Christopher Pincher Answers Call To Help Improve Breast Cancer Survival To Match The Best In Europe

MP for Tamworth, Christopher Pincher, recently met  with local campaigner Sharon Fox from Breakthrough Breast Cancer’s Campaigns & Advocacy Network (CAN) at the 12^th annual Westminster Fly-In event  to discuss how to improve breast cancer survival rates. Mr. Pincher also took the time to sign up to Breakthrough’s Bridging the Gap in Breast Cancer Survival Charter, which outlines the commitments needed to make sure more women survive breast cancer. 

Nearly 48,000 women and 300 men are diagnosed with the disease each year, making it the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the UK. Even though more women are surviving breast cancer than ever before thanks to better awareness, screening and treatments, survival in England still lags behind some other European countries.  If England was to achieve survival rates at the European best for breast cancer, an estimated 1,000 lives could be saved each year.

In response to this challenge, Breakthrough Breast Cancer developed the Bridging the Gap in Breast Cancer Survival Charter and believes that the Government can tackle this issue by supporting its key principles; promoting breast awareness messages to help drive early diagnosis, providing access for all eligible women to gold standard NHS Breast Screening Programmes and maximising the potential of breast cancer research, to create personalised or targeted treatments.

Mr. Pincher signed the charter saying:

“We have the opportunity to make effective change that can save lives.   We need to do all we can to raise awareness about this cancer and focus efforts on treatments to improve survival rates and make a real difference”

Christopher Pincher Takes Part in MS challenge

The Member of Parliament for Tamworth, Christopher Pincher, took part in the ‘Can you beat the MS lottery’ challenge earlier this month.

The interactive challenge, which was designed by the MS Society, tests politicians’ knowledge of multiple sclerosis (MS) by asking them to match numbered lottery balls to a range of statements. MPs are called upon to guess on everything from the UK’s ranking amongst EU countries for access to MS treatments to how much money local councils are cutting from care budgets.

Laura Weir, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the MS Society, explained: “With changes currently being made to the NHS and welfare benefits, there has never been a more important time to make politicians aware of the difficulties facing people with MS across the country in obtaining the drugs, specialist care and welfare support they need. This is what we are aiming to do with our MS lottery challenge.”

Christopher Pincher MP Welcomes Prime Minister’s commitment to ‘get a grip on immigration’

The Member of Parliament for Elford, Edingale & Tamworth, Christopher Pincher welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment in a speech on 10 October at the Institute of Government to ‘get a grip on immigration into our country’.

The Prime Minister argued that Britain should ‘attract the brightest and the best’, as well as ‘foreign investors and entrepreneurs’ to come here.  He said that Britain had ‘been enriched by the contribution of generations of migrants’ and would ‘always be open to those who are seeking asylum from persecution’.

However David Cameron was concerned that ‘excessive immigration brings pressures, real pressures on our communities up and down the country’.  He said that tension could result when ‘large numbers of people arrive in new neighbourhoods, perhaps not all able to speak the same language as those who live there, perhaps not always wanting to integrate, perhaps seeking simply to take advantage of our NHS’.

Between 1997 and 2009 net migration reached 2.2 million people – that’s twice the population of Birmingham. This Coalition Government is taking action to control immigration:

o             The Government has capped economic migration from outside the EU.

o             The student visa system has been overhauled to tackle abuses.

o             The family visa route will now be reformed to ensure that those coming here do not become a burden on the welfare system or on the taxpayer.

Christopher Pincher calls for more transparency in energy prices

Tamworth’s Member of Parliament Christopher Pincher, who is an active member of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, has welcomed Ofgem’s proposed simplification plan to make energy bills more straightforward.  And he has called for greater competition in the wholesale market to help drive down retail prices.

Mr. Pincher said:

“I am disappointed that the energy companies’ profit margin has hit a staggering £125 per customer.   I know that the margin fluctuates and of course we want the companies to turn a profit so they can reinvest in much needed new infrastructure, but people are struggling to pay their spiralling energy bills so we need a new approach.”

“I am pleased that Ofgem are introducing a simplification plan that will help consumers find the best deals.   Under the plan suppliers will be required to have ‘no-frills tariffs’, consisting of a standing charge, fixed by Ofgem, and a unit charge for energy used – which will be different between suppliers, enabling consumers to have clear price comparisons. Ofgem, the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Energy Select Committee are looking at ways to help people save money on their energy bills and I look forward to further announcements.”

“However, more needs to be done to make the wholesale market, from which the companies buy the energy they sell, more transparent.

Christopher Pincher Raises Academic Rigour with Prime Minister

Christopher Pincher, Member of Parliament for Tamworth, on Wednesday called upon Prime Minister David Cameron to reintroduce rigour in our examination system in Prime Ministers Questions.   This is Mr Pincher’s third PMQ since becoming the Member of Parliament for Tamworth in 2010.

 Mr. Pincher asked the PM:

“What action is my right hon. Friend taking to reintroduce rigour into the education system and end the ridiculous situation under the previous Government of 22% of students doing proper academic studies?”

