A comment on Mims' activities through the week, and the latest news from Parliament.
Think of 4 of the closest women in your life, your friends, your family and your colleagues. Statistics say that one of them is likely to be affected by violence. As we look ahead to Christmas, and to spending time with our loved ones, we must also recognise the struggles that too many women face, often unnoticed, and take action to reduce this statistic.
I was therefore delighted to host the #drawaline campaign in Parliament, which is focused on ending violence against women, and organised by The National Committee of UN Women UK.
It is testament to the importance of this issue that so many of my colleagues from across the political spectrum took the time to support this event, and I will be writing to the Prime Minister asking if she too will support this campaign, as she was visiting our troops in Iraq at the time of the event.
Similarly concerning to me, many of my constituents and people across this country, are the number of young people’s lives that are taken from their loved ones as a result of undiagnosed heart conditions. I am pleased to have worked alongside constituents - including Graham and Anne Hunter whose daughter was taken from them far too early - in raising both awareness and funds for the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). Indeed, recently I was delighted to support an event organised by CRY in Parliament, before supporting their Bake Sale fundraising event in Botley, which raised a whopping £700; an excellent achievement.
This week, the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, set out the Governments new maternity strategy to reduce the number of stillbirths. Vitally, the new strategy confirms that the government is bringing forward from 2030 to 2025 the ambition to halve rates of stillbirths, neonatal and maternal deaths, and brain injuries occurring during or soon after birth. This will save more than 4,000 thousand lives.
Since being elected in 2015 I have been an adamant supporter of the Group B Strep Support Group, and see this as an opportunity to look further into the concerns that I have been raising on behalf of my constituent Lindsay Birkett over Group B Streptococcus (GBS). I was therefore delighted to raise Group B Strep – which is a recognised cause preterm delivery, maternal infections, stillbirths and late miscarriages – with the Health Secretary, and welcome that the he has agreed to look into this as part of the new maternity strategy.
And so as you can see, there have been some really important issues being both raised, and supported in Parliament, and I am delighted to be able to represent my constituents on those issues.
As always, I’ll be sure to keep everybody updated both via this column, as well as via my website and social media outlets.