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GOOD AFTERNOON and welcome to my South West Surrey update No.182. It is the final day of this Parliamentary session before the Queen’s Speech on 10th May so we have been doing a few late nights to get legislation through before the break.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN WESTMINSTER

HEALTH BILL The health and care bill has now become law and it has lots of things that NHS bodies believe will really help them deliver better, more joined up care. But very frustratingly the government once again voted down a workforce amendment supported by me and over 100 other NHS organisations to make sure we are training enough doctors and nurses. If you follow this issue (and want to see how painful it is for a natural loyalist like me to take on the government) check out my three minute speech to the House of Commons on Monday ([link removed]) where I made a last ditch attempt to get a change of heart. I won’t be giving up on this!

PORN SHAME The latest allegations about an MP watching porn on his phone in the chamber - coming on top of the Angela Rayner story - are very disappointing to every sensible MP. I have to say my personal experience of the House of Commons is much better than this - indeed lots of you emailed me to say that last week’s debate on whether the PM should be referred to the Privileges Committee ([link removed]) was an example of parliament at its best. But the fact that it has been male-dominated for so long means the culture is still not where it should be and it is totally unacceptable that female MPs should have to deal with such disgusting behaviour. Thankfully the number of female MPs is going up (35% currently) so things are starting to change.

UKRAINE The Defence Secretary gave a useful update on the situation in Ukraine to the House of Commons on Monday ([link removed]) and the Foreign Secretary made a powerful speech yesterday ([link removed]) about the next steps with Ukraine. So far the UK has provided 5,000 anti-tank missiles, five air defence systems with more than 100 missiles, 1,360 anti-structure munitions, and 4.5 tonnes of plastic explosive. We have doubled the number of defensive personnel in Estonia, sent military personnel to support Lithuania, deployed hundreds of Royal Marines to Poland, and sent offshore vessels and Navy destroyers to the eastern Mediterranean. The question is what next? Listen to this fascinating interview on the Today programme ([link removed]) with
Former NATO commander General Sir Richard Sherriff (1 min 13 in) about the need for strategic clarity about what we are aiming for.

CHANNEL 4 The government has published its plans to privatise Channel 4 ([link removed]) . As I’ve told many of you who have been in touch about this, this isn’t something I’m in favour of for the good old Conservative reason that I believe in competition and when it comes to public service broadcasting it is one of the most important competitors to the BBC, helping to drive up the quality, originality and quirkiness of all TV. Not that Channel 4 is perfect but do we really need a me-too ITV?

COVID UPDATE The ONS has a further decrease in cases in England ([link removed]) as in the week ending 16th April 1 in 17 people had the virus compared to 1 in 14 in the previous week. [update tomorrow] As of 11am the Covid dashboard shows that we have had a total of 22,011,920 positive cases of COVID-19 with 174,448 confirmed deaths in the UK. There have been 41,526 confirmed cases in Waverley and sadly 320 confirmed deaths, with an estimated 289 active cases in Waverley. In the last 7 days cases are down 30%, hospitalisations down 14% but deaths up 54%.

That key number is 0300 200 1008 for anyone with pandemic related difficulties. Also please check out my full list of local groups ([link removed]) working to support vulnerable residents.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN SOUTH WEST SURREY

SURGERY STORIES Some interesting calls this week starting with a mum of two autistic children who have been out of school for eight months. She’s hoping to be able to get them into the brilliant Ridgeway school in Farnham so I’ll raise her case with Surrey’s Children’s Services Director, Rachel Wardell who I am seeing next week. I also caught up with Rob Fairbanks, who runs the Surrey Hills AONB, about our campaign to expand the area it covers and had a good discussion with John Goodridge from the local CPRE about planning issues.

FARNHAM SCHOOLS One of the most useful local forums I attend is a regular meeting with Farnham school heads - a pandemic innovation which now continues thanks to Zoom. Following our last meeting I had written to the Education Secretary about social care staff shortages and he replied arguing there has been a 4000 increase in the number of social workers over the last four years nationally (although he did recognise that this might not be feeding through evenly across the country.) I will go back to him on whether more support can be offered to higher cost areas like ours where it is genuinely difficult to attract staff to live. Continuity of support is affected because high staff turnover means families end up with a succession of helpers rather than one person who they can build a relationship with over time. Increasing costs is also affecting our schools - with one seeing its heating bill rise from £13k to £30k and another from £14k to £42k. They also aren’t receiving any additional
financial support for the Ukrainian children who have started with them and having to absorb all of this in school budgets which ultimately means less money to employ staff. These discussions though are more than just talking shops: following a previous forum I raised the issue of schools having to use private, often poor quality, tutoring companies to deliver covid catch up learning. That has now been scrapped and school heads now have much more flexibility as to how to use those funds to get the best results for their children.

WRECCLESHAM BRIDGE WOES I caught up with Matt Furniss, Portfolio holder for Highways at Surrey County Council on Wrecclesham Bridge: despite a succession of measures to try to address the issue of lorries crashing into the railway bridge at the bottom of Wrecclesham Hill (including new signs) we are still getting regular incidents. I want to look into the feasibility of a width restriction which would make it impossible for lorries to actually get to the bridge but that can only be done if there is space for a turning circle ahead of the restriction. I will also write to Surrey Police to ask them to prosecute drivers who crash into the bridge, and speak with Grant Shapps and the Road Haulage Association to ask for help to ensure that lorry drivers only use the commercial satnavs that tell them where lorries as opposed to cars are allowed to go. Matt has agreed to do a speed test on Wrecclesham Hill to see whether there is enough speeding to justify average speed cameras, something that has
been proposed and rejected in the past but I still strongly support.

CHIDD CELEBRATIONS And after a long, long campaign Matt Furniss also confirmed that Chiddingfold will be getting an average speed check camera along the Petworth Road in the next financial year which is excellent news. I also asked him about a request from the Parish Council to be able to cut verges and fill in potholes themselves - no problem with the former but a liability issue with the latter means it is not possible.

RIVER POLLUTION To prevent river pollution I want to ban plastics in wet wipes - but did you know many ordinary tea bags also contain plastic? Norma Corkish and the team at Farnham Rotary ([link removed]) are highlighting the tea bags that do and don't contain plastic to encourage people to shop environmentally. Well done PG Tips for eliminating all plastic - and Waitrose Essential range should know better!

AND FINALLY Yours truly has finally picked up an honour! I’ve officially been sanctioned by the Russian Government ([link removed]) as one of 287 MPs and former MPs who apparently played an active role in ‘whipping up anti-Russian sentiment.’ Drat will have to cancel that long awaited vodka and caviar trip to Moscow…

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Promoted by Sean Donovan-Smith on behalf of Jeremy Hunt MP and South West Surrey Conservatives, all at 2 Royal Parade, Tilford Road, Hindhead, Surrey GU26 6TD.

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