The morning seemed to have an educational theme, starting with a visit to Heasandford Primary School where I joined the children for their morning assembly. We then presented kitchen staff with an award for their achievements since the new kitchen opened a few months ago.
Not only had they succeeded in producing excellent, healthy meals but had also opened it up to the community with parents and carers coming in to eat a nutritious lunch with their children. It is a great example of how schools should operate at the heart of the communities they serve and I really enjoyed my visit.

I hadn't been to Heasandford for the best part of two years and as soon as I went through the door it was immediately clear they had made great progress in using their limited space to provide imaginative play areas, as well as developing their beautiful garden, entirely enclosed within the school. It is a good example of how targeted investment by government can transform the learning environment.

So I was very pleased when, quite by coincidence later on Friday, I then visited the local company that had done the work at Heasandford, designing the outside play areas to maximise the amount of activity children wanted to do.

The company concerned, ESP Ltd, is a great little Burnley success story that is expanding rapidly. Using good design, backed up by academic research, they are working with schools across the country to embed more physical activity into playtime as well as within the sports curriculum.

After the school visit it was off to Burnley Library for the annual Catch A Carer event organised to coincide with National Carers' Week. I was impressed with the way the library had started to act as a one-stop shop for carers seeking more information about the help and support available. All year round, the library staff are able to signpost carers to support services available as required.

At the same time, in Westminster, the Government last week published its National Carers' Strategy, which included a new commitment to spend £150m. towards planned short breaks for carers, £38m. towards supporting them to enter or re-enter the job market and £6m. towards improving support for young carers. Other schemes include the piloting of annual health checks for carers to help them stay well, training for GPs to recognise and support carers as well as a more integrated and personalised support service for individual carers.

I know from my own constituents there is huge demand in this area and I'm encouraged by this real commitment to improve the support available. Nationally there are around 5.2 million carers and the demand for care will only rise as life expectancy increases further.

Back to Burnley and I had my usual catch-up with my hard-working team in the office followed by a trip to Padiham for my monthly surgery at the town hall. It was then back to the office to make some headway through the inevitable pile of paperwork before heading back to Burnley Library – this time for the opening of an exhibition on loan from the British Library that sought to compare and contrast aspects of the holy books of Christianity, Islam and Judiasm. It was a nice gathering of local faith and community leaders and I enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with people as well as to admire the interesting exhibition. Entitled Sacred On Location, it runs until June 28th and is well worth a look.