The last two weeks have, once again, proven to be very busy across Corby & East Northamptonshire and I have been working hard, listening to you on the issues that matter, and then campaigning on them for you back in Westminster. Below are some of the things I’ve been up to in the last few weeks.
As ever, if I can be of any assistance to you or your family, please don't hesitate to get in touch using the contact details at the bottom of this newsletter.
With best wishes,
Tom Pursglove MP
Member of Parliament for Corby & East Northamptonshire
Working for you across Corby & East Northamptonshire!
My October ‘round up’ video!
You can find my October ‘round up’ video, here, covering some of the key events, issues and meetings from across the last month both locally and in Westminster.
Remembrance will be different this year, but we will come together as one nonetheless:
Owing to Coronavirus, Remembrance will no doubt be very different this year here in Corby & East Northamptonshire and across the country, but as a community I know we will come together as one in spirit to remember all those who have given so much in the name of our country in conflicts past and present. You can find more information about how you can support the 2020 Poppy Appeal, here: https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/poppy-appeal. You can see my full update video, here.
Corby Town Deal Board update video:
It's great that our inclusion in the 'Town Deals' initiative is bringing real benefits for Corby - an early £750,000 already secured for regeneration projects and £25 million still to play for! You can see my full update video, here.
Visit to the award winning Axil Integrated Services in Corby:
I recently visited Axil Integrated Services, an award winning success story right here in Corby and it was great to hear about the vital award winning work they do to aid a range of manufacturing businesses to improve their environmental footprint and facilitate the waste management of their customers. Find out more, here.
Catch up with local Oundle councillors:
It’s always really helpful to meet with local councillors to discuss the issues that are coming up so we can tackle them head on together. This time, it was very useful to meet councillors from Oundle to talk about how we can continue to work together to make sure that future decisions on planning in the town are the right ones for the community. You can find out more, here.
Visit to Midlands Logistics Park:
I had an interesting visit to the Midlands Logistics Park in Corby to learn more about the work that goes on there and to discuss their plans for expansion. As well as a tour, we had a productive discussion on the importance of the development being a good neighbour - a dialogue I'm keen to help facilitate. More information about my visit can be found, here.
Visit to OakeyDokey Childcare:
Last Friday, I visited Oakey Dokey Childcare in Corby to discuss the particular challenges that those in the childcare sector are facing through COVID-19. The early years are crucial foundations for our children’s futures and excellent providers are instrumental - and OakeyDokey are a first-class example! More about my visit, here.
Meeting with the Nene Education Trust:
I had a useful meeting with the Nene Education Trust to discuss the work being done to ensure that all children achieve well in school and go on to succeed. I came away with lots of useful information to highlight, and a few ideas to take forward around what more can be done locally to improve outcomes for our young people. Find out more about my visit, here.
Free school meals to be provided here in Northamptonshire - an update:
Last weekend, I worked intensively with local councillors at County Hall, and with my fellow Northamptonshire MPs, to get a system in place to provide free school meals vouchers for the October half-term period locally. Realistically, these things do take a bit of time to work through, but I'm pleased to say we reached agreement because of the extra significant Government grant to Northamptonshire County Council last week, which is intended to target local needs, and some of which will be spent on providing vouchers for those eligible over half-term.
I am particularly grateful to Councillor Matt Golby and Councillor Jason Smithers for their efforts in making this happen.
Whilst for some, no solution will ever be good enough and they just want to be downright abusive on social media - with foul language, intimidation and threats of violence - and will use any ‘excuse’ to justify being so, I will not allow that to distract me from getting the right solutions in place to support local people through this difficult time. I genuinely believe this is the right way to tackle this challenge - councils know their communities best and the needs that exist and with the right financial backing, are best placed to address them. That is exactly what we are doing here.
It is also important to remember that this is just one part of a significant package of support to get low-income families through this difficult period, which has included extending free school meals support to those eligible when schools were partially closed, increasing Universal Credit by £20 a week to help with such costs, funding councils to provide emergency food assistance to families, and allocating £63 million earlier in the year to councils for families in hardship.
