The best April Fool of the day goes to Rory Stewart who tweeted that he had been appointed No10’s Director of Communications. I have a lot of time for Rory and he is much missed in Parliament.
Again, the week was dominated by events in Ukraine and I attended a briefing from the Chief of Defence Staff in Committee Room 10, an appropriate room if you look at the picture behind him.
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin was talking about how the war in Ukraine is a challenge to the whole world order rather than just Ukraine as countries realign their loyalties once again. It is good to see the international community coming together although Russian tactics are to divide and conquer so I hope that we can stiffen the resolve of all countries to combat this aggression.
We continue to be seen by Ukraine as their No 1 ally as we sent more lethal and humanitarian aid. It is increasingly clear that Russia has many defects in its strategy and armed forces but there is still a huge fear that President Putin may start using even more destructive weapons.
The Home Office continues to process visas for Ukrainians who do not have family members here. 65,000 applications have been received. As of yesterday, just under 25,000 visas for family members have been issued and 4,700 for non-family members under the Ukraine Sponsorship Scheme.
We do need to security check people, although I know it is frustrating for many people who are looking to take in families.
The Skills and Post-16 Education Bill and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill went through a further stage in Parliament on Monday and will soon receive Royal Assent. We are working our way to deliver on our manifesto despite all the unexpected challenges such as covid and the Ukraine war.
We also welcomed the Afghan Women and Girls Development Football Team to Westminster on Tuesday. It had played a match against the Parliamentary team in the morning and was shown around Parliament. Having escaped through Pakistan, the team is based in Bradford and it was lovely to see the enthusiasm even though some of them had to leave their families behind in Afghanistan. In the evening we had dinner for the Parliamentary party. This was the first occasion that we had all got together since elected in 2019 and was a subdued event but a good opportunity for newer MPs to get to know more established MPs.
I chaired a virtual meeting with Yemeni women (in Yemen) to talk about what we could do to move the peace negotiations forward. One of the interesting comments was that when women start to become successful or are putting ideas into place, the men feel threatened and are excluding them from discussions. It is interesting how far we have come since women got the vote in the UK.
I believe that what women say in Parliament is now valued as much as men but I am sure there are pockets where women still feel that they are not heard. Bangladeshi women in Portsmouth told me that they felt the same challenge from men when they started up groups but I suspect that will change over time.
The situation in Yemen continues to be appalling and it is very much a forgotten war now overshadowed by Afghanistan and Ukraine. The Yemeni women were very keen to stress that aid given must be flexible so that people on the ground can use it effectively rather than being directed by those outside. This is very much the case in Ukraine too where they have asked for money rather than goods so they can use it wisely and in the right place.
On Wednesday, the Ockenden report was published concerning maternity care at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital. It was appalling to see 20 years of tragedies detailed that were mostly preventable. I was particularly angered by the fact that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) only called it inadequate in 2018. What is the point of having an inspection regime if it doesn’t pick up on issues?
I was reassured by the Secretary of State that systems are changing following my question in the Chamber to him, which you can see here, but I will keep pressing the Department of Health and Social Care on this. I used to be a member of the Community Health Council in the Winchester District and we inspected NHS departments rigorously and wrote tough reports.
Unfortunately, the Labour government got rid of them, which was a shame as I think we were very effective. You can read more bout the Ockenden Review on this link https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/final-report-of-the-ockenden-review
This morning I had the monthly meeting with the Portsmouth University Hospital Trust. As in all hospitals, Covid remains an issue as staff are having to isolate and they are very keen to stress that people must use the urgent treatment centres where possible rather than turning up at the Emergency Department. They will have a new Emergency Department by 2024 so people in the east of the constituency will have a larger and more efficient treatment centre.
Lastly, I took on the chair of the All-Party Group on Wine GB recently and met with the CEO. As I have at least four vineyards in the constituency, I am very keen to promote English wine, and we talked about exports and the growth of vines in the country. Over 100 constituencies now have a vineyard and this number is growing. We are trying to ensure that every UK Embassy and High Commission serves British wines but they are still quite expensive so that is something we need to work on! I will keep working on behalf of our local vineyards, such as Hambledon Vineyard where I was in the picture above.
I am out campaigning for the local elections this weekend. We are now on recess so I am working in the constituency but will not be writing weekly roundups for the next couple of weeks.
Have a great weekend and Easter celebration.
