February Newsletter

Welcome to my regular newsletter, keeping you updated on my work as your Member of Parliament.

Firstly, I know many of you have contacted me about the terrible situation in Ukraine. My thoughts are with all those still in Ukraine, those who are trying to flee the violence, and those in Sheffield who are worried about their loved ones. I have been doing everything I can to support people in Hallam who are trying to contact family members and I have been working with Universities in our city to discuss the possibility of allowing Ukrainian students to transfer to Sheffield Universities so they can continue their studies. I also wrote a message of solidarity to our counterparts in Ukraine’s Parliament and joined with other Sheffield MPs to send a message of support. Nationally I have been campaigning to improve the Government’s policy towards Ukrainian refugees. You can read more about this below.

In other news I have been continuing to campaign for better eating disorder services for children and adults in our city and across the country. Eating disorders are the biggest killer of any mental health condition. Yet they have continually received the least funding, and specialist services are now at breaking point. During Eating Disorder Awareness week I met with NHS eating disorder specialists in Sheffield and South Yorkshire Eating Disorder Services to hear about the issues facing their services. Please read on to hear about what else I have been up to over the past month.

In Hallam…

• It was also great to visit Porter Valley – and hear about their important work desilting the dam and restoring wildlife to the area. Thank you to everyone at Friends of Porter Valley who have worked for years to raise the funds for this vital renovation.

• I met with campaigners last weekend to hear about the challenges they are facing providing a safe environment for Sheffield kids to play football. They have started a petition to clamp down on dog fouling on the pitch, which you can sign here.

• I have been working with residents in Stannington to improve road safety for elderly residents , after an issue was raised with me by council candidate Bridget Kelly about the need for more dropped curbs. No one should be put off leaving their homes for fear of crossing the road safely. It is vital we take steps to improve road safety for all residents in Stannington, but especially our elderly community and parents with young children.

• This month I celebrated the anniversary of the Species Champion project. I am so proud to be a Hen Harrier Species Champion, working with RSPB to spotlight this amazing species and the problems they face. Hen Harriers are one of the most persecuted birds of prey in Britain. We must protect them and crack down on illegal killing.

• I want to send my solidarity to all Sheffield University Staff who have been out on strike this month, fighting against a 35% cut to their pension. This is on top of a decade of pension cuts which have left University staff £240,000 worse off. We must fight these cuts!

• Finally, thank you so much to everyone who came along to our meeting last Friday to discuss what we can do to fight the dangerous and discriminatory policing bill in our city. It was a great evening and I am looking forward to working with you all to sound the alarm about the Government’s authoritarian plans.

In Parliament…

• Since the start of the crisis I have been campaigning to improve the Government’s policy towards Ukrainian refugees. The Home Office guidance for providing sanctuary to fleeing Ukraine does not go nearly far enough and the numbers of Ukrainian refugees the UK has taken in is far too low. When the crisis first broke out I asked Boris Johnson what support we will provide Ukrainian citizens in the UK to reunite with family members in Ukraine. Despite this the Prime Minister has been too slow addressing the huge holes in the system and I know many people are struggling to bring their families to safety. I also questioned the Home Secretary in Parliament on what was being done to support particularly vulnerable people fleeing the crisis. 

• The Government’s Anti-Refugee Bill returned to the House of Lords at the beginning of the year. I am concerned that this Bill presents a very real attack on our international legal obligations to those fleeing war. I am currently working with campaigners to raise awareness about the dangerous effects of this Bill on the LGBTQ+ community and I held a debate in Westminster Hall to push this issue up the agenda. You can read more about my concerns with this Bill in my piece for the Independent here .

• The Lords have now rejected some of the worst parts of the Bill, which would criminalise those coming to the UK through so-called irregular routes and strip people of their citizenship without any notice. These are huge wins which we must protect as the Bill returns to the House of Commons. The current Ukraine crisis shows once again how important it is to defend the right to seek asylum and offer support to those fleeing persecution.

