It’s been another busy week as your MP for the Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor Constituency.
I now have part of my staff team in place and we are working incredibly hard to respond to everyone that has been in touch with issues and concerns. We have responded to over 1000 emails and helped close to 500 people with individual cases that include benefit support, housing and education.
I am still in the process of recruiting another caseworker for my constituency office and I hope to have them in place soon. We will continue to work hard to ensure residents receive all the support they need. Thank you to those that have been in touch. You can contact me on alan.Strickland.mp@parliament.uk
Whilst in Westminster, I met with the Director of Hitachi UK to continue my efforts to safeguard the 700 world-class engineering jobs in Newton Aycliffe. We had a positive discussion about the options currently being explored and I’m pleased to see that the Department for Transport have been in active negotiations with the Hitachi management team to address the potential gap in orders. I’ll be speaking to Transport Ministers this week to ask for further updates.
I attended a number of key debates in Westminster Hall including the discussion around special educational needs (SEND) provision. This is an issue that’s being raised with me regularly. I receive a large volume of emails from concerned parents and it’s often raised on the doorstep across our area. I’m pleased Labour has hit the ground running on education reform to start to improve support for children with additional needs. The government has also started to improve the Ofsted rating system, so it’s more transparent and fairer for students, families and teachers.
Back in the constituency, I met with Durham County Council’s Cabinet and the senior leadership team along with the other County Durham MP’s. This was an excellent opportunity to discuss concerns raised from residents such as transport, SEND and housing. I was very concerned to hear about the huge damage that the previous Tory government did to council budgets and the impact this has had on our county.
I also held my first constituency surgery, last week in Ferryhill. It was really useful to sit down with residents and provide face-to-face help with a range of issues. I have further surgeries throughout this month. My next surgery in Newton Aycliffe is the 20th September 1-3pm. If you’d like to book an appointment, please just drop me an email.
Since being elected I’ve been pro-active in getting out and supporting the many brilliant organisations we are home to across our constituency. I attended Spennymoor Town show on Saturday, also calling in at the Horticultural show and mining museum. Whilst at the show I met with local councillors, charities and police. Then it was off to Ferryhill to a fundraising market in aid of the Mayor’s charity. Whilst there I had a chat with Hannah at Brighter Futures to talk about how I can support her efforts in expanding their community pantry. I’ve got visits lined up in Aycliffe and across the constituency in the coming weeks, please let me know if you’re involved in an organisation you’d like me to learn more about.
Another busy week ahead in Westminster, I look forward to updating you all next week.
Alan Strickland
MP for Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor.