Rural counties like Norfolk face much higher costs than urban areas – which are seldom reflected in the Whitehall funding formulas.
The extra costs of transport and heating have long hit rural public services disproportionately hard – as have the growing needs of an ageing demographic. However, the Cost of Living Crisis, post-pandemic labour shortages and energy price inflation caused by the War in Ukraine have significantly added to those pressures and now mean we are facing the perfect storm.
That’s why, further to writing to the Prime Minister and DLUHC Secretary of State alongside 40 MP colleagues and the County APPG (see my webstory on Monday here), I took the opportunity earlier this week to use my new freedom as a backbench MP to stand up in the House and raise this vitally important issue with the Minister for Local Government Simon Hoare and insist on fairer funding for rural areas.
See the video below.
I will be following up on the Minister’s offer of a meeting to discuss his further – and look forward to providing updates.
In the meantime, to learn more about my campaign ‘Fighting for a Rural Premium and Fairer Funding for Rural Public Service’, please visit my campaign page here.
Rural counties like Norfolk face much higher costs than urban areas – which are seldom reflected in the Whitehall funding formulas.
The extra costs of transport and heating have long hit rural households, businesses and public services disproportionately hard – as have the growing needs of an ageing demographic. However, the Cost of Living Crisis, post-pandemic labour shortages and energy price inflation caused by the War in Ukraine have significantly added to those pressures and now mean we are facing the perfect storm.
That’s why I’m using my new freedom as a backbench MP to step up my long ongoing campaign and lobby the Prime Minister, Chancellor and ministers even harder ahead of the forthcoming Budget and General Election for a Rural Premium and fairer funding for rural public services.
For too long, rural areas have been overlooked by Whitehall officials who focus too much on policies designed for cities and urban communities. I am determined to do all I can to be Mid Norfolk’s strongest voice on these key issues and ensure Government makes that right.
To stay up to date with all of my work on this issue, please regularly visit my campaign page here for updates.
(And check some of my related campaign pages – such as ‘Fairer Rural Schools Funding and Support’ and ‘Backing Local Businesses’ here).
Rural counties like Norfolk have always suffered from disproportionately high energy and fuel costs compared to urban areas – a fact seldom reflected in the Whitehall funding formulas.
However, the sudden energy price inflation caused by Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine has led to a massive increase in fuel and energy costs over the last two years which has significantly added to those pressures and now means we are facing the perfect storm.
For too long, rural areas have been overlooked by Whitehall officials who focus too much on policies designed for cities and urban communities.
That’s why I’m using my new freedom as a backbench MP to step up my long ongoing campaign and lobby the Prime Minister, Chancellor and ministers even harder ahead of the forthcoming Budget and General Election for a Rural Fuel and Energy Premium and Fairer Funding for Rural Public Services.
Ahead of the Budget 2024, I wrote to and met with the Chancellor to directly ask him to include in his Budget measures to help tackle the crippling impact of disproportionately high energy costs on rural communities. (See my letter here)
I also:
- Raised these issues with the Secretary of State at DLUHC OPQs, see here
- Spoke to BBC Radio Norfolk about the importance of the campaign, listen here
- Mobilised c.30 rural MPs, as well a wide variety of high profile rural agencies and organisations, and a number of local Mid Norfolk pubs, GP surgeries, businesses, care homes and community groups, behind my campaign and letter to the Chancellor
I am determined to do all I can to be Mid Norfolk’s strongest voice on these key issues – and will continue to work hard to campaign for greater targeted funding and support.
To stay up to date with my work, please regularly visit my campaign page here for updates. (And check some of my related campaign pages – such as ‘Fairer Rural Schools Funding and Support’ and ‘Backing Local Businesses’ here).
George Freeman highlights the problems of undiagnosed and untreated mental health conditions in rural areas and calls on the Government to meet Norfolk and Suffolk MPs to discuss the problems at the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust.