The national voucher scheme saw over £380 million worth of voucher codes redeemed into supermarket e-gift cards by schools and families, with over 20,000 schools placing orders. Ministers also took the unprecedented step this year of extending the free school meals programme over the summer holidays.
In addition, a £9 million summer holiday activities and food programme ran this summer, offering activities and meals to thousands of disadvantaged children. This is an incredibly important scheme that helps parents and children alike. A further £26 million is being invested in a breakfast club programme, which has established or improved over 1,700 breakfast clubs in schools located in the most disadvantaged parts of the country. Free school milk continues to be supplied to eligible children, and the school fruit and vegetable scheme has also restarted as schools have fully reopened.
So importantly, not only are low-income families getting additional practical help and support, but they are also accessing an increased level of financial help in the form of direct cash.
I should also add that some of the scaremongering we have seen around the long-standing existing term-time free school meals provision has been nothing short of irresponsible - they have been in place for more than a century and will continue to remain in place.
But these free school meals, under Governments of both sides, have only ever been intended to support eligible pupils attending school during term-time and it is important to remember that free school meals are not a general welfare measure. They are aimed at providing healthy meals for children in schools to ensure that disadvantaged students can learn to the best of their ability.
The voucher scheme being administered by NCC is now live and you can find all the information for eligible families to redeem these vouchers, here:
So in summary, it is a fact that free school meals voucher provision is being made available here in Northamptonshire, paid for by the Government funding NCC has received (in the same way CBC and ENC have received separate allocations, and could use them towards their own initiatives) to provide tailored local support to effectively target local need. I happen to believe that is the right approach and am proud to have played my part in making it happen - both in terms of securing substantial extra Government funding for our local councils here in Corby & East Northamptonshire in the first place through my engagement with Ministers, and then making positive local representations on how that money is best spent to maximise its impact.
I also wanted to set the events of the last few days in the context of the wider package of comprehensive COVID-19 support that is being made available to help get low-income families nationally through this period, which has arguably not received the attention it ought to have done over recent days, but which is unprecedented in its scale and which I know Ministers will keep under constant review as the situation develops, as they have to date, and particularly as we move towards the Christmas holidays, as the Prime Minister said himself earlier this week.
More police officers for Northamptonshire:
You spoke and we listened! Here in Northamptonshire, we're keeping our promise to put more police officers out on the beat, catching criminals and deterring crime and keeping our streets safer.
Vital culture funding for ‘medieval wonder’ to survive the pandemic:
One of East Northamptonshire’s churches, described as a ‘medieval wonder’ has been given a crucial lifeline, as part of a Government package to ensure our important sites of cultural interest survive the Coronavirus pandemic. The Conservation Trust at All Saints Church, which lies at the edge of the picturesque village of Aldwincle in East Northamptonshire, has been awarded a grant of £86,204. You can find more information on this welcome news, here, and it is also equally great news that Rockingham Castle received a sizeable grant too through this support scheme.
Coronavirus support for businesses in Corby & East Northamptonshire:
I was pleased to be informed by the British Business Bank that businesses in our constituency have been offered over £90 million as part of the Coronavirus Business Interruption Scheme and the Bounce Bank Loan Scheme. More information, here.
Weekly advice surgeries are still running - but over the phone!
I'm running my regular constituency surgeries every Friday as telephone meetings, so if you have any queries or concerns please do get in touch with me via my email at pursglovet@parliament.uk to organise an appointment. As ever, it is my pleasure to be able to assist in any way that I can.
Local engagement, help and support – September & October 2020 in numbers:
To give local people an idea about the work I have been doing on the ground in recent weeks, actively raising local issues, feedback and concerns, and taking up individual cases, I thought it would be useful to include the pie chart below which includes the data for the month of September. Notably:
• Last month, my office received well over 2,000 emails from local residents and 694 specific new cases were created for individual constituents.
