The government has announced up to £1.71 m extra cash for the Royal Berks, and up to £2.56m for Frimley to deal with pressures of demand this winter.
I am pleased they have made this announcement before Christmas, as I wish to see our local hospitals properly staffed and financed.
Having lobbied the Government on my constituents’ access to high speed broadband I am pleased that the Government has announced that it has declined BT’s proposal to deliver universal broadband through a voluntary agreement. Universal high speed broadband will be delivered by a regulatory Service Obligation (USO) which will give everyone in the UK access to speeds of at least 10 Mbps by 2020.
Today we heard of the police financial settlement for 2018-19. The Thames Valley force will receive an extra £12.7m in cash for next year, which is needed to help maintain services.
The government also announced a £50m increase in national money for counter terrorism and a general strengthening of budgets to tackle cyber crime.
THE GOVERNMENT HAS PUBLISHED A DRAFT BILL TO STRENGTHEN ANIMAL WELFARE
The Government has published a draft bill which would increase the maximum prison sentence for animal cruelty tenfold, from six months to five years, in England and Wales. The draft bill also sets out that the government “must have regard to the welfare needs of animals as sentient beings in formulating and implementing government policy”. Subject to consultation on the draft bill, the government will legislate to deliver both aims.
The plans underline the government’s commitment to raising animal welfare standards, ensuring there will be enhanced protections for animals as we leave the EU.
Many constituents will be pleased that we will strengthen protections for animals.
On Friday I accepted the invitation of CEMAS to visit their company and the meet their staff.
Cemas is a privately owned business based in south Wokingham. It employs 72 people and specialises in preparing test data for the agro chemical and pharmaceutical industries. It can monitor trace substances in air, water and animal tissue, identify active ingredients in products and their concentrations, and prepare large independent dossiers of tests of product approvals and monitoring. This work is vital to ensure product safety, to limit damage to the environment and to help companies produce innovative new products and treatments.
The company has strong links with our local University at Reading. Some of the younger staff are also working on degree courses at the university, and some of the more senior people are Reading graduates and postgraduates who have specialised in relevant subjects.
The company works for a wide range of global businesses. It seeks to maintain high levels of accuracy and independence, as it needs to do to satisfy its own standards and its Regulator. It has grown steadily over the last three decades from its Wokingham home base. I wish the staff and the owners every success with their venture.
Christmas always gets a big boost at the Loddon concert. The primary school choirs from the Borough excelled themselves, singing with great enthusiasm a number of much loved carols and Christmas songs. They belted out the Philippine carol with particular force and verve.
The Berkshire Maestros provided excellent musical accompaniment. They delivered their performances of Leroy Anderson’s Sleigh Ride and his Christmas Festival medley with skill, in a most entertaining way. Grazeley, Crazies Hill and Shinfield schools added a performance on recorders and hand chimes.
I thank all the teachers who trained the choirs, the conductor James Baker who brought it altogether, the performers, and the parents who supported their children. It was a great evening, much enjoyed by a packed hall.
Christmas began in an unusual style in Wokingham this year. As we gathered for the traditional carols near the Town Hall as part of the Winter Carnival, we clustered on the steps of the building. There was no room for a larger podium as we surveyed the continuing pavement works all around us. There was no carnival parade through closed streets, so we enjoyed a laser light show instead. Wokingham had improvised a good welcome to Christmas despite the works.
It reminded me that Christmas is a time when our great traditions have to adjust to modern realities. What endures is the spirit of Christmas. We look forward to a time of giving, when we think more of those in need and those members of our family and those in the circle of our friends that need some extra mid winter care. It is good to think less of the daily work worries, and more of what we can do to brighten the lives of others.
The Wokingham community has many generous and caring people who do work a little magic for the rest. I have heard great singing from the choral societies, seen the plans for a lively living advent calendar, and know of charitable help being planned for those in need. I would like to thank all involved,. I would also like to thank all who serve the public throughout the year in different ways. There are many who ensure we are kept safe, can be treated when ill, can buy our daily bread and ensure our water and energy comes on at home when we need it.
My hope for this Christmas and the new year as is we can make more progress in putting behind us wars in the Middle East that have so disfigured that part of the world for so long. It is not in our power to stop all the insurrections and civil wars, but it does now seem possible for us to intervene less militarily ourselves, and to work with the UN and other interested nations to promote more dialogue and less bombing. I also look forward to next year when the centre of Wokingham is complete with its new shops and new pavements.
I am pleased Wokingham Borough Council has agreed to remove car parking charges for shoppers going into Wokingham on the three week-ends before Christmas, beginning on 9th December. They have also announced that their car parks in the town will be free after 3 each day until the end of January.
I have been encouraging them to do something to help Town traders during the period of disruption with all the building works going on. This of course only applies to Council car parks.
Mental health problems affect a significant number of children and young people, with the most recent data suggesting that one in ten children and young people has some form of clinically diagnosable mental health disorder. This means around 850,000 children and young people may a diagnosable mental health disorder in the UK today.
Children and young people with mental health problems are more likely to have negative experiences early on that can damage their life chances as they grow towards adulthood. This affects education, relationships, health, future employment and income.
Some of my own constituents have had difficulties in accessing mental health services for their children. In some cases, support from the NHS is only available when problems get very serious, is not consistently available across the country, and young people can sometimes wait too long to receive that support. Some schools and colleges find it difficult to offer enough help.
I strongly support the Government’s Green Paper which sets out measures to improve mental health support for children and young people.
The Green Paper focuses on earlier intervention and prevention, especially through schools and colleges.
The proposals include:
• Every school will have a designated, senior person responsible for co-ordinating counselling services and other forms of support.
• Recruiting thousands of professionals to form new mental health support teams, which will dramatically expand the range of treatments that can be offered in or near schools and colleges.
• Piloting a new waiting time standard in some areas for children to be seen within four weeks by a psychiatrist or other mental health professional if they need it.
I encourage parents, teachers, medical professional and anyone with an interest to contribute to the consultation which closes on 2 March 2018.
You can access the consultation at: https://engage.dh.gov.uk/youngmentalhealth/children-and-young-peoples-mental-health-consultation/
I would also ask that any constituents who are having difficulties in accessing mental health services for their children contact me directly.
