Romsey Advertiser 2 February 2007

Written by Sandra Gidley MP on Fri 2nd Feb 2007

I knew it was going to be one of those weeks when time is against me when I made my way to Winchester station last Monday and then struggled to find a car parking space. This meant that I missed my planned train and then missed the opportunity to drop in for a chat with some people from South West Trains. It is probably just as well because the carriages on the route to London have just been upgraded. Normally this would be seen as an improvement but the new carriages are uncomfortable and noisy and just as crowded as ever.

The rest of the day was spent with a round of meetings culminating in a round table dinner discussion with Anchor Trust to discuss issues around sheltered housing and housing for the elderly. Again there were resonances with the constituency as I have recently received complaints about the reduction in warden cover in some of the Testway Housing schemes.

Overnight I had to prepare for a piece of legislation that I was dealing with in committee the next day. Fortunately this was not too onerous as it dealt with the regulation of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians so I had a head start on most people. Once this was over I was able to devote some time and attention to preparing for a debate I had secured on the Wednesday afternoon.

The debate was on the subject of infertility. The situation is particularly bad in Hampshire and women are not able to receive treatment if their partner already has a child by another woman. This strikes me as particularly unfair.

I initially thought that there was a lack of sympathy for public funds being used in this area but research indicates that this is not actually the case. There is also an economic argument to be made inasmuch as the short term costs of treating infertility are far outweighed by the overall long term economic benefits of boosting population. It was an interesting and thoughtful debate although, as expected, the Minister did not do much to reassure us all that things would get better.

After the debate there was a rather long session of the parliamentary party meeting during which we discussed reform of the House of Lords. I am sure that parliamentarians are far more obsessed with this subject than the general public but there were a lot of aspects to talk through ahead of the Government announcement next week.

It was then time to relax just a little at a local restaurant with a large group of parliamentarians who have an interest in the funding of children's hospices. My interest in this subject had been prompted by a visit to Naomi House shortly after I was elected.

I am writing this before our first Select Committee meeting on the subject of patient and public involvement in the NHS. There has been a lot of interest in this inquiry but tonight I shall be able to relax again as I have been invited to the Parliamentary Palace of Varieties - in aid of Macmillan. In recent years Lembit Opik has entertained us with his mouth organ. There are mixed feelings about whether he should turn up accompanied by a Cheeky Girl!

Published with kind permission of Romsey Advertiser