• I am also proud to have been elected as vice chair for the All Party Parliamentary Group on migration and I am looking forward to working with this group to hold the Government to account over their hostile migration policy.

• The Government’s authoritarian policing Bill also returned to Parliament. As we confront the climate emergency, the Government’s priority should be addressing the crisis, not criminalising those sounding the alarm. We must protect our democracy and planet – and oppose the Policing Bill. You can watch my speech here.

• In other news I have been continuing to campaign for better eating disorder services for children and adults in our city and across the country. Eating disorders are the biggest killer of any mental health condition. Yet they have continually received the least funding, and specialist services are now at breaking point. We urgently need a long-term strategy to address this growing crisis. During Eating Disorder Awareness week I met with NHS eating disorder specialists in Sheffield. I have also been working with South Yorkshire Eating Disorder Association, whose progress championing early intervention across our region has been vital. I will also be campaigning ahead of the Chancellor’s budget for an emergency package of ring fenced funding to address the crisis our eating disorder services are facing.

• I also spoke about the dire need for more Tier 4 beds for children with life-threatening eating disorders who are currently being treated on general wards with no mental health support. You can watch my speech here:

• I also spoke during the debate on the use of bee-killing pesticides. The Government has gone against the explicit advice of their own scientific advisors and approved the use of bee-killing, nature-harming pesticides. Thank you to everyone who wrote to me about this important issue. I will continue to push the Government on this.

• Following the disastrous flooding at the start of the month, I spoke to ITV calendar about the Government’s failure to properly invest in and maintain flood defences and the urgent need for natural solutions to the growing crisis.

• During a debate on special educational needs and children’s mental health services, I spoke for the first time publicly about my experience as someone who is neurodivergent, and the long-term mental health impact of late diagnosis. Young people today deserve action to cut waiting times and improve screening so we can ensure early diagnosis of all neurodiverse conditions. You can watch my speech below or read about it in the Yorkshire Post here . I also spoke to BBC radio Sheffield about my experience of growing up with undiagnosed ADHD, and what more can be done to improve early diagnosis. You can listen to the interview here.

• If you think you might be neurodivergent, the ADHD Foundation has lots of useful resources on the condition and how you can be assessed.

• As Chair of the cross-party group on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities I am organising a number of meetings to discuss a range of issues including intersectionality and mental health. This month I chaired our first meeting to discuss the intersectionality of SEND with race, gender, sexuality, class. If you are interested in joining the discussions, you can sign up to future sessions here.

• Earlier in the month my Private Members Bill to end the abuse of front-line workers returned to Parliament. More than half of customer-facing workers have experienced abuse whilst doing their job. The Government had the opportunity to stand up for these workers – by backing my Bill to give greater legal protections to people in their workplace. Sadly, the Government chose not to.

Get involved!

Green New Deal Rising are holding a series of meet-ups across the country to grow the movement. If you are interested, you can sign up here:

GET INVOLVED

One third of families with Disabled children have gone into debt funding vital educational support for their child – support that should be provided by government and local authorities. This is a national scandal that needs urgent Government action. Please join this campaign launched by the Disabled Children’s Partnership:

JOIN THE CAMPAIGN

Dates for your diary:

20th March: Join trustees of the Wharncliffe Heathlands Trust and Sheffield University Conservation Volunteers for a session of birch control , to help maintain the habitat there. Everyone is welcome!

26th March: Climate groups in and around Sheffield are putting on a day of workshops to discuss how we can build a workforce to achieve a just transition and climate justice.

25th March: ‘Three Acres And A Cow’, a history of land rights and protest in folk song and story, will be playing at Upper Chapel in Sheffield.

Thank you for reading my newsletter. If you would like to share it with your neighbours or friends in Hallam, you can share the sign up link with them here.

As always, please get in touch if there are issues you would like me to raise or campaigns you would like me to get involved with!

Olivia Blake

MP for Sheffield Hallam