At long last, the first two junior schools from the constituency took part in the Parliamentary Education Service’s ‘visit to Westminster’ scheme. Classes from both Anchorsholme Primary and Langdale’s School came down last week. Luckily for them, they only had me for 20 minutes of Question and Answer time – I think they found the mock election far more exciting. The candidates proposing cleaner hospitals and a smoking ban appeared to have won if the charts on the white board were anything to go by! The teachers were highly complementary about the quality of the teaching, so I will have to keep encouraging teachers to bring their classes down. Virgin do some good deals on the group travel for this purpose, so it is not prohibitively expensive.

The Transport Select Committee this week started an investigation into the Government’s Road Safety Strategy. Cross-examining witnesses, it was clear they were concerned that the lack of numerical targets for reducing the number of road deaths was compromising the effectiveness of the strategy. I was more concerned that inappropriate targets could distort decisions by Governments and Councils. If you have a target for reducing child deaths on the roads, is a Council going to promote the idea of more children walking to school which might on some routes put them at greater risk? Whilst controversial, ideas such as 20 mph zones do appear to be more effective at reducing deaths. I would far rather have a focus on continuous improvement that embeds a culture of casualty reduction – we need to recognise that we are already one of the top five nations in the developed world for having safe roads. I have spent part of the weekend reading comparable road safety strategies from Australia and New Zealand, and am impressed by the work they have been doing to focus on areas of greatest known risk. In this country, we have sophisticated mapping from EuroRAP that can pinpoint the most dangerous roads, and we can focus on making the roads safer as well as encouraging best practice from drivers. The Government’s Strategy is actually a good start in not demonisingall drivers, but trying to ensure that over time we ‘design out’ risk and focus on those drivers who do pose the highest risk. Knowing how many survey responses and letters I get about road safety, I think this could be one of the more fascinating inquiries we do!

Another mind-boggling encounter last week was a meeting with casino operators who took me through the utterly impossible levels of regulation that the casino industry has to operate under. I have never gambled in my life – and only been in a casino once. The allure of throwing money away for fun is lost on me, at least. But I remain perplexed at why an industry such as gambling has to have such incredible levels of specificity over the ratio of gaming tables to gaming machines and relevant floor space. The Act governing all this dates from 1968 (although substantial parts were amended in 2005 but through the unfortunate prism of a supercasino which never appeared). This was long before you and I had the opportunity to gamble online with absolutely no checks on whether we are ‘of age’. If ever an Act required some modest updating to meet modern reality, it is this one. But then when I put my mind to it, I can think several more, without much effort!

The Principals of the Lancashire Colleges made their annual trip to Westminster last week. It is always helpful to hear what they have to say – though I much prefer going to see them here in Blackpool! I was intrigued to hear that students studying for A-Levels in a school sixth form can access the Pupil Premium but not those studying at a college. I trust that was an anomaly the Minister was able to commit to rectifying when they met – shall have to write to find out!

I also voyaged outside of the Westminster Bubble last week to the not-so-wilds of East Finchley where the Bobath Centre (www.bobathcentre.org.uk is the charity, www.bobath.org.uk is the clinical side of things) which is a national centre of excellence for the treatment of people with cerebral palsy. It was fascinating to compare some of the physio techniques now in use to what I had as a child, and also to discuss with the centre the wider changes in the public perception of cerebral palsy. I had such a fascinating time I stayed an hour longer than I should have done – but they didn’t seem to mind. Bobath’s techniques were revolutionary when they were first propagated, allied to an understanding of how the body moves that was gained from the inter-war emphasis on physical education and ‘mass gymnastics’.  Mr & Mrs Bobath were amongst those who had to flee Germany because of Hitler’s persecution of the Jewish people, and we in this country should be profoundly thankful they found a home in North London where their legacy continues to help improve the functionality of the lives of so many.

Back up in the constituency, I continued my ongoing dialogue with the local hotel trade over how we can raise standards ever higher. Improving the area’s tourist ‘offer’ is key, in my view, to maintaining the success of the Fylde Coast as a tourism destination. Just this week, we saw TripAdvisor praising  one Blackpool B&B for being one of the best in the country. I realise TripAdvisor is by no means perfect, but it does show that quality pays.

I finished the week at the Ball held in aid of the Blackpool Carers Centre. As is always the case with the Carers Centre, I always run the risk of being too effusive with praise for them for my own good. But I know just how many carers are out there, and how many who may be aren’t aware of the help out there for them. I also know that the Carers Centre’s particular emphasis on young carers, which I have done my bit to assist, is something which the Fylde Coast would be much the poorer for without the Centre’s existence. But enough effusing on my part!