A bold and ambitious plan to deliver better health services for people in Workington was raised with Ministers in Parliament this week by the town’s MP, Josh MacAlister.

Health outcomes in Workington are poor and local services are fragmented. The government’s manifesto promise to deliver new Neighbourhood Health Centres to join up services across an area provides an opportunity to deliver real change and better services for patients in Workington.

To capitalise on this opportunity, Josh brought together the leaders of local health and care services to develop a plan for a ‘Workington Health Zone’ to integrate health and care services in Workington, with the goal of improving access and outcomes for patients and cutting out waste and bureaucracy. The report’s summary states it as “a transformative, community-centred neighbourhood health and wellbeing model designed to address Workington’s unique healthcare challenges”, which “envisions a fully integrated system that merges health, social care, and third-sector services to deliver tailored, efficient, and proactive care”.

Josh has been working for several months to secure the resources to deliver this new health zone, which local service leaders estimate will cost up to £4 million over three years to set up and implement before becoming self-sustaining within existing budgets. Last week he met with Health Minister Stephen Kinnock to give him a copy of the plan and this week he raised it in Parliament at Health Questions. In response, Health Minister Ashley Dalton said:

“I would be delighted to work with my hon. Friend on the Government’s commitment to delivering a neighbourhood health service that reinforces integrated working for the NHS, local government, social care and wider partners as the norm.”

Josh said:

“The people of Workington deserve first rate health and care services, but that isn’t what we have at the moment after 14 years of a Conservative government which left out NHS and social care services on their knees. 

“I want Workington to be one of the first towns to benefit from the government’s plan to introduce new Neighbourhood Health Centres, which is why I pulled together the leaders of our local health and care services to come up with a bold and innovative plan to seize this opportunity.

“What they came up with is a credit to the ambition they have for our town. It has the potential to be transformative for the people of Workington. I have put copies in the hands of ministers, senior officials at the Department of Health & Social Care and the leaders of our local Integrated Care Board and will be seeking every chance I can to raise it with decision makers until we secure the funding that is needed.

“We’re already delivering change, with more GPs and NHS dental appointments and lower waiting lists. There is a long way to go, but we’re on the right track to fix our broken NHS thanks to the new investment and difficult choices made by the government at the last budget.”

The proposal would not just bring services together but also deliver a series of goals, including:

• Ensuring every patient who needs an urgent GP appointment gets one within 48 hours, benefiting approximately 1,435 patients each year.
• Reducing avoidable hospital admissions by 20%, keeping 600 people out of hospital every year.
• Improve patient satisfaction with local health services by 25%.

This comes as the government celebrates recruiting an additional 1,500 GPs across the country since the election, reducing hospital waiting lists every month since the new government took office, and rolling out hundreds of thousands of extra urgent NHS dental appointments across the country. All thanks to the additional £26 billion put into the NHS at the autumn 2024 budget.

Most weeks I get the chance to visit a school, chat to parents and hear from NHS services. In these conversations everyone agrees that it’s good we are now more aware of conditions like autism and ADHD, but a recurring topic is the huge increase in diagnosis amongst children. So it prompts the question: what’s going on?

Parents across West Cumbria are doing everything they can to get help for their children. Many are battling long waits for assessments, hoping for answers. We are lucky that we have brilliant local organisations like Bee Unique who have stepped into the gap left by a SEND system in crisis.  

Most people with experience of adolescent mental health services would agree that we’re facing a serious problem. There is a huge increase in diagnoses for milder cases that doesn’t come with meaningful support. And it is very often the children with the greatest needs who are suffering most as a result of an overwhelmed system.

Across England, the number of children diagnosed with autism has nearly doubled in the last five years. Teenage ADHD diagnoses are also rising sharply. Right now, around 400,000 children are stuck on NHS waiting lists for an autism or ADHD assessment and some are waiting more than two years. Diagnosis rates also vary dramatically depending on where you live and your socioeconomic background, raising uncomfortable questions about fairness and consistency.

Neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan, in her recent book The Age of Diagnosis, warns that we are living through a time when lots of difficulties risk being framed as disorders. She argues that while diagnoses can be helpful, too often they are used to explain normal human experiences — sadness, restlessness, shyness — that don’t always need a medical label. The consequences of a diagnosis are not trivial. They can profoundly shape a child’s self-image, education pathway, and access to support. While for many children a diagnosis brings much-needed understanding and help, for others it may impose unnecessary limitations, fostering a belief that they are “disordered” rather than simply different.

None of this is to dismiss the reality of neurodevelopmental disorders. I have met too many families for whom an autism or ADHD diagnosis has been transformative. But we must strike a better balance.

We need a system that puts children’s needs first, not one that forces parents to chase a diagnosis just to unlock basic, or in some cases non-existent, support. I’m convinced that the answer lies somewhere in a mix of much more support for parents, new rules for the use of social media and smartphones by children, and more clubs and opportunities for children so they can grow, take risks and be included. And this needs to be on top of faster and more careful assessments within the NHS and better SEND support in schools. 

As your MP, I am committed to fighting for these changes — locally and nationally. Our children’s futures are too important to leave to chance.

I hope everyone had a restful break over Easter and had the chance to catch up with friends and family. 

For those local families with children in nursery or primary school it’s now back to the morning rush to get them clothed and fed and in on time so you’re not late for work. And all of the costs that come with that.

I want to ease that burden for families in West Cumbria and the government has already made a start by delivering on several manifesto promises.

From this week, children at Seaton Academy, Beckermet Primary and Arlecdon Primary will benefit from a free, government-funded breakfast every morning, as they were chosen to be part of the pilot of our new Free Breakfast Club programme to ensure children are school ready and parents are better off. It will soon be rolled out to all local primary schools, meaning no more kids in West Cumbria going to school with empty bellies – a shameful legacy of the previous government.

We’re also making the school uniform shop this summer a bit cheaper by reducing the number of branded items schools can require parents to buy, giving you the option to buy more cheaper, unbranded clothes. Changes opposed by Conservative and Reform MPs.

Taken together, these measures will save local families up to £500 a year.

Those with younger children will benefit too. Too often I’ve heard the frustrations from parents who are seeing their wages disappear into sky-high childcare costs, or who aren’t able to get back to work at all because of these ballooning costs.

From September, we’re rolling out a massive expansion of free childcare so that parents will get 30 government-funded hours of childcare a week from when their child is 9 months old right up to starting school. Working parents could save up to £7,500 a year through the 30 hours of funded childcare, compared with paying for it themselves.

That kind of saving will be a huge help to family finances. And we’re doing it in a way that works for parents and for children.

We’ve got a challenge to grow capacity in the early years workforce and make sure the space is available in nurseries. So I’m delighted that two local schools have secured hundreds of thousands of pounds from the government to expand and improve their existing school-based nurseries. 

Thornhill Primary and Eaglesfield Paddle are two of 300 schools nationally which secured investment from the government to open or expand nurseries which will deliver up to 6,000 new childcare places across the country – most of them ready by September.

We’re delivering our promises to parents: more nursery places, an expansion in government funded childcare, new breakfast clubs and cheaper uniforms. This government is putting children and families first. We’re boosting parents’ work choices and children’s life chances.

Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister is celebrating the announcement of a major expansion of the Government funded Project Gigabit to give access to superfast fibre broadband to nearly five thousand more properties across West Cumbria.

A £50 million boost to the programme will see an additional 21,000 premises in rural areas across Cumbria included in total, with rollout expected to be completed in 2027.

Thousands of homes were left out of the programme announced by the previous government, with some residents finding that one side of their street was getting access while the other was not. Josh met with Digital Minister Chris Bryant last year to lobby for more properties in West Cumbria to be included in the programme (pictured).

Once this expanded rollout is delivered alongside other commercial plans, 99% of homes and businesses in Cumbria should have access to next generation broadband. Josh is working with Building Digital UK on solutions for the remaining 1% in the most rural areas where it is not possible to deliver fibre.

