This week I had the great pleasure of welcoming new Government funding for FOWLC Community Interest Company which will receive £935,00 from the Government’s £150 million Community Ownership Fund. The Conservative Government’s Community Ownership Fund is allowing community groups in North Cornwall to take ownership of assets and amenities at risk of being lost for example through public sale. Thanks to this Conservative Government scheme, voluntary and community groups can bid for funding to acquire important assets, including pubs, so they can run them for the benefit of the local community. This is just the latest round of funding announced by the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities as the Conservative Government continues to deliver on its levelling up agenda, spreading opportunities and prosperity across the country. I am very proud of the way that the community came together to save Wadebridge’s Leisure Centre after it was put at risk by the contract signed under the previous Lib Dem led council administration. This is a vital community asset for Wadebridge which has my ongoing support. The £935k package from Government announced recently will ensure the viability of the centre for several years, and I thank the Minister for delivering it.
The NHS is to introduce a national targeted lung cancer screening programme for people aged 55 to 74 who are at high risk of lung cancer in England, following a recommendation from the UK National Screening Committee. Around 35,000 people die and 48,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer each year. It has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers. This is largely because lung cancer tends to be diagnosed at a late stage when treatment is much less likely to be effective. When fully rolled out, this new national screening programme will detect around 9,000 more cancers per year at an early stage. As smoking causes 72% of lung cancers, the programme will use a history of smoking from GP records to identify the cohort eligible for screening. Current or former smokers aged 55 to under 75 years will have an initial assessment of their individual lung cancer risk. Anyone assessed as being at high risk will be referred to have a CT scan. They will be reinvited for a further scan every 24 months until they age out of the programme. Patients will also be signposted to smoking cessation services. The Targeted Lung Health Check programme is currently being run predominantly in deprived areas. Since its launch more than 2,000 people have been identified with cancer and crucially over three-quarters were at an earlier stage - giving those patients a much better chance of survival. We will now build on this existing programme, rolling it out nationally with £1 billion in funding over the next seven years. The national screening programme will reach 40% of the eligible population by March 2025 and 100% by March 2030.
If you would like my assistance with a constituency matter, please do not hesitate to get in touch via scott@scottmann.org.uk. I also hold regular advice surgeries across North Cornwall. If you would like to arrange a meeting with me, please call 01208 74337. Updates on my work both in the constituency and in Westminster can be found on my website www.scottmann.org.uk and on social media www.facebook.com/TheRightMannForNorthCornwall.
ENDS
Correspondence address: House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA
