The progress on vaccines continues to be amazing, as a country we have now vaccinated over half the adult population and in Newton Aycliffe over 20,000 people have been vaccinated by the Jubilee Medical Practice team at Cobblers Hall. I would like to thank and applaud this team, led by Gill Johnson, the team of admin and clinicians, Janet, Dr Winny Jose, Jennifer, Kennedy, Kath, Hayley, along with ANP’s and paramedics Tony, Belinda, Susan, Lisa, Ali, Julie, Bev, Joanne, Shirley, Chris, Kev, Leean, Viv, Margaret, Denise, Christopher and Alan along with several volunteers to marshal that include Greg, Chris, Mike, Thomas and Jackson who have braved some very bad weather to help guide patients to the right place. They have all been outstanding. Please remember though it takes a couple of weeks for a jab to be fully effective and also that you still have to follow the rules.

I have spent time this week encouraging the team at Durham County Council that we should be compiling a bid to the Levelling Up Fund urgently with a view to hitting the first deadline and I will continue to pursue this.

I have also had some very interesting sessions including on ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency) which has the potential to drive dramatic innovation from which some of our local businesses can potentially profit and I will speak in the House in its support. This is a fund being introduced that will facilitate high risk and high reward transformational research. I also will be speaking in debates on Trade and Hospitality in the next week as well as asking a question to the Minister for Women and Equalities about young women studying STEM subjects. I had the pleasure of meeting the Head of Woodham School to catch up on a number of points and was delighted to hear how well their testing had gone, but also that, so far, they had not had a single positive test. On Friday I also joined the CAMRA Durham team to discuss their requests for support and will write to the Chancellor as a result. I also spoke in the House on the trade bill amendment being referred to as the genocide amendment. I absolutely supported the need for Parliament to have a vote on any new trade deals and I would not support any with countries with credible concerns of genocide. Next week sees the first stage point in lockdown lifting on 29 March, but please could I ask you to see these changes as options and not to try and stretch interpretations to the limit. It is all about lifting the restrictions in a slow and controlled way, as the Prime Minister has said, we want this to be irreversible.

Stay Home, Protect the NHS and Save Lives – Stay Safe.

Paul Howell

Member of Parliament for Sedgefield