Author Archives: John

I hope you all enjoyed the Coronation weekend. Whether I was in Wantage, Didcot, Grove or Wallingford, the mood was upbeat, people were having a good time and there was plenty of food, music and activities. The Coronation itself passed off perfectly, despite the weather – and the concert was great too. It was another reminder of how this country can do events like this better than anywhere else.
While we’re still crunching the data, I wanted to thank everyone who completed my health services survey for doing so. I’ve had responses from nearly 3,000 people, which is a really great number to give a picture of what people are feeling across the constituency.
It’s clear that, as I expected and as my inbox reflects, many people feel we do not have the health services we need. Nor do I. People particularly struggle to get an appointment with a doctor or with a dentist, but this is not the only thing that people would like to see more of when it comes to health. I will continue to campaign hard on this – watch this space.
After I held a successful crime summit with Thames Valley Police in Wantage, I was asked by local residents to hold one in Wallingford. I can confirm this will take place on 15th June, 6.30pm – 8pm and Waitrose have offered their café. Sign up on my website: http://www.david-johnston.org.uk
Wherever you live, you can also sign up there for my third annual climate summit, which will be via Zoom and will have Grant Shapps, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, giving the keynote speech.
Sticking with the environment and climate change, I continue to lobby for the Local Electricity Bill, which I am the lead sponsor of and which is now backed by 318 MPs. This would make it easier for small, community organisations that generate renewable energy to be able to sell it to the community. I am hopeful that with the Government’s Energy Bill making its way through parliament at the moment, we might be able to finally make something happen that enables community energy to flourish.

Thanks to everyone who took part in my Apprenticeship Fair in Didcot – nearly 400 people attended and had great conversations with a range of public and private employers about the range of apprenticeships they offer. I was asked if I will be doing it again and I will be doing so.

A couple of other things in brief. I met with the Chair of Water Resource South East to again convey the objections local people have about the reservoir proposal. And I continue to encourage people to see if they are eligible for Pension Credit, which can provide an average £3,500 a year to pensioners. The figures show the uptake locally is increasing, but there are more people who could be getting it. See if you or someone else you know is eligible here: https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit/eligibility

As ever, if I can help with anything please email me via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

The Annual Parish Council Meeting will be held on Wednesday 10th May 2023 in the Village Hall starting at 7.00 pm.

There will be break after item 3 for the Annual Parish Assembly (separate agenda).

An officer from the Vale Council’s Waste Team will speak at the beginning on recycling and answer questions.

Should be interesting: please come along, observe and contribute to the workings and deliberations of your Parish Council.

Depending on when you read this, you may still have time to complete my Health Services Survey. It’s 8 short questions about your experience of accessing services like GP and Dentist appointments and should take 5-10 minutes. You can complete it here: https://www.david-johnston.org.uk/health

Although I live in Didcot, I saw it and many other places in the constituency in a different light last month: from the back of a police car! No, I hadn’t done anything wrong, I’d asked to go on a ‘Ride Along’ with the local force to get a better insight into the demands on the police as they respond to the calls they receive at the station.

It turned out to be a relatively quiet 4 or so hours, but it was nonetheless fascinating to talk to PCs David and Alex about their experience in the force, the things they’ve had to respond to, how they’re treated by the public and the things they’d like to see change. They perform a very difficult and vital role and I’m very grateful to them for letting me accompany them.

I continue to be on the case regarding the experience of parents and schools with Oxfordshire’s service for children with Special Educational Needs. I spoke in a debate in parliament about some of the problems and then met the Government minister responsible for SEND nationally. Oxfordshire has just been given a further £1 million by the Government to deliver outreach services from SEND specialists to support children with a variety of conditions including autism and moderate learning difficulties. But this won’t solve the problems people complain to me about regarding calls and emails not being answered and so I will continue to work on this.

On the subject of government funding, the extension to the Energy Price Guarantee for a further 3 months is welcome and will have saved the average household £1100 since it began, while Oxfordshire County Council has just been given a further £3 million to fix the potholes so many of you rightly complain to me about!

The Public Accounts Committee have held their hearing into the local AEAT Pension case I’ve been campaigning on behalf of and now we have to wait for their report in the coming weeks. I must give credit to OX10 Community Centre, Wild About Wallingford, the Town Council and Incredible Edible for keeping their Public Living Room going at the Bull Croft through a miserable afternoon of rain. It was designed to bring the community together and it did – at least some of them, and a great ukulele band. I had a good catch up with GWR about where next to take my campaign for reopening Grove Station – watch this space. Straight after my Apprenticeship Fair on 24th April at 12pm at Didcot Civic Hall, I will start planning this year’s Wantage and Didcot Climate Summit – the date will be the 13th June.

As ever, if I can help with anything then please email me via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

The date of the upcoming Parish Council Elections is 4th May 2023, your local Polling Station is the Charney Bassett Village Hall which will be open from 07:00 am until 10:00 pm.

