Today I was lucky enough to open two new childrens centres in Weymouth and Portland. 

Both had previously been opened as buildings but now join a network of over 1300 such centres across the country offering a full range of services to familes with pre-school children.  There are two more planned for Weymouth, in Westham and Littlemoor, and one in Swanage.  The centre in Bovington has been running for some time.

The Outlooks Centre on Portland gave me a warm welcome and a tour of the former Admiral's residence.  It now offers integrated child and family health services, family support and parental outreach, links with schools, and links with trainers and colleges.  It also works with the local Chipmunks Nursery on Buxton Road in Weymouth to offer full daycare.

I went over to visit Chipmunks in its splendid old nineteenth century property before going on to the Mulberry centre in Commercial Road in the middle of Weymouth.  This is offering the same range of services as Outlooks.  I was able to talk to health visitors and others that work there with Mums and Dads to improve their parenting skills.

From there I went to the Moonfleet Manor Hotel to have lunch with the Institute of Directors and answer questions on subjects like education, the Olympics, housing, and local leadership.

Then on to Budmouth Technology College to take part in a Q&A session with year 12s as part of their citizenship.  I shared a panel with a couple of teachers, an officer from the County Council and a representative of Liberty.  We talked about political correctness, reality TV, devolution, ID cards and tourism.

After the Q&A I stayed to answer questions from a couple of year 10 pupils about the differences between local and national government.

This warmed me up for interviews on PM and 5 Live on the underperformance of white working class boys.  Now off to meet members of my consultation panel!