Newspaper column 30 April 2020 - Covid-19 Update 7

We are in the sixth week of lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the beginning of the week it was good to see our Prime Minister Boris Johnson back at work following his recovery from his own illness with the virus. As a country we need his strong leadership never more so than at this time, and his speech outside Downing Street on Monday clearly showed the Government’s priorities in ensuring we do not risk a second peak of cases by ending lockdown early.

The daily briefings we are having from Downing Street are showing that lockdown is working for Cornwall, with a relatively small number of cases and deaths due to COVID-19 both here and in the wider south west. This is helped by our geography, with sea to the north, south and west, as well as our rural nature, meaning the lockdown measures have more of a chance of working and being effective if followed correctly. Although we have been in lockdown for well over a month, now is not the time to stop following the guidance. Thank you to everyone who has been and continues to follow the guidelines for keeping yourselves and our wider communities safe.

In terms of additional support for our businesses on Monday I was pleased to see the Chancellor Rishi Sunak announce a new Bounce Back Loan scheme to support small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

There are many small businesses in Truro and Falmouth that will benefit from this scheme. Along with colleagues across Cornwall I have been working hard to ensure feedback from local businesses is received in the Government and I am pleased to see them listen and come forward with another measure to help support small businesses at this difficult time. This scheme will launch on Monday, please check my website for more details 

https://www.cherilynmackrory.org.uk/information-coronavirus-covid-19

I have also been in regular discussions with The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) regarding the beef and dairy sector.  I have always been a strong supporter of our farming and agriculture sector, and we have many excellent examples in Truro and Falmouth. It has never been more important to support our local farms at this time. If you are able to, please buy good cuts of British beef, lots of local milk, cream and cheese.  Like many of us, Cornish dairy farmers, for example, have a lot of their income reliant on the tourist trade with ice cream and clotted cream, and if the tourist season continues to be badly affected this year, they will also take a hit, so supporting them in any way we can will help them get through this crisis.

My team and I are here to help during this crisis. You can email me at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk, call me on 0207 2193713 (messages will be picked up), and my website www.cherilynmackrory.org.uk and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thisischerilyn are all regularly updated with matters relating both to the current crisis and other useful news and information. Please do get in touch if you need any help or have questions for me.

Domestic Abuse Bill

The Domestic Abuse bill was announced in the Queen’s Speech on 19 December 2019, following a commitment in the Conservative Party manifesto to ’Support all victims of domestic abuse and pass the Domestic Abuse Bill’.  It gets its Second Reading in the House of Commons today.  Although not able to speak on this today, it is something I feel very strongly about.  I am hugely supportive of this Bill and am grateful for the amount of hard work that has gone into it so far.

The Bill aims to ensure that victims have the confidence to come forward and report their experiences, safe in the knowledge that the state will do everything it can, both to support them and their children and pursue the abuser. 

What is the Bill going to do? 

Raise awareness and understanding about the devastating impact of domestic abuse on victims and their families.  

Improve the effectiveness of the justice system in providing protection for victims of domestic abuse and bringing perpetrators to justice 

Strengthen the support for victims of abuse by statutory agencies.  

Victoria Atkins – Minister for Safeguarding: 

Domestic abuse is an abhorrent crime perpetrated on victims and their families by those who should love and care for them. This landmark Bill will help transform the response to domestic abuse, helping to prevent offending, protect victims and ensure they have the support they need.  

The Bill will: 

Create a statutory definition of domestic abuse, emphasising that domestic abuse is not just physical violence, but can also be coercive or controlling, emotional, and economic abuse.  

Establish a Domestic Abuse Commissioner, to stand up for victims and survivors, raise public awareness, monitor the response of local authorities the justice system and other statutory agencies and hold them to account in tackling domestic abuse.  

Provide for a new Domestic Abuse Protection Notice and Domestic Abuse Protection Order 

Place a duty on local authorities in England to provide support to victims of domestic abuse and their children in refuges and other safe accommodation. 

Prohibit perpetrators of abuse from cross-examining their victims in person in the family courts in England and Wales.

Create a statutory presumption that victims of domestic abuse are eligible for special measures in the criminal courts – for example enabling them to give evidence via video link.

Enable domestic abuse offenders to be subject to polygraph testing as a condition of their licence following their release from custody.  

Place the guidance supporting the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme ‘Clare’s law’ on a statutory footing.  

Ensure that where a local authority, for reasons connected with domestic abuse, grants a new secure tenancy to a social tenant who had or has a secure lifetime or assured tenancy this must be a secure lifetime tenancy.  

Extend the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the criminal courts in England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to further violent sexual offences.  

If you would like to see the full text of the Bill see the link below: 

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill/58-01/0096/20096.pdf 

For help please contact https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/ or call 0808 2000 247

Newspaper column 23 April - Covid-19 update 6

We are now in the fifth week of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As I thought last week, on Thursday the Government confirmed they were extending lockdown for at least another three weeks, pushing it into the middle of May at the very least.