The Prime Minister responded by saying:

“The Education Secretary is doing a superb job of focusing schools on results, including in English and maths, ensuring that we look at the English baccalaureate, which includes the core subjects that employers and colleges really value, and doing some simple and straightforward things that were not done for 13 years, such as ensuring that punctuation and grammar actually count when someone does an exam”

Mr Ron Ellis and Cllr Sam Munn Remembered

Christopher Pincher attends the opening of the Landau Forte Academy Tamworth in Amington

Christopher Pincher, Member of Parliament for Tamworth, attended the official opening of the new Landau Forte Academy Tamworth, Amington building.

The new £35 million development was officially opened early this week by HRH The Duchess of Gloucester. The school is home to around 960 11-16 pupils and over 100 members of staff. The building, which is now complete, took a little over 14 months to complete after the school gained Academy status in September 2010 switching from the former Woodhouse High School. This summer the school saw an increase of 17% of students achieving at least 5 A*-C including English and maths, one of the best improvement stories in the country.

The Landau Forte trust now educates almost 3000 students over four sites, including three in Tamworth.

After a guided tour of the new building and facilities Mr Pincher commented:

Christopher Pincher Welcomes Jaguar Jobs Boost

Christopher Pincher, Member of Parliament for Tamworth, and Staffordshire County Council Leader Philip Atkins have joined up to welcomed news of a major new manufacturing initiative in the West Midlands.

Mr. Pincher and Mr. Atkins, pictured at the Landau Forte Academy in Amington, showed off the Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) vehicles which have been lent to the County Council to advertise a deal which will provide a major boost to the local economy.  The Council has been negotiating with JLR for many months to clinch it.

JLR is to create up to 750 jobs at a new factory on a site near Wolverhampton, the firm has announced.

The carmaker, owned by Indian firm Tata, is investing £355m to build low-emission engines on a 120-hectare site at a business park near the M54 in Staffordshire.

The news has been welcomed by the government, local MPs and Staffordshire County Council. JLR Chief Executive Dr. Ralf Speth said it was “truly exciting news”.

He went on:
“We expect the engine manufacturing facility to create up to 750 highly-skilled engineering and manufacturing posts at Jaguar Land Rover, along with hundreds more highly-skilled manufacturing jobs in the supply chain and the wider UK economy.”

Dr. Speth also commended the “strong support” from the government, local unions, local MPs, local authorities and JLR employees

Mr. Pincher said:
“This is excellent news for Staffordshire that will have a positive knock on for Tamworth.  I am very pleased that the hard work and effort put in by the County Council, together with support from MPs, has paid off.   And I am pleased to welcome Philip Atkins to Tamworth, with his fleet of JLR vehicles, to advertise this tremendous new deal.  We need new manufacturers in the area to improve opportunities for school leavers and create a market for technical and engineering skills.  Jaguar Land Rover’s investment is just the ticket.”

Local Youths Run Canal Clean-Up

Tamworth’s Conservative Future team organised a ‘social action’ project last Saturday to clean-up the towpath along the Coventry canal between Bolehall and Fazeley.  Starting at the Anchor pub in Bolehall the ten strong team, armed with litter picks, made their way towards the bridge near Brook End filling nine bin liners with rubbish left by litterers and fly tippers.   The haul included a broken baby-walker, assorted bicycle tires, an old commode and, of course, a traffic cone.  Many were found hidden in bushes and ditches along the towpath.  Others were fished, with extreme care, from the canal waters.

Helpers included Tom Byrne, Warren Clegg, Christopher Hayton, Deborah Hayton and Becky Harding.  They were joined by local councillors Allan Lunn and Eve Rowe and Member of Parliament Christopher Pincher.  Local teacher Richard Kingstone, and his great dane, also lent a hand.

Christopher Pincher Welcomes Jaguar Jobs Boost

Christopher Pincher, Member of Parliament for Tamworth, has welcomed news of a major new manufacturing initiative in the West Midlands.

Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) is to create up to 750 jobs at a new factory on a site near Wolverhampton, the firm says.

The carmaker, owned by Indian firm Tata, is investing £355m to build low-emission engines on a 120-hectare site at a business park near the M54 in Staffordshire.

The news has been welcomed by the government, local MPs and Staffordshire County Council. JLR Chief Executive Dr. Ralf Speth said it was “truly exciting news”.

He went on:

“We expect the engine manufacturing facility to create up to 750 highly-skilled engineering and manufacturing posts at Jaguar Land Rover, along with hundreds more highly-skilled manufacturing jobs in the supply chain and the wider UK economy.”

Dr. Speth also commended the “strong support” from the government, local unions, local MPs, local authorities and JLR employees

Mr. Pincher said:

“This is excellent news for Staffordshire that will have a positive knock on for Tamworth. I am very pleased that the hard work and effort put in by the County, together with support from MPs, has paid off. We need new manufacturers in the area to improve opportunities for school leavers and create a market for technical and engineering skills. Jaguar Land Rover’s investment is just the ticket.”