George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)
The agony and damage of undiagnosed and untreated mental health conditions is nowhere more acute than in rural areas, where we see an epidemic of silent suffering. The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust has long struggled with a series of management problems. I am sure the Minister has seen the recent report highlighting that between 2019 and 2022, we saw over 8,500 avoidable deaths—that is nearly 45 a week. Will she agree to meet me, other Norfolk and Suffolk MPs, and those affected to look at what is really going on here and make sure that we turn that trust into a beacon of the best mental health services, rather than the worst?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Maria Caulfield)
I thank my hon. Friend for raising this issue. We were holding regular meetings with Norfolk and Suffolk MPs, the trust, the Care Quality Commission and NHS England, and with the new management team, that trust did appear to finally be turning things around. However, I am concerned to hear the points that my hon. Friend has raised. I am very happy to restart those meetings and will ask my office to arrange them as quickly as possible.
The silent suffering from undiagnosed and untreated Mental Health conditions is becoming an epidemic in hard-to-access rural areas, made worse here in Norfolk by the longstanding difficulties at the Norfolk & Suffolk Mental Health Foundation Trust.
That is why I have spoken up for our mental health services constantly in my time as an MP — and am pleased to be able to raise it in the house today.
We have seen too many broken promises of improvement to NSFT — the people of Mid Norfolk deserve better.
See more on my work speaking up for our local mental health services here.
Pets — from lap cats to working dogs — are a part of our families. Their theft should be treated as such – it is not a victimless crime.
That’s why I was proud to support the Pet Abduction Bill on Friday — helping successfully get it past the crucial second reading.
Whilst it was a heartfelt pleasure to put Tosca my elderly cat & Jassy my fox-red lab on the Hansard record, the issue of pet theft is something that we must take seriously.
It’s an issue which tears families apart, leaves emotional scars on owners for years, and can deprive people of the comforting presence they need to tackle challenges such as mental health.
I was glad to be able to raise some local cases — helping to bring attention to the very personal nature of this crime.
It’s also vitally important that we all play our part, ensuring that we help to secure loose dogs and ensure they are safely handed to someone who can look after them – so that they do not end up like my close friend Marika’s pet dog, tragically snatched after being carelessly tied up by a passer by who found her, and later found deceased near the North Circular.
We must not let our Net Zero ambitions tear up our Norfolk countryside.
For 6 years I have been pushing for a proper offshore ring main circuit to connect offshore wind farms — one that will allow us to expand and accelerate offshore wind energy production while significantly reducing the amount of pylons and other onshore infrastructure required.
These things move frustratingly slowly and key stakeholders, including National Grid and National Grid ESO, need to do more to listen to the concerns of local communities and MPs and take seriously the need to take as much infrastructure offshore as possible.
That’s why I met with OFFSET MPs & National Grid officials again today to push back against proposed pylons and lobby further for a proper offshore grid which protects our countryside.
Find out more about my wider OFFSET campaign here, as well as my campaign to protect our rural landscape and heritage here.
George Freeman secures a Ministerial meeting to discuss fairer funding for rural councils to help offset higher heating, energy and labour costs.
George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)
Rural councils face a disproportionate triple whammy from the rising cost of energy due to the Ukraine war, with rural councils and rural public services having to pay higher heating, energy and labour costs. Could I have a meeting with my hon. Friend to talk about the fair funding formula, to make sure that rural councils are properly funded in this next settlement?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (Simon Hoare)
As a rural Member of Parliament, I am tempted to tell my hon. Friend that he will be preaching to the choir, but of course I am happy to meet him. He points to the challenges that rural councils face in delivering services in areas that are wide in geography and sparse in population.
Rural counties like ours face much higher costs than urban areas – which are seldom reflected in Whitehall funding formula.
The extra costs of transport and heating hit public services disproportionately hard. As do the growing needs of an ageing demographic.
That’s why I’ve long made the case for a fairer Whitehall funding formula.
With the Ukraine energy inflation, post-pandemic labour shortages and cost of living crisis, we are now facing a perfect storm.
We can’t go on without a fairer funding settlement.
That’s why I wrote, with 40 other MPs and the County All Party Parliamentary Group, to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to insist on fairer funding for rural areas.
See the letter below.
George Freeman backs the Bill and highlights the devastating impact on pet owners and families and praises the great work done by animal charities in Mid Norfolk.
George Freeman (Mid Norfolk) (Con)
It is a great pleasure to speak in this debate, Mr Deputy Speaker. I pay tribute to you for your long-standing work on animal welfare issues in this House over the years. I will be brief, as I know there are a number of very good private Members’ Bills waiting to be heard today.
