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The Nobel School in Mobbsbury Way, Stevenage held a grand opening with Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage unveiling a plaque following completion of a £28 million redevelopment of the school. Nobel School is also home to the Stevenage Music Centre, with an auditorium, music suite and practice rooms.

The regeneration of The Nobel School has involved a substantial new build, with much of the existing buildings re-modelled and including computer suites and extensive sports facilities, as well as flexible and well-equipped teaching spaces.

Stephen McPartland said "It was an honour to be given the privilege of officially opening The Nobel School and I was delighted that the plaque I unveiled had been made by students and staff. The new school is a fantastic investment in the education of our children and is a wonderful space in which to help pupils aspire to achieve their dreams."

Martyn Henson, headteacher, said, “We owe a great debt of gratitude to all the people who contributed in the development of our new school buildings. It marks the beginning of the next chapter for this wonderful school. Already we have seen how the new facilities have developed the potential for teaching and learning. We are excited, privileged and grateful to be given the opportunity to learn in such a tremendous environment.”

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Local MP Stephen McPartland visited the childrens’ Bluebell Ward at the Lister Hospital to meet ‘Team Bean’. They are a group of inspirational children’s nurses who signed up for the London to Brighton Cycle Challenge to raise £5,000 as part of the Magic for Play appeal.

Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage said, “The redevelopment of Lister hospital is making it one of the largest hospitals in the East of England and I am proud it is a centre of clinical excellence. We are now working to raise funds for a new state-of-the-art playroom for the children cared for in the Children’s Ward. I want our local children to have the best environment available as the evidence shows that play and stimulation aids recovery times in children.

"The local community is really getting behind the appeal, boosted by the fantastic endeavours of fundraisers like the wonderful nurses in Team Bean. The charity needs to raise £250,000 to make the playroom a reality and it would be fantastic if with a little more local support we could raise that amount.”

The new playroom will include a dedicated area for children with special needs and auto-immune deficiencies such as cancer, a sensory area and a special room for teenagers.

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Christ The King church in Symonds Green was the venue for an early Macmillan World's Biggest Coffee Morning, organised by Chrissy Cass and other volunteers for the fourth year running, and the most successful yet.

Chrissy commented, "We would like to thank everyone who came to support our Friday Coffee Morning in support of Macmillan Cancer Care, it was great to see so many people from the community come down and give so generously, including the continued support from MP Stephen McPartland.

"I would also personally like to thank the team of volunteers who have given their time and effort annually and without them the event couldn't be the success it has grown to be. On the day we raised over £700 and we were also fortunate to receive a donation of £150 from a local charity bringing the grand total to over £850, the most we have ever raised in one day. Thanks again for all your support, and hopefully we can try and beat it next year!"

Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, said, "It was a real pleasure to support Macmillan in this way as they do a huge amount to help many local families at a time when their need is great. The event was packed with people of all ages and we had a lot of fun. It was held early so some of our students could be involved before they head back to University."

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Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, formally opened the newly named Lister Treatment Centre after campaigning successfully for the facility to be handed over to the NHS.

Stephen said, "This is a fantastic day for the local community as we officially open the newly named Lister Treatment Centre and put the disastrous management of Carillion behind us. It was a long and exhausting campaign but I am delighted we have won and I was able to persuade Jeremy Hunt, the Secretary of State for Health, to give us the money to buy the facility and hand it over to the local hospital to be managed.

"This facility should have been in the NHS from day one and I still cannot understand why the Labour Government handed such complex surgical procedures over to a bunch of builders to manage. There are no excuses and Labour can never again be trusted with our local NHS.

"However, today is the start of a new and exciting period as we all move forward and begin to rebuild confidence in the facility. I made it clear throughout my campaign that the staff who worked in the facility on the front line day after day were doing an incredible job under intolerable pressure. I have the utmost respect for their professionalism and dedication to helping patients.

"I am delighted the facility has been renamed the Lister Treatment Centre and is under the management of our local hospital which is a centre of clinical excellence. I will continue working closely with local health professionals and believe we can now go from strength to strength with a relentless focus on putting the patients and their families first."

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Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, is supporting the fight against breast cancer and raising awareness of Breast Cancer Campaign’s wear it pink day, #wearitpink which has raised £23 million over the past 10 years.

Stephen said, “Every year thousands of women, and hundreds of men, are diagnosed with breast cancer and sadly thousands die from this disease. This is why I am happy to support Breast Cancer Campaign’s fundraising efforts so they can continue to fund research which will one day lead to a cure. If you are holding an event in support of wear it pink day just let me know as I have agreed to attend as many locally as I can.”

This year's wear it pink day is on Friday 25 October 2013. Breast Cancer Campaign is asking everyone to pull on something pink and donate £2 to raise vital funds for Breast Cancer Campaign’s lifesaving research.

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The Heritage Lottery Fund is making available at least £1 million a year until 2019 to help local communities remember the centenary of the UK entering the First World War.

Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage said, "I am delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund is making this money available to local communities and I would urge local groups to start applying for funding now. The impact of the First World War was felt in every community and the grants of £3,000 to £10,000 can be used towards projects which create a community archive or collection, research and identification of local heritage, or conserving and finding out more about war memorials.

"It is really important that local groups know the money is available and they can apply for it, which is why I recently invited the Heritage Lottery Fund and all the other members of the Lottery fund family to Knebworth Village Hall to explain how small community groups and charities can access funds for their projects.  We have been very lucky in obtaining lottery funding as an area but it normally goes into a small number of very large projects that often have no real positive impact on the wider community. I would like to see lots of smaller charity and community groups successfully bid for small amounts of funding that we know from experience will make a massive impact on the wider community."

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The Health Bus came to Stevenage town centre this week to offer free breathing checks to local people as part of the Know It, Check It, Treat It campaign to raise awareness of COPD, a lung disease, ahead of the winter when coughs, colds and chest infections can worsen symptoms.

Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage dropped by and had his breathing checked by Jacqui Carrett, Respiratory Clinical Lead at Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust.

Stephen said, "The Health Bus is a fantastic idea and I am delighted to welcome it to Stevenage. The free breathing check will help hundreds of local people. In Parliament I am Chairman of the All Party Parliamentary group on Respiratory Health and I have seen the evidence which clearly shows how many people suffer with breathing problems on a day to day basis. It sounds crazy, but millions of people just accept these problems and get on with it, without realising that help is at hand that could improve their quality of life and in some cases save their life."

The Health Bus is run by Hertfordshire Community NHS Trust respiratory team in collaboration with the Acute Trust Respiratory nurses, Clinical Commissioning Group, Smoking Cessation Service, and assisted by Breathe Easy – a part of the British Lung Foundation.

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Stephen McPartland, Member of Parliament for Stevenage, is chairing the 2013 Commission on Youth Literacy and Employability. This is a joint effort between the All-Party Parliamentary Literacy Group and the National Literacy Trust.

The Commission took oral evidence in Parliament last week and heard from a wide range of individuals during an expert witness session. These included senior representatives from the education sector, industry and pupils.

Stephen said, " I am delighted to be chairing the 2013 Commission on Youth Literacy and Employability. It is an issue very close to my heart as I know the best route out of poverty in the UK is via education. We must reduce the gap between education and employability to ensure our young people have the skills they need to compete in the workplace.

"It was clear that there was a need to define what literacy means as employers and education professionals seemed to be discussing two very different aspects of what was required when they were discussing literacy standards."

Volunteers from industry and young people also spoke about their experiences on the National Literacy Trust’s Words for Work programme; the students felt it had transformed their attitude and given them greater confidence in finding employment.

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