This year I decided to give the Conservative Party conference a miss and spend my time more productively in Cornwall instead. Liz Truss has had a disastrous start with errors in economic policy. Thankfully, we Conservative MPs came together in sufficient numbers to force her to reverse the worst elements of her plan, but we need her to learn from her mistake.
On Monday I had a meeting with the regional director of Natural England. It is the government agency responsible for delivering the nature policies that I worked on while the Cabinet Minister in Defra and we talked about some of the good work being done in Cornwall including the Goss Moor nature reserve which was the G7 legacy project I agreed on last year.
The availability of housing in Cornwall has been a perpetual challenge but I have always been incredibly impressed by the team at Coastline who manage the majority of our social housing stock. On Monday I visited Miners Court in Redruth which provides 'extended care' for older people who need a little bit of support but in an environment where they keep their independence. As a rural area, Cornwall has huge problems trying to provide domiciliary care to people in dispersed homes and the model being run at Miners Court is a big part of the solution in my view.
There are over thirty primary schools in this constituency, and I try to visit every one often every few years to hear from head teachers about the issues that worry them. This week I visited Lanner School where I faced some really detailed questions from Year 6 pupils about electric vehicles. It is great to see Cornish schools coming to Parliament and Lanner is planning to visit the House of Commons in January.
This part of Cornwall was at the heart of the industrial revolution and, while the loss of Holmans was a terrible blow, we still have world-leading engineering companies. This week I visited Teagle Farm Machinery which is Cornwall's answer to JCB: an exceptional centre of engineering excellence owned by the same Cornish family for generations which exports its products around the world.
Two of the main issues causing pressure on our health system are the rise in mental health problems after Covid and the lack of capacity in the care sector which makes it harder for Treliske to discharge patients. This week I was pleased to have a session with trainee counsellors at the new Cornwall Counsellor Institute based within Cornwall College. It was great to see such passion and enthusiasm and to hear about the work they are doing to support mental health charities in the area. I also visited the Downes Care Home at Hayle to discuss some creative ideas they have to deliver additional bed space and give a helping hand to Treliske so they can discharge patients faster and I will be taking these up with NHS managers locally.
