Today, Helena Dollimore, the Labour MP for Hastings and Rye is organising an Adjournment debate ‘Closure of Owens in Hastings and Town Deal funding’ as part of Upcoming business in the main Chamber. In 2024 she had expressed her concerns about the Owens amusements entertainment being boarded up even when a £400,000 grant was awarded from Hastings Borough Council.

This Friday, MPs will publish their Bills with two Sussex MPs listing very important subjects. Peter Lamb, the Labour MP for Crawley will publish ‘Free School Meals (Automatic Registration of Eligible Children) Bill: Second Reading’ and Josh Babarinde the Liberal Democrat Eastbourne will publish ‘Domestic Abuse (Aggravated Offences) Bill: Second Reading’.

Last Thursday, there was a session published from Kieran Mullen the Conservative for Bexhill and Battle ‘Geothermal energy’. Kieran Mullen said geothermal energy would be a way of creating jobs across the UK. It will be interesting to observe this soon. On the same day there was an Fraud, Error and Recovery Bill to discuss the new reforms that were arranged by Andrew Western, The Parliamentary Under – Secretary and Sian Berry also corresponded with

“I hope he is able to understand the stigma that people feel about applying for benefits is partly to do with the attitudes people have towards those who receive benefits”

On Tuesday last week in Parliament a ‘Draft Food and Feed (Regulated Products) (Amendment, Revocation, Consequential and Transitional Provision) Regulations 2025’, was created by Ashley Dalton, the Labour MP for West Lancashire and the ‘The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Health and Social Care’. Alison Bennett, the Mid Sussex Liberal Democrat contributed to the discussion and described the amendments in mostly positive terms. Alison asked questions about improvements to the safety of food including the work of the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and the Food Security Standard (FSS).

“What assurances can the Government provide that ongoing monitoring will be as effective as possible so that, if a long-term negative effect is present years after a product’s introduction, it can be identified and addressed? And do the Government believe that any measures need to be taken to strengthen the ongoing work of the FSA and the FSS?”

The Ashley Dalton described that: “scrutiny” would be “robust” and “Public consultations will remain open to all for scrutiny, and recommendations to Ministers for all authorisations of products will take those responses into account.”  

She further described “The FSA and FSS will focus on horizon scanning and risk assessment so that they can respond to new safety evidence as it emerges. We are not going to ask businesses to bring their products routinely for review. However, if there are any changes in a product’s make-up, or it comes to light that the product has any new impacts, that will trigger the FSA and the FSS to look into those”

Just over a week on Thursday a vote about ‘Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill — Clause 4 – Reviews’ took place with opportunity for MPs to vote. Not a large number of votes, 16 people voted, 6 ‘Aye’s’ and 10 ‘No’s. Two Sussex MPs, Siân Berry the Green for Brighton Pavilion and John Milne the Liberal Democrat for Horsham both voted ‘Aye’

Also, on the same Thursday there was a significant session called ‘Women’s Health’ that was published by Helena Dollimore in the Westminster Hall. Fourteen women’s and only four male’s took part and the only Sussex person that was involved was Jessica Brown-Fuller, the Liberal Democrat for Chichester who added.

Helena said partly “it is worth putting on the record our concern for the awful situation that many women around the world find themselves in. I will never forget seeing the maternity theatre run by Save the Children in Yemen where women gave birth between airstrikes…. As this Labour Government take welcome action to tackle long gynaecological waiting lists, we are committed to improving inequalities in many areas of women’s health. It is worth pointing out that if we lined up the number of women currently stuck on the hugely long gynaecological waiting lists in this country, that line would stretch from London all the way to Exeter”.

Jessica added to these comments, “Gynaecological waiting lists have more than doubled since 2020, which is the biggest increase of any medical speciality. At the end of last year, 755,000 women were waiting for treatment. Behind every number is a woman experiencing chronic pain, worsening mental health and a disrupted daily life. One in four women with a gynaecological condition will end up in A&E because they could not access the care that they needed in time, yet the NHS is failing to prioritise these urgent needs. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has been clear: the system needs a complete overhaul so that gynaecological care is given the attention it deserves”

Jessica also said “The Liberal Democrats would ensure that medical scandals that have disproportionately harmed women in the past can never be repeated, including through the introduction of a statutory duty of candour for public officials. We believe that every woman deserves high-quality, safe and accessible healthcare. We would try to tackle the maternity care crisis by addressing chronic understaffing, improving retention and modernising outdated facilities. We will continue to press the Government to expand access to screening for conditions such as breast cancer and cervical cancer. We would also make a serious commitment to investing in women’s health research”.