This week has been Mental Health Awareness Week, a week that has rightly become increasingly important in our calendar.

In recent years there has been a much greater focus on maintaining good mental health, and treating our mental health effectively when it deteriorates. Thank goodness we have taken great strides in de-stigmatising poor mental health, but there is still more to do.

The Coronavirus outbreak has been challenging for many of us, and some have experienced severe deterioration in their own mental health. Mental Health Awareness Week has arrived at an opportune time and is perhaps needed this year more than ever.

With this week’s update I’m sharing a useful poster of tips and contact numbers which you can use if you need help, please don’t hesitate to make use of it.

Aside from that this week I have:

• Taken part in the Health and Social Care Select Committee where we questioned experts from around the world about their country’s response to Coronavirus.
• Following on from that committee I asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care about introducing Virus Drills to care homes in the UK, following the model used in Hong Kong, you can see his response here: https://www.drlukeevans.org.uk/news/virus-drills-care-homes
• Spoke with Jesse Norman MP, the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, about the upcoming finance bill.
• Alongside other MPs took part in a meeting with the Chancellor of the Exchequer where we talked about how we start to pay down the costs of Coronavirus.
• Held a discussion with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy where we touched on the ongoing role of highly skilled apprenticeships in the constituency, both during and after COVID-19.
• Spoke with BEIS Ministers about Local Enterprise Partnerships.
• Took part in a meeting with other local MPs and senior management at the George Eliot Hospital.
• Continued to make representations to Government on behalf of local and regional precision engineering businesses, including Rolls Royce and British Airways.
• Took part in a telephone conference with Liz Truss MP, the Secretary of State for International Trade where we discussed trade deals, that our agricultural standards are protected, and that NHS is not for sale.
• Responded to local teachers about the concerns that they have in reopening schools.
• Promoted the Government’s Future Fund for technology, life sciences and the creative industries.
• Welcomed the Government’s decision to waive NHS surcharges for overseas staff, a question I raised in the Chamber on 10 March.