Page 55 - Phonebox Magazine January 2007

Out and About with Mark Lancaster
Our local MP
To contact Mark please call or write to: Mark Lancaster TD MP
13a High Street, Newport Pagnell, Bucks MK16 8AR
Tel: 01908 615757 Fax: 01908 618433
What a month! Any fears I had successful appeal. I was pleased to be our ‘area’ will come as something as a
about missing opportunities to speak in the Commons now that I am a “Whip” have proved unfounded. If anything, I seem to be getting more opportunities than before, (eight this month, mainly about healthcare in Milton Keynes).
able to handover a cheque from a fee that I donated from an article I wrote for a national newspaper concerning my time in Afghanistan. The whole appeal has been a tremendous success story and it is both a credit to the trustees and the local community
who have rallied round and backed the appeal in such a positive manner.
I have always tried to be apolitical in these monthly articles, but as I went to print last month I was about to ask my first Prime Minister’s question. Many people have since contacted me enquiring what I asked him. With the funding crisis at the hospital and Primary Care Trust continuing to dominate the news locally, I felt it only right
that this should be the issue that I raised with the Prime Minster. Therefore, my question was as follows:
“Last week, Milton Keynes hospital announced the closure of its surgical assessment unit with the loss of some 23 beds – the first cuts of some £18 million savings that need to be found by March. Can the Prime Minister explain to my constituents why, at a time when the Government are forcing Milton Keynes to expand, they are forcing our health service to contract?”
So what was the answer I hear you ask?
“When the Hon. Gentleman talks about the health service contracting overall, it simply is not right to give the example that he gives without putting the other side of the picture, because it is also true that we have funded a £130 million scheme to concentrate all clinical services on one site and provided a new angiography treatment unit, a new GP practice, 5,500 more nurses and almost 800 more consultants in his area.”
Whilst I will let you the reader make up your own mind I’m sure the news that, according to the Prime Minister at least, we have 5,500 more nurses in
surprise. I confess personally I was less than enthused by the answer so followed it up with a similar question to the Secretary of State for Health the following week. Regrettably, I got a pretty similar answer. In the time that I have been your Member of Parliament, with perhaps the exception of my ‘I before E’ campaign over the expansion of Milton Keynes, I have yet to encounter a subject that so many people have felt so angry about. This was raised with me first hand last Saturday when standing on Newport Pagnell High Street collecting signatures for my petition for ‘fair funding for Milton Keynes healthcare’.
At a time that as a community we are still only receiving 95% of the budget that the Government freely admits that we deserve, even before we fully take into account Milton Keynes’s rapid expansion, all I can do is pledge to
continue the fight both locally and in the commons to ensure that our community gets the Health Service that we deserve.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, may I simply take this opportunity to thank all of you who contribute so much of your free time to make our community what it is (regardless of your political persuasion!) and wish you all a Happy New Year. n
It has also been a busy month in the constituency. One of the highlights was going to Green Park School to present young Michael Burden (aged ten) his prize for designing my Christmas card. Having written to schools across the constituency and invited them to enter the competition under the title “Father Christmas goes to Westminster”, I was literally inundated by hundreds of entries. Whilst the standard of entries was incredibly high, in the end I chose Michael’s. It has even managed to catch David Cameron’s eye as he stopped me in the corridor to say what a fine card it was.
Staying on the subject of schools, it was great fun to return to Olney
Middle School again to be quizzed by year 6 on my life as a MP. I also visited St Andrew’s First School in Great Linford which having campaigned long and hard to try to prevent its closure, I was delighted to have confirmed by the Council that its future is now secure.
Equally enjoyable was my visit to the Cowper and Newton Museum to get a sneak preview of many of the articles that the Museum has managed to purchase following their highly
S T O P P R E S S
I have today (14th Dec) during a debate 'On the future of the Post Office' finally managed to raise in the House of Commons local concerns over the level of service being received following the closure of the Olney sorting office earlier this year. Whilst the new sorting office in Newport Pagnell is an excellent facility, it is
proving inaccessible to many local residents partly because of its location and distance from so much of the rural community. I intend to conduct a survey of residents in the New Year though have received assurances from the Secretary of State that he will look into the problem.
If anyone has had any problems regarding this please contact me.
Phonebox Magazine 55