Last week was National Apprentice Week, an opportunity to promote the really great work done by employers and further education providers around the country in providing practical education to people who can earn while they learn, through an apprenticeship course.
Over 70 per cent of careers are now accessible via an apprenticeship and the Government has delivered over 5.7 million apprenticeships since 2010.
We have
loads of really excellent companies offering apprenticeships in Truro and
Falmouth, and on Thursday last week, I was delighted to show Rishi Sunak the
Prime Minister around A&P, whose Falmouth facility is the largest
ship-repair complex in the UK.
I
introduced the Prime Minister to around 200 members of their staff from all
departments including their apprentices and held a question and answer session
with them.
The
questions asked were wide ranging and included, how could apprenticeships be
advertised in schools better, to how could more women be encouraged into what
is primarily male dominated roles.
I walked
with the management team of A&P and the Prime Minister outside to where he
was shown the site of where they hope the proposed FLOWMISS project will go if
the bid for Government funding is successful, and A&P have been awarded
£900,000 from the Shared Prosperity Fund and £12m ZEVI fund to carry out
preparatory work for this and to start electrifying the port.
I know
the Prime Minister was impressed with A&P, the culture and the workforce, and enjoyed his visit. He hopes to return to Cornwall when the
weather is better! I will continue to work hard to promote apprenticeships in
general as well as the excellent work being done by A&P as we go through
2024 and beyond.
With all
the changeable last week, it was somewhat appropriate that on Friday I welcomed
the Minister responsible flooding, among other things, to our constituency.
I was
pleased to accompany DEFRA Minister Robbie Moore to a farmers’ roundtable with
him locally at a farm near the north coast.
The issues were far reaching but the main theme was how to utilise the
new payment system for farmers so it was beneficial. One farmer explained that if he ordered fence
stakes, as soon as the supplier knew he was receiving more in payments then
they increased their prices. The
Minister has promised to take these issues back to Westminster and look at them
in more detail, particularly the issues around farms in Cornwall being smaller
than elsewhere in the country so the rules do not help us. I will ensure I feed back replies from the
Minister to the farmers and as it was so well received will arrange further
meetings like this in the future.
Minister
Moore then accompanied me to the storm overflow at St Agnes where we met with
representatives from South West Water who explained the processes they have in
place to monitor water quality. South
West Water explained how the system operated and included the pumping station
up above the beach. I asked how many
spills they had a year and currently it is around 40, the vast majority of
which are not untreated sewage.
However, I still believe it is 40 too many. I also asked if they could
make the most up to date information available to all as this would help water
users know when the water is safe, swimmers like myself who find this exercise
beneficial.
As your
busy and active constituency MP it is always good to be able to highlight local
concerns like this to the people at the very top of the Government, something
which I did last week and will continue to work hard to ensure Cornwall gets
the funding and support we deserve!
As
always, I am fully focused on the job at hand and if there is ever anything at
all I
can do
to help, then please do not hesitate to contact me. Please get in touch with
me by
email at Cherilyn.mackrory.mp@parliament.uk, or by telephone on 01872
229698.
My regular constituency advice surgeries are held in a covid-safe
environment
at my office, so please do get in touch should you wish to meet me
about
any matters that I can be of assistance with.
No comments:
Post a Comment