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GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome to my South West Surrey update No.170. With defections, pork pie plotters, a dramatic PMQs and an end to the plan B restrictions it has certainly been a big week in Westminster. Today has also been a busy day for the Select Committee and tomorrow I am visiting local businesses in Milford and the surgery in Haslemere.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER

PORK PIE PLOT The apparent plan to force a vote of no confidence in the Prime Minister ([link removed]) this week, so named because the MP for Melton Mowbray was allegedly involved, appears to have crumbled (sorry). There is widespread and understandable anger across the country at the Downing Street party revelations which is shared by MPs. But the general feeling in Westminster is that there will now be a lull until Sue Gray publishes her report, not least because Christian Wakeford’s defection yesterday seems to have persuaded people to close ranks at least for now. As I’ve said before, I can’t defend what went on, but it seems to me that in an argument about following the rules and process then we ought to, well, follow due process. Given the various revelations have tended to drip out one after another we need a definitive and independent account of what happened, when, and under what circumstances. Having worked closely with Sue Gray over many years I
have absolutely no doubt that is what she will do.

PLAN A With case numbers continuing to drop, (the latest show a near 40% decrease in the seven day average ([link removed]) ), admissions declining and the overall number of covid patients in hospital starting to drop ([link removed]) , the Prime Minister was able to announce an end to the Plan B restrictions yesterday ([link removed]) . The booster programme has been a remarkable success (we are more ‘boosted’ than anywhere in Europe and any other large country in the world) and that happened thanks to our brilliant GPs and countless volunteers. As the Health Secretary said yesterday evening though, as long as there are people who haven’t been protected our defences aren’t as strong as they could be ([link removed]) . And as I said to the Prime Minister in my
question we also need more than just warm words to give hope to the many doctors and nurses ([link removed]) who are shattered from working so hard during the pandemic.

HEALTH NEWS Today the Health Select Committee had a session on the cancer backlog, something extremely relevant to South West Surrey where as you know I am campaigning to get a new Cancer and Surgical Innovation Centre built at the Royal Surrey. We all know the key is earlier diagnosis so I asked the Minister whether we really are on track to diagnose three quarters of cancers at stages one or two. ([link removed]) The Select Committee also approved the appointment of the new Chair of NHS England on Tuesday ([link removed]) . Richard Meddings has had an impressive career in financial services but we were concerned about his lack of knowledge on social care. He’s on a steep learning curve but I’m sure will bring an interesting outsider’s perspective to the
NHS. One thing he may want to start thinking about is the role of national targets within the NHS. We use targets more than any other large health system in the world and I have long worried they focus attention on numbers rather than people. I therefore asked the Secretary of State to look closely at the distorting impact targets ([link removed]) can sometimes have on quality and safety of care, something he said he would do.

COVID STATS UPDATE [will be updated later] As of 11am we have had a total of 15,506,750 positive cases of COVID-19 with 151,007 confirmed deaths in the UK. There have been 25,644 confirmed cases in Waverley and sadly 258 confirmed deaths, with an estimated 1,070 active cases in Waverley. In the last week in the UK coronavirus cases are down 37.2%, hospital admissions down 4.9% and deaths up 8.2%.

The key number to remember for anyone with pandemic-related difficulties remains 0300 200 1008 the Surrey Helpline run by Surrey County Council (Mon-Fri 9 am to 5 pm). See my list of local groups working to support vulnerable residents here. ([link removed])

WHAT’S GOING ON IN SOUTH WEST SURREY

ROYAL SURREY PRESSURES I Have been in touch with Chief Executive Louise Stead this morning who says her Covid patients slightly down but it is really hard to get the hospital up to speed as there are still a lot of staff absences and wards are constantly having to be closed down when patients they have admitted subsequently test positive. It is not a situation that will really ease until community cases come down, so we should all continue to do the one thing we can if you have a family member in the hospital, namely to do all you can to help them get home quickly.

SURGERY STORIES A couple of important constituency calls yesterday. The first from a family in Grayswood about some changes in the school transport contract for their disabled child, which have been ongoing since September. I have been liaising with SCC because staffing shortfalls meant the transport company handed their contract back in November, and from January they and other local families have been high and dry. Thankfully we got a message through yesterday morning saying that another company has been found to take over the contract, but the communication from the council has been extremely poor, creating a lot of stress for the families involved. I also spoke to a mother from Farncombe whose daughter has a severe lung condition but has not been put on the list for antivirals should she contract Covid. With a lung condition it would seem a no-brainer that she should be, so I am going to take up the issue with the NHS.

SWR UPDATE I know many parents will be pleased to hear that the 15.47 train from Milford to Godalming/Farncombe has been reinstated. This serves many children who attend Rodborough School and means they will no longer face lengthy waits on dark train platforms this winter. I’m also meeting with Claire Mann, the CEO of SWR, in early March, to continue our discussion about other proposed reductions of peak time trains from Farncombe, Godalming and Haslemere. South West Surrey locals are also being offered cycle health checks ([link removed]) at SWR stations as result of a partnership between SWR's Surrey Hills to South Downs Community Rail Partnership (CRP) and a local bike mechanic. The Cycologist ([link removed]) , Marc Cousins will visit Farncombe, Milford and Godalming stations regularly over coming months where both adult and children’s
bikes will be given health checks free of charge.

SEN STRUGGLES This week I have been part of a wide-ranging discussion with local parents of children with SEN. There are some very real concerns about a range of issues including funding, tribunals and SCC failing to adhere to statutory duties - including a lack of special needs transport as mentioned above. I have therefore decided to host two meetings to try and get to the bottom of these issues. First we will have an informal session with me via Zoom on Thursday 27^th January to discuss these concerns in more detail, and secondly a planned public meeting with senior members of staff within the Children, Families & Lifelong Learning team at SCC. If these are issues you have encountered, please email me at [email protected] and I will send you the meeting log in.

TEEN BOOSTERS Since Monday, all eligible 16- and 17-year-olds can now use the National Booking System to book their boosters, as the fastest vaccination programme in NHS history continues to expand. Invites are being sent out this week encouraging people in this group (about 40,000) to book their appointment through the online booking service ([link removed]) , calling 119, or by finding their nearest walk-in site ([link removed]) as soon as they can. Since the vaccination programme rolled out to this age group in August, more than 889,700 teens – seven in 10 people aged 16 and 17 – have had their first dose ([link removed]) and more than 600,000 in this age group have had their second jab ([link removed]) nationally. Previously, boosters were only
recommended for clinically vulnerable 16 and 17-year-olds who are most at risk from COVID-19, but as we know, recent data from the UKHSA shows that two doses of the vaccine are not enough to stop people becoming unwell from Omicron, but a booster significantly increases protection against the variant.

AND FINALLY…Mr Speaker captures the mood perfectly in his side remark to an aide at the end of Prime Minister’s Questions - ‘What a day’ indeed ([link removed]) .

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