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[Caroline Dinenage MP]

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This month has seen a wide range of events in the political calendar, from the local elections, to the State Opening of Parliament, it has certainly been a busy one on all fronts.

As I write, Queen’s Platinum Jubilee fever is beginning to break out in Gosport, Lee on the Solent, Stubbington and Hill Head, with the red, white and blue flags springing up everywhere and a buzz of excitement for the festivities of the weekend ahead. It’s impossible to overstate the love and respect in our community for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth. This Platinum Jubilee she becomes the longest serving monarch in the world, a role she has always done with the utmost dedication and duty. What a remarkable Platinum Jubilee weekend this will be!

I received over 1000 entries for my Jubilee Bunting Competition and I had great fun looking through them all to pick a winner from each school! The bunting will be displayed outside my office as part of Stoke Road’s Jubilee Celebrations on Saturday 4th June, with the winning designs on a table outside. You can find out more about the Jubilee event [here]([link removed]).

This month, I visited Woodcot Primary School in Bridgemary, where I saw everyone, from Early Years to Year Six, in action and learnt more about the exciting new partnership with the University of Portsmouth Academy Trust.

I was also invited to cut the ribbon to open [C2U]([link removed])– a community hub providing support for veterans, homeless and vulnerable people – something that will be invaluable to our local area.

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I visited the Victoria Quay – just 18 months after purchasing the disused part of Royal Clarence Yard from the MoD, it is going great guns! Already 11 maritime and marine businesses have located there, employing over 50 people. It was great to meet some of them, like Marine Rigging Services, who now occupy the old Queen Victoria’s Station building. Find out more [here]([link removed]).

I had a chance to meet with local charity, [Hub4Stuff]([link removed]), at Bridgemary Church.

They take furniture donations to share with local people in need.

They also repurpose and upcycle old furniture, giving a new lease of life to pre-loved furniture and household items - preventing them ending up in landfill.

I also had the privilege to judge the Gosport is Great Competition – a literacy and photographic competition that aims to increase the positivity and visibility of Gosport’s heritage.

There were some really fantastic entries and it was certainly a tough call to choose a winner!

You can see the winning images from all the categories at Gosport Discovery Centre.

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It was also great to meet with QinetiQ - a major employer in Gosport, whose cutting edge scientific work does so much to deliver military excellence and keep our armed forces safe.

Earlier in the month, I also met with Molly, a Mechanical Engineering apprentice at QinetiQ Gosport at the Aviation and Defence Industry Apprenticeship event in Parliament. Apprenticeships offer a fab way to get hands-on, quality experience while learning and help deliver really high value careers, so it was great to hear all about Molly’s positive experience.

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This month I caught up with the Gosport Borough Council officials who are drawing up the plans for our local bid for Levelling Up Funding. I also had one of my six monthly meetings with Hampshire County Council Education Team, where we go through all the schools in our local area and see what can be done to drive improvement. Over the many years we have been having this regular catch up we have seen a huge improvement in school standards.

The Local Elections were a mixed bag. I was delighted to welcome Jacquie Needham as the new Conservative Councillor to Stubbington. However, in Gosport a number of excellent Conservative colleagues lost their seats and overall control of the Council, which will now be run by the Lib Dems. Clearly, my role as MP means working closely with all Council colleagues regardless of politics, so I look forward to my first formal meeting with the new Leader of Gosport Borough Council, we have lots to discuss.

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As many of you will be aware, I have supported Sophie’s Legacy, in memory of Sophie Fairall from Stubbington, through Debates and Questions in the House of Commons on Childhood Cancer Outcomes. It was lovely to see so much community support for Sophie's Legacy Charity Football Match this month at Gosport Borough Football Club, where Sophie's Allstars took on the Pompey Legends. I went along with my family to support the event - which was a complete sell-out! Huge congratulations to all those involved in organising such a successful fundraiser and thanks to everyone who bought tickets for this vital cause. You can support Sophie’s Legacy and keep up to date with their work at [link removed]

My husband, Mark Lancaster, was so inspired that he raised this extremely important issue in the House of Lords, asking the Department of Health and Social Care Minister, Lord Kamall, for the Government’s 10-year Cancer Plan to prioritise childhood cancer outcomes. [Watch this here]([link removed]).

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Great news, the long awaited Stubbington Bypass opened on 30th May and I was delighted to attend a celebration event with Department for Transport Minister, Baroness Vere. After 12 years of campaigning & working with Hampshire County Council and partners to secure the funding for the new Gosport access road, it is wonderful to see it completed. The £42m Stubbington Bypass could take at least half of the daily 25,000 vehicles out of Stubbington Village. And, while there’s no silver bullet to reducing journey times on the Gosport peninsula, is just part of over £100m invested into improving access and removing barriers to growth and investment. Watch my video [here]([link removed]).

