Commons Sense
The past few weeks have been extremely busy for myself and my team as Parliament finally returned after a long summer recess.
However, what has been great to see is the resumption of normality across the House of Commons. Since my election in December 2019 I only served just over 3 months in a normal Houses of Commons before the country locked down to tackle coronavirus.
Since then, I have been representing you virtually and in the chamber, albeit as much reduced capacity as many members rightly chose to minimise their time in Parliament. However, now there is a real buzz across Parliament as members from across the country have returned here to represent their constituents full time. This allows for better decisions and policy making as it allows us to share ideas much more easily, whilst also allowing us to more easily reach out to ministers in government. This is crucial if we are to really address the issues that matter to people across Beaconsfield.
This week I want to focus on two areas. The first being the establishment of the South Bucks nature forum. This brought together many representatives from the many parks, nature reserves, and communities across the region in an effort to protect our many beautiful green spaces.
As many of you will know, defending our green spaces and preventing the erosion of our green belt has been a key policy area which I have been keen to fight for and this is just the latest step in my efforts to keep Beaconsfield green.
The second thing I want to discuss is the state of GP appointments. I have disappointed to hear from constituents that many GP practices have not yet resumed in person appointments. We are now almost 2 months from July 19, when all legal restrictions were dropped in England. I therefore find it entirely unacceptable that patients still cannot access in-person appointments. Whilst many patients are fine with virtual appointments, many simply cannot attaint the same level of care, attention, and advice over the phone or through a computer screen. I will therefore be working hard to ensure that all patients are given the choice of a virtual or in person appointment, no matter who they are or where they live.