As an MP, I always take a personal oath on election night to represent ALL of my constituents – not just those that voted for me.
That’s why, as part of my efforts to fulfil that pledge, I place immense importance on engaging with our youngsters – especially with so much going on in our own country and worldwide.
I was delighted to meet a group of Year 12 pupils from Attleborough Academy today – joining them at the House’s Education Centre to talk in more depth about my average day in Westminster and how the House works.
It was a pleasure to speak with the pupils, and a great opportunity to congratulate them and their teachers on the school’s recent award of World Class Schools Quality Mark status.
If YOUR school is visiting Westminster for a tour and to spend time at the Education Centre, please do let me know.
The A47 is a major transport artery into, and across, our great county. The full dualling of this route is vital for the long term safety of motorists, and absolutely necessary if we are to help Norfolk unlock its full economic potential – delivering thousands of jobs, as well as the growth and prosperity needed to help us ‘Build Back Better’ and ‘Level Up’.
That’s why I welcome the news today that the three committed A47 improvement schemes, including the dualling of the North Tuddenham-Easton stretch and the improvement of Thickthorn Roundabout, can now go ahead after the High Court chose not to uphold a legal challenge.
The judgment that the cumulative carbon impacts of the schemes were properly considered by Government when determining whether or not to greenlight them is very positive indeed. These projects represent huge investments into our county and will help boost our local economy, improve safety and reduce congestion (and in turn pollution) at their respective locations.
Having been a vocal advocate of full dualling of the A47, I look forward to working with the A47 Alliance to continue driving forward the collective campaign for further improvements – while, of course, doing my utmost to ensure that any and all improvements take seriously any environmental implications.
To learn more about the judge’s decision, please see the EDP article here
To see more about the recent A47 Alliance meeting, please click here
To learn more about my historic and ongoing campaign to improve Norfolk’s road infrastructure, please visit my campaign page here
Mid Norfolk is home to dozens of much loved schools that play a vital role in our local communities – and I always relish the opportunity to showcase their successes and key milestones.
One of the oldest village schools in Norfolk, Great Dunham Primary School turned 180 years old this year and, having held their official birthday party back in May, are set to unveil an exciting new booklet all about their history later this month.
Five years ago, the school took part in a Heritage Lottery funded project called “Fields Familiar, Foreign and Faraway” in which pupils worked alongside heritage professionals researching all of those who died from the village in the First World War. This very successful project led to the production of a fantastic publication that went to all homes in Great and Little Dunham, as well as all of the libraries in Norfolk.
Now, with the support of Heritage Lottery grant funding once again, Great Dunham Primary’s pupils have been exploring their school’s own history in greater depth and, later this month, will be unveiling a new booklet that they have produced to share the knowledge they have learned.
I understand that the school still has logbooks going back 130 years, as well as written testimonials from students that would have attended some 120 years ago. With the aid of heritage professionals, today’s students were able to combine that source material with other research they have been doing.
This really is a fantastic initiative and I look forward to reading the children’s work when it is published in a few weeks’ time.
Please do make sure to keep an eye out for the booklet in all of Norfolk’s libraries – and if you live in Great and Little Dunham, expect to find a copy posted through your door.
Well done to Great Dunham Primary!
Congratulations to Attleborough Academy who have recently been awarded the World Class Schools Quality Mark accreditation!
The Quality Mark, awarded by education charity World Class Schools Quality Mark (WCSQM), uses a framework to assess the students’ World Class skills and competencies, highlighting characteristics including leadership, community, learning and workplace. Attleborough Academy’s pupils demonstrated how they met each standard – whether that be at the school itself, or while at home or in the community.
One of only a handful of non-selective style state schools to be awarded the Quality Mark, Attleborough Academy now sit among just 120 UK schools to receive the award over the years.
This is a remarkable achievement and showcases the incredible work and commitment of the school’s staff, as well as the pupils themselves. The characteristics focussed upon by the award are crucial to helping any individual excel in life.