I want to speak on behalf of the people of Mid Norfolk, and on behalf of Tosca, our 14-year-old cat, and Jassy, our two-year-old fox red Labrador. It is a joy to have their names in the Official Report. The pets of this country need us to act on their behalf, just like the many people who, in a civilised society, need parliamentarians to speak for them, including the children who cannot vote and all those who need us to take their interests seriously.
More importantly, for all those who have suffered the appalling trauma of pet abduction, it is not a victimless crime. For many people in this country, the abduction or theft of their pet is every bit as serious, if not more serious and traumatic, than the loss of a wallet or the other things that the police generally think of as more serious crimes. I pay tribute to my great friend, the hon. Member for Southend West (Anna Firth), for introducing this Bill and securing Government support. I also thank the Minister for her support. This enlightened Government are working with Back Benchers on both sides of the House to put in place good legislation that the people of this country want.
Our late, great friend, the former hon. Member for Southend West, David Amess—whose shield stands proudly behind his successor—would have been to the fore on this Bill. He was a great champion, as the current hon. Member for Southend West is, of pets and animal welfare.
My dear friend Marika had a beautiful miniature pinscher, which is just about the smallest dog possible. The dog became lost in the undergrowth on Hampstead Heath and somebody found him. Strangely, rather than take this tiny dog—a puppy—to someone or look for the person who had obviously lost him, this person decided, in their haste, to tie the puppy to a railing with a piece of string and abandon him. After an hour of searching, when Marika was told that the dog had been seen, she rushed to the railing to find him stolen, and the puppy’s body was found just off the North Circular 24 hours later.
Five years later, the trauma is ongoing. Marika will be distressed to be reminded of it, but I know she wants me to raise the case, which she has also raised with her local MP. She is delighted that the Bill is being debated on the Floor of the House and that the Government are supporting it.
I am conscious of time, so I will not rehearse the excellent arguments about the legalities. I simply want to take this opportunity to invite the Minister to remind those listening that the Environmental Protection Act 1990—I defer to my right hon. and learned Friend the Member for South Swindon (Sir Robert Buckland), the former Lord Chancellor and Solicitor General—made it clear that anyone who finds a stray dog has a duty in law to make sure it is returned to a person in office or to the police. The person who decided they were too busy to take Marika’s dog to the park wardens at Hampstead Heath, or to anybody, and tied it up and abandoned it actually committed an offence. It is really important that people understand that as citizens, we all have a duty to dogs. Today’s Bill strengthens that obligation, as well as the criminal sanctions against those who do not exercise their responsibilities and who commit this appalling crime—against pets, but every bit as appallingly, against the people who love their pets and suffer the trauma.
I want to briefly highlight some excellent work going on in Mid Norfolk, and some of the terrible stories that I have seen in my work. Cats Protection in Longham—the Opposition Front Bencher, the hon. Member for Cambridge (Daniel Zeichner), will know it well as a former candidate in Mid Norfolk—does brilliant work on rehoming and microchipping. I am really delighted to see the microchipping framework extended in this Bill. I also want to highlight DogLost in Norfolk and Suffolk, which does great work. My right hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) supports that organisation; it has 25,000 members, which speaks to the importance of this issue across our part of the world and across the country.
Personally, I want to highlight Alex Dann of Dann’s Ice Cream in North Tuddenham, who had his dog Patch stolen from beside his ice cream van. He had not lost him, neglected him or left him: while he was serving customers ice cream, somebody stole his dog, and it was reported in the excellent Eastern Daily Press. Rita and Philip Potter also had their Labrador Daisy stolen—I could go on. This is not a victimless crime: it is a crime that causes huge trauma. Pets are doing a huge social service for us all; many people rely on their pets, not just for the glories that they bring to daily life but to help them with mental health conditions, loneliness and a whole raft of conditions that cause huge pain. I am not suggesting that pets should be brought under the provisions of the Department of Health and Social Care, or funded for those purposes, but we should at least acknowledge that they are doing hugely important and good work, which makes the crime of pet theft all the more appalling.
Mr Deputy Speaker, I will not test your or the House’s patience any further. I just want to put on record my support for this Bill and for my hon. Friend the Member for Southend West, and my joy at seeing all parties in this House come together in support of something that the public will be delighted to see Parliament putting in place.