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.

At the National Farmers Union Drop-In I spoke to people in the farming industry about food security and farming. Farmers are having to face rising input costs eg. energy, fertilisers and soil improvers and animal feed.There is an impact on the dairy sector, livestock and horticulture - a recent report suggested that growers cost of production has increased by as much as 27% in the preceding 12 months with products such as tomatoes ,broccoli, apples and root vegetables most affected. the main drivers are energy, fertiliser and workforce costs.In the poultry sector, egg production has fallen to its lowest level in 9 years and is down 12%in one year alone. the sector is facing unprecedented energy and feed costs.
I discussed with Minette Batters, the President of the NFU, about food security and farming, and that a culmination of unprecedented events resulted in farmers facing unsustainable pressures on their businesses which could have long-term implications on our domestic food production capacity and food security.  Farm input cost inflation stands at 42% with wholesale energy prices being 1.5 times higher. In 2019 there were 149,000 agricultural registered businesses , in 2022 there were 142,000. This means there are 7,000 fewer agricultural businesses in the UK today than in 2019.Unless there is action from all parts of the supply chain this will lead to a deepening crisis which will lead to many farmers having no option other than to leave the sector. We must act and DEFRA needs to conduct investigations into market issues.

On the 5th June 2023 , The Minister Jeremy Quinn made a statement to the House on the Government's position on issuing Judicial Review proceedings on the Covid 19 Inquiry to prevent all documents being produced to the Chair of the Inquiry.  The Chair, Dame Heather Hallett has asked for documents to be produced so that she as the Chair can decide what is relevant. It may not necessarily be for disclosure but it would be for the Chair to decide. I asked the Minister: