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The Government is announcing £200 million for Hertfordshire as part of the local growth fund on Monday with a high ranking member of the Cabinet due to visit Stevenage to announce it in person. Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, will not be attending the launch in Stevenage and is opposing the deal as it is perfectly clear that the Hertfordshire Local Economic Partnership (LEP), which is an unelected quango, has no idea what is needed for our area. The LEP launch may be hastily relocated to another area of Hertfordshire now. Just like the original LEP plan had to be hastily rewritten, once plans were dismissed as a sad joke on local people, when they emerged a few months ago.

Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, said, "It is well known that I have been in talks with senior Government figures for months about the regeneration of Stevenage town centre and we have made massive progress. I launched a campaign for a new Stevenage Development Partnership a couple of months ago and after a meeting on 16th June in Stevenage, we have now secured a broad agreement locally and nationally to pursue an ambitious regeneration of Stevenage.

"I have managed to secure in the announcement on Monday a commitment from the Government to invest a minimum of £19 million into regenerating Stevenage Town Centre, which is fantastic news.

"With all this good news, why am I so annoyed? The problem is what is contained in the rest of the announcement, such as the rubbish about a housing corridor along the A1(M), which is an absolute joke. 16,000 houses to be built between Hatfield and Letchworth Garden City, when every local person knows what we really need is for the A1(M) to be widened. Instead, it will probably turn into parking for the new houses as there is no mention of any A1(M) widening now.

"To make matters worse, huge amounts of money is being granted for sustainable transport and the thought of cycle and bus lanes on the A1(M) actually makes me want to weep.

"Monday has the potential to be an amazing day for the future of Stevenage, but sadly the announcements will not deliver.

"I will continue my campaign for the widening of the A1(M) and work hard to push forward with the regeneration of Stevenage town centre. With tens of millions of pounds of government money behind us, we now have the opportunity to make real progress. Establishing a Stevenage Development Partnership formally and launching an international competition to ask for the best architects in the world to design a transformational 21st century town centre, are the next steps we need to take. I am pretty sure they will want to see a widened A1(M) too, if we are going to become a destination for the rest of Hertfordshire!"

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Stephen McPartland Member of Parliament for Stevenage supported Stevenage DogWatch's Fun Day again this year, with hundreds of doglovers turning out to take part. This year over £400 was raised for the Greyhounds Rescue charity.

Stephen said, "I had a great time with Stevenage DogWatch and it was fun taking part in the agility course with some of the DogWatch and community police teams.  It was good to see so many local people enjoying themselves and supporting the community stalls, and I would like to congratulate Stevenage DogWatch Coordinator Sarah Sheldrick for her amazing work in organising another great event."

There were agility courses and dog shows in the arenas, the Camps Hill All Stars Cheerleaders performed and there were a variety of different stalls, including pony rides.

Stevenage DogWatch was developed with Neighbourhood Watch and encourages dog walkers to keep their eyes and ears open and report suspicious incidents to the police. New members are joining all the time and if you would like to know more please see the website at http://www.stevenagedogwatch.org.

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Stephen McPartland MP celebrates Stevenage success by leading a Parliamentary debate on apprenticeships skills and training.

Stephen McPartland said, "This is an important debate about improving skills and training facilities in small cities and towns, and the subject is close to my heart. In my maiden speech four years ago I said that:

'here in the UK, it is possible to help a child out of poverty and improve their chances in life if they receive a good education. However, we are not doing enough; we are not lifting enough people out of poverty. In my constituency, like in so many others across the UK, there are children who have tried so hard in school. There is a cadre of dedicated and professional staff who have helped them along the way and invested so much of themselves in helping those children try to improve their life chances, but the system does not seem to work. Those children are being forced through an education system that pushes them out the other end with little chance of getting a job, as they do not have the skills that local employers want. We need to encourage employers to work with local schools and colleges, to get fully involved in education, to highlight the skills that are missing and even perhaps to take preventive action, possibly by designing some of the more vocational courses. Perhaps the prize at the end of the course should be a job or an apprenticeship with the employer. We need to be innovative and flexible, so that courses can reflect the skills gap locally and more local people can get local jobs.' —[Official Report, 1 July 2010; Vol. 512, c. 1063.]

'When I said that four years ago I set myself a target—to help 1,000 young people into apprenticeships in my first term in Parliament. I am delighted with the progress that has been made in Stevenage in the past four years. Six weeks ago in Prime Minister’s questions I asked whether the Prime Minister would:

'join me in congratulating the educational institutions and businesses in my constituency that have increased…apprenticeship starts from just over 200 in 2010 to over 800 a year now.'—[Official Report, 14 May 2014; Vol. 580, c. 747.]

"That is a fantastic figure, and I am incredibly proud of it. The progress that has been made is amazing, and I congratulate the Minister for working to ensure that an apprenticeship means training for a real skill, with a real job and a real future at the end of it.There is much more to be done, however, nationally and locally. In my constituency we have smashed the 1,000 apprenticeship starts target for the present Parliament. I now want 1,000 apprenticeships to start this year alone—that would be 1,000 young people choosing skills and training for their future. What a statement of support that would be for young people in my constituency from employers and educational institutions that have skills and facilities."

A number of other Members of Parliament then raised specific points with Stephen in a lively debate and he added, "Why have we been so lucky in Stevenage? The simple answer is that we have always had a great respect for apprentices in particular, and I have managed to persuade many SMEs that taking on an apprentice is a way of investing in their work force and future turnover."

In reply to the debate the Minister for State for Skills and Enterprise Matthew Hancock MP said,

" I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Stevenage (Stephen McPartland), not least for his heartfelt and enthusiastic support for the long-term economic plan, but also for securing this debate and allowing the issues to be aired and discussed so that we can consider where we need to go next. It is undoubtedly true that we have made a lot of progress, but we must always look to the future.