Josh said:

“I’m delighted that following lobbying the Government has committed £50 million to this massive extension of Project Gigabit, which will give almost all properties in West Cumbria access to superfast fibre broadband.

“Access to high speed internet is absolutely essential to improve connectivity in rural communities, to support more flexible working and back local small and home-based businesses, of which we have so many in West Cumbria. 

“This is just the latest example of how the new Labour Government is delivering for communities like ours.”

Digital Minister Sir Chris Bryant said: 

“Better broadband will not only enhance the quality of life for tens of thousands of homes and businesses across rural Cumbria, but it will also help us put an end to disparities between urban and rural areas.

“Only last month, we launched our Digital Inclusion Action Plan, setting out our next steps to shrink the digital gap. This announcement is a fantastic example of how a Government-backed contract will help ensure people in rural areas are not left behind and have the tools they need to thrive in the digital age.”

Unlocking our nuclear future is critical for West Cumbria because it will generate clean power to power new industries that will create jobs and diversify our economy so we’re not so reliant on decommissioning.

Nine months into the job I want to update you on my progress and outline my plans for the next few months to smash through the roadblocks left by the Tories.

My first act was meeting all of the key stakeholders locally and nationally. I sent off a flurry of letters and Parliamentary questions to reveal what exactly happened under the previous government. I secured the first debate of the new Parliament on nuclear. I’ve held more than a dozen meetings with the Energy Secretary, the Nuclear Minister and other ministers in the Energy department to discuss new nuclear and West Cumbria. 

All of this culminated in the establishment of the Cumberland Nuclear Future Board.

Led by me and Cllr Mark Fryer, the board includes fellow Cumberland MPs, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and other ministers we’ll pull in to help us tackle specific challenges.

This is a major development. 

For the first time, we have all partners, local and national, pulling in the same direction and working positively together to achieve the same goal.

That goal is to identify a chunk of NDA-owned land at Moorside that can be offered up for a nuclear-led clean energy development which also attracts users of the power it would generate. Access to that land has been a major stumbling block before now. Unblocking that land is key.

Alongside releasing this land we’re pushing the Government to press on with Plutonium disposition. We want significant funding announced in the Spending Review to be invested in nuclear research and development in West Cumbria.

The third key element is a programme of major investment in the towns nearest the Sellafield site, funded by local and national contributions, so that we can attract and retain the skilled workforce we need for decommissioning and for future new nuclear.

We want to pull this together into a Team West Cumbria, with local and national government and partners working together to build liveable places, address skills challenges and improve our transport infrastructure.

There are no guarantees, but I am genuinely hopeful and energised by the enthusiasm with which local and national government and the NDA have embraced this.

Just to get this far after the mess inherited from the Tories is further than I feared we would get. But my whole career has been spent working with energy and drive to solve tough problems and I am approaching this with the same drive and energy.

I won’t rest until I’ve done everything in my power to see West Cumbria leading on nuclear again.

Plans for a major expansion of the Port of Workington are progressing at pace, say the leaders of the Port Taskforce which is driving the proposals forward.

The taskforce is chaired by Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister and Cumberland Council leader Mark Fryer and has been meeting since last summer. It was formed to develop an ambitious masterplan to ensure that Workington was well positioned to benefit from major investment in Britain’s ports by the Labour Government.

Production of the masterplan is underway by Cumberland Council and a prospectus will be launched shortly to attract the investors we want to bring here as part of development of the port and surrounding council-owned land. The Government’s National Wealth Fund are also engaged with the taskforce and will be visiting the port later this month. 

The ambition of the taskforce is to secure tens of millions of pounds of investment from the National Wealth Fund to transform the port into a bustling clean energy hub with energy production, manufacturing and logistics, creating hundreds of jobs. 

Josh said:

“The Port of Workington is a fantastic asset for the town and has so much potential. Cllr Mark Fryer and I have huge ambition for the port and the land around it and we’re already in discussions with a number of potential new businesses that are considering locating here. 

“I am hopeful that we will attract the government and private investment we need to transform the port into a new economic zone that will create jobs and prosperity for West Cumbria.”

