NEWS FROM GLENIS WILLMOTT

The Campaign against Cervical Cancer

A vaccination programme to combat the virus which causes most cases of cervical cancer is to be introduced for young girls in the UK from next year. This is very good news.

I have campaigned for the speedy introduction of vaccination programmes since the vaccine was licensed in the EU last year. Cervical cancer is the second most common cause of cancer death in women worldwide - and it kills over 1000 women every year in the UK.  High risk strains of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) are linked to almost three quarters of cervical cancers and it’s been estimated that a staggering half the young women in Britain have been infected by these strains by the time they’re 30. In future, thanks to the new programme, girls will be protected from HPV.

Girls aged 12 will be offered the vaccine from September 2008. There will also be a two-year ‘catch up’ starting in autumn 2009 for girls aged up to 18.  I believe the Department of Health also needs to make the vaccination available to women aged 18-26. They are among the most at risk of contracting HPV. 

The established NHS cervical screening programme saves around 5,000 lives every year, and this will continue. I would like to see HPV testing done routinely as part of the smear test.

My role as a co-chair of the European Parliament Cervical Cancer Group is to ensure that vaccination programmes are put in place in all the member states and that the very best screening is available throughout Europe.

Best wishes

Glenis Willmott
 
More information on the vaccination programme

Award nomination for East Midlands organisation

The Midlands Engineering Industries Redeployment Group has made it into the final three for the European Regional Champion Awards. MEIRG was set up only two years ago, so this is an
outstanding achievement. 

Individuals and businesses across the region have benefited from MEIRG’s pioneering training, with its mobile Engineering Resource and Innovation Centre (ERIC) able to deliver support onsite wherever it is needed. MEIRG also educates schoolchildren about engineering and encourages more school leavers into the engineering industry.

I am on the MEIRG board and continue to be closely involved.  Earlier this year I organized a visit to Brussels from ERIC, and officials and MEPs were impressed with what they saw.

The European Regional Champion Awards 2007 will be held in Brussels on 27th November 2007.

Far Right collapse

Welcome news this week from Strasbourg - the far right "Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty" grouping of MEPS, formerly 24 strong, has collapsed, after several members disagreed and left. It is no longer an official group and will not receive Parliament funding.

Disgraced former UKIP MEP Ashley Mote, just released from prison, was a member of this group.

The news was greeted with applause in the Strasbourg Chamber.

Overseas workers

As a trade unionist, I am concerned about workers in the developing world, who do not have the protection of strong unions, as we do in the UK.

I have raised with the European Commission the issue of health and safety in factories which provide goods coming to the EU, following the tragic case of a worker in India who died after being refused permission to leave work when he fell ill.

The Commission says that it intends to work more closely with the International Labour Organisation and the World Health Organisation - and especially with emerging economies like India - to promote health and safety at work.

Sherwood Forest is a contender for the People’s £50 Million Lottery Giveaway:  £50 million is needed for regeneration projects in Sherwood Forest.  Voting starts on 26th November – please support the only project in the East Midlands, and watch the TV programme on December 5th 11pm on ITV.
 
More

Tory hypocrisy

David Cameron has called for longer sentences for rape – all very laudable. But when the European Parliament called on member states to make rape within marriage a criminal offence and for zero tolerance of violence against women, ALL the male UK Tory MEPs voted against or abstained – only Caroline Jackson, their lone woman member, voted in favour. 

Tory MEPs also voted against or abstained on proposals to extend the EU’s highly successful Daphne Programme which funds measures to combat violence again women.

So who’s in charge?
 

Contact Glenis

Glenis Willmott MEP
Harold Wilson House
23 Barratt Lane
Attenborough
Nottingham  NG9 6AD

Tel. 0115 922 9717
Fax. 0115 922 4439

office@gleniswillmott.org.uk