GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome to my South West Surrey update No.163. Needless to say it has been a very busy week in Westminster with the new Health and Care Bill, the migrant crisis and an interesting new twist with the pandemic. The boring bit: if you know a neighbour who might like to receive this email, please forward it on! They can sign up here to receive them and of course, can unsubscribe at any time.
PANDEMIC UPDATE As of 11 am this morning, we have had a total of 9,974,843 positive cases of COVID-19 with 144,286 confirmed deaths in the UK. There have been 15,267 confirmed cases in Waverley and sadly 249 confirmed deaths, with an estimated 785 active cases in Waverley. In the last week the UK coronavirus cases are up 11.1%, hospital admissions down 11.6% and deaths down 9.4%. Data seems to be pointing in different directions as population data is showing a small improvement - 1 in 65 people vs 1 in 60 the week before. With further lockdown restrictions once again in Austria and other parts of Europe, we are all now wondering if we will be OK here or not. Freedom Day in July may actually have helped boost natural immunity and alongside the biggest booster programme in Europe we do still appear to have a good chance of a normal Christmas. Worth reading this analysis by Tom Whipple in the Times today which says we are closer to the end of the pandemic than anywhere else in Europe.
Don’t forget to call 0300 200 1008 the Surrey Helpline run by Surrey County Council (Mon-Fri 9 am to 5 pm) if you have any pandemic-related difficulties. See my list of local groups working to support vulnerable residents here.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER
NHS SHORT-STAFFING SOLUTION REJECTED I generally try to be positive in these emails but I must confess to being very disappointed on Tuesday when the government decided to vote down my NHS workforce amendment in the new Health Bill for completely inexplicable reasons. The government majority would have been down to just 15 if the SNP had supported it (which initially they said they would) and despite heavy whipping, 18 Conservatives supported it and 61 abstained. All the amendment did was require the Secretary of State to publish independent workforce projections and training requirements every two years - which would have meant we could have been sure we were training enough new staff. Given the workforce crisis (including shortages in every specialty) is the No 1 issue in the NHS (and a major threat to patient safety), it was disappointing to say the least. In my speech I argued that not only do we owe this to frontline staff who are under huge pressure but also that it would actually save money for the NHS by reducing the locum bill. We had great support from 50 NHS Organisations, every Royal College, the BMA, opposition parties and 6 Select Committee chairs. I now hope that it will be put into the Bill by the Lords – and that the government thinks again before voting it down a second time. You can also hear my explanation of the measure in this Today programme interview (speaking from 2.12.30) and see my explanation of what happened in my Herald column this week.
NOT ALL BAD NEWS as on the other hand there were plenty of good other things in the Bill. My amendment allowing Ofsted-style inspections of the new integrated care boards was accepted by the government. ICBs will run the NHS in each area and have never been properly accountable and having introduced Ofsted-style ratings for hospitals I think they will work. New clauses 21 and 22, which I also signed, were measures to prohibit virginity testing and hymenoplasty– two abhorrent practices - which the government also accepted.
SOCIAL CAREAMENDMENT Three steps forward two steps back with the government’s social care amendment. The new measures mean a cap of care costs of £86k and support for anyone whose assets fall below £100k which is far better that the current £23k - but the way the cap is calculated is less progressive than the original Dilnot plans so I decided to abstain. The real issue in social care is not the cap but inadequate funding for local authorities and a workforce crisis (which the Health Foundation says somehow needs to expand by 55% before 2030.
MIGRANT CROSSINGS Yesterday there were some very upsetting reports of people drowning in the Channel as they were headed for the UK. More cooperation needed between the UK and France - and a reminder that however many misunderstandings there are between us as close neighbours we have to work together. Let’s hope it is sorted out before the tragedy repeats itself.
WHAT’S GOING ON IN SOUTH WEST SURREY
CLIMATE CHANGE YOUNG CAMPAIGNERS Last Friday was a particularly busy constituency day for me, but with some wonderful moments. It started with a brilliant visit to St Peter's School in Wrecclesham, where I listened to the climate change projects being done by a number of children and then answered questions on COP26. Inspiring, but the children of Farnham kept me on my toes with their questions!
Sticking with the schools theme, I then had a planning meeting for next year’s Surrey Para Games, which we had to postpone from last year because of the pandemic. It’s become one of the key disability sports events in Surrey since Larry Sullivan and I started with the ever extraordinary Rachel Morris in Godalming after the London 2012 Games. This year we plan to refocus the event away from simply a sports day (fun though that is) to an event that leads to a measurable increase in the number of disabled children who do weekly sport. It is a big challenge because of logistics but we are up for it - and it is what we always planned for the event to do.
