Barry Sheerman MP

I’m thrilled that the National Headquarters of Channel 4 will be uprooting and moving up North to Leeds. Aiming to improve the way it reflects on life outside London, Channel 4 are ‘delighted to have made this decision’, expecting an initial forecast of over 1200 jobs being created as well as stimulating the city’s creative and digital industries by over £1 billion over the next decade. I am always glad to see the stimulation of our Northern economy.

Channel 4 were impressed by Leeds City Region’s comprehensive campaign and their passion to partner with Channel 4 to bring new, diverse talent into the programmes. Channel 4’s decision is a real testament to the work of the team, of which I was part of, and to the creative expertise and potential in the region. This is brilliant news for the wider area of West Yorkshire, devising new opportunities for neighbouring cities such as Sheffield, Bradford, Manchester and our own mighty Huddersfield among many more.

Huge congratulations to the teams in Leeds. I was proud to be a be part of the campaign supporting Leeds during its bid. I hugely look forward to observing the progress of the new, exciting partnership of Channel 4 and West Yorkshire.

Recently, the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has been awarded £8518 from the Postcode Community Trust, a charity funded entirely by players of the Postcode Lottery.

I am thrilled to hear that a good cause in my constituency has received a welcome funding boost thanks to the efforts of the Trust. This year, the Festival will take place between 16^th – 25^th November and will be spread across different venues in Huddersfield town centre. Acting in partnership with the rapidly expanding Huddersfield University, the Festival is a platform for numerous new artists to make contact with the public and begin their career. The Festival has rightfully earned 39 years of success and worldwide acclamation.

This funding is going to a rapidly expanding, worthwhile cause and I’m delighted to hear that Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival has been successful in securing the new funding. Under its Learning and Participation scheme, the Festival team offer events to a broad range of ages, from hands-on music experiences for babies and toddlers. Events are organised for anyone from school students and families to refugees, asylum seekers, people in prison, community members, emerging artists and regular festival-goers. The festival’s programme includes creative workshops, concert experiences, archival activities and professional development. The Festival also aims to provide participants in the scheme direct contact with professionally established artists. I am extremely pleased that this funding will allow the Festival to fund, expand and continue its brilliant work.

From 12^th – 18^th November, it is UK Parliament Week. This year’s UK Parliament Week festival is the largest ever and will see more than 7,000 registered events with over 500,000 people taking part.

It’s the 100^th anniversary this year of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which gave some women and all men the right to vote after World War One. UK Parliament Week is part of the UK Parliament’s ‘Vote 100’ programme, celebrating equal voting rights and other milestones in the UK’s democratic history like the Act. A record high of 208 female MPs were elected to the House of Commons in 2017’s General Election, showing our progress.

I am excited to urge you all to get involved in this year’s Parliament Week. To strive for a more equal society, we must all engage in democracy so please do find ways to get involved this year. Schools, workplaces, Scouts and Girlguides are all central organisations in the events but you can organise your own.

On the Parliament Week website — www.ukparliamentweek.org/blog/what-event-could-you-hold-for-parliament-week/ — there are suggestions of how you can get involved in this celebration of our democracy. On the same website, there is a page on which you can register your participation. By signing up, you get a free kit! When you get your kit or begin your event, use #UKPW2018 on Twitter to share it with everyone.

On 15^th October, I attended the Ocean Conservation APPG to discuss a review of their own and the Surfers Against Sewages’ (SAS) activities this coming year. Surfers Against Sewage is a marine conservation and campaigning charity working alongside the APPG to help protect the oceans, beaches and their wildlife.

The discussion aimed to organise the SAS’ biggest ever Autumn Beach and River Clean, which has more than 460 locations across the UK. This is running from 20^th – 28^th October and will be led by over 20,000 volunteers.  You can join your nearest Beach or River Clean by visiting www.sas.org.uk/region/north-west/

This year, SAS will be collecting data from the Autumn Beach and River Cleans of beverage containers, litter materials and sizes as evidence to bring to the Government. Furthermore, SAS are putting pressure on the Treasury to avoid the endorsement of single use of plastics in the upcoming Budget.

There was also improved awareness for classifying the release of balloons and lanterns as littering, which would allow fines. Furthermore, the group aims to set and enforce targets for the government to aim to reduce plastic packaging produced and used as well as to increase the amount being recycled.

The name change from ‘Protect our Waves APPG’ to ‘Ocean Conservation APPG’ was also agreed as more reflective of the groups aims as the ‘voice of the ocean in Westminster’.

Please support this inspiring initiative by attending one of the Beach or River Cleans. You can find out more about what the SAS and Ocean Conservation APPG do by visiting https://www.sas.org.uk/

From the 22^nd – 26^th October, it’s the important Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus Awareness Week. During this week, the charity Shine are encouraging the country to ‘go yellow’ to show their support for the campaign. Shine are campaigning for the fortification of flour with folic acid to reduce the likelihood of birth defects such as spina bifida.

Although the causes of spina bifida in babies are not fully understood, it is understood that a folic acid deficiency can cause this problem. Spina bifida literally means ‘split spine’ and develops between the 18^th – 28^th day after conceiving due to neural tube defects. Over 1000 pregnancies are affected by NTDs. Those who live with spina bifida suffer poor mobility, bladder and bowel issues and learning difficulties, with many living with ill-health as well as life-long disability. It is considered one of the most severe conditions for those living.

75% of women have folate levels that would put their babies at risk to developing neural tube defects. A recent survey by Tommy’s Charity showed just under 40% of women stopped contraception the same week they decided they wanted a baby. This does not allow time to improve folate levels before conception to prevent any birth defects. There is also evidence that folic acid taken prior to conception and in the early days of pregnancy can reduce the chance of children being diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorders or severe language impairment.

