York Press column: Health, Education and Supporting Local Businesses
January 31, 2024
It has been another busy and varies few weeks around the constituency and in Westminster covering a range of issues from health, education and supporting local businesses.
I was delighted to chair a Westminster Health Forum Conference on tackling antimicrobial resistance in my capacity as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Antimicrobial Resistance. This conference provided a brilliant opportunity to bring together industry experts and stakeholders, including Parliamentarians; the UK Special Envoy on AMR, Dame Sally Davis; and Professor Lord Darzi to name but a few.
Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world’s largest killers with around 5 million deaths attributed to it at present. It is also thought that this number will increase to 10 million annually by 2050 with a subsequent cost to the global economy amounting to $100 trillion. In comparison, the COVID-19 pandemic has, thus far, cost the global economy $17 trillion.
I am incredibly passionate about increasing awareness around this emerging threat and have stressed the importance of the UK being a world leader in tackling AMR in the run up to the United Nations’ General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance in September.
From global health challenges to more local issues, I have been meeting with GPs across York to discuss the challenges that they are facing. I was pleased to have secured and chaired a meeting with the new Minister for Primary Care and Public Health, Dame Andrea Leadsom MP, and GPs from across York. In this meeting we discussed how primary care can be used to cut the demand on secondary care. Additionally, GPs shared joint projects in York that see different GP practices working together as a potential model to rolled out across the country. Dame Andrea has shown interest in visiting York and speaking with the GPs in person, which I will of course update York Press readers about in this column.
Additionally, I was pleased to add my support to the National Autistic Society’s call for urgent reform of the education system, to ensure that autistic children and young people can get the right school places that meet their needs.
At this event, I had the opportunity to learn more about the charity’s recent Education Report, which revealed a woeful lack of the right support for autistic pupils at school. Furthermore, I was lucky enough to hear from students about their experiences at school, viewed artwork by the National Autistic Society’s campaigners and heard about what the Government can do to make sure all autistic children receive a quality education.
Finally, I was delighted to welcome Andy Harrington, the owner of Ainsty Ales, down to Parliament for the ‘Taste of North Yorkshire’ event. This was a fantastic opportunity for North Yorkshire MPs to champion a local business in Parliament and celebrate our fantastic Yorkshire based products at the showcase. Each MP from the 8 North Yorkshire constituencies selected a business to attend this showcase in Parliament where they had the opportunity to promote their products and discuss the challenges they have faced and their successes.
Ainsty Ales is a brilliant local business based in Acaster Malbis that brews some fantastic award-winning ales and won York Press’ Small Business of the Year in 2023. I am a huge supporter of local businesses, and I am always interested to hear of the success stories and the challenges that businesses and their owners across the York area have faced. Small businesses are the backbone of our regional and national economy, and I am passionate about making sure that they are supported where they can be and regularly write to the Chancellor on this matter.
Ahead of March’s Budget, I am backing the ‘Make it 20%’ campaign being run by the Campaign for Real Ale, Society of Independent Brewers, and Independent Family Brewers of Britain) which calls for the draught duty relief for beer and cider served in pubs to be extended to 20%. This will support local brewers like Ainsty Ales as well as all the fantastic local pubs in York. Initiatives like the Make It 20% campaign should be included in the Budget to show the Government’s support for businesses and addressing the challenges they are facing.
