JILL MORTIMER: The importance of retaining skilled professionals in our communities

It was a pleasure to visit Teesside University and tour the top-notch facilities at the University’s School of Health and Life Sciences recently.

While not within Hartlepool constituency, the university is often the first port of call for our young people who are considering higher education. I had some great discussions with staff members about the importance of training our young people locally and how we can retain these skilled professionals in our communities.

The university offers clinics and placements in a whole range of areas such as dentistry, midwifery, nursing and law. One issue that was raised was the ability of students to be able to undertake placements locally, for example in the social work sector – this is something I have already raised with the Managing Director of Hartlepool Borough Council to see whether there is the scope to provide more placements to our young people studying locally.

As part of the UK’s new Energy Security Strategy, Hartlepool was recently named as one of eight designated nuclear sites which is a welcome step forward in my campaign to bring new nuclear to Hartlepool, and I am continuing to lobby ministers to make sure Hartlepool is at the front of the queue for a new reactor.

I attended a roundtable for MPs last week on nuclear, and I will continue to provide my constituents with regular updates on this campaign moving forward.

Many of you may have seen me out in the town centre last Saturday, or even stopped to have a chat about local issues.

It is really important to me that I stay in touch with what matters the most to my constituents – it was great to hear some positive feedback on our action to tackle people trafficking, job creation and investment, nuclear, and levelling up opportunity.

Our local team also picked up on some case work issues including fly tipping and local transport, which are being dealt with through my office.

I plan to do more "street surgeries” – it really was a great way to listen to peoples’ concerns and hear about the issues that matter to you.