"We know that skills are directly responsible for growth, and I am sure that my hon. Friend’s constituents would want me to pay tribute to his work in increasing the prevalence and knowledge of apprenticeships in his area. As he said, there were 830 in the last year for which full figures are available, and I give my wholehearted support to the target of more than 1,000 apprenticeships next year. I am sure that with his energy, he will reach that. In Stevenage, youth unemployment on the claimant count has fallen by 34% over the past year, due in part to the great employers of Stevenage, but also in part to his efforts."

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Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, was invited to officially open this year's Knebworth Fun Day and award the trophy for Knebworth Primary and Nursery School's best year group fancy dress competition.

Stephen said, "It is always a great pleasure to open Knebworth Fun Day, which is a huge event for the local community. There is a wide range of commercial and community stalls with something for all the family. The live music on stage is very popular and my favourite part of the day is the Knebworth Primary and Nursery School fancy dress competition.

"The children make an amazing effort and always look so colourful with this year's theme being based on Brazil with drums, whistles and flags. It was fantastic and presenting the trophy to the winning classes is always fun, as the children are so excited."

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Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, officially opened the fourth Armed Forces Day held in Stevenage today.

Stephen said "I am proud to have opened each of our Armed Forces Day's here in Stevenage and despite the weather, hundreds of people still came to show their support for our servicemen and women.

"Today marks the anniversary of the execution of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to the outbreak of the First World War 100 years ago. It is also the last Armed Forces Day that will be celebrated by our troops in Afghanistan, before they are brought home for good later this year.

"Stevenage really showed our support for the Armed Forces once again, as we put on the biggest celebration in the whole of Hertfordshire for the fourth year running. I would like to thank all the local community groups and people who came out today to celebrate with us and make this a special day to remember."

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Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, was proud to open the Armed Forces, Veterans and Families Information Centre, a drop-in centre specifically for services personnel and their families, and the first of its kind in Stevenage and possibly the whole of Hertfordshire. The centre is situated in the Stevenage Museum and is a result of the hard work of Mark Williams, who also identified the need for a centre of this kind, ably assised by Derrick Hale.

Stephen McPartland MP said, "It was an honour to formally open the new Armed Forces, Veterans and Families Information Centre in Stevenage. The work of all those involved to make this happen over the years has been tremendous and I would like to congratulate Mark and Derrick in particular for making this a reality. The centre will make a huge difference to local families that have or are serving in our Armed Forces and I am proud that we have such a wonderful facility available to them now."

The purpose of the information centre is to help any Veterans and serving members of the Armed Forces, and their Families should they find themselves in need.  The help offered ranges from public housing, welfare, employment, financial, health and pensions and anything else resulting from their service.  It is also hoped that veterans and others will just 'drop in' for a cuppa  and biscuit, a chat with others from a similar background. Everyone has a story to tell so come and share yours, the centre's opening hours are 10.30am - 4pm, Wednesday - Saturday.

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A new report from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Respiratory Health, chaired by Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, highlights newly reported data which shows that the UK has the worst death rate amongst OECD countries for respiratory disease. Respiratory disease is the third biggest cause of death in the UK, killing around 80,000 people a year (with lung cancer, the UK’s biggest cancer killer, killing a further 35,000). It is responsible for around a million hospital admissions a year.

The APPG in its report is calling on the Secretary of State for Health, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, to ensure that effective infrastructure, an intelligence network for data reporting and clinical networks are introduced urgently to prevent people dying needlessly from respiratory disease, as well as national efforts to increase understanding amongst patients and healthcare professionals that respiratory conditions can be life-threatening. The report found that national prioritisation for respiratory health is still lacking, despite the desperate need to reduce the number of people dying needlessly. While a COPD and Asthma Outcomes Strategy was published in 2011, the strategy has had no implementation programme behind it so its influence has been held back.

Stephen McPartland MP commented, “The time has come for the Government and the NHS to give respiratory disease the priority it deserves. Good respiratory care reduces hospital admissions, is cost-effective and is already outlined in existing documents. However, the investment that has already been made in developing these standards, guidelines and incentives - and even an Outcomes Strategy - will not bear fruit without a concerted system-wide effort to implement them.”

Treating respiratory disease costs the NHS an estimated £4.7 billion a year yet investment in clinical services and research for respiratory disease is disproportionate to the threat it poses to people’s lives, and the consequential cost to the NHS.

Dr Penny Woods, Chief Executive of the British Lung Foundation, said, “It is telling that, despite lung disease causing one in five deaths in this country, there is absolutely no focus on lung function in the NHS health check. This needs to change. The APPG’s report today shines a light on this dark area of UK healthcare. The government and NHS need to act accordingly, or we risk sleepwalking into a major health crisis.”

Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation jointly provide the secretariat to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Respiratory Health which is chaired by Stephen McPartland Member of Parliament for Stevenage.

You can read the report here

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Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, joined year 5 and 6 children at Roebuck School as they undertook their Bikeability Level 1 training, part of a three level course to teach children control, signalling and how to stop safely before moving to on-the-road training.

Stephen said, "They always say, you never forget how to ride a bike and although a bit rusty - it is true. I had a fantastic time and was very pleased and relieved to pass my Level One Bikeability training at Roebuck Primary School. These sessions are incredibly important as they teach our young people how to stay safe on the roads when cycling. The course makes them more aware of potential dangers, which they can then use the skills they have learned to avoid."

The courses are run at local schools by Hertfordshire County Council, who have trained over 35,000 children to the National Standard of Bikeability, and recently notched up their 2,000th Level 2 Bikeability course.

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