Another busy few weeks - both in Parliament and back home in Dorset. Most importantly the County Council have seen sense and are not proceeding with the closures in Weymouth or in Swanage. This is great news for all of us campaigning to keep these services running.

I was also pleased to meet the candidates for the Youth Parliament elections. The UK Youth Parliament are doing a great job and regularly come and lobby me in my role as schools minister. It is also good to meet such positive examples of how responsible and sensible the vast majority of young people are.

Sadly the Weymouth Labour club has had to close. As a member of the Club I was sorry that it was no longer busy enough to survive financially. Some have linked it with the Party and my office but the reality is that the Club is a completely seperate organisation that was a tenant of the Party, as my office is, and the decision to close was the responsibility of the Club committee.

The day centre decision was made easier for the County because of the excellent funding deal from Government. However things are not so easy for the Fire Authority who had a low settlement. I am currently working to see whether any additional investment money can be found to help make future savings to prevent job losses in the service.

I've also been working with local leisure angling vessel owners to try to persuade the local sea fisheries Committee to change their bylaw to let larger vessels continue operating. I met Jonathan Shaw, the Fisheries Minister, to discuss options. Other committees do make the necessary exemptions and they can be made in such a way that there is no time when the area would be unprotected by bylaws. I hope the committee accepts this new advice & sees sense as these charter vessels are important for the hospitality industry.

In Parliament I have been taking the Bill through committee to raise the education leaving age to 18. I have been trying to protect rural schools from closure, and make sure school admissions arrangements are fair. Finally, I had my first appearance on BBC's Any Questions which went well enough.