I do regular walk-abouts to find out what the top issues are for people. So many people raise the issue of dangerous off-road bikes flying around estates or up and down footpaths. 

Too often the crimes which affect people and businesses most are dismissed as low-level. But it doesn’t feel low-level when people need to put up with daily lawbreaking or parents need to worry about where their kids can play. And it doesn’t feel low level when it’s our town centres being plagued by anti-social behaviour and thefts, or our neighbourhoods blighted by drugs.

For far too long, the last Government wrote off those crimes, and disregarded how they made ordinary people feel. That’s why the Labour Government has announced tough new action in our Crime and Policing Bill, which now continues its next stage through Parliament.

The Bill will restore trust, and reduce serious harm. We’ll put 13,000 additional neighbourhood police and PCSOs on our streets – including dozens more here in West Cumbria – and we’ll give the police new powers to take swift action to stamp out anti-social behaviour.

We know that more visible and active policing works because we’ve seen the results here in West Cumbria over the last eight months. The Labour Government provided our excellent Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner, David Allen, with £1 million for Operation Enhance, which has seen increased police patrols in anti-social behaviour hotspots in Whitehaven, Workington and Cleator Moor. The results have shown a drop of between 30% and 80% in reported incidents across those three areas compared to the previous year. Further Government funding has been provided to continue those enhanced patrols from April. 

Officers will have more tools in their arsenal thanks to our Crime and Policing Bill, which introduces Respect Orders to crack down on repeat offenders of anti-social behaviour. It enables the police to catch and crush off-road bikes used illegally more easily – something officers here will be well equipped to do thanks to the drones funded by Commissioner Allen. 

It also gives the police special warrantless powers of entry to premises so they can move fast and take back stolen phones, vehicles and agricultural equipment. It expands police drug testing powers so more drug users can be supported into treatment. And it ends the Tories’ ludicrous £200 limit on shoplifting, which has left so much shop theft ignored.

I will work with the Commissioner, the police and communities to make our streets safer again. We will never write off crimes that make people afraid. And we will take back our town centres from the thieves and thugs.

We were elected to deliver change: we are working everyday to ensure West Cumbria is secure and safe.

Whitehaven and Workington MP Josh MacAlister marked the 45th anniversary of the Kielland disaster by calling on the Government to support bereaved families in their quest for answers.

The Kielland oil rig disaster took the lives of 123 men off the coast of Norway on 27th March 1980. Five men from Cleator Moor were killed on that tragic day – Michael Fleming, John McGrady, Brian Graham, Colin Lamb and Keith Hunter.

45 years later, their families are still seeking answers. An inquiry conducted in the 1980s by the Norwegian authorities collected a lot of information which has never been made available to families. In a question in Parliament on the 45th anniversary, Josh asked the Government to support efforts to get answers for the families.

Responding to Josh’s question, Lucy Powell MP, Leader of the House of Commons, said:

“I thank my hon. Friend for raising what is obviously a very important issue for his constituents, and for those still mourning the loss of friends and family in the Kielland disaster all those years ago. I am really sorry to hear that they feel that many questions are still unanswered. I know the British authorities are working closely with the Norwegian authorities in Oslo, but I will ensure that he gets a full reply about that and that his constituents get the answers they deserve.”

Josh said:

“Listening to Wayne and Alan Hunter, Colin Lamb and Paul Graham, who all lost their dads on the Kielland, I was struck by their determination after all these years to get answers and find some justice. I said they had my full support and I wanted to take this chance on the anniversary of that tragic incident to raise it in Parliament. I was pleased with the Minister’s answer and will be pursuing the issue with colleagues at the Foreign Office. Families deserve answers.”

It was an honour last week to launch a new cross-party group to champion volunteer-led search and rescue services across the country in our nation’s Parliament. 

I’m delighted not only that we were joined by Mountain Rescue England and Wales, RNLI, the National Independent Lifeboat Association, Lowland Rescue, Cave Rescue and HM Coastguard, but that members of our local Mountain Rescue Team were able to come down and bring a vehicle with them, which provided a nice photo opportunity for my colleagues, including several ministers and the Speaker!

