I hope everyone had a good Easter and managed to spend some time with friends, family and loved ones. As always, our thanks must go to those in the professions who work hard over the holiday periods to keep us safe and well looked after, and of course those who work in hospitality who will have had a busy and hopefully profitable extended weekend.
This week, people across the country will start to see the benefits from the Chancellor’s recent budget and his plan for the economy as tax reductions kick in, and the National Living Wage is boosted to £11.44 an hour. This week will also see a reduction in the energy price, a welcome relief for people struggling with energy bills that increased with the war in Ukraine.
April sees the commencement of the expansion of childcare provision. The cost of childcare can be a real problem for parents and can be a barrier to work. Too many parents are currently being held back from returning to work due to the sometimes-prohibitive cost of childcare. This is why expanding childcare is so important. It aims to provide 30 free hours of childcare to working parents for children from nine months old up to when they start school, saving families around £6,900 a year. The first stage of the rollout has now been launched, meaning eligible working parents of two-year-olds can seek to access 15 hours of free childcare per week.
Lately there has been much fevered speculation in the media about the date for the next General Election. It’s a sad fact that in this modern digital age, so much of the media is focused on sensationalism and even “fake news”, that the public are often starved of information on the many positive things taking place under our very noses. I have no intention of adding to the speculation, I’d far rather focus on the improving economy, tax cuts, reducing inflation and improving public services; all being delivered by the Conservative Government with more to come, and about which the opposition appear to have no plans whatsoever.
I have seen a few comments about Yeovil Hospital’s hyper-acute stroke service. I have been making the case for dual Somerset site operation to include Yeovil for 10 years now and have met with relevant medical specialists, the CEOs of Yeovil hospital, the Clinical Commissioning Group, the NHS Trust, NHS Somerset, and Ministers on the issue multiple times each. I have written many letters to them and others, met with many constituents and written about it in this column several times.
I was very disappointed with the NHS’ Integrated Care Board’s decision, even if it was better than the original plan to close stroke services in Yeovil entirely, and immediately supported the request by the Quicksilver Community Group for the Secretary of State to review the decision. There are now requests from various groups for the decision to be reviewed and I hope our concerns with it will be addressed.
Finally, I am delighted to be attending the re-launch this week of the Steatite’s Battery Business Unit in Crewkerne, which has rebranded as Custom Power. It is good to see Somerset and in particular the Yeovil Constituency leading the way again in technology and innovation!