• While Coronavirus and the wide-ranging impacts that it is having on our society still account for a large proportion of the cases being dealt with, last month saw a continued increase in other issues being raised.
And at the end of October:
• Across this month, I have received over 1,600 constituent queries, with 955 specific new cases being opened, and with more coming in all the time. Once again, almost all the correspondence received so far has been linked to topical issues around Parliament, Government, COVID-19 and other current issues, but I will provide another full update in my next newsletter in mid-November.
Of course, if I can ever be of any assistance to you or your family, please do not hesitate to get in touch – I am always really happy to help!
• I have been informed that a consultation on the new Council Tax Support Scheme for North Northamptonshire has gone live and will be running until the 30th November. Local people across Corby and East Northamptonshire are invited to have their say on the proposals and can do so, here: https://futurenorthants.citizenspace.com/lctss-north/2021-22/. It’s important that local people help shape the new unitary authority and this central aspect of council tax policy, so please do make your views known.
• This year, as part of Small Business Saturday in December, small businesses across the UK are being offered a package of support and mentoring through the online Small Business Roadshow. The roadshow starts on the 2nd November with virtual visits to businesses across the UK and offers workshops and mentoring. To find out more and take part, visit: www.smallbusinesssaturdayuk.com.
• Following on from World Mental Health Day recently, I was pleased to be informed that the National Lottery Community Fund has contributed over £1 million to support mental health projects in Corby & East Northamptonshire over the last five years. This funding allows for important work locally, so thank you to National Lottery players for helping to make it happen - it makes an enormous difference to those who find themselves in tough circumstances, or who are struggling.
• Northamptonshire County Council, along with the Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff of Northamptonshire, have launched the ‘Rose of Northamptonshire Awards’ to thank local residents for the extraordinary work they have been doing during the COVID-19 pandemic. I can think of so many unsung heroes in our community and to nominate someone you know, please visit: https://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/news/council-news/Pages/unsung-heroes-rose-of-northamptonshire-awards-launch.aspx.
• Tresham College are offering a course, and subsequent qualification, in basic IT skills for FREE at the Learning Centre on George Street in Corby. This is a great opportunity to get an employer-recognised qualification, so to find out more call: 01536 413242.
• I’m pleased to be supporting Age UK’s campaign - ‘No one should have no one’ - for the more than 2.5 million older people who have no one to turn to for help and support. The campaign is raising awareness about the issues facing lonely older people and the support on offer, particularly during these really challenging times. You can find out more at: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/services/in-your-area/.
• I am pleased to be supporting Sport England in their campaign for people to keep active during these challenging times, as their research has shown that activity levels have been dropping. Getting moving and playing sport is incredibly beneficial, not only for physical health, but also for mental wellbeing. If you can’t get out to your local leisure facilities which are open, Sport England has a whole host of free workouts, which can be found, here: https://www.sportengland.org/jointhemovement. So, Corby & East Northamptonshire, let’s get moving!
• East Northamptonshire Council has produced a handy guide for recycling locally, so please do take a look and help to keep your recycling clean, as well as only recycling the items shown. If we don’t, all the good work literally goes to waste – with the whole lot agonisingly going to landfill! More: https://tinyurl.com/ybv2yau6.
• I have been contacted by The Royal British Legion to highlight the launch of their new educational resources all about Remembrance. The resources come in a range of formats and are designed initially for Key Stages 1-4. They are free to download and can be found, here: rbl.org.uk/teachingremembrance.
• SEMLEP’s Community Grants programme has opened for applications. Voluntary, community and social enterprises can apply for grants of between £10,000 and £20,000 to deliver projects that help get people back into work or training. For more information, visit: https://www.semlep.com/community-grants/.