I look forward to meeting with a class of the Academy’s Year 12 students when they visit the House of Parliament Education Centre next week – and to congratulating them and their teachers on the award in person.
To see more about my ongoing work to support our local schools, please visit my campaign page here.
Mid Norfolk is home to dozens of much loved schools that play a vital role in our local communities.
As we know however, rural schools have higher costs compared to those in urban areas and, for decades, were very often underfunded in comparison to their urban counterparts. They also face a wide variety of different, acute challenges compared to urban schools that need different solutions and support.
That’s why, throughout my time as the local MP, I have been one of our local education sector’s biggest advocates (especially with regards to SEND support in our mainstream and specialist schools – see more on my campaign page here). I have always made a point of regularly visiting local schools as part of my programme of Mid Norfolk constituency visits, as well as maintaining frequent and open dialogue with headteachers, staff and governors in order to best speak up on their behalf and provide support.
It's also why I have so actively lobbied in Westminster over the years for greater funding, support and resources to ensure schools in rural areas like Mid Norfolk are not left behind – instead receiving the assistance they require to ensure our local youngsters, whatever their background, get the education and opportunities they need and deserve.
Back in 2010, there was a widespread appreciation that, after over a decade of Labour Government, the country needed to tighten its belts and work hard to erase the deficit (the highest in the United Kingdom’s peacetime history) and begin reducing the national debt.
Over the past thirteen years, I have been struck by how many local teachers, heads, governors and parents shared that appreciation and urgency – and I have watched with great admiration as rural schools in Mid Norfolk have worked tirelessly to deliver “more for less”. Rarely, if ever, have they complained of the greater financial constraints within which they have had to operate during this time.
I am acutely aware however that rising costs and pressures over the past couple of years are presenting a very significant challenge to many schools in our area – compounded by challenges with SEND provision and the demands placed upon them by OFSTED.
It’s for that reason why I continue to campaign hard for greater support and funding for rural schools, and why I also continue to place great importance on my engagement with local staff.
On this campaign page, you will find more information on my historic and ongoing campaign efforts – with regular updates being posted.
Rest assured, I am determined to speak up on behalf of our local Mid Norfolk schools to ensure their voices are being heard at the highest levels.
The world urgently needs to harness science and technology to better tackle the urgent global challenges faced by our planet.
The urgency of these challenges and the pace and intensity of the global race for Science + Technology make science diplomacy more important than ever.
Science and diplomacy move slowly, right?
No more.
Proud and privileged to represent my country here at the G20 in India to leave the world in no doubt that the UK is deeply committed to:
🌍 Harnessing Science, Technology + Innovation to help tackle the urgent global challenges facing our planet
🌍 Deeper global SRTI collaborations
🌍 Defending the values of open and secure research
And
🌍 Taking a stand with our democratic allies in Europe and the World in wholeheartedly condemning the criminal, brutal and immoral attack by Russia on Ukraine.
Russia has no place at the G20 table whilst violating our shared values.
The harm caused by alcohol affects millions of people every year in the form of health problems, financial worries, relationship breakdown and family difficulties. It brings with it huge social costs too with the significant pressure it places on the NHS, the emergency services, police, and workplaces.
Having seen first hand the impact of alcohol abuse on close family and friends, this is an issue very close to my own heart, which is why I welcome the chance to highlight Alcohol Awareness Week again this year.
Thank you to charities like NACOA UK and Alcohol Change UK for all the great work you do to support those struggling with alcohol dependency and related issues, along with their families.
To find more about the alcohol related issues that impacted me as a child, please click here
To learn more about some of my previous work with NACOA, please click here
To learn more about NACOA themselves, please click here
To learn more about Alcohol Change UK, please click here
Anyone familiar with Mid Norfolk knows that our area is home to a much loved sense of spirit and community that binds us all together. A big part of that local spirit is our many wonderful community groups and sports clubs – all doing incredible work in our local towns and villages.
