Having spent fifteen years helping small businesses get off the ground before coming to Parliament, and now being in my third stint as a Business Minister, I am a passionate supporter of Small Business. It is the engine of our local, and national, economy.

That’s why I am delighted to be supporting Small Business Saturday once again this year.

The Covid pandemic was the toughest period local Business had faced in generations and the cost of living crisis, including rising energy prices, have added to the pressures many local businesses currently face.

Small Business Saturday is a great reminder in the weeks before Christmas for us to get out, shop local and show our support for the entrepreneurs and staff that often go unsung, many of whom kept our shelves stocked and went the extra mile to help us all during the pandemic, and who now continue to provide the goods and services we all depend upon.

Over the years, I have strived to do all I can to support local businesses and entrepreneurs – whether it be via my local business spotlight and regular constituency day visits, or by giving them a platform to come together and have a stronger, common voice at the Norfolk Enterprise Festival that I co-founded.

I look forward to continuing that work in the months and years ahead, and I am excited for another successful Small Business Saturday tomorrow.

To learn more about Small Business Saturday, please visit the website here. 

To learn more about my ongoing work to support our local small business community, please visit my own website here.

Here in Mid Norfolk, we are fortunate to have a fantastic group of local councillors serving their local communities – and I value immensely the regular conversations that I have with them on a wide variety of issues here in our local area. 

That’s why it was a pleasure to engage with so many of them this past Friday. 

First of all, I was joined by Cllr Keith Martin in Attleborough for my visit to the Lighthouse Centre in the town. Keith knows more about the site (the old Hamilton brush factory) than I will ever forget! So it was a pleasure to have him join me on the visit as I learned more about the wonderful work being done by the team there. From my conversations with other local councillors, I know they intend to visit the Centre soon too – with us all committed to helping the team transform this incredibly historic site into a much valued local community asset. (To learn more, please click here) 

In the afternoon, I was then met by local Wymondham councillors Robert Savage and Tony Holden for a catch up about all things Wymondham – learning more about their ongoing efforts locally, as well as discussing what more we can do to help in future and our ongoing efforts to get the Wymondham Station Access improvements we all want to see. (To learn more about that campaign, please click here). 

Finally, I had a brilliant Teams meeting with several of our councillors in Dereham and Shipdham (Phillip Duigan, Linda Monument and Lynda Turner) – where we discussed a variety of local matters, including planning, highways safety and the ‘Future Breckland’ initiative that promises so much for Dereham, as well as our other local Breckland market towns. (To learn more about all of that, please click here)   

Rest assured, I am in active conversations (almost daily!) with so many other local councillors – at County, District and Parish/Town level. I am committed to doing all I can to support them and the local communities we all serve. 

If YOU have a local issue that you think we might be able to assist with, please do contact us – via george.freeman.mp@parliament.uk or by looking up your local councillor and their contact details at either: 

• The Breckland District Council website here 

• The South Norfolk District Council website here  

• The Norfolk County Council website here    

Each and every day, our wonderful NHS does incredible work for so many of us. Having formerly been a Health Minister, worked closely with our local NHS as a constituency MP and had a fifteen year business career helping many small companies involved in the health and care sectors before coming to Parliament, I’ve been lucky enough to see first-hand the vital role our NHS plays.  

(The exemplary care I received from an East of England Ambulance Service crew last year when I had a bad case of Covid also kept me out of hospital and enhanced that deep passion for our NHS further). 

That’s why I take such a deep and ongoing interest in our health system, and why I valued immensely the opportunity to meet with a group of consultants (the Consultant Staff Committee) at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, alongside some of my fellow parliamentary colleagues here in Norfolk, this past Friday. 

I am acutely aware of the pressures that our NHS has faced in recent years, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, and while we are seeing improvements and a clear move back towards the wait times we could expect before then, it was very helpful to have a direct conversation with some of those working on the frontline to hear their views, listen to their suggestions and find out what more I can do as a local MP to empower their voice in Westminster. 

This was a key conversation – and one I very much intend to continue. I am also engaged with figures in our local NHS dental teams, as well as those in our mental health and care services. 

Rest assured, I will continue to do all I can to speak up for both Mid Norfolk and our local NHS. 

I was delighted to resume my regular schedule of constituency school visits again this past Friday – this time visiting Attleborough Academy to formally open their wonderful new Reception building.

