The summer holidays are now upon us and Parliament is in Recess which means MPs will be back working from their constituencies over the next few weeks.

This month we have entered Step 4 of our roadmap and, while I know there are some mixed feelings about this, ultimately it is important to start the move away from legal enforcements and towards personal responsibility. Of course, it's also imperative that we move into this next phase with caution.

It’s also key that businesses are also supported to bounce back from the pandemic and across the Solent area there are some fantastic development opportunities via the Solent LEP, YTKO and LoCASE. These support a wide range of schemes - from developing a business plan, to becoming more digitally literate and environmentally friendly. Solent businesses can find out more by visiting these organisations online.

In another boost for our local area, it was great to join the launch of Fareham College’s Digital Employers Group at a Digital Forum event earlier this month.

T Levels are a great option for post 16 students and it was interesting to hear about the partnerships being forged between the college & employers to help provide work placements and how they boost career prospects.

I’ve been out and about this month visiting many organisations as our society and economy reopens. Firstly, I rounded off my Gosport Community Champions campaign with a visit to Premier on Wych Lane, where award winning shop owners Supriya & Imtiyaz and their team received a whopping 47 nominations from local residents. They join the fantastic cast list of all the other champions nominated by people in our area.

Not only do we have some amazing businesses across the Constituency but we also have lots of great organisations who joined me for a really useful roundtable to discuss activities for young people across Gosport. It was great to have Gosport Borough Council, Gosport Police, Motiv8, Y Services for Young People and others sharing what’s available and giving people the chance to make suggestions & raise concerns. Don’t forget you can find a number of activities and events that are happening over the summer holidays here.

On the subject of exciting summer activities, despite my previous sailing experience being limited to competent crew course some years ago, I took up the opportunity to see our coastline from a new direction joining local company Clipper Ventures for Round The Island Race 2021.

Leaving Gosport Marina at around 4.30, with the help of expert skipper Sir Robin Knox Johnson it was a pleasure to be a part of this iconic yacht race!

As regular readers may know, I formed the Gosport Taskforce to discuss the futures of some of the Government-owned sites in our local area which have been earmarked for disposal. This month, I met with the Prisons Minister to discuss Haslar IRC which has been closed now for 5 years. I was keen to push for some progress on this and I hope there will be more news in the coming months.

I also met Kent Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Neil Jerome to be updated on the work of Operation Magenta which is investigating the historic deaths that took place at Gosport War Memorial Hospital. I have long supported families’ calls for access to the truth of what happened to their loved ones. The current investigation is the most complex of its type in the country - now looking at over 700 deaths over a ten year period 20-30 years ago.

I also headed to Hornet Services Sailing Club to see the work that they are undertaking on the former Police Barracks. Earlier this year, they were awarded a grant of £399,983 from Historic England, for the restoration work to bring the building back into use. It was great to meet Arty and the team and see how the site is progressing. They hope to complete the works by November.

Keeping with the historical restorations theme, it was great to meet David from Elite Homes to learn about their ground-breaking work in The Ordnance Yard at Priddy’s Hard. David and his team are building low/zero carbon homes with the latest technology within a Heritage site of National Importance. It was great to see such leading edge sustainable building technology coming to life in Gosport, providing new jobs and new skills for local people alongside the delivery of affordable housing.

I also met with the Means Consultancy to learn more about their work on the Gosport Cultural Strategy, which has been commissioned by Gosport Borough Council, Hampshire Museums Trust and the Arts Council. It is reassuring to hear how they have been talking to creatives, organisations and communities right across the Borough to help them develop a 10 year roadmap for the expansion of arts and cultural activities within Gosport.

It was a pleasure too to launch the #gosportarians Summer fete and dog show in Walpole Park.

With entertainment from the lovely Gosport Shed ‘Travelling Shedders’ band and lots of adorable pooches.

This weekend it was an honour to be invited to unveil the “Unknown Tommy” silhouette in Cockleshell Square at a beautiful event funded and organised by Pavilions Gosport Neighbourhood Watch members. I was joined by Deputy Mayor of Gosport Zoe Huggins & representatives from the 17th Port & Maritime Regiment, who have strong historic links to the St George Barracks & the Freedom of Gosport. As well as a Brass Quintet from the HMS Collingwood Volunteer Band.

To celebrate our local area this month we marked Hampshire Day on 15th July and had the Hants flag flying high over Parliament to put our mark on County Flags Day on 23rd.

On the subject of celebrations our phenomenal England team gave us all something to be proud of in getting us through to the finals of the 2020 Euros for the first time. I was lucky enough to have been at Wembley for our historic win against Denmark at the semi-finals, and although football did not quite make it all the way home, I’m sure we were all so proud of the team who gave us a much needed national morale boost!

Eventually, Italy were the victors of the 2020 Euros and at the end of month I headed to Rome with my ministerial hat on to represent the UK at the first historic G20 Culture Ministers Summit. This meeting, which kicked off in the iconic setting of the Colesseum, delivered a historic Rome Declaration, a 32-point document which inserts the cultural sector within the G20 process for the first time and recognises its economic value.

While it might seem like COVID-19 has dominated the agenda, the Government has not stopped delivering on the priorities of people in our local area. Just this month the Government has brought forward a huge number of strategies to tackle some serious problems, including:

A much-needed strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.
A new hospitality plan to support pubs, bars and restaurants to build back stronger from the pandemic.
A new High Streets Strategy to unlock work and leisure opportunities to level-up our communities.
A new National Disability Strategy - which includes 100 immediate commitments and £300m to support young people with special educational needs and disabilities in schools.

It’s fantastic to hear too that the Government have announced – nearly two years into the recruitment programme – almost 10,000 additional police officers have been recruited across England and Wales.

This includes 365 new officers in Hampshire, which brings our total police headcount up to 3,186.

This means we are nearly halfway to delivering on our promise to recruit an extra 20,000 new officers nationally by 2023.

Looking ahead, while winter may seem a long way away, the Government is preparing now by announcing the biggest flu programme in our history. In addition, several studies into the effect of long-covid aim to push our understanding and work to support those affected.

Finally, there are a number of events taking place locally following the easing of restrictions including Summer in Lee and Gosport’s Award winning Summer Passport Scheme for the youngsters.

Please enjoy the summer safely and I look forward to speaking to you again next time.

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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