Every day, 2 women terminate their pregnancies due to a neural tube defect diagnosis. If you’re concerned about your own pregnancy care and whether you are taking enough folic acid, please enquire at your GPs or Health Centre.

I’m adding a fetching splash of pink to my outfit today to show my support for the Breast Cancer Now fundraiser. I was joined by 200 colleagues earlier this month aiming to encourage people to do their bit in fundraising for the charity.

Over the past 16 years, Breast Cancer Now has raised nearly £32 million for key research into breast cancer. Nearly 12,000 people die yearly from breast cancer in the UK and Breast Cancer Now are conducting key research to reduce this figure. The research includes aiming to discover how to prevent breast cancer, how to detect it earlier and how to treat it effectively. Breast Cancer Now want to improve access to specialist nurses and breast checks for all.

Everyone can take part in the ‘wear it pink’ event today by either wearing something pink or organising a pink themed event. You can donate after wearing your pink outfit through this link; wearitpink.org/mp2018 With your help, Breast Cancer Now comes closer to its goal of ensuring all breast cancer sufferers survive by 2050. Please share your support on Twitter by using #wearitpink.

Transpennine Express have launched a compensation scheme for customers following the chaos and disruption caused by the May 2018 timetable change.

The compensation is for customers who are not season ticket holders and were affected by the disruption. There is an opportunity for a full refund on specific routes across the North, which are shown on the photo.

If you travelled for three-five days consecutively between 20th May and 30th June 2018, you could be eligible. You have until 4th December 2018 to make a claim. The deadline for season ticket holders has also been extended to this date.

You will need to provide proof of travel to show that you travelled on at least three days consecutively. Successful applications will receive a full refund via bank transfer. You can make an application by visiting www.tpexpress.co.uk/help/may-timetable-compensation 

I recently attended a drop-in National Farmers Union (NFU) ‘Back British Farming’ event at Westminster to show my ongoing support for sustainable future for British farming. I was proud to wear my wheatsheaf badge to publicly display my support for the campaign and the sector, which is being threatened by Brexit negotiations.

The negotiations are critical to the future of British farming. A ‘no deal’ Brexit would be detrimental to the industry for a variety of reasons.

The exportation of animal product and animals would be hugely impacted as the UK will be required to secure a license from the EU to export. This process can take a minimum of 6 months, immediately impacting livelihoods and incomes negatively as the total value of farm-related exports to the EU stands currently at £13 billion. Alterations to the free movement of workers will also have a serious impact on our farming industry.

British farming is integral to British economy, employing around 3.8 million people. The industry manages the countryside safely, acting as the foundations for the British food and drink industry, which fuels the economy with £110 billion. The Government must ensure the right environment for farmers to continue their business with as little disruption as possible.

This is a critical time for the farming sector, and I feel strongly about supporting the future of farming – as my Twitter followers will know, I love listening to Farming Today on BBC Radio 4 on a morning and tweeting along! I’ll be continuing to monitor the situation as the negotiations proceed.

In honour of World Mental Health Day (10^th October), the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) have launched a campaign called ‘Make It Count’. The campaign is aiming to improve the mental health of students and young people in education. There is already widespread evidence that there is a crisis among young people’s mental health, with 10% of 5-16 year olds having a diagnosable mental health problem.

This is something I feel strongly about and I want to show my support for the campaign. By improving the mental health of our children, we can help them fulfil their full potential.

The MHF feel that as children spend 30 hours in school, schools are important and must take a ‘whole school approach’ to improving the mental wellbeing of their students. The MHF ‘Make It Count’ campaign encourages schools to have a plan in place to measure the mental wellbeing of their students and that schools should be held more accountable for this. Furthermore, after learning that young people want peer support, the MHF aim to integrate peer teaching about mental health to empower young people to actively participate in breaking down the stigma.

73% of all teachers feel that training about mental illness was not prioritised sufficiently during teacher training. The MHF believe that teachers should participate in training that will be long term and sustainable by reducing their workload to participate in this 1 day a year. The MHF encourages schools to have regular, timetabled session to improve mental health literacy as the majority of children are not even aware of what they are feeling is. The MHF are also striving to ensure that every school has a fully qualified counsellor to provide a safe space for students to discuss and offload their problems. According to the campaign, a £1 investment into a child’s mental health is equivalent to £6.20 of benefits for them following intervention.

You can show your support for this great campaign by signing the pledge form by clicking this link – www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-schools-make-it-count/pledge-support-our-make-it-count-campaign 

The ‘Make Blood Cancer Visible’ campaign spearheaded by Dame Kelly Holmes ran through Blood Cancer Awareness month. Blood cancer kills 12500 people yearly and 52 in our own Greater Huddersfield. Blood cancer is the 5^th most common cancer in England and the campaign has aimed to make sufferers and their families more visible to the public.

Dame Kelly shared her personal experience of losing her mother to blood cancer and aimed to push the campaign’s foremost aims to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of blood cancer. This is key because people can then flag symptoms to their GPs and reduce the waiting time of a diagnosis.

Throughout September, 14300 people showed their support by calling on the government to make commitments to a long term strategy for blood cancer treatment.

You can show your support by using the #makebloodcancervisible on Twitter or visiting the Make Blood Cancer Visible Facebook page where you can see personal images and stories of sufferers’ journeys. A number of short films including Dame Kelly’s story are available on www.makebloodcancervisible.co.uk