Last Tuesday finished with me sharing a call with the other Tees Valley MPs to discuss with Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health, the situation regarding Covid-19 in the Tees Valley. In this we all stressed the need for any interventions to be appropriate to the region and where possible to keep areas with no rates outside of any interventions. I also asked him to consider the situation for large regions like County Durham, where there can be significantly different infection rates. Whilst we clearly need to be safe first, we also need to allow others to remain open where appropriate. This of course continues to be a moving target and decisions will change on almost a week by week basis, but I have also asked for some clarity on how regions can effectively come out of an intervention.
I had discussions on Wednesday around nuclear energy investment and the potential energy gap we face if decisions are not made soon. I also had a briefing session with the back office team from the BEIS Select Committee to understand their operations better before going into the chamber for Prime Ministers Questions. Later I joined a group of northern MPs to look at how we work together to get best results for our region. After this, I had a tea room meeting with George Eustace, the Secretary of State for Defra, where I was able to brief him on our new Farmers Auction Mart and invited him to visit.
Thursday was a busy day starting with two questions in the House to the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, where I was able to ask first about encouraging government departments to relocate to our area and then to ask him to support companies with a “Made in Britain” agenda like Ebac and Roman. Following this I went immediately to the BEIS Select Committee who were to discuss recovery from the pandemic, the session heard evidence from Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEP’s) and local government agencies as well as the Chamber of Commerce. I then had a meeting with Danny Kruger, MP, who has just released a report on Levelling Up, which has significant correlations with the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) I chair on Left Behind Communities. Both of us support the proposal for the next tranche of dormant assets funds to be utilised to create an endowment for investment in our communities as we recognise the importance of community infrastructure. After this I caught a train north.
Friday I was in the constituency office and I had discussions with the neighbourhood police team about community initiatives and anti social behaviour and later with Durham County Council (DCC) about Greenfield College. Afterwards, I called into The Big Club to find them in discussions with the team from DCC as regards Covid compliant processes. I am pleased to say the DCC team were very complimentary about the efforts being made. The Big Club have successfully put in place; track and trace, hand sanitizing and temperature checks, all happening as a matter of course and they are operating a full program of entertainment every weekend. I am sure they would appreciate your support. I then popped into the Aviation Gin Bar who had their OctoberFest bunting up and were also very well set up for Covid safety.
The Conservative Party Conference was on line from Saturday to Tuesday so I caught a number of interesting fringe events and speeches between other work. Monday included an additional BEIS session where we discussed our priorities and how to make them effective. Tuesday saw briefings from Darlington Borough Council and County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust before finishing with a discussion forum, hosted by George Eustace, on the forthcoming Agriculture Bill.
Talking with DBC and the NHS, unfortunately, whilst there are some signs of a levelling off, we continue to see rising positive test rates for Covid-19 locally and the potential for Darlington joining Durham in interventions is increasing. As I said last week, whether we agree with the increased restrictions or not, it is important we follow them. It is not all about what is right for you as an individual, it is also about the risk to those around you so please be considerate and follow the guidance HANDS-FACE-SPACE
Wash your Hands Regularly, Wear a mask on your Face where required and Give People Space.
Stay safe, look after each other and have a good week.
Paul Howell, MP for Sedgefield
