A view from Wrexham’s Member of Parliament

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South Members of Parliament and Assembly Members to write a monthly article with updates on their work in their respective Parliaments and closer to home – you can find them all here.

Today, Wrexham’s MP Sarah Atherton writes…

This month, my report into the experiences of women in the Armed Forces and female veterans launched. This report was the culmination of a ground-breaking inquiry that gave women who currently serve – or have served – in our Armed Forces a voice. The inquiry allowed the Defence Select Committee, of which I am a member, to better understand what was going right for our female military personnel and, crucially, what has also been going wrong. The report made 35 recommendations to the Ministry of Defence, which if enacted will make sure the women in our Armed Forces are better protected.

https://twitter.com/AthertonNWales/status/1419230468336234497

A major take home from the inquiry was that ninety percent of those that responded to our survey said that they would recommend the Armed Forces as a career for a woman – as I do. However, that does not mean we should stand still and ignore the issues that some women face whilst serving, such as ill-fitting kit made for men, barriers to promotion, bullying, harassment, discrimination and sometimes serious sexual assault. Indeed, 62% of women that we spoke to said they had experienced some form of abuse whilst serving. Therefore, there is work to be done to make sure women – your daughter, mother, sister, girlfriend or wife – can have an excellent career in our Armed Forces.

Out in the sun today in #Wrexham with @NWPWrexhamTown, meeting residents & hearing their thoughts.

Great to have lots of positive conversations with businesses, to be able to feed back town centre experiences from residents to Police & to chat about future initiatives. pic.twitter.com/4ipkSqjKNK

— Sarah Atherton MP (@AthertonNWales) July 16, 2021

More widely, the UK Government’s recent announcements on continuing the fight against the perpetrators of violence against women and girls have also been noteworthy and will directly affect woman and girls across Wrexham. Indeed, I have already been out with the Police here to work with the local teams and to ensure these new measures are enacted. One of the new schemes as part of this strategy is the creation of a ‘Safety of Women at Night’ Fund which will complement the ‘Safer Streets’ Fund to make sure violence against women and girls in public places is prevented. I am very supportive of Wrexham Police’s application to the ‘Safer Streets’ Fund, which I reiterated to the new Police & Crime Commissioner for North Wales during a recent meeting.

Pleasure to meet the Wrexham Prostate Cancer Support Group @CancerWrexham last week to hear about the excellent work they are doing in the community.

We also discussed their campaign for a PSA tracker system in N Wales, the funding for which has been agreed but no action yet! pic.twitter.com/tSPtTCnIT9

— Sarah Atherton MP (@AthertonNWales) July 26, 2021

Over the past month, recent meetings relating to local health services and potential improvements have also been insightful. During my meeting with the Wrexham Prostate Cancer Support we discussed their campaign for the introduction of a PSA tracker system in North Wales, which they are working on alongside the Llangollen and Glan Clwyd Prostate Cancer Support Groups. The implementation and funding system for this has been agreed by the Welsh Government but there has been no action yet. As such, I will be supporting them in their endeavour going forward.

In addition, I also met with Haydn Jones, a volunteer at the Maggie’s Cancer Centre in Clatterbridge, who is hoping to help bring a Maggie’s Centre to North Wales. I too am striving to make sure that North Walian cancer patients will have access to a Maggie’s Cancer Centre closer to home and I am actively working with the team at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board and Maggie’s to facilitate such a development.

It's good to talk! @YsgolBrynAlyn have launched a new campaign to raise awareness for young people's mental health.

If you need someone to talk to, use the contacts below because nobody should suffer alone. pic.twitter.com/OKO7m6l5QS

— Sarah Atherton MP (@AthertonNWales) July 29, 2021

Finally, I am also pleased to be supporting Ysgol Bryn Alyn’s mental health awareness campaign, ‘It’s Good To Talk’. The past year has been incredibly difficult for young people in Wrexham and it is important that, as we return to some level of normality, young people across our community have access to the support and help they need.

As always, if there is anything I can do to help, please don’t hesitate to contact me:
Email: [email protected]

Phone: 020 2719 4885 | 01978 291742

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South Welsh and UK Parliament representatives to write a monthly article with updates on their work and closer to home – you can find them all here.