“Lots of good news for our local area. Last month Business Secretary Greg Clark launched a major new scientific centre in Harwell Campus and announced its first major projects. The Rosalind Franklin Institute, which is backed by £100mil in government investment, will focus on a number of projects, including the development of the world’s best ultra-fast video camera for imaging, which will be invaluable for both detecting and treating disease.
The Big Lottery Fund has announced £17,280 of funding for projects in the constituency such as the The Pelvic Partnership in Harwell, which focuses on treatment for Pelvic Girdle Pain. The fund distributes money raised by the National Lottery to good causes which seek to improve lives and communities. If you have a cause that you believe deserves funding you can apply at biglotteryfund.org.uk.
Huge congratulations to Wallingford School, who have been awarded the prestigious ISM Trust’s Silver Certificate in Music for 2018, and King Alfred’s, who have been awarded the Bronze Certificate. This means that more than 15% and 10% respectively of all the schools’ GCSE students who entered into GCSE music achieved an A* to C grade. This is a huge achievement and demonstrates a real commitment to music in both schools. The Teaching Apprenticeship Programme (TAP) launched across the country last month to help schools recruit, train and retain the best graduates into teaching roles. TAP offers a 1 year programme which guides apprentices towards Qualified Teacher Status and schools can also use the Apprenticeship Levy funding to train and retain the best graduates into teaching roles. If you are interested in how the Apprenticeship Levy works you can find all the information you need at the Teaching Apprenticeship website.
Over the last month I was pleased to meet with representatives of ‘Hands off Hagbourne Fields’ to discuss Taylor Wimpey’s plans for developing the land between West Hagbourne and Didcot, meet with local councillors to discuss how to tackle litter on the A34 and visit Enesi Pharma in Milton Park to see their revolutionary work on vaccines.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any pressing issues that you would like help with. You can contact me on any matter at the House of Commons, SW1A 0AA, dicksonce@parliament.uk or 01235 768 888. Email is the quickest and most reliable way to get in touch, as I keep a very close eye on my emails and can reply very quickly. Details of my activities in Parliament can be read on my website, https://www.vaizey.com. I also send out occasional general interest emails about developments in the Wantage and Didcot Constituency. You can sign up here: http://bit.ly/EdVaizeyMP.”