That’s why, throughout my time as the local MP, I have done my utmost to support them and why I continue to support the campaign to replace Watton Sports Centre’s rapidly deteriorating astropitch – a much loved and valued local asset that the likes of Watton Hockey Club call home.
Having previously taken my own two children to play hockey on the astropitch when they were teenagers, I was shocked to see the state of it when invited by Watton Hockey Club to visit the astropitch back in 2021 (see here). There was absolutely no doubt that, unless funds could be raised to replace the pitch in the next few years, it would soon be completely unusable.
I therefore committed to offering would support I could to the Sports Centre, Hockey Club and others as they got to fundraising – and am delighted now to be supporting a bid by the Sports Association for a grant from the Communities Fund, having now submitted a letter of support to the Sports Centre Manager.
I remain determined to do what I can to support Watton Sports Centre and the various clubs that rely on the astropitch. It isn’t just an asset to the town, it is an asset for those living across Breckland and Mid Norfolk.
Local assets like these are crucial to our local communities, and I am committed to ensuring they are retained and maintained so that they can be enjoyed by many generations to come.
To see more about my work supporting local community groups and sports clubs, please visit my website campaign page here.
Dental health is a crucial part of NHS services and it is vital that EVERYONE can access the support they need when they need it.
That’s why, over the past 2-3 years, I have been actively campaigning, with fellow Norfolk MP colleagues, for improvements to NHS dental services here in the East, particularly around access and appointments.
As part of that campaign, I have been calling for more local training opportunities, including a full NHS Dental School for the East. As we know, statistically, students that study at the likes of UEA and the University of the Arts are far more likely to settle locally than students elsewhere in the country. I believe we would see the same occurring were a Dental School established here – ensuring our area has more vital dentists living and working in our local practices.
I therefore welcome the announcement today of the Government’s ‘NHS Long Term Workforce Plan’, which includes a commitment to increasing the number of training places for dental therapy and hygiene professionals across the UK by 28% by 2028/29. This is a positive step forwards.
I also welcome the establishment of the Norwich Dental Development Centre by UEA to bring together education and training needs for our region’s dentists. The Dental Development Centre represents the first step towards the full undergraduate School of Dentistry at UEA that I, along with fellow Norfolk parliamentary colleagues, are desperate to see – and I am committed to supporting UEA as they put together a bid ready for when the Government opens the national bidding process for additional training places.
Rest assured, I will continue to work hard on this issue.
To stay up to date with all of my campaign work on NHS Dentistry, please visit my website here
Throughout my time as the local MP, I have been one of our local education sectors biggest advocates, supporting them locally, while also lobbying in Westminster for greater funding, support and resources to ensure areas like Mid Norfolk are not left behind, but rather get the assistance they need to ensure local youngsters, whatever their background, get the education they need and deserve.
That’s why, as part of my ongoing work to speak up on behalf of the sector (and further to my webstory post last month – see here), I met with a number of local Mid Norfolk headteachers yesterday – the first meeting of a regular online forum I hope to hold with our local school leadership moving forward.
The meeting was an excellent opportunity for me to hear first-hand, and in more depth, about the challenges facing our local schools – confirming much of what I already knew and have been raising, but also shining a light on new issues that I am now keen to follow up on.
I have undertaken to raise the feedback shared with me yesterday with the Secretary of State and Schools Minister, along with their officials, as part of my continuing dialogue with the Department for Education ministerial team. I will also be flagging many of the same points with the DfE’s Regional Commissioner for the East when I speak with him again later this month.
Rest assured, I am determined to keep speaking up on behalf of our local schools and their staff – in order to ensure they are being heard at the highest levels and that Mid Norfolk gets the support it needs to be able to deliver the very best education for our youngsters.
I also look forward to the next meeting of this important new forum, and to continuing the conversations that have already been taking place via my regular schools visits and through email correspondence in the weeks and months ahead.
