bill down to pre-pandemic levels would save £49 billion - a huge amount that would avoid the need for further tax rises/spending cuts and allow more money for defence. And given the pandemic is three years behind us, that does not seem an unreasonable objective for the next five years. It would also be good for business who need to fill over 800,000 vacancies in the economy at the moment.

REFORM THE STATE Rachel Reeves told Sky News that she is confident that she can cut civil servant numbers by 10,000 although the Times reports that this number could actually be as high as 50,000. Either way it is less than the plans I left in place, which were to return the size of the civil service to pre-pandemic levels. Since the pandemic, ONS data shows that the total headcount of the civil service has increased by around 100,000 – a whopping 21% jump - which is surely unfair given the pressures the private sector are going through right now. I spoke about this issue on World at One today with Sarah Montague and also how government departments always try and fend up Treasury requests for savings with ‘bleeding stumps’ - politically impossible suggestions to scare the evil Treasury away. Bridget Philippson’s threat to cancel free meals for infants is a classic of the genre.

NURSING NIGHTMARE Last week, Channel 4 Factcheck revealed that a worrying shortfall existed between the planned and actual number of nurses on wards around England. Most worryingly, it found that a third of neonatal units and maternity services were 10-20% understaffed. I was disappointed as you can see  from this interview with Cathy Newman because I forced the NHS to collect and publish ward staffing levels as part of the government’s response to the Mid Staffs scandal. They stopped doing so after I stepped down - and now perhaps we know why. I increased the number of nurses we train by 25% in 2016 and then doubled them in 2023 as part of a new long term workforce plan so the crucial issue is how we make sure wards are safe as we wait for the new nurses, doctors and midwives to come on stream.
 

AND THERE’S MORE Today I warm to the theme with an article on how to make maternity services safer in a newspaper not known for giving a platform to Conservatives, namely the Guardian. I am concerned that the major upheaval currently going on in the NHS will lead to managers being distracted and more avoidable deaths. A recent report from Imperial College commissioned by the charity I set up, Patient Safety Watch, found that half of our patient safety metrics are trending in the wrong direction. As I say in the article, 37 patients die needlessly each day in the NHS. More positively, if we reached the same maternity safety levels as Sweden, more than 1,000 more babies would live each year.
 

SAVE US FROM SEWAGE On Thursday morning, I asked the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs about the state of sewage leaks by water companies across the UK. In Godalming and Ash, there were over 1400 hours of sewage discharges in 2023, including a shocking 690 hours in the Cranleigh area alone. This is unacceptable. As Chancellor one of my very first decisions was to change the rules so the fines paid by water companies go into cleaning up rivers not back to the Treasury. Last year, Thames Water promised to invest £400m to clean up local rivers by the end of next year so I am trying to find out if, with all their other problems, this money is actually being spent.
 

BEAT BRAIN TUMOURS March is #BrainTumourAwarenessMonth, an issue close to my heart after the death of my predecessor as Culture Secretary and friend Tessa Jowell. Last week I joined MPs from across the political spectrum in signing a letter to the Health Minister to ensure that those affected by brain tumours are not left behind in the government’s upcoming 10-Year Health and Cancer Plans. 
 

WHAT’S GOING ON LOCALLY

UNITARY SUBMISSIONS ARE IN so now it will be up to the Government to choose their preferred option when Waverley and Surrey County Council are abolished. The decision seems to boil down to whether it’s two or three unitaries for Surrey. Surrey itself supports two unitaries whilst some of the LibDem Districts and Boroughs want three. Click here for a very useful summary of Surrey’s position which I support, mainly because I am worried we might not be able to handle Woking’s £2.2bn debt if we end up as part of a small successor authority. There was also more drama following last week’s ‘skewgate’ video by the Lib Dem Leader of Waverley as both he and the CEO came under intense scrutiny across Surrey - here is one example by the R4GV leader in Guildford’s Full council meeting.

NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE Natural England has announced the new ‘Wealdens Heath NNR’ of 2,765 hectares of land including around Godalming and Guildford. The NNR encompasses the fantastic Thursley Common as ‘one of the last remaining fragments of Surrey heathland’ and of course it is also now home to ‘Britain's Best Path’.  Fantastic to see our area getting the national recognition it deserves! Now can we be a National Park?

BROADWATER BLUES Godalming residents continue to contact me frustrated about the lack of progress on the former golf club site which has now stood vacant for over 6 years since it closed. Farncombe resident Steve Farmer recently submitted a 1,500 strong petition to Waverley for a skate park which sounds like a great idea, but he is worried about lack of action. Come on Waverley, residents want to see progress on this one! 
 

ASH MANOR LAY-BY Ash residents and Ash Parish Councillors have contacted me following the news that the lay-by outside Ash Manor school is to be removed as part of a series of improvements. Thanks to Cllr John Tonks and Paul Spooner for flagging - I am raising this with Surrey. 

SHALFORD SPEED REDUCTION A portion of Kings Road will be closed over the Easter school break for a period of two weeks while work to reduce the speed limit to 20 Mph and safety improvements including road tables and road cushions is undertaken. The roadworks are dovetailed in with SGN’s ongoing pipe replacement in the area. I’ve raised residents' concerns with Shalford Cllr Matt Furniss who is working hard to minimise disruption. Worth a trip to the always delicious Snooty Fox soon to see the completed improvements!
 

GO FOR GOLD! Brilliant to see Yaz Hasan becoming Sport Godalming’s first ever Ambassador. Yaz is a Junior International lawn bowler having represented England across the British Isles - she started playing at 8 years old at our very own Godalming & Farncombe Bowls Club. In February this year Yaz was part of the England’s winning Women’s under 25 international squad, beating Wales, Ireland and Scotland in their path to become Champions. Go Yaz! She is galvanising support for the brilliant Sport Godalming which supports and promotes sport locally.
 

ROLL UP ROLL UP for the superb online auction as part of Friday’s gala dinner to raise funds for the new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre fundraising campaign. Thanks to the unstoppable Judith Storey, tickets for the dinner have now sold out but you can bid (using the link) for some incredible prizes including a London hotel stay with afternoon tea at the Ritz, one off handmade jewellery, tickets for Henley Regatta including Michelin star dining, a golf and spa break for two at the K Club, Ireland, two Nights at the famous Lygon Arms in the Cotswolds and four ball golf sessions at Hindhead and Hankley common golf clubs. 
 

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AND FINALLY… Volcano alert - anyone planning on taking a trip to Mont Spurr Alaska might want to rethink after signs the stratovolcano may erupt ‘within weeks’. But good news on the quake front: Santorini has now been declared safe once more for tourists following a series of minor quakes in February - may the holiday season commence!