News Category - Justin Tomlinson

Swindon To Benefit From Government’s £250 Million Fund To Free Up Hospital Beds

Jan 24, 2023

Swindon MPs Justin Tomlinson and Robert Buckland have welcomed the news that Swindon is set to benefit from part of a £200 million national hospital discharge fund to free up hospital beds and reduce pressure on the NHS. The announcement was made last week by Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay MP, and it has since been confirmed Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board will receive more than £3million from the fund. The additional financial support has been provided to buy ...

Justin Tomlinson MP And Robert Buckland MP Visit Grant UK’s New HQ In Swindon

Jan 20, 2023

The local Members of Parliament for the two Swindon constituencies both visited Grant UK’s new Head Quarters in January to tour the facilities and to learn more about what Grant UK is doing in the local community and in the field of sustainable home heating products. In September 2022, Grant UK moved to larger premises and relocated its Head Quarters to Blagrove in Swindon, Wiltshire. On 13th January 2023, Grant UK welcomed Sir Robert Buckland, the MP for Swindon South, and Justin Tomlinson, th...

Government Begins Defibrillator Roll Out To 18,000 Schools

Jan 20, 2023

The Government has begun delivering new defibrillators to the first of 18,000 state funded schools that will receive 20,000 new devices this year, including extra defibrillators at sports facilities, as part of the largest ever defibrillator rollout programme in England. We are committed to making sure that every school in England has a defibrillator by the end of this academic year, as part of helping schools teaching first aid and CPR. This is an issue I am very passionate about and have been ...

Swindon Advertiser Column - Reviewing EU Laws Will Restore Parliamentary Sovereignty

Jan 20, 2023

It’s been an important week with some significant votes taking place in the House of Commons. Firstly, the UK government voted to block the Gender Recognition Act legislation recently passed by the Scottish Parliament. This contentious legislation, which saw several SNP politicians vote against their own Government in Scotland, would have allowed people in Scotland to change their gender by self-declaration without the need for a medical diagnosis, along with lowering the age at which they can ...

Far-Reaching Ban On Single-Use Plastics In England

Jan 16, 2023

A range of polluting single-use plastics will be banned in England, Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey has announced today. The ban will include single-use plastic plates, trays, bowls, cutlery, balloon sticks, and certain types of polystyrene cups and food containers. This ban will be introduced from October 2023, allowing businesses time to prepare. According to estimates, England uses 2.7 billion items of single-use cutlery — most of which are plastic — and 721 million single-use plates per...

Government Is Saying Goodbye To Single Use Plastic

Jan 16, 2023

The Government is saying goodbyeto #SingleUsePlastic. From October 2023 we're banning the supply of a range of single-use plastics like: 🍽️ plates 🥗 bowls 🍴cutlery These plans build on our previous efforts to eliminate avoidable plastic waste, including: 🛁 One of the world’s toughest bans on microbeads in rinse-off personal care products announced in 2018 🥤Restrictions on the supply of single-use plastic straws, drink stirrers and cotton buds in 2020. 🛒An increase to the minimum charge for singl...

Becky Maddern's Accessible Play Park Campaign Highlighted By BBC

Jan 13, 2023

Swindon mum's campaign makes parks accessible for the disabled By Nathan Heath & Kelly Morgan for BBC News A woman's campaign has transformed her local parks into spaces that people who have disabilities can access. Becky Maddern, 42, from Swindon, is the mother of eight-year-old Benjamin, who has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, epilepsy and blindness. She pushed for parks to be changed after she said they were "isolating" her son from playing. Swindon Borough Council has now r...

Swindon Advertiser Column - Raising The Issue Of School Sport In Parliament

Jan 13, 2023

This week, I contributed to the ‘Sport in Schools and the Community’ debate. The debate was good-natured, with much cross-party agreement and gave me an opportunity to flag the various issues where we could and should be doing better, especially with only 47% of young people being active for the recommended 60 minutes or more per day. Firstly, for schools, I very much welcome efforts to both increase the number of PE teachers and the general confidence / experience of other teachers to help mak...

Up To £250 Million To Speed Up Hospital Discharge

Jan 10, 2023

Thousands of extra medically fit patients will be discharged from hospitals into community care settings, such as care homes, over the coming weeks to free up hospital beds and reduce pressure on the NHS, the Health and Social Care Secretary, Steve Barclay, is set to announce today (Monday 9 January 2023). The government will make available up to £200 million of additional funding to immediately buy short-term care placements to allow people to be discharged safely from hospitals into the commun...

Health Secretary Announces Care Capacity

Jan 10, 2023

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has announced that the Government is taking decisive action to increase capacity in the NHS by providing £200million to buy thousands of extra beds in care homes and other settings to help safely discharge patients more quickly. In addition to this £50 million has been pledged to expand hospital discharge lounges and ambulance hubs. Safely discharging more patients will free up hospital capacity for those who need it, ensuring patients get the care they deserve whe...