By Sarah Atherton

MP for Wrexham

Last Thursday, 9th September, the nation celebrated Emergency Services Day, a national day across the UK to celebrate the heroic men and women of the NHS and emergency services. Along with this, Emergency Services Day also promotes the responsible use of emergency services, education about basic lifesaving skills and the many career and volunteering opportunities available within our emergency services. Ensuring our all in our community love where they live is important to me, and the emergency services are an important part of this, making it more important to say thank you to them and promote their excellent work. Having returned to the frontline last year, I know how hard our NHS emergency and frontline staff have worked throughout the past year, so it was is right to have a day to celebrate what they do.

Working with, and supporting the work of, our emergency services has been an important part of my role as the Member of Parliament for Wrexham. I regularly meet up with the local Police team to discuss the concerns of residents or to support their ongoing projects and operations. Going forward, I am also seeking to bring the Council with other local stakeholders – such as the Police and emergency services – to seek to address some of the issues, like antisocial behaviour, that sadly seem to be on the rise in Wrexham. Emergency services are often on the frontline dealing with issues such as antisocial behaviour, but it should not be up to the heroic emergency service workers to solve the issues we face. That is why I want to bring together several stakeholders across the town to relieve the pressure on our emergency services and to create a cohesive plan for making our town safer for all.

In due course, I will also be meeting up with the St John’s Ambulance – another vital aspect of our emergency services – to hear about their work in Wrexham and to support them too. In Parliament, I have also worked with the UK Government to get the best for our emergency services, whether by advocating for more funding for our services or by writing to Ministers in support of local Policing needs. This is something that I will continue to do as I believe it is important to raise the experiences, concerns and questions of emergency service workers of Wrexham in Parliament to ensure that they are properly represented.

Last week also saw the return of Parliament following the summer recess. With Parliament now reopening up it has been enjoyable to return to some feeling of normality. During the week, I asked a question of Defence Minister for Procurement about the Ajax Armoured Fighting Vehicle, having questioned General Dynamics – the manufacturer of the Ajax vehicle – as part of a Defence Select Committee inquiry. I also met with Macmillan Cancer Support to hear about their excellent work across the UK, during which I also discussed my campaign for bringing a Maggie’s Cancer Centre to North Wales – an endeavour that the team from Macmillan wholeheartedly supported. Finally, it was also been enjoyable to welcome guests back in from Wrexham for a tour of Parliament and to be able to share the special place that is Westminster with constituents.

As always if you are resident in Wrexham and need my assistance with any local or national issue, please make contact with me by emailing sarah.atherton.mp@parliament.uk.