This week Parliament has started sitting again, although in an another unprecedented move, it is doing so virtually, meaning that the vast majority of MPs will not be in the Chamber of the House of Commons but instead logging on via their device and asking questions remotely. This is a massive change to Parliament but it will be good to be back doing a major part of our job again, even if it isn’t in the usual setting.

I continue to be a part of regular virtual meetings with my MP colleagues and Cornwall Council in order to ensure we try to provide as much support as possible for residents and businesses at this difficult time.

Some notable successes last week included persuading Cornwall Council to temporarily fund the vital King Harry Ferry service that links the Roseland to the Falmouth and Penryn side of the River Fal, something which is critical for key-workers. Cornwall Council will be claiming the money it has spent on this back from the Government so there is no extra cost to the Cornish taxpayer. I am pleased to have worked with them and the ferry company to resolve this.

I have also been contacted by a number of work hubs/shared workspaces who were not getting support from Cornwall Council due to their interpretation of the guidance. I have been pleased to have worked with Cornwall Council to get them to allow discretion to allow business rates support on these cases.

Constituents continue to contact me with concerns of holiday accommodation remaining open. Cornwall Council has been very thorough in investigating everything that has been reported to them, and has closed down holiday accommodation where appropriate. I would encourage anyone who still has concerns to report them via Cornwall Council’s dedicated email address covid19@cornwall.gov.uk

My information leaflet about COVID-19 has been sent out via the Royal Mail this week. It is not a political or campaign leaflet and contains all the relevant information about COVID-19. From Government guidance to local contact numbers and more. If, for whatever reason, you do not receive a leaflet then please just let me know and I will get one to you. Not everyone has social media or access to the internet, so I thought it was really important to get something through everyone’s letterbox in order to reach as many people as possible.

Last week I wrote an open letter to all NHS staff, care workers, teachers and all other key workers on the front line from Cherilyn Mackrory MP thanking them for their continued efforts in keeping us safe and keeping the country running. Thank you to everyone for playing their part, continuing to follow the Government guidance and keeping our communities safe, we will get through this together.

My team and I are here to help during this crisis. You can email me at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk, call me on 0207 2193713 (messages will be picked up), and my website www.cherilynmackrory.org.uk and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thisischerilyn are all regularly updated with matters relating both to the current crisis and other useful news and information. Please do get in touch if you need any help or have questions for me.

Newspaper column 16 April 2020 - COVID Update 5

I hope everyone was able to take some time to relax and reflect over the Easter Weekend. The weather was amazing, but it was good to see the vast majority of people following Government advice and staying at home.

We are now in the fourth week of lockdown. As I write this on Tuesday it appears that the Government will shortly be extending the lockdown for another three weeks.

As I wrote earlier, the overwhelming majority of people stayed at home over the Easter weekend and understood the importance of denying Coronavirus the social contact it needs to spread. People should be in no doubt that by staying home they have ensured vital capacity for the NHS, meaning that our NHS services do not become overwhelmed with pressure.

 We are beginning to see some positive signs in the data, which is why it is important that everyone continues to follow the advice: stay home, protect our NHS, save lives.

I am in regular contact with RCH Treliske and am pleased to hear they have capacity in their wards, as well as enough Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for their staff.

One thing that has been raised with me is that the hospital is still able to receive patients for medical emergencies that are not COVID-19 related. Treliske has, for example had far fewer admissions from people suffering from heart attacks and strokes in recent weeks. You can and should still go to Treliske if you have medical emergencies and I would certainly advise anyone with concerns to do so.

My continued thanks goes to everyone who is supporting the lockdown efforts, whether that is by staying at home whenever possible, or if you are a key-worker, going out there and doing your job, helping keep our country going at this incredibly difficult time.

Thanks also to our incredible network of community volunteers who are supporting vulnerable people near where they live, either as part of community groups, through Volunteer Cornwall or via the NHS SAMs network. You are really making a huge positive difference to so many people who would otherwise be struggling.

Finally next week, households across Truro and Falmouth should be receiving my leaflet on support available locally during the COVID-19 pandemic, which will be delivered by the Royal Mail. This contains a variety of relevant contact information that I hope people will find of use in accessing help while this situation is continuing.

My team and I are here to help during this crisis. You can email me at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk, call me on 0207 2193713 (messages will be picked up), and my website www.cherilynmackrory.org.uk and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thisischerilyn are all regularly updated with matters relating both to the current crisis and other useful news and information. Please do get in touch if you need any help or have questions for me.

West Briton column 9 April 2020 - Covid update 4

We are now in the third week of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

While the weather has been improving it has been good to see the majority of people follow the Government’s advice and stay at home wherever possible to avoid further spreading the virus.

