Another week of lockdown that has been very well respected by the vast majority of people and everyone needs to be congratulated. Thank you.

Hopefully many of you will have been able to see the informative edition produced last week and I thank the team at Newton News for producing it and also those volunteers that assisted in the distribution.

I have regular discussions with leaders of the Local Authorities, NHS and Police and I am pleased to say that whilst there have been pressures on PPE all our local supplies are robust and the occupancy rate of our intensive care beds is at less than half capacity so if you need non Covid 19 medical help the NHS remains available for you.

My week has seen the introduction of virtual working in Parliament, last Thursday (23/4) we had a BEIS (Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) select committee meeting where we had the Secretary of State in front of us to answer questions and this week we are primarily talking to Businesses. BEIS, like all select committees is cross party so the witnesses get questions from various perspectives. These meetings will take place most weeks when the House is sitting and are normally televised or accessible on Parliament.tv.

Virtual forums are also in use for many other more informal discussions and I have amongst others had forums with Rob Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Local Government and Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for International Trade. These respectively discussed Local Government finance and the progress and strategy of post Brexit trade discussions.

I have been able to talk to a number of local business leaders to understand their perspective and particular pressures and I know one of their concerns is the clarity for people around going back to work. I have provided in a separate submission a 5 question approach that David from my team created that explains the current rules very well.

I, like many others, am largely working from home with occasional forays to volunteer at places like Play Cafe. My team and I hold daily virtual meetings and continue to work on both Covid 19 and other issues that affect you. We receive very many questions and will do our absolute best to reply as quickly as possible should you contact us. It is good to see the Prime Minister back in post and congratulations to him and Carrie on the birth of their son.

I along with everyone else look forward to the lifting of some restrictions. It is of course critical that this happens in a controlled and considered way and will undoubtedly require continued patience.

For now though please Stay at Home, Protect our NHS and Save Lives.

Paul Howell MP

Member of Parliament

for Sedgefield

Paul.Howell.MP@Parliament.uk