• Royal Mail have been in touch to let me know that, following a successful trial, they are changing the way they handle items that cannot be delivered at the first attempt. For Royal Mail customers across Corby, as of Tuesday 2nd May, items that cannot be delivered, left in a safe place, or with a neighbour, will be scheduled for automatic re-delivery on the next working day. A card will be left to advise the customer of the attempted delivery and advising that a second attempt to deliver will be made. If the second delivery attempt is unsuccessful, all the pre-existing redelivery options will still be available, including requesting a delivery on a more convenient day, which can be arranged via telephone, online, or on the Royal Mail app. Full details can be found on Royal Mail delivery cards.
Royal Mail also wanted to outline that all Customer Service Points (CSP’s) serving the constituency remain open at all local delivery offices. For the most up-to-date opening times for your local CSP, please see: www.royalmail.com.
• The 2nd May was World Asthma Day, and so I wanted to share @asthmalunguk’s advice to help parents know what to do to manage their child’s asthma and to know how best to respond in an emergency. You can find more information, here.
• I was very pleased to hear from the National Lottery that in Corby, Hope For Families have been awarded £8,489 of funding by the Community Fund, thanks to National Lottery players. I know this funding stream continues to provide a huge boost to some of the brilliant grassroots projects in our communities and this will be a great help in boosting Hope For Families' important work here in Corby - well done to all involved and I’m looking forward to visiting some of these projects to see the great work being done first-hand!
• The Environment Agency have been in touch following the recent publication of the Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) storm overflow data for 2022, which allows everyone to easily identify the location of overflows and understand which waterbody they impact. This data is vital in meeting the targets published by the Government last year in the 'Storm Overflow Discharge Reduction Plan', which aims to improve the performance, and reduce the operation, of storm overflows - something I know is an issue, rightly, of local concern. This plan sets stringent new targets to protect people and the environment and will require water companies to deliver the largest infrastructure programme in water company history. The Environment Agency expect to see water companies work towards achieving the targets set out in this plan and EDM will be essential for ensuring that these targets are met. Localised data from East Anglia, which includes Northamptonshire, shows that 1058 of storm overflows have now been fitted with monitoring devices – up from 842 in 2021 and now covering 68.2% of storm overflows in the region. You can read the press release and further details, here. There is undoubtedly more to do, but this is important progress.
• Great news! The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology is investing £69 million to deliver Gigabit Broadband to around 45,000 premises across rural Cambridgeshire and the surrounding areas, including over our borders into Northamptonshire. 'Project Gigabit' is the biggest broadband roll-out in British history. This is a huge step in delivering local, vital infrastructure upgrades and better connectivity, which I have consistently championed for Corby & East Northamptonshire residents.
• Suicide is the biggest killer of men and women under the age of 35 and each one of them is potentially preventable. The conversation surrounding this incredibly important issue needs opening up, making it easier for those who need support to access it. I’m proud to pledge my support for the 'Baton of Hope UK', which is designed to be the biggest suicide awareness initiative in the UK. Their specially designed baton will tour UK towns this Summer, from Glasgow to Brighton, Manchester to London – and many more – to raise the profile of this issue and reduce the stigma. Help is available and can be signposted - we can get better at listening and asking questions, which can ultimately help to save lives. Find out more, here.
• Sadly, someone dies of bowel cancer every 30 minutes in the UK. It's the second biggest cancer killer, but this shouldn't be the case, because it's treatable and curable. Nearly everyone diagnosed at the earliest stages will survive the disease. To find out more about the symptoms and for support, please see, here.
• I'm pleased to say that The Rose of Northamptonshire Awards are returning! You can nominate a volunteer or community organisation, from anywhere in the county, that you feel deserves recognition for their good work on our doorstep or across Northamptonshire. I can think of so many worthy nominees, but to find out more and make a nomination, see, here.
• Every 10 minutes in the UK, another woman is diagnosed with breast cancer - a devastating number. So, this Mother’s Day, I joined Asda and their charity partners, Breast Cancer Now and Coppa Feel People, in raising awareness of ‘the mother of all checks’ to encourage people to check themselves for signs and symptoms of breast cancer as they work to raise funds for better treatments, vital education and life-changing support, for anyone who needs it. Learn more about the signs and symptoms, and how to donate, here.
• Back in 2021, I joined the Employers’ Initiative on Domestic Abuse, which is a fantastic organisation to help generate workplace awareness of domestic abuse. Ultimately, it may help someone you employ, or who you work with, who at the moment is suffering in silence. I’m very pleased that their membership has grown to almost 1,200 businesses and I would again encourage firms from across Corby & East Northamptonshire to sign-up. Membership is free and provides access to helpful tools and resources that help employers support employees impacted by domestic abuse. You can find out more about this initiative on their website - eida.org.uk - and by following on Twitter and LinkedIn at @EIDAorg.
• I was pleased to hear from the Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner that the Flare Report app has recently been launched for use across Northamptonshire. This is a tool to enable women to quickly and anonymously report non-emergency issues of street harassment and similar behaviour so the Police can create a clearer picture of what incidents are happening in the county, and, importantly, take appropriate action to stop them. Every month, they aim to feed back to the public and stakeholders that reports have been heard and outline what action has been taken. I very much welcome the introduction of this app, which is free to download onto any mobile device – street harassment like cat-calling and other inappropriate behaviour is unacceptable and women should not simply have to ‘put up with it.’
• Royal Mail would like to remind its customers to ‘swap out’ their non-barcoded definitive stamps. Following the introduction of a six-month grace period, customers now have until 31st July 2023 to use up their old, non-barcoded definitive stamps. Following this period, the use of such stamps will be liable to a surcharge. After the six-month grace period, customers will still be able to swap their old style stamps for barcoded stamps using Royal Mail’s simple and free ‘Stamp Swap Out’ scheme, which opened on the 31st March 2022. It currently has no end date. Do check your purses, wallets and drawers to use or swap non-barcoded definitive stamps before the July deadline!
• The Office of the Small Business Commissioner has been in touch to signpost their helpful services for small businesses having payment problems with their larger customers. They are an independent public body, at arm’s length of the Government, established under the Enterprise Act 2016 to tackle late payments and unfavourable payment practices across the UK private sector. They consider complaints from small businesses (with fewer than 50 staff) about payment problems they have with their larger customers (with 50 or more employees) and can make (non-binding) recommendations on how the parties should resolve their disputes. They’ve helped secure more than £8 million in overdue payments since December 2017. Their website also offers a range of self-help tools, to assist small businesses negotiate fair payment terms for instance. Their interest calculator, where users can calculate late payment interest and compensation on overdue invoices, is the only free government calculator which provides an annual breakdown of interest owed. You can find their website, here and their interest calculator, here.
If you have anything you would like to be featured next week, please email all the details to pursglovet@parliament.uk.
Also, if you have taken any photos of constituency landscapes or landmarks, which could be featured in my ‘Community Notices’ headers, please send them in and I will try to use as many of them as possible (and credit them accordingly!), as a celebration of the fantastic place we live and work in. I know we have many budding photographers in our community and it would be great to showcase their work!