I hope today is a day to celebrate for many of you getting your A level results in South Derbyshire. It has been an unusual year for you and I can appreciate how hard you have all worked and how disappointing it was for some of you not to have sat your exams this year.

Children and young adults have been adversely affected by the pandemic and it is imperative we reverse this in order to help their development and to secure their future.

Bus and tram services in England will be receiving an extra £256 million of support, taking the total to at least £700 million. This additional funding is especially welcome as we anticipate a significant rise in demand in September when the children all go back to school. 

The economy is facing unique challenges with businesses having to adapt and find new ways of working. As the way we work and conduct business changes we must be ready to step in to provide help and support where we can.

Testing and tracing is essential in preventing the spread of the coronavirus, especially ahead of winter. I am pleased to see that the government is rolling out two new rapid results coronavirus tests which will be able to detect COVID-19 and other winter viruses in just 90 minutes. 

The People’s Postcode Lottery has announced funding for local organisations to support some of the fantastic work they have been doing in the community. There are four trusts offering funding for projects, this includes the following:

One of the government’s key targets was to recruit an extra 20,000 police officers and I am pleased to say we already have an extra 4,336 officers which is 22% of our target. This puts us on track to reach our target of 6,000 additional officers by March 2021. 

We are all too aware of the impact of climate change and the need to protect the environment so I was delighted to be invited to see a revolutionary road construction being used to build a new Derby Hub at the Toyota site in Burnaston.

I recently received a letter about the new T-levels starting in September. They are a fantastic alternative to A-levels, providing technical skills, classroom-based learning and work placement. There are many courses available with more to be launched in the following year. 

Public sector workers have played a vital role during the pandemic, without them the situation could have been much worse. To reflect their tireless efforts and important contribution it is right they will now see a pay rise that will benefit nearly 900,000 workers across the UK.