This Easter recess has, I am pleased to say, been busy! Tourists are here filling our guest accommodation and our beaches. That is all good news for our local economy. Powderham Castle opened its new visitor centre on Good Friday welcoming more people to the castle. It was a pleasure to cut the ribbon with Jack, the Earl of Devon’s son. While Covid infection rates have been high, most people seem, at last, to be treating it as part of the normal round of winter infections. Local figures indicate the numbers have plateaued.
Politics never stops and the challenges for Ukraine continue. I have been very pleased and proud at how our communities have risen to the challenge welcoming so many refugees. We have welcomed over 50 refugee families across Teignbridge and while the visa system has been shockingly inadequate, at last things seem to be moving. Civil servants from across the country have been redeployed and, in some cases, relocated to meet the unprecedented need. My team in Westminster have queued frequently for two hours to speak to a member of the refugee visa application team in person to get some action for the 30 cases we have in the constituency of host sponsoring families who need to know what has happened to the refugee family they are sponsoring.
Recess is often a time for ministerial visits – and I was delighted to welcome the Rail Minister Wendy Morton MP to Dawlish following the announcement of another £32 million of funding for the South West Rail Resilience Programme. The funding will be used to install new netting and fencing between Dawlish and Holcombe. As things stand a large part of the works required have been done including the sea wall and some of the work on the tunnels. There remain two further bits of work – the remaining tunnels and the work to shore up the cliffs at Teignmouth. Funding gets approved in five-year chunks – so the next round for us will be crucial. We expect to see plans for the cliff emerge in September for a new round of consultation.
Education matters and for me it’s important to have a catch up with head teachers whenever I can. I visited South Devon University Technical College (UTC) in Newton Abbot, part of the Academy Trust Education South West which includes a large number of our schools both primary and secondary. It was a great opportunity to hear how schools are now faring post pandemic, the ongoing challenges of funding and the upcoming summer examinations. including the UTC. We both care passionately about enabling children to be their best and learn skills which will help them do that.
The new regional Institutes of Technology (IoTs) of which our South West IoT is a leading light is a good education news story and will help young people have a real opportunity for high quality training and a well-paid career without a university degree. Its Chief Executive is based in Newton Abbot and we spent a couple of hours exploring what it could achieve. Formed as a partnership between eight institutions of further education including Plymouth and Exeter Universities, the Institute works with local employers to develop the skills training they need drawing from the talent across these founding partners. The Institute will play a key role developing new apprenticeship frameworks for nuclear, marine, data and much more – areas where we have lots of career opportunities. Health and Construction will be added.
Many more visits filled recess, including to the newly opened job centre in Newton Abbot and meetings both physical and virtual with Teignbridge District Council, and our Devon Integrated Care System (ICS) for an update on primary and secondary care. It is with a great deal of pleasure I can say meetings are getting back to normal!
If you would like to book a surgery appointment or raise a specific issue, please call my office on 01626 368277 or email annemarie.morris.mp@parliament.uk.