Dr Phillip Lee is delighted that Crowthorne is one of the first areas in the UK to benefit from BT’s roll-out of fibre-based broadband. This super-fast broadband is now available to the first homes and businesses in Crowthorne and around 9,000 local householders and firms are poised to join the high-speed revolution as engineers complete the local upgrades over the next few weeks.

Super-fast speeds allow users to run multiple bandwidth-hungry applications at the same time. For example, some members of a family could be watching different high definition (HD) movies or 3D TV, while others play online games or work on complex graphics or video projects.
For businesses, the new network will underpin the introduction of many new services and applications. Computer processing and storage of files will become more sophisticated and secure using ‘cloud computing’ technology. There will be faster back-up of computer systems and wider use of high quality videoconferencing within firms and between them and their customers.

Dr Lee commented: “The installation of this super-fast broadband in Crowthorne is great news for the area’s future economic strength.”

Dr Phillip Lee is very pleased that BT is currently installing fibre optic technology offering broadband speeds of up to 40M/bits in several locations within Bracknell. This service is already available from the Crowthorne exchange, and is currently being installed in the other exchanges serving the constituency. Current estimated service availability dates for fibre broadband at these exchanges are:

Bracknell, December 2011
Blackwater, December 2010
Wokingham, December 2010
Eversley, September 2011

BT has to date announced that the company will be installing this technology in over 620 telephone exchanges by the end of 2011 and plan to roll out to exchanges covering 60% of the UK by 2015.

Dr Lee commented: “The installation of super-fast broadband to the whole constituency over the next 12 months is great news for business and residential users. Increasingly, people are working from home and the need for super-fast broadband will only grow in the years to come. I am very pleased that by the end of next year the whole constituency should have access to this modern technology.”

Customers interested in finding out more should contact their Service Provider for more details. The fibre service is available to any service provider on the same terms, including BT Retail. BT Retail has a fibre broadband product called BT Infinity. Customers interested in finding out more can register their interest in the broadband section of BT’s website at http://www.bt.com/ and they will be informed when the service is available in their area.

MP for Bracknell, Dr Phillip Lee MP has backed efforts to ‘spot cancer early’ following a meeting with Cancer Research UK in Parliament.

During yesterday’s meeting, the Bracknell MP discussed the importance of diagnosing cancer earlier.

Dr Lee heard about how the UK’s cancer survival rates are currently worse than those in Europe’s best performing countries, partly because we diagnose cancer later. 10,000 deaths could be avoided each year in the UK if we diagnosed cancer earlier. To achieve this, the Government must maintain their commitment to improving survival rates and commit to diagnosing cancer earlier.

Dr Lee said: “One in three people can expect a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, and I want to make sure we’re all doing what we can to reduce that number.

“Around 10,000 deaths could be avoided each year in the UK if we diagnosed cancer earlier. This is because when cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, treatment is almost always simpler and more likely to be effective. So this means that looking at ways to improve earlier diagnosis is a really crucial way that we can tackle cancer in the future.”

Aisling Burnand, executive director of policy and public affairs at Cancer Research UK, said: “We are calling for the Government to commit to beating cancer through diagnosing cancer earlier. The Government must ensure that GPs are given greater access to the tests they need to diagnose cancer, and secondly accurately record the stage at which the majority of patients’ cancers are diagnosed. This will help us monitor trends and drive progress on early diagnosis more quickly in poor performing areas.”

This is part of the charity’s Commit to Beat Cancer campaign, which identifies five main areas to address in order to improve cancer survival rates – preventing more cancers, tackling inequalities, protecting the science research base, providing access to world class treatment and detecting cancer earlier.

At Parliamentary Questions on Monday 1st November, Dr. Phillip Lee asked the Home Secretary, Rt Hon Theresa May, what recent progress the Coalition Government has made recently on reforms of the immigration system.

Under the previous Labour government total net migration to the UK increased by more than 300 per cent, from 48,000 in 1997 to 163,000 in 2008 and when coming into power the Coalition Government stated that it would “aim to reduce the level of net migration back down to the levels of the 1990s-tens of thousands each year, not hundreds of thousands.” In order to achieve this, a consultation was launched to look into the mechanisms for implementing an annual limit of that size, what it would cover, and how it can work in practice. During yesterday’s Parliamentary Question’s Dr Lee was eager to hear what progress have been made so far in this area.

The Minister for Immigration, Mr Damian Green answered: “In just six months, the coalition Government have made significant progress in the reform of the immigration system. We have introduced an interim limit on non-EU economic migrants and consulted on proposals for the annual limit. We are also reviewing student and family routes. We have made significant progress towards ending the detention of children and we have also begun exploring improvements to the asylum system.”

Dr Lee also followed up his initial question by asking the Home Secretary: “What is the Government doing to tackle the problem of sham marriages in our immigration system?” Dr Lee feels very strongly that the institution of marriage should not be abused in order to get access to this country. He is fully supportive of strong measures to eradicate this abhorrent practice.

On Monday 1st November a group of students from Bracknell & Wokingham College visited the Houses of Parliament and went on a tour to see the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

The 14 students, who are in the age group 17 – 20, are all in their 2nd year of the National Diploma in Business Course at the Bracknell & Wokingham College (equivalent to three A Levels). During their two year course the students study Contract and Criminal Law, as well as the Legal Aspect of Law Making, and so the roles of the House of Lords and the House of Commons are an important part of the students’ curriculum.

The students were very happy with their tour and commented on the posh décor and the gold in the House of Lords. They were fascinated by where the Government and the Opposition sit in the Chamber and that MPs had already booked their places for the afternoon sessions when they were there in the morning.

They asked a lot of questions on the procedure for when the MPs vote in the Chamber and was explained that there are strict rules on this. They were also interested in the size of the Houses of Parliament, the history behind the buildings and the process on how constituents can come to the House of Commons to meet their MP.