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Championing young readers: celebrating Southampton’s talented pupils

As the MP for Southampton Test, I have the privilege of meeting and hearing about the achievements of so many talented young people of all ages across our city. Whether in schools, at community events, or in Parliament, I always want to champion the incredible potential of our children and encourage them to aim high.

Southampton gave me so much growing up as a child from the inner city on free school meals, and I want to ensure that this new generation are supported too.

That’s why I was absolutely delighted to hear about the fantastic achievements of pupils from the Learning Federation Partnership of Schools in the recent National Reading Champions Quiz.

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No Limits get £58k Government Funding Boost 

I am so pleased to share news that No Limits, an incredible youth services charity in Southampton, has been awarded £58,000 in new government funding to support young people in the city. 

The funding is part of a wider Labour Government initiative to improve the mental health of young people across England, with a focus on early intervention and specialist support. No Limits is one of 24 Early Support Hubs across the country set to receive a share of £7 million allocated to mental health services for young people. 

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Letter to RMG: fighting for leaseholders

Having heard heart-breaking stories from a number of resident groups in Southampton, I have joined a group of MPs working together to stand up for leaseholders.

As part of this work, I have signed a joint letter to property management company RMG demanding better for residents. Sadly, too many leaseholders and renters continue to face substandard living conditions, all while paying sky-high service fees for work that either doesn’t get completed or is poorly done.

READ THE LETTER

I have been holding landlords and property management companies accountable for constituents, and I will keep pushing for change. From calling out bad landlords and freeholders in Parliament and achieving rent freezes for Compass Point in Redbridge, to holding Abri to account and securing an action plan for residents in Portswood, I’m fighting hard on this issue.

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Bevois Town to be one of 750 schools in first wave of free breakfast clubs

Labour is delivering on our promise to roll out free breakfast clubs to all primary school children, starting with 750 early adopter schools beginning in April this year.

Details of early adopter schools were announced earlier his week and I am absolutely delighted that a school in Southampton Test will be taking part in the first wave.

A massive congratulations to Bevois Town Primary on their successful application!

The government has chosen Bevois Town as one of the first to offer free, daily breakfast clubs as part of our landmark scheme that will ensure children are school-ready and parents are better off.

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Southampton Renaissance Vision: Prospectus for Change Launch

With growth being the government’s central mission and this region being placed on the priority programme for devolution, we have a once in a generation opportunity to finally stop talking about Southampton’s huge potential and start delivering on it.

It’s was great to officially welcome investors and partners last week to Southampton’s Renaissance Vision and Prospectus Launch.

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I’m proud to have played my role in setting up and currently chairing Southampton Renaissance, that brings together key city institutions, everyone in the same boat rowing in the same direction.

From growing our globally important maritime sector, to cementing us as a destination city, to being at the heart of innovation and creating the jobs of the future – Southampton is open for business, and I’m pleased so many are looking to invest and become invested in our amazing city and incredible people.

Discover the Prospectus for Change here: southamptonrenaissance.com

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Labour’s £20 million funding boost for Southampton’s public health services

The Labour Government is increasing funding for public health services in Southampton, as part of a £200 million national funding boost to the Public Health Grant – the biggest real-terms increase after nearly a decade of reduced spending under the Conservatives.  

As part of Labour’s plans to improve health outcomes across the country and build healthier communities, local public health services will be given more money to deliver prevention programmes, tailored to their residents.  

Southampton City Council will receive more than £20 million to help drive key health services, from help to stop smoking to addiction recovery and children’s health, and to help fund family and school nurses, sexual health clinics and other public services in the local area.  

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New year, new opportunities

A new year brings new change, and there’s a big one on the horizon- devolution. It’s something that has been spoken about for more than a decade but never delivered within our region. I’m pleased that under this new Labour Government, it could finally become a reality. Everyone talks about Southampton’s huge potential, and this will offer a really exciting opportunity to help deliver it. It’s why I’ve been backing this throughout, both when I was in local government and now in Westminster, speaking to Ministers about how Southampton can benefit from it. In a nutshell it means more powers and more money for our city and region.

I believe that more decisions about our area should be made more locally, by communities that they will impact, rather than always coming from Whitehall, which can often have a top down, one size fits all approach. This government believes that local people, whether you live or work here, better understand the unique challenges and aspirations of our communities.

This will be the biggest local government reorganisation in a generation, and local councils in the Solent region, including Southampton, have now submitted a formal request to be included in the Government’s Devolution Priority Programme. This is now being reviewed, and we will hopefully have further updates soon.

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Southern Water Outage: Southampton’s unwelcome Christmas tradition

It’s that time of year, and while many of us are gearing up for Christmas, this past week I’ve been busy with one of Southampton’s most unwelcome Christmas traditions! The water supply disappearing. Southern Water caused utter chaos and concern when their water supply to thousands of homes stopped due to an issue that arose while cleaning and updating the Testwood Water Supply Works in Totton.

Southern Water’s handling of it, has been quite frankly appalling. The lack of water stations in Southampton, the confused communication from the Southern Water team, and even when these minimal water stations were set up, there was confusion over when they opened and closed, as well as only being able to access them with a car. Once they were “up and running” they ran out of water, leaving many stranded having waited hours. Those that could not get to a water station, and particularly the vulnerable (who were meant to be on a priority list for Southern Water to hand deliver to their homes!) – were left in limbo, waiting for water they were promised, that never came or came too late. At one point there were more than 20,000 people on that list.

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My first ever Christmas Card Competition, and we have a winner!

I was delighted to visit a very Christmassy Newlands Primary School in Millbrook this week to present the winner of this year’s Christmas Card Competition with their prize. After being elected in July, I knew that running this competition was something I really wanted to do, so this is especially exciting for me. Each year we’ll pick a different school in the constituency to take part, and thank you to Newlands Primary School for being the first.  

The winner was year 1 student, Laila Weller. Laila’s artwork really stood out to me as it features a wonderful handprint of a Christmas tree which is so festive. Laila is just five-years-old, and her creativity brilliant, well done Laila!  

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There is still time to donate to Southampton’s Toy Appeal

The Christmas Toy Appeal, which is run by Southampton City Council and volunteers, is now in its 36th year, and I had the absolute pleasure of spending a morning helping out.  

The annual drive for toy donations is now well under way and donations have poured in from across Southampton. But when the Toy Appeal is providing gifts for more than 7,000 young people all over the city, there is always a need for more.  

The volunteers are led by Colin McPherson, a social worker with Southampton City Council. Colin has run the Toy Appeal for more than twenty years, and his dedication to helping and supporting young people has been unwavering. There are so many children who wake up on Christmas Day with a present to open and that’s because of him, and everyone who volunteers and donates. 

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