• In addition to the above notice, the new South East Midlands ‘Kickstart’ grants scheme has opened for applications from local businesses. As part of the national Government-funded programme, the purpose of the grants is to help businesses who have been affected by the impacts of COVID-19. There are two schemes available, providing grants on average of between £1,000 and £3,000. One is specifically aimed at tourism-related businesses, while the other is open to any small or medium-sized business. Both grants will use the same application form and can be accessed through SEMLEP’s ‘Growth Hub’ website. More: https://www.semlepgrowthhub.com/covid-19-business-grants/.
• Northamptonshire County Council has launched its third Community Flood Resilience Pathfinder project, which allows local communities to apply for support to reduce the likelihood of flash flooding. There are a few obvious areas locally that could potentially qualify for the scheme, and to find out more and apply, visit: https://www.floodtoolkit.com/pathfinder/.
• The Chairman of East Northamptonshire Council, Councillor Helen Howell, has launched a new awards scheme to recognise local heroes from across East Northamptonshire for all the hard work they do locally to help and support others and make our community the fantastic place it is to live and work. The closing date for nominations is the 31st December and there are several categories to nominate in. To find out more and nominate someone you know, visit: https://www.east-northamptonshire.gov.uk/ENChampions.
• Fly-tipping presents an awful plight on our beautiful countryside and costs local councils a great deal of money to clear up - frustratingly, money which could be so much better spent on other important local services that improve the lives of residents. Sadly, over recent months, there has been an increase in fly-tipping across the country, including here in Corby & East Northamptonshire. Our local councils are working hard to trace fly-tippers, so if you come across fly-tipping, please do report it to either Corby Borough Council or East Northamptonshire Council, so those responsible pay the price.
• Thanks to improvements to the Charity Commission register of charities, you can now check for registered charities based in Corby & East Northamptonshire at the click of a button. Go to the charity register now to ensure you’re giving safely to recognised charities and make sure your kind donations do exactly what you intended them to: https://register-of-charities.charitycommission.gov.uk/constituency-search
• Anglian Water’s ‘Positive Difference Fund’, which is dedicating £1 million to help communities combat the impact of Coronavirus, is still open. Local community groups in our area can apply for project funding through the local ‘Community Foundation’ and more information can be found, here: https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/in-the-community/charity-work/positive-difference-fund/. A terrific opportunity to help make a positive difference!
• A particularly concerning aspect around our collective national effort to fight Coronavirus is the impact it is understandably having on people’s mental health. In response, I am pleased that our local councils and the NHS have launched a mental health support line, and whether you are feeling lonely, anxious, frightened, or struggling with other issues, there is friendly, professional support available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by calling 0300 330 1011.
• A project that aims to remember all those who have very sadly lost their lives in the UK as a result of COVID-19 is being led by St Paul’s Cathedral in London, supported by community and faith leaders from across the country and HRH the Prince of Wales. Family, friends, or carers of those who have died can submit, free of charge, the name, photograph and a short message in honour of a lost loved one, via the ‘Remember Me’ website (www.rememberme2020.uk). Like us all, my thoughts are with all those who have sadly lost someone at this very difficult time, and this is a fitting tribute to remember them all.
• Around all the wonderful work going on in our community and the national effort to fight Coronavirus, I am really saddened to hear of the small minority of people who, disgracefully, are trying to take advantage of vulnerable people at this hugely challenging time. I am aware of several scams, and urge you to stay extra vigilant. Be suspicious around phone calls, texts and emails you weren't expecting, or people claiming to be from the Government, HMRC, or the local council. More information and advice, here: https://bit.ly/2HtMqE9.
If you have anything you would like to be featured next week, please email all the details to pursglovet@parliament.uk.
Also, if you have taken any photos of constituency landscapes or landmarks, which could be featured in my ‘Community Notices’ headers, please send them in and I will try to use as many of them as possible (and credit them accordingly!), as a celebration of the fantastic place we live and work in. I know we have many budding photographers in our community and it would be great to showcase their work!
LOBBY CAMPAIGNS:
As you might be aware, I respond to standard campaign emails via my website, here. For ease, I also wanted to share the links to the most recent replies, which you can find below:
