With Parliament in recess, it’s been a busy week at home.
I met members of the East Sussex Youth Cabinet at The Archery in Seaside on Monday and reviewed the priorities Eastbourne students had chosen in their ‘Big Vote’.
Job opportunities was top and the barriers each one of my group had experienced was invaluable feedback, ‘experience required’ being the ultimate stalemate.
What more can we do to connect our aspiring young people with local opportunities? If you’re an employer, please get in touch.
This week I remained in contact with the hospital on its care and services for children and expectant mums. I’m a DGH mum myself, three times over, and I want every woman to have the choice to have her baby in Eastbourne. Our highly valued midwife-led birth unit must be a 365 offer and we’re working together to achieve that.
On paediatrics, the hospital is closely monitoring the changes they have made at the DGH and report a number of positive impacts. I continue to brief the Secretary of State.
My popular Pint of Politics events in local pubs are coming back! I popped into The Farm on Friday Street last Saturday and I’m delighted it wants to host. No issue off limits, it’s good to talk.
And there is no shortage of difficult issues coming up in Parliament. Abortion will feature in the Criminal Justice Bill next month when a Labour amendment will seek to decriminalise abortions six months or more into pregnancy, past the legal limit.
And on another very sensitive issue, I’m now asking local parents and teachers to contribute to the Department for Education’s online consultation on how we support children in school who want to transition to the opposite sex.
This is incredibly important because it has far-reaching repercussions. I am all too aware of this, having dealt with some serious local casework. The consultation closes at the beginning of March.
It’s Valentine’s Day as I write and I love my town. Eastbourne runs through me like seaside rock. It did make me smile earlier though to see that we had been rated the 3rd most romantic town in the country, thanks it seems to our Instagrammable locations!