I say most, because there are sadly always some people who ignore advice and think the rules don’t apply to them. I have been in regular contact with Cornwall Council about matters relating to the lockdown and have been pleased to see them take a strong stance in terms of monitoring and shutting down, if needed businesses, particularly commercial holiday accommodation that have been flouting the rules, staying open and encouraging people to come to Cornwall. You can now report any business that is doing this direct to the council by emailing businessadvice@cornwall.gov.uk

It is only by following the rules and staying at home where ever possible that we will keep pressure off our NHS, stop this virus, end the lockdown and return to normal life.

In absolutely fantastic news, on Monday we heard that Royal Cornwall Hospitals is out of special measures that were imposed in 2017.

Special measures apply when NHS trusts and foundation trusts have serious problems and consist of a set of interventions designed to remedy problems within a reasonable timeframe.

My congratulations to Kate Shields and her amazing team for the work they have done over time to achieve this status, which is now more important than ever.

In more good news for our NHS, I was delighted to see that the Government has written off £13.4 billion of NHS debt as part of a major financial reset for NHS providers.

In Cornwall this translates to a write off of £42.5million in debt that has grown over a number of years for the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust.

Losing this debt will free the team at RCHT up to invest in maintaining vital services and longer-term infrastructure improvements, absolutely essential during both the current COVID-19 pandemic and for long term future planning.

Again I would like to close this column by thanking everyone for doing their bit, whether that’s Key-workers out there on the frontline, volunteers working to support the vulnerable in our communities, or people just simply following the Government advice and staying at home. By working together, we will beat this

My team and I are here to help during this crisis. You can email me at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk, call me on 0207 2193713 (messages will be picked up), and my website www.cherilynmackrory.org.uk and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/thisischerilyn are all regularly updated with matters relating both to the current crisis and other useful news and information. Please do get in touch if you need any help or have questions for me.

West Briton column 2 April 2020 - COVID Update

As this paper is published we are approaching the end of our second week in lockdown as part of the measures to slow the COVID-19 pandemic and give our NHS every advantage possible in the fight against this horrible virus.

I would like to thank the vast majority of people who have stuck to the social distancing measures brought in by the Government and followed the message to Stay At Home where ever possible at this time.

In updates since I last wrote, the Chancellor has introduced the Self-employment Income Support Scheme, which will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19. The scheme will provide a grant to self-employed individuals or partnerships, worth 80% of their profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month.

The Government has now launched a Coronavirus Financial Support Hub, which provides the full range of business support measures have been made available to UK businesses and employees. This webpage helps businesses find out how to access the support that has been made available, who is eligible, when the schemes open and how to apply. You can find it by looking up:

https://www.businesssupport.gov.uk/coronavirus-business-support/

I continue to be blown away by the efforts of volunteers on the ground throughout the Truro and Falmouth constituency. Every day I hear stories of people who have gone out of their way to be kind to a vulnerable neighbour, got shopping for people who cannot get it for themselves, or even given accommodation for frontline key workers who have to self isolate away from their families. It really is incredibly touching and an example of the amazing community spirit and sense of togetherness that we have here in Cornwall in spades.

If you want to join the national volunteer bank, NHS Volunteer Responders has been set up to support the NHS and the care sector during the COVID-19 outbreak. They need an 'army' of volunteers who can support the 1.5m people in England who are at most risk from the virus to stay well. Doctors, nurses, those working in local authorities and other professionals, will be able to refer people to NHS Volunteer Responders and be confident that they have been matched with a reliable, named volunteer. If you want to sign up, you can do so via :

https://www.goodsamapp.org/NHS

On my website I now have a community hub where you can find information you can use to access support on a wide variety of issues through local and central and government, as well as my contact details and those of the local Cornwall Councillors and Parish Councils for the area. You can find it via the link below:

https://www.cherilynmackrory.org.uk/truro-and-falmouth-community-hub

My continued thanks go to all of the key-workers who continue to put themselves out there to keep our country going and save lives during this difficult time. It was heartening on Thursday evening last week to see and hear what sounded like the whole of the nation clapping for our carers – an emotional display that shows just how much we support our NHS and care workers during this crisis.

My team and I are here to help during this crisis. If you have any issues, please email me at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk or call me on 0207 2193713 (messages will be picked up).

Please continue to follow the latest Government guidance and stay safe!

Campaign Response - Changes to Abortion Legislation

Many constituents have written to me concerned at the recent Government change to allow for Home Abortions during the outbreak. 

I have received a lot of correspondence from both sides of this debate, but I am supportive of this temporary Government move. 

Women seeking abortions should not have to unnecessarily take the risk of leaving their home to go to a clinic or hospital if they don’t want to.  Clinicians are concerned that people do not visit clinical environments unless absolutely necessary.  This is also why clinicians have also altered cancer treatments for the foreseeable future.

This measure will be on a temporary basis and must follow a telephone or e-consultation with a doctor.  

I really appreciate the sensitivity of this issue but given the unprecedented times that we find ourselves in we must do everything we can in order to best protect the public at large.  

Please keep following the latest Government advice on Coronavirus:

https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus