Article from The Daily Telegraph 18th August 2014 - Importance of Marriage

Fiona Bruce MP further develops annual aid mission to Africa

Fiona Bruce MP further develops annual aid mission to Africa

Fiona Bruce MP has led her annual aid mission to Africa during part of her Parliamentary recess time, this year to Burundi, the eighth poorest country in the world. Fiona led a team of 8 volunteers including local Congleton Accountant, Adrian Veale and expanded the project to include two new elements – English teaching for the hospitality industry, and football coaching, in addition to the business training project, devised by Fiona, and now in its fifth year in Africa with over 1000 businesses benefiting from it over those years in both Rwanda and Burundi.

Fiona said “When we first went to Burundi, meeting with Government Ministers there identified the need to help improve English spoken in the tourism, hotel and hospitality industry in Burundi. It is a beautiful country, yet little visited by tourists, and improving English as spoken by those working in this area will help build tourism and, through that, much needed inward investment into the fragile economy of this desperately poor country. So we embarked on a new course this year teaching young people working in the hospitality sector to improve their English to enable them to meet, greet and welcome visitors.

Needless to say, I did not undertake the football coaching personally! – but did arrange for an FA coach, Andy Harris, to travel over voluntarily during our week to give football training to hundreds of school children including some from the orphanage which our aid mission supports. Whilst the business training and English teaching are extremely popular, the FA coach was positively mobbed – so much so that 60 youngsters were waiting for him eager to start training even as he stepped off the plane. He started training within minutes of arriving in Burundi!”

Fiona and local Accountant Adrian Veale, both East Cheshire Chamber of Commerce members, led a week long Business Development course in Burundi at the Bujumbura Chamber of Commerce, which, following last year’s visit is now partnered with East Cheshire Chamber. Burundi men and women who attended the course run businesses ranging from transport, mining construction and agriculture to tailoring, restaurants, and printing, and are members of the Bujumbura Chamber. Course content included business goal setting, marketing and financial and people management.

Fiona added:

"Business training is a great way to help some of the poorest countries on earth -many of us know the expression "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach him how to fish and you feed him for life."  The aim of this week long .course is to go one step further -to help train people to start and run businesses well -that way they can create jobs and feed a whole community.”

One of the course delegates, a Burundi businessman with a transport and construction business, Ezekial Nyabenda, said “Thank you so much for the course. Because of it I am able to respond about my financial status to investors and have the knowledge to make a business plan and split my accounts to different activities!”

Record Fall in Unemployment

Record Fall in Unemployment

This month has seen the biggest annual fall in unemployment in 25 years - and the biggest annual fall in youth unemployment since records began with 1.8 million more people in work than last year, and in the Congleton Constituency 477 more people in jobs than a year ago.

Fiona Bruce MP said “Being able to find a job is the most important way to improve people's standard of living. The Government’s long-term economic plan is helping to create more real jobs and giving more people the security of a pay packet to provide for themselves and their families. By backing Britain's businesses - cutting the jobs tax, cutting red tape, and investing in vital infrastructure like roads, rail and broadband – the Government has helped create 1.8 million more jobs.”

Fiona Bruce MP asks constituents where they would like a new postbox situated

Fiona Bruce MP asks Constituents where they would like a new postbox

Royal Mail is proposing to erect 2000 additional letter boxes across the country.

Fiona Bruce MP said “I am keen to ensure that residents in my constituency benefit from this proposal and am therefore asking for suggestions for new letterbox locations which I am assured by the Head of Public Affairs of Royal Mail will be considered. Suggestions should be sent to me as soon as possible to Fiona Bruce MP, House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA or by e-mail to fiona.bruce.mp@parliament.uk, with location specific directions. I am very much aware from the number of letters I receive daily, how important postal services are to my constituents and am keen to ensure that they are as convenient and as efficient as possible for everyone in this area.”

Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products

Fiona Bruce MP campaigns with Sandbach School students for plain packaging of Tobacco products

Fiona Bruce MP campaigned recently with Amber Sparks, a student at Sandbach Girls School, and Owen MacCuish, Head Boy of Sandbach Boys School, to press the Government in introduce standardised packaging for cigarettes. Every cigarette company would have to package their product in the same unattractive boxes containing graphic health warnings

Fiona Bruce who has campaigned since her election, for standardised packaging of tobacco products said “I was delighted to meet with Amber and Owen to hear of their support for this campaign, particularly since they are both members of Cheshire East Youth Council and the National Youth Parliament and therefore respective role models and advocates for their generation – the one which standardised packaging could most make a positive difference to.”