MILFORD AND GODALMING I also met a group of councillors and officials from Surrey & Waverley to discuss concerns about the mini roundabout on the A3100 going through Milford. It can already get backed up, but there’s a real worry about what will happen if/when new developments at Secretts and Milford Golf Club mean an extra 480 houses. The outcome was that Surrey & Waverley have agreed to put together a strategic traffic plan for Milford based on the anticipated increases in traffic. Afterwards, I met some Godalming residents to discuss plans to put a cycleway along the Lammas Lands. The concern, as ever, is flooding. The path where the cycle route is planned, had 16 flood alerts and one flood warning in the last year alone and there was a concern that, as well as being flooded itself, paving 3-4 metres wide would increase the risk of surface water flowing into the river and therefore the flood risk. The key question is whether a transport scheme (as opposed to leisure cycling) should happen in such a vulnerable area, so I will be writing to Waverley to express my concerns about the route.
HASLEMERE DOOR KNOCKING Finally, I spent time visiting Haslemere residents, mainly in Shottermill and Critchmere. I discussed a wide variety of issues including securing the water supply from Thames Water; the changing of the neighbourhood plan to exclude Scotland Lane from the settlement boundary, thus making a development on the Royal School Junior site more likely. I also heard concerns about increases in the cost of living in an already expensive area, the difficulty of getting around without a car and the lack of banks. I picked up a range of traffic concerns too, including about the hairy junction between Critchmere Hill and the Hindhead Road and concerns that it was necessary to travel to Midhurst for a booster jab. All of these issues will be picked up and dealt with appropriately.
BINSCOMBE PUBLIC MEETING At the very end of the day, I also held a public meeting about drug dealing issues after being approached by several Binscombe residents about drug dealing. Waverley Borough Commander, Inspector Sam Adcock attended along with Waverley Neighbourhood PC Chris Skillicorn-Aston. Conservative, Labour and LibDem councillors also attended. On the core drugs issue, the police confirmed that their reported data didn’t show any higher levels of drug dealing in Binscombe than other areas, but following the meeting they found there were incidents that people had not reported which they are now investigating. This then led to a wider discussion about the difficulties of reporting crime via 101 and there was also frustration at the closure of the police desk in the Waverley Borough Council’s offices. Inspector Adcock did not pretend the difficulties with 101 do not exist, but said there are alternatives (detailed below). Other issues covered included ASB, not feeling safe at night and a feeling that lower level crimes are not being sufficiently investigated, including assaults.
Overall, police numbers are going up - we will be getting 100 more police officers in Surrey by 2023, mainly thanks to Boris’ pledge of 20,000 more police officers nationally. In Waverley there is a response team for 999 calls including 1 sergeant and 6-7 officers at any one time, along with a neighbourhood team which has increased from 2 to 7 officers (and is going up by a further 2)! Even though Waverley is one of the safest areas of the country to live in, there were clearly concerns that low-level crime is not being investigated, so it was a good opportunity for Inspector Adcock to address those concerns. As she stressed, the public also have a responsibility to report crime, and the more people that report an incident, the more likely it is to be investigated.
POLICE CONTACTS Please call 999 if a serious offence is in progress or has just been committed, someone is in immediate danger or harm, property is in danger of being damaged or a serious disruption to the public is likely. For all queries and non-emergencies, you can call 101, report online here, use the Surrey Police online live chat facility or private message Surrey Police on Facebook and/or Twitter. All of the above contact methods are monitored by Surrey Police contact centre staff 24/7.
SURGERY STORIES Yesterday I spoke to a lady from Farnham who is a single mum with four children, two of whom have ADHD, about the need to improve awareness and training of teachers when it comes to such children, known as 'neuro-divergent.' They need knowledge of the fact that it is how they are rather than a disease to be cured, and that, for example, such children can find it difficult to sit still for long periods of time. She also talked about the long waiting times for referrals for adults with ADHD. I said I would talk to Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi about the issue. I also spoke to a man from Rushmoor about the importance of new cycle routes to boost sustainable travel, particularly for getting into Farnham where there are numerous gates that make cycling hard on the North Downs Way or the Greensand Way (although of course any changes must be made in a way that respects local wildlife and walkers.) I said I would contact the cycling minister Chris Heaton-Harris to ask what the government plans.
AND FINALLY… What gives life meaning? Everyone says 'family', but compared to other countries the British are almost the only ones to add 'hobbies.' Made me remember fondly my latin dancing days...
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