This month’s World Book Day was a good time to celebrate that our children our now the best readers in the western world. I have been enjoying visits to local schools and hearing the aspirations of our children.
The budget measures to expand the eligibility of child allowance will help many Chelmsford families. Thank you to all the parents across Chelmsford who have written to me about this. The budget also included a big boost for early years childcare. This will help with the roll out of additional free childcare, worth up to £6,000 per child for families with young children.
I was also very pleased to hear the Chancellor announce that the NHS will receive full funding for all their proposed productivity improvements. On my last visit to Broomfield, doctors and staff explained how electronic patient records will help them to communicate directly across different parts of the NHS. It will mean hospital doctors can see GP records and records from the mental health trust. This will be a great improvement for patient care locally.
Many Chelmsford residents have told me that if the economy was doing OK, they would like a reduction in National Insurance so they keep more of what they earn. Locally, small business asked to raise the VAT threshold as this really helps small businesses to grow. The fact that inflation has come down so far, and that forecasts for inflation, growth and debt have all become much more positive means that the Chancellor had room to make these changes. Thank to those who have shared their views with me, your feedback helped to secure these measures in the budget.
Teachers at one of our local primaries shared their concerns with me about the violent or abusive content that young children are increasingly being shown on phones. This school does not allow phones during the school day, so this is happening outside of school. New laws are now being implemented which will help to make sure social media companies do more to keep children safe. Along with the major children’s charities and the Children’s Commissioner, I am looking at what further steps can be taken to improve online safety, including making sure age-inappropriate content can be blocked on children’s phones.
New technology can bring benefits but also bring new risks. We have very strong laws to prevent Online Child Sexual Abuse, I have tabled amendments to the new Criminal Justice Bill to update these laws for new forms of AI generated child sex abuse content and behaviour.
In Parliament, I also met Money Saving Expert, Martin Lewis, who was speaking with members of the Education Select Committee about financial education in schools. There have been significant improvements since this was introduced into the national curriculum a few years ago.
It was great to welcome the Minister responsible for long term workforce to Chelmsford at Anglian Ruskin University. Since the medical school opened six years ago, they have been training 100 students to become doctors every year. We met medical students as well as those study to become doctors, nurses and the important physician associate role. He also had a tour of the medical school. ARU students have the highest completion rate of all medical courses in the country. The vast majority of students want to stay working in the local area when they graduate.
The Environment Secretary also visited Chelmsford to meet a start-up company at the innovation centre. Antobot use state of the art robotics and AI to deliver incredibly clever technology for the fruit growing industry. They have been trialling their products at Tiptree. They are helping to reduce food waste, improve yields and save time for crop-pickers.
I am concerned by a story put around Chelmsford that Essex County Council Conservatives want to put a busgate in the Broomfield Road. This is not true. Broomfield Road is an important throughfare, connecting the city with the hospital. There are no agreed plans for a busgate and Conservatives are opposed to this.
I would like to see the Broomfield Road congestion reduced, especially at school pick up time when the school buses have to block the road to wait for children. The easiest solution would be for the school buses to use the City Council’s nearby car park. The Lib Dem controlled city council is refusing permission for the buses to do this, but I will keep pressing for this.
People who have been reading this column for a while will remember the national campaigns that have led in the past to reduce plastic waste and tackle the pollution affecting seas and oceans. The UK works with small island states all across the globe and is now helping to protect a third of the world’s oceans.
I will be travelling next week with a small cross-party delegation of MPs as part of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Assembly. We will be visiting a small island developing state on the frontline of climate change, seeing the ocean protection work which the UK supports in action and meeting up with the British Army training overseas. Like us, this country recognises King Charles III as their head of state, they are an important friend.
