I attended Carers Week in the Attlee Suite on 7 June 2023 and pledged to raise awareness of unpaid carers in Walsall South this Carers Week which takes place this year from 5-11 June 2023.

On Wednesday 7 June 2023 I met campaigners from the Lets Talk Clean Air in Whalley Range who are a group of local people in Manchester. They are campaigning for environmental justice and clean air.  They have made a film to highlight this. Dr Sinead Millwood cycled to work and was shocked at the high levels of pollution. You can view the film here: bit.ly/cleantheairfilm

It was a pleasure to meet the President of the National Assembly of Armenia, Mr Alen Simonyan, at a reception in Speaker's House. We were also able to meet with other members of the delegation and discuss Armenia's export, wine. Both Mr Speaker and President Simonyan spoke about the important relationship between our 2 countries which will continue.

I met Eddie Crouch, Chair of the British Dental Association Executive Committee, on Wednesday 7 June 2023 to hear about the current state of Dentistry in England.

The BDA has recently found out that NHS Dentists are at their lowest levels in a decade. Information obtained by the BDA under Freedom of Information requests indicate that just 23,577 dentists performed NHS work in 2022/23, down 695 on the previous year, and over 1,100 down on numbers pre-pandemic. This wipes out a previous growth in the service bringing the figures to levels not seen since 2012/13.

The All Party Parliamentary Group held a drop-in to draw attention to Danielle Watt's story from Bury St Edmonds who lived with terrible pain. Danielle lived in a dental desert and was unable to afford private dental care, she ended up pulling out 13 of her own teeth. Danielle has crowdfunded for dentures. She should not have had to do that but this shows the human cost of the crisis in Dentistry. Details for BDA can be found on their website and blog.

My colleague Emma Lewell Buck, MP for South Shields, held a drop-in on Wednesday 7 June 2023 to discuss her Bill "the Health Eating Start Scheme (Take-up) (No 2) Bill which would ensure families eligible for the Healthy Start Scheme are automatically registered to receive it.

The Healthy Start Scheme is a lifeline for many pregnant women and families with young children providing access to healthy fruit, vegetables, milk and vitamins which helps children have the best start.

Uptake across England is currently only 64%. It is calculated by Sustain that this equates to over 200,000 families missing out on £68 million pounds worth of nutritious food.

Emma's bill, which will be presented on 14 June, would widen the take-up through automatic enrolment which will reach those who do not know they are eligible.

I have also signed the joint letter to the Health Secretary to automatically enrol every family eligible for the NHS Healthy Start Scheme.