Town’s medical issues discussed

We discussed how to go about getting the best medical provisions in our town and talked about the potential funding of two new GP practices in Burnley. The meeting went well and I look forward to looking into this further.

I was then straight down to London for Parliamentary business and attending many important meetings and debates. My diary was extremely busy as everyone tries to cram things in before summer recess. In the evening, I attended E.ON’s annual dinner where we discussed the provision of energy supplies over the next 20 years. The company are making good investments and I talked about issues that residents have brought to me relating to energy costs.

On Tuesday I met with Ambitious about Autism to discuss the issue after I have secured a debate that will take place in the House of Commons. It is simply alarming that four in ten children with autism have been excluded informally and therefore illegally during their time at school. Every child, whether they have autism or a special educational need or not, should be able to get the quality education they need to learn, thrive and achieve.

I was then straight to an apprenticeship lunch where I co-chaired it with Allan Cook, chairman of Finmeccanica UK. It was a very engaging lunch where we discussed important questions that need to be addressed such as how can funds in education be better utilised in support of apprenticeships and how can we make careers in engineering more appealing? The Coalition Government has done so much positive work on apprenticeships and addressing the skills gap to ensure we have the workforce of the future.

On Wednesday I attended an apprenticeship evening with Vince Cable where we were once again discussing how far we have come with regards to apprenticeships but also recognising there is still more to be done.

I was out visiting businesses and constituents in Burnley and I then went to Cuadrilla’s Elswick site. It was incredibly interesting where they explained thoroughly how fracking works. We discussed some issues and what the site would be like. I was very interested to hear it would be the size of two football pitches.

As always Friday was busy with constituent appointments and then I held my street advice stall in the sunshine on Saturday. I was honoured on Sunday to be invited to a local Mosque to break the fast. It was an incredible occasion at the Masjid-e-Ibrahim Mosque and I thank them very much for inviting me to do the honour.