June certainly ended on a brighter note, with a long awaited footballing victory over Germany in the Euros, which means England is marching on to the Quarter Finals of the Tournament.

Tuesday's result in the footie came as much needed light relief after a frustrating June where, like many of you, I was disappointed that the Prime Minister had to confirm a short delay to Step 4 of the Roadmap. Of course, when the route out of lockdown was announced earlier in the year it was made clear that each step would be taken based on 4 tests, yet this delay still came as a blow. However, with the emergence of the Delta variant and a rise in hospitalisations in parts of the country, the Government is cautious, to ensure we save lives and avoid the chaos of another lockdown.

The new Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, has said data on vaccine efficiency so far is looking good and we are on course for greater freedoms on 19th July.

I’m still meeting weekly with the Vaccines Minister, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and NHS England to discuss the rollout and at the last count, in the Gosport Constituency over 65,000 first jabs had been given and 50,000 second doses too – this is such amazing progress and one of our proudest national (and local) triumphs!

I am aware from my meetings however that some local people are yet to come forward for their jab. The COVID-19 vaccine is our route out of this pandemic and is doing a tremendous job at saving lives – so please, when you get the call, do get your vaccine, to help protect yourself, your loved ones and this country from COVID-19. Anyone over 18 can book their vaccination here.

This month I’ve been celebrating both our local Community Business Champions and our fantastic voluntary sector as part of Volunteers Week.

I was overwhelmed to have received around 100 nominations for my Community Business Champions campaign – celebrating the enormous hard work of businesses, and organisations across this Constituency over the past 16 months. To pass on the grateful thanks of the residents who nominated, this month I’ve caught up with a number of the nominees – from Coffee Dude to P&Js Food and many more. Wildly different organisations from a variety of sectors who have all gone the extra mile to support local people and keep their services going in such a difficult time.

It was also so good to catch up with the new team at the Lee Hub - the new name for Lee on the Solent Library. We were all so upset to learn that Hampshire County Council planned to close Lee & Elson Libraries and really hoped that local groups might take up the challenge of running them.

I first met the Lee Hub team last August to discuss their plans to take on the building and offer my support. Thanks to the incredible efforts of an army of local volunteers and to Hampshire County Council for handing over the building and its contents, Lee Hub reopened as a community facility in April. Elson Community Library & Hub is also open and I hope to visit shortly. A remarkable achievement for all of those involved.

To mark Volunteers Week 2021 I asked local volunteers from the Constituency – from organisations such as Acts of Kindness and Gosport Boxing Club - to take over my social media outputs to share their experiences of volunteering and what it has meant to tem. It was interesting to hear so many accounts of selflessness and dedication to our local area and the joy that is derived from it.

I also visited the fantastic team at Gosport Voluntary Action for an update of some of the current programmes they are running locally including VoluntHeroes, their Befriending Service and TogetherNet. They are on the look out more Telephone Befriending volunteers, if you can spare half an hour a week and would like to support people in our community, please do get in touch with them. Alternatively, if you want to volunteer in another role, then you can find lots of opportunities across the constituency through their Go Volunteer programme.

My team and I also joined this year’s Great British Spring Clean when we assisted volunteers from KFC Gosport on their clean-up mission of Stokes Bay!

This month we’ve celebrated Armed Forces Week - when, as a country, we recognise the dedicated service of our service personnel, veterans and cadets, as well as their families. This includes our amazing reservists on Reserves Day, who make up around a sixth of our Armed Forces personnel, balancing their civilian and military lives to protect our country.

Importantly this month we also marked Children’s Hospice Week, a good opportunity to thank organisations like Naomi House & Jacksplace, who support children and young adults with life-limiting and terminal conditions in our region and their families. My mum was one of the original fundraisers who helped to build this wonderful facility back in the 1990's and roped the whole family into her efforts.

(Pictured in 2018)

As Minister for Digital and Culture, I was delighted to have helped secure the Government’s record breaking £2bn Culture Recovery Fund. This has already helped culture, arts and heritage organisations in our area and across the country to survive and protected thousands of jobs. We have now announced the details of the next, £300 million, funding round – I visited the Historic Dockyard with the Secretary of State to see the impact of the funds so far.

It was a great pleasure this month too to visit one of our cultural highlights – the Yellow Edge Gallery on Stoke Road for their exhibition ‘Decoding Braille’. This brilliant and beautiful exhibition was put together by Clarke Reynolds, an extremely talented blind artist from Portsmouth. The artwork wasn’t only eye catching, each piece is effectively a code to be deciphered, entertaining, educational and witty. A super smart way of learning Braille! Although the exhibition ended on 27th June, you can find out more about Clarke's work here.

Also this month, I took part in BBC Politics South and discussed flexible working, vaccination volunteers and the hospitality sector. You can watch the episode here.

Finally, we have two local consultations running that I wanted to bring everyone’s attention to.

Firstly, Fareham Borough Council has launched the next stage of its consultation on the Revised Publication Local Plan 2037. This includes proposals for additional housing at 15 sites, which include land beside Crofton Cemetery and land south of Longfield Avenue. I will be submitting my own views and concerns around road pressure and the importance of protecting the strategic gap. You have until 30 July to make your thoughts heard to Fareham Borough Council here too.

Secondly, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England has published proposals for new electoral arrangements for Gosport Borough Council. They have proposed that 28 councillors should be elected to Gosport Borough Council by reducing the number of electoral wards as well as new ward boundaries across Gosport. The consultation is open until 30th August 2021 here.

Don't forget about the Youth Activities Roundtable taking place this Friday at 4pm. Recently a number of constituents have contacted me regarding activities for young people in our area and how they can help reduce anti-social behaviour. As a result, I’ve set up this event with Councillor Maggie Morgan – Youth Champion, Motiv8, Y Services and the Police, where you can share your ideas and thoughts on what more should and can be done. You can register to attend here.

As ever, my team and I are here to help so if you have any questions or queries, please do email [email protected].

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