Fiona Bruce continued “Young people are attracted to designer brands. They are attracted not just to the product but to the packaging. We have known for a long time that young people are attracted to labels. In 1995 a survey of youth in America told us that young people associated the following words with designer packaging: popular, cool and good-looking. With cigarettes in plain packaging, they associated the words boring, geeky and cheap. In 2012, another survey found that young people felt that if they smoked stylish packs they would be “better and more popular”. 

It is a tragedy that each year 200,000 people start to smoke when we could take action. According to one statistic I have seen, the display ban on large shops has contributed towards 100,000 fewer young people taking up smoking each year. I hope these regulations will help make smoking history for children.

Standardised tobacco packaging could ensure that we protect children and save lives. The best way to stop smoking is not to start in the first place.”

Campaign for Earlier Cancer Diagnosis

Fiona Bruce MP Backs Campaign for Earlier Cancer Diagnosis

Congleton MP, Fiona Bruce, has shown her support for improving earlier cancer diagnosis while attending an All Party Parliamentary Group on Cancer (APPGC) event in Parliament.

The event marked the success of the APPGC and wider cancer community in getting crucial one-year cancer survival data presented in the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Outcomes Indicator Set (OIS), the measure that monitors CCGs’ priorities and improvements. By putting one-year survival rates up in lights, CCGs will be able to identify where progress is vitally needed and make strides towards improving survival – as late diagnosis makes for poor survival rates.

The UK is behind its international and European neighbours in cancer survival². The APPGC believes that this must change. By 2020, almost half of people will receive a cancer diagnosis during their lifetime³. Cancer survival rates in the UK are among the worst in Europe – not least because many people are diagnosed too late.

At the event, Fiona Bruce was presented with the cancer survival rates in East Cheshire that showed that 68% of people with cancer will live for a year after diagnosis.

Speaking on the subject, Fiona said “We know that early diagnosis of cancer often leads to better survival rates for patients. The one-year cancer survival rates in East Cheshire will help residents to see how the CCG is performing and demand improvements.  As the MP, I will be meeting the CCG leadership to discuss how, together, we can ensure more people survive cancer.

“In this area only 68% of people live for a year or more after a cancer diagnosis.  More work is needed through earlier diagnosis to increase this number, as the UK still has among the lowest survival rates in Europe. Better screening uptake, diagnostics at Primary Care, public awareness and GP training are all possible initiatives our local CCG could introduce. Many lives each year could be saved as a result"

Crime Figures

Fiona Bruce MP “Action plan to tackle crime is making Congleton Constituency a safer place to live”

Fiona Bruce MP has welcomed news that crime is falling. Latest figures from the independent Office for National Statistics show that since 2010 recorded crime in Cheshire has fallen by 16%

The Government is following an action plan to tackle crime by:

1. Freeing the police to fight crime by cutting red tape and scrapping unnecessary targets
2. Giving criminals tougher sentences so communities are protected and justice is done
3. Giving the police the powers they need to tackle criminals, using the latest tools and techniques
4. Stopping people from becoming criminals by tackling the root causes of crime
5. Making the police answer to the community to help drive down crime in your area

Commenting, local MP Fiona Bruce said:

‘We’re making Britain an even safer place to live, work, and raise a family with our action plan to tackle crime.

‘Recorded crime is down by 16% in Cheshire thanks to our plan, and the hard work of police officers. 

‘Families are safer and more secure – and Congleton Constituency can enjoy a better, brighter future.’

·         Crime measured by the independent Crime Survey has fallen by 22 per cent since 2010. This is the lowest level since the survey began in 1981 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales, period ending March 2014, 17 July 2014, link).

·         Police recorded crime (excluding fraud) has fallen by 16 per cent since June 2010 (ibid.).

·         Percentage change in recorded crime (excluding fraud) since June 2010 by police force area. Since the year ending September 2013 figures, ONS have published headline national crime figures that include centralised (Action Fraud) recording of fraud and a separate series which excludes fraud. Due to the staggered move of recording fraud offences from forces to Action Fraud, figures for forces are shown excluding fraud offences to allow for consistent comparisons (Office for National Statistics, Police recorded crime year ending March 2014, 17 July 2014, link).

Police Force Area	% change Jun 10 to Mar 14
Cheshire	-16%
England & Wales Total	-16%