Romsey Advertiser - 27 June 2008

Written by Sandra Gidley on Fri 27th Jun 2008

It has been a very varied week. It started with the usual round of meetings with council representatives and the local police, which are invaluable for keeping me up to speed with what is going on in the different parts of the constituency.

The pressure was then on to get to London in time for a Health Select Committee meeting to discuss our draft report on NHS dentistry, which had been on my weekend reading list. We usually manage to get through these meetings rather swiftly but this proved slightly more contentious than most and there were many suggested amendments. We ended up taking several hours which meant that I missed my slot at the gym but the time spent was worth it because I think we have a better report as a result of the work put in.

On Tuesday morning I had a number of one to one meetings which were useful but I cancelled a couple of meetings to give me some quality office time. I did feel quite virtuous when I saw how much the paper mountain had diminished but it is the nature of the job that it never disappears completely.

It did mean that I was in a happy state of mind when I went to meet my constituents, Mr and Mrs Henser of North Baddesley. I had nominated them for a Heroes award - which celebrates the more mature volunteer. We had a very pleasant tea in a transformed Members' Dining Room and listened to a few examples of how people contributed to their respective communities. We were also very entertained by Lord Brian Rix who was a real hit with the audience. It was one of those occasions where Westminster was a nice place to be.

There was not much time before the debate on 60 Years of the NHS started. This was part of the Conservative Opposition Day, when they choose the subject for debate but the occasion was rather flat. I couldn't see what was contentious about the motion, which seemed to be fairly anodyne and consisted mainly of praising the staff and volunteers, but Labour voted against it because they had a different motion which seemed to say more or less the same thing! Sometimes it is hard to work out the logic of this place.

On Wednesday I took the train back to Hampshire for the launch of Eastleigh Borough Council's Combined Heat and Power Scheme. Eastleigh have been awarded beacon council status for their work on tackling climate change and it was good to learn about the scheme which will provide more efficient heat and power for Fleming Park and hot water for the Council Offices. My part in the proceedings was to unveil a piece of community art work, inspired by input from local young people. All in all it was a thoroughly pleasant event but I was under orders to get back to London as soon as possible for a 3 line whip on the Planning Bill. In the end the threatened rebellion came to nothing but we do work ourselves up about these things.

I write this having just finished a parliamentary party meeting where we discussed the new arrangements for MPs expenses. Not before time there are going to be much stricter financial controls and, contrary to popular opinion, we are all wholly supportive of the moves. We vote on the proposals next week so it will be interesting to see what the public reaction is.