Meeting with Executive Principal Neil McShane, as well as Jonathan Taylor (CEO of the Sapientia Education Trust), representatives of NCC Education and members of the team that helped design and construct this fantastic new building, it was a pleasure to learn more about the process behind the new Reception – and I appreciated also the opportunity to meet the Head Boy and Head Girl, learning more about their hopes and aspirations, as well as life at the school.

Attleborough Academy has come a long way since I first visited over a decade ago. Neil and his team have done a brilliant job – not just elevating exam results, but also driving aspiration and broadening the ‘offer’ for their students as part of a concerted effort to help them access the career pathways in which they can thrive and be happy.

I welcomed the chance to talk with Neil, as well as Jonathan Taylor, about their plans for Attleborough Academy moving forward, and have committed to helping them make the case for greater investment into the school, as well as improved bus and public transport connections to the school and some of its associated establishments (such as Wymondham College).

To learn more about my visit, please watch a short video I filmed with Neil when I was at the school last week – see here

If YOU are a school in Mid Norfolk that would be interested in having me visit, or simply need my help, please do get in touch via george.freeman.mp@parliament.uk . I’d be delighted to come and speak with you all.

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. 

That’s why I always look to shine a light on, and support, any local projects and initiatives that look to nurture and enhance that spirit for the good of others – and why I was delighted therefore to visit The Lighthouse Centre in Attleborough this past Friday to learn more about the fantastic work that is taking place there.

Set up through the local Christ Community Church, ‘The Lighthouse’ is a wonderful local social action charity – with over twelve active projects helping in excess of 400 people at this time. Meeting with Rob, Ruth, James and Chris, alongside local councillor Keith Martin, I got the opportunity to see the new Centre that they bought earlier this year, and which they have begun renovating.

Located at the old Hamilton Brush Factory, the Lighthouse Centre will become the new home of the Christ Community Church, as well as a brand new Community Centre for the area, with youth club facilities and, in time, much much more. I was highly impressed with the Lighthouse team’s commitment to transforming this incredible historic building into a real community hub in the heart of the town (one that can serve both the existing community as well as the significant amount of new housing on the way) and am delighted that the likes of Breckland District Council are actively engaging with them as they explore how best to make the most of this brilliant site.

To learn more about this wonderful project, please do watch a short video that I filmed with the team during my visit, here.

I look forward to continuing the conversation and to helping the team as they seek to raise funds for the fantastic work they have planned.

To learn more about my work with local community groups, please click here.

Having grown up in East Anglia and spent much of my childhood on my stepfather’s farm, previously worked for the NFU and formerly been the Minister for Life Sciences (helping to spearhead the UK’s new Agri-Tech strategy in 2015), I know first-hand how vitally important our crucial farming sector is to the UK, and how new technologies and opportunities are transforming, and have further potential to transform, the industry going forward.

That’s why I was delighted to be involved in Norfolk Farming Conference today – speaking to via video clip to those gathered about Agri-Tech and the enormous opportunities this exciting and fast-growing field will provide, and already provides, to the farming sector. 

(To see the full video message I sent to attendees, please see below or click here)

Norfolk is already at the heart of this Green Revolution, playing a prominent role within the UK’s growing leadership in the Agri-Tech field. The Norwich Research Park, with the likes of the John Innes Centre, Earlham Institute and Centrum, is pioneering cutting-edge, world class science – as are several other sites in our region, including the Easton Food Hub.

I am determined to do all I can, as a local MP but also now in my role as Minister of State for Science, Research, Technology and Innovation, to support those advances which will not only deliver growth for UK plc, boost UK farming and transform farming and food production globally, but also create thousands of new jobs and opportunities in our area – jobs and opportunities that will spread help prosperity to our local towns and villages and in turn breathe more vibrancy into our local services and communities. I am committed to doing all I can to help our local education system make the most of these fantastic opportunities so that our youngsters or those that wish to retrain can make the most of them too.

To learn more about Norfolk’s Innovation Economy, please click here

To learn more about all of my work to support our local farmers and food producers (including on issues like the current Bird Flu outbreak and local labour market shortages), please click here

I am deeply passionate about our local farming sector and look forward to continuing my work with them in the weeks, months and years ahead.

One of the highlights of my parliamentary calendar is my annual Christmas Card competition. Each year, I write to local primary schools and invite their creative youngsters to submit their design – and this year has been no different.

Once again, I am thrilled with the response – see some of the children’s designs below.

My wife Fiona and I always love to see the entries and we are about to decide our winner, as well as two highly-commended runners up.

I look forward to announcing the lucky three in the coming days – with the winner getting a £20 book token and the runners ups getting a £10 book token each.