I also had a chance to take a trip along the new Gosport BRT extension on one of the 20 brand new low emission Eclipse buses that have gone into action this week.

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In Westminster this month, I was very proud to speak at the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training in Learning Disability & Autism Stakeholder Forum. I started this work when I was Care Minister 2018-20 in response to the LEDER report into deaths to people with learning disabilities. I was deeply affected by meeting Paula McGowan, whose autistic son, Oliver, tragically died, aged just 18, having been given psychotropic medicine, against his will, that he was allergic to.

As a result of this campaign, all health & care staff will now receive mandatory training in autism and learning disabilities. It’s been a long process but it has finally reached the end of the pilot and evaluation and is now enshrined in law.

It was Dementia Action Week this month and I hosted an event with Laurence Geller to raise awareness on the signs and symptoms of Dementia and the importance of early diagnosis. Support, guidance and more information on this can be found [here]([link removed]).

I attended the L’Oreal-UNESCO For Women in Science: Breakfast Roundtable, where we discussed the gender gap in STEM, why it matters and the barriers women face in pursuing a career in STEM subjects. We discussed access to education, industry and employment, and policies and solutions.

It was also good to meet Paula from [Salute Her Uk]([link removed]) the only dedicated charity for female veterans, offering trauma therapy and support for those in significant distress.

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Along with a number of other Hampshire MP’s I met with the Chief Executive of Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Ron Shields.

The Trust provides mental health and community care to the whole of Hampshire and it was a good opportunity to raise our constituents concerns.

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Every branch of HSBC now has a ‘safe space’. If you are a victim of Domestic Abuse, you can go into any HSBC branch and ask for a safe and discrete space to reach out to friends and family, contact specialist support services, phone a helpline and start your journey to recovery. I went to visit staff at HSBC in Gosport to discuss this important offer.

On BBC Radio Solent I spoke about the inequality of access for IVF treatment. Despite NICE guidelines recommending the IVF age limit for treatment as 40, 6 of the 106 Clinical Commissioning Groups in England limit the age to 35 years. Two out of six of these are in Hampshire - meaning women in our region are unfairly impacted. I recently met with the Health Secretary to discuss this and will keep pushing for this to be addressed in the forthcoming Women’s Health Strategy. You can [listen to my interview]([link removed]).

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At the beginning of the month the Queen’s Speech announced 38 new bills that will help the Gosport Constituency create equal opportunities through tackling out priorities.

- Growing the economy to tackle the cost of living
- Backing our police to make streets safer
- Building an affordable, secure energy supply
- Putting patients at the centre of mental health services
- Enabling communities to drive local growth and regeneration
- Raising educational standards for both schools and higher education
- Ensuring better quality homes
- Modernising business rates to increase fairness for business owners
- Improving cyber resilience and digital connectivity across the UK.

You can read the full Queen’s Speech [here]([link removed]).

Although extremely comprehensive, I [spoke in the Queen’s Speech debate]([link removed]) to ask the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy when the UK Government is going to legislate for the promised Carers Leave.

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I was pleased to hear the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP’s, announcement of a further £15 billion in cost of living support for families.
Despite the £22 billion in support that has already been announced, I know that many of my constituents are worried about the pressures that lie ahead. We know the Government can’t protect households from the full impact of the global economic pressures, however this timely announcement has provided much needed reassurance to many. This package equates to £1,200 in support for those on the lowest incomes – around one-third of all households.
Further information about the support available can be found on my [website]([link removed]). Alternatively, if you have any further queries then please don’t hesitate to contact me.

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Other announcements included:

- The Diving Museum has been awarded £237,120 from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Capital Investment Programme which helps organisations across England upgrade buildings and equipment, improve access, take advantage of new technology and reduce environmental impact.
- The Government is [freezing prescription charges]([link removed]) this year to help ease cost of living pressures.
- The Government [announced]([link removed]) that a typical secondary school will receive over £60,000 next year as part of the Government’s education recovery funding - up from around £30,000 this year.

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This month the long awaited Sue Gray Report into events at Downing Street during the Pandemic was published. While, in my view, the latest report didn’t reveal anything new, I found it deeply uncomfortable to read in black and white about the culture in Downing Street, the sense of entitlement and arrogance of some of those who worked there. In particular, the lack of respect shown to some of the cleaning and security staff - something I find utterly unacceptable.

While I understand that this is not behavior that was directly condoned or encouraged by the Prime Minister, I feel that those at the top of any organisation must take responsibility for the culture that is permitted to pervade.

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As always, if you need any assistance or have any thoughts on how we could improve our service, please contact my team and I at [email protected].

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Caroline Dinenage MP
167 Stoke Road
Gosport
PO12 1SE
[email protected]

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