These services represent the best of our community and we have more here in Cumbria than elsewhere in the country, with hundreds of volunteers giving their time and expertise to save lives on land and on water. The services and the volunteers who run them are often operating with real challenges. Record levels of callouts along with rising costs and pressures mean service leaders are now warning of a crisis that could see provision decrease, extra pressure placed on paid for emergency services and leading to areas becoming less safe.

Since the election I’ve just about managed to continue as a member of my Mountain Rescue team, juggling these responsibilities with being your MP and spending time with family.  I see the challenges that teams face up close and it is a great privilege to be able to use my position to champion volunteers who provide this service to our community.

The group has support from MPs and Peers right across Parliament, although no Reform MPs have chosen to join. Perhaps this is not a surprise given Nigel Farage’s disgraceful denigration of the RNLI as a “taxi service”.

We’ve established a number of goals that we would like to accomplish in this Parliament, which reflect the issues raised with me by volunteers in search and rescue organisations here in West Cumbria.

Improving the statutory footing for volunteers to recognise and protect volunteer roles within emergency services, like many employers do with Special Constables. Giving a sole minister responsibility for volunteer rescue services to establish clear leadership and accountability at a national level. Standardising blue light permissions so that rescue vehicles have blue light use for urgent responses. And seeking Government support for Public Liability Insurance to reduce the financial burden on rescue organisations and ensure the money they raise can be spent on frontline services and life saving equipment.

When you need these services, you really need them, so I am committed to ensuring that they remain available long into the future. There is a role for everyone reading this to play too, by supporting our local services with fundraising and volunteering where you’re able to do so. A shout out to RNLI in Workington and St. Bees, Maryport Lifeboat, Wasdale and Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Teams, Whitehaven HM Coastguard and West Cumbria Search and Rescue. Give them your support!

Last week I was very proud to support the passage of the Employment Rights Bill through the House of Commons.

This landmark legislation provides the biggest boost to workers rights in this country in a generation. It introduces new rights and stronger protections for thousands of working people in West Cumbria and fulfils a key manifesto promise.

Shamefully, Conservative and Reform MPs voted against the Bill.

The Conservatives oversaw more than a decade of stagnant wages – leaving many people worse off now than they were in 2010 – weakened protections for working people and fuelled hostility and confrontation leading to the worst period in industrial relations since the 1980s. 

Labour was elected to end the Tory chaos and deliver for working people and that’s exactly what we are doing. Step one was to end the strikes and disruption and we did that quickly. Step two was the biggest cash boost we’ve ever seen to the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage, lifting the wages of thousands of the lowest paid working people in West Cumbria. Step three is this significant upgrade to the UK’s outdated employment laws. Together, the Government’s actions turn the page on an economy blighted by insecurity, poor productivity and low pay.

The Bill provides ‘Day 1 rights’ of employment, including protection from Unfair Dismissal, entitlement to Paternity Leave and Unpaid Parental Leave. Previously employees had to wait two years for these rights. An additional 1.5 million parents will benefit from making Unpaid Parental Leave a Day 1 right. 

The Bill also bans exploitative zero hours contracts. Over 1 million people on zero hours contracts will benefit from the guaranteed hours policy, and up to 2.4 million workers overall could benefit from the new rights. These protections could help save workers in insecure work up to £600 a year, giving working people more money to spend in the local economy. 

And I’m delighted to inform those who wrote to me about this that we are strengthening Statutory Sick Pay so that 1.3 million people on low wages who find themselves ill will receive sick pay for the first time. 

The Bill also improves pay and conditions through Fair Pay Agreements, establishes Bereavement Leave and increases protection from sexual harassment, to name just a few of over 30 reforms!

Importantly, we’ve worked in partnership with business and trade unions to strike the right balance and make sure this is a plan that works for employees and businesses of all sizes.

With this Bill, the Government is calling a time on the Tories’ scorched earth approach to industrial relations. A new partnership of co-operation between trade unions, employers and government will ensure we benefit from more co-operation and less disruption.