Last Friday I visited Nyland School to welcome their recent successful Ofsted inspection. I was pleased to attend alongside the Swindon Borough Council Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Cllr Oladapo Ibitoye, and Nythe parish councillor Matthew Vallender.
I met with the principal, Paul Holroyd, to hear his concerns and to discuss how best I can support the fantastic school in its work with children between 4 and 11 with social emotional and mental health (SEMH) difficulties. I always enjoy visiting local schools to meet both pupils and staff, and it was great to see how engaged the pupils at Nyland School are. I also want to say a huge congratulations to the staff of Nyland School for their work in achieving their great Ofsted result.
I very much enjoy visiting our local schools, whether meeting staff, students or delivering my interactive assembly. I am also pleased to see lots of students are applying my summer work experience camp. There are still places available, so please do contact me if you would like to reserve a one week placement.
If you’d like me to arrange a visit to your school (either for an interactive assembly about Parliament, or to meet with specific groups of students or staff), please email justin.tomlinson.mp@parliament.uk.
In Parliament this week, the Lord Chancellor, Dominic Raab MP, introduced a new Bill of Rights, ensuring the courts cannot interpret laws in ways that were never intended by Parliament and to empower people to express their views freely, giving freedom of speech greater weight in law. At the same time, it will help prevent trivial human rights claims from wasting judges’ time, along with preventing the waste of taxpayer money by adding a permission stage in court, which will require people to show they have suffered a significant disadvantage before their claim can go ahead.
The Bill will also reinforce in law the principle that responsibilities to society are as important as personal rights. It will do this by ensuring courts consider a claimant’s relevant conduct, like a prisoner’s violent or criminal behaviour, when awarding damages, as well as making clear that the UK Supreme Court is the ultimate judicial decision-maker on human rights issues and that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights does not always need to be followed by UK courts.
This week also saw the official opening of the new OUH Radiotherapy Centre at Great Western Hospital. Building work for the Radiotherapy Centre on the Great Western Hospital site began in August 2020 as an expansion of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust's radiotherapy service, meaning Swindon patients will no longer need to travel to Oxford for treatment. This will have a huge impact on the lives of patients needing radiotherapy. The £18 million project in partnership with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH) will change our cancer services in Swindon and enable so many more local people to have their treatment closer to home.
This development was made possible thanks to £2.9 million raised by the charity Brighter Futures, with the incredible support of local fundraisers (including many staff and patients), as well as the success of securing a loan from the Department of Health and Social Care. I want to say a huge thank you to the people of Swindon and Wiltshire who helped raise the money which will help us to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for the new centre. It is fantastic to be finally celebrating this milestone and recognising the great work of the many individuals and organisations who have helped make this hugely significant project possible.