The date of the upcoming District Council Election is 4th May 2023, your local Polling Station is the Charney Bassett Village Hall which will be open from 07:00 am until 10:00 pm.

Whether you live in Wantage, Didcot, Wallingford, Faringdon or any of the 64 villages I represent, my constituency-wide survey on local health services is currently open. It’s just 8 questions long and should only take about 5 minutes – no more than 10 – and you can complete it until 17th April on my website: https://www.david-johnston.org.uk/health
Increasing our health services relative to the population growth we’ve had is one of the things I have campaigned on most since being elected 3 years ago – particularly the need for more GP surgeries. I’ve spoken about this in 19 debates in parliament and had numerous meetings with the local councils, local health leaders, ministers and local people about it. The more people who complete it, the stronger the message we can send.
I held a successful inaugural meeting of my Science and Technology Forum for the companies we have at Harwell, Milton Park and elsewhere which George Freeman, the Minister at the new Science Department, spoke at. He and I are very keen to promote what is going on here more as it is of both national and international significance – and we discussed some good ideas to do so. Watch this space!
I’ll be holding an Apprenticeship Fair for local young people and employers across the constituency at Didcot Civic Hall on 24th April. I visit at least 1 school and at least 1 employer almost every week (and have been to 600 odd organisations overall since being elected) and I hear regularly that young people don’t know the apprenticeships open to them and that employers struggle to recruit enough apprentices. I’m hopeful this fair will help.
My campaigning on behalf of the local AEAT Pensioners has been bearing fruit: the National Audit Office has published its report on the case following my request and Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee recently held a hearing on it, with their own report to come.
A few highlights from many visits in the last month. It was good to be interviewed on Wallingford Radio which has been going great guns since it got its FM license. You can listen live on 107.3FM. I had a great visit to the new wedding dress shop in Wantage, About You Bridal, set up by Sharon to make the process of buying dresses, shoes and accessories as stress-free as possible. It’s also home to Gallery Cakes, set up by Nicki, so that you can order your wedding cake too!
It was very good to see The Place in the Corn Exchange in Faringdon, having seen the space when it was just an idea, which supports parents and their children under 5. I also met Keith and Sue to talk about the Faringdon Day Centre and will be back to visit that soon. And I’m pleased to say Michael Gove was very impressed with the Greencore Construction houses I took him to see in Southmoor.
If I can help with anything then do get in touch via: david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Wednesday 8th March 2023 in the Village Hall and will start at 7.30 pm.

Here is the agenda and supporting documents

For you information here is the latest Wantage Health Centre Newsletter

I’m delighted to have secured a breakthrough for the local AEAT Pensioners after 10 years of dogged campaigning by them. The National Audit Office – which has investigated high-profile cases such as Equitable Life and British Steel – has agreed to my request to look at the AEAT case and will produce a report setting out their views in the coming weeks. Parliament’s powerful Public Accounts Committee will also hold an inquiry and are calling for evidence for this until 5th March: https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7230/aea-technology-pension-case/

A highlight in the last month was, of course, President Zelensky addressing Parliament. He gave a very powerful speech, conveying the bravery of the Ukrainian people and his thanks to the UK for our support during the past year.

For anyone born in the UK after the world wars, as I was, it is impossible to truly understand what his countrymen and women are going through at this time, subject to a relentless bombardment by Russian tanks and planes every day that takes the lives of their family members and causes untold destruction. The President’s speech made us all feel proud of the UK’s support. We were the first European country to start sending lethal aid to Ukraine and are the second largest donor of military aid in the world after the USA – a total of £2.3 billion since the outbreak of war.

In addition to all the military equipment supplied – and a major new package of air defence to help protect Ukrainian civilians and critical national infrastructure from Russian strikes – we’ve provided a £220 million humanitarian assistance package and issued some 218,000 visas to Ukrainians. Oxfordshire has of course been at the forefront of hosting Ukrainian refugees, many of whom I have had the privilege to meet. Our support is very important – and must continue.

I was very pleased this constituency was the place Michelle Donelan, the new Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, chose to make her first visit – to the Rosalind Franklin Institute at Harwell, which the Government has just committed a further £40 million to. The Department will be key for this constituency and its creation has happened just before I hold the first meeting of my Science and Technology forum for businesses at Harwell, Milton Park and elsewhere, with George Freeman, Minister for Science, Research, and Innovation, as the guest speaker.

The other event coming up in the near future from me will be an Apprenticeships Fair for local young people and employers. While there has been a welcome growth in apprenticeships with the Government’s Apprenticeship Levy, many employers struggle to fill their apprenticeships while, nationally, the highest-level ones disproportionately go to young people from higher income families. If you work for a company that wants to take part, then do get in touch.

As ever, if I can help with anything then do please get in touch via david.johnston.mp@parliament.uk

The next meeting of the Parish Council will be held on Wednesday 11th January 2023 in the Village Hall and will start at 7.30 pm.

Here is the agenda and supporting documents