Health Secretary and former Cambridge University (Selwyn College) chap (because local news angle) was up the road in Peterborough on Thursday to discuss all things dentistry with local MP Andrew Pakes, and my local councillor (because local news angle) Anna Smith, Labour’s Mayoral Candidate
You can see John Elworthy’s extensive coverage here – and feel free to drop him a few quid too in his subscriptions tab top right here because otherwise the northern part of Cambridgeshire risks becoming a local democracy tumbleweed zone.
“[Andrew Pakes MP (Labour, Peterborough)] …said the Department of Health and Social Care announced earlier this week that Peterborough and Cambridgeshire will receive 14,000 new emergency dental appointments starting in April”
Above – John Elworthy for Cambs News
Above – Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting MP [Centre], with (LR), Cllr Dr Shabina Qayyum (Labour – Peterborough East), Sam Carling MP (Labour – NW Cambs) Combined Authority Mayor candidate Cllr Anna Smith (Labour – Coleridge) and Andrew Pakes MP (Labour – Peterborough) at NHS Dental Access Centre, Midgate, Peterborough Cambs News – Thursday 27 February 2025. Picture by Terry Harris.
All the more timely given my public question on training dentists put to the Combined Authority
I had no idea that the Secretary of State was going to be visiting only a few days later. Have a listen to my PQ being read out, and the response from Cllr Lucy Nethsingha (Lib Dems – Newnham) Chair of the CPCA’s Education and Skills Committee.
With thanks to the CPCA Officers for securing a response from Ross Renton of ARU Peterborough, it looks like ‘Watch this space’.
At the same time, Cllr Nethsingha, the Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council noted the very limited funding and powers of the Combined Authority – ones that don’t go anywhere near establishing new educational establishments to meet local skills needs. The laws as set out in a letter from the then Minister for Adult Education to Daniel Zeichner MP still apply. I.e. the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 (S16) – requiring ministerial approval for any new establishments.
I followed this up a few years later in 2023, noting how weak the powers of the Combined Authority are. With the Devolution Bill soon to be published, there’s a chance for someone to email their MP to get an amendment tabled to devolve those powers to Combined Authorities. There really isn’t any sound reason for having such institutions requiring central government approval – especially given the political rhetoric in favour of devolving powers. Furthermore, if ministers are serious about land value capture to pay for new infrastructure, something like this would be ideal.
Delivering 1.5 million new homes: Land Value Capture
- Labour’s Josiah Wedgewood’s article from 1929
- The summary pamphlet from the United Committee for the taxation of land values – also from the same year.
Land value capture is also essential for building new infrastructure and amenities in rural areas. Arthur Greenwood writing in 1920 before he became a minister in the first minority Labour Governments wrote a wonderful pamphlet in 1920 on the Education of the Citizen which still reads splendidly today. In it, he devoted a chapter to the needs of residents in rural areas – residents with similar problems of housing, transport, and local facilities.
Above – have a browse from p50 here
Although print-on-demand copies are available (as it’s out of copyright), I’d love to see a reformatted and freshly-bound version topped and tailed being published along with several other titles from the early inter-war era that still read well today in terms of their ambitions for the future of the world after the horrors of war.
I guess we’ll find out shortly which of the candidates took notice!
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The Cambridge Town Owl 