{"id":2157,"date":"2021-10-04T15:22:48","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T15:22:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/?p=2157"},"modified":"2026-03-20T12:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T12:00:08","slug":"september-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/?p=2157","title":{"rendered":"September Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2168\" width=\"731\" height=\"487\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>I was sorry to leave the Government in the recent reshuffle. I have enjoyed the 18 months I spent as Minister for Media and Data. During that time, I was privileged to take part in some of the discussions and decision-making of the Covid Operations Committee. I also led the work on the forthcoming reforms of the laws on data protection and on gambling as well as of public service broadcasting. I am very grateful to the hard-working officials who assisted me during my time at the Department and I intend to continue to take an active role in the debates on these issues..<br><br>As I told BBC\u2019s Newscast soon after the announcement (which you can listen to&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/protect-eu.mimecast.com\/s\/jCDCCK13nCnK963SAE9-e?domain=johnwhittingdale.us3.list-manage.com\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>), my constituents have always been my priority and I will continue to work hard to ensure that your voices are heard in Westminster.&nbsp;<br><br>As we approach October, Constituents will shortly start to be called by the NHS to have their booster Covid vaccine. Studies have shown that, after 6 months, there is a decline in vaccine efficacy and with increasing levels of social mixing and close social contact expected during the winter, COVID-19 will circulate alongside other respiratory viruses, including seasonal flu. Getting a booster jab is therefore a priority and I would encourage all who have been called to have theirs to make sure they get their jab.<br><br>The House of Commons will be in recess until Monday 18th October, during which each political party will hold their annual conference. I will be in Manchester at the Conservative Party Conference where I am speaking at several fringe meetings. I will also remain busy and will be holding constituency surgeries (details below), attending meetings and answering constituency correspondence as usual.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Screenshot_2021-01-14_at_102148.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-646\" width=\"444\" height=\"257\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was sorry to leave the Government in the recent reshuffle. I have enjoyed the 18 months I spent as Minister for Media and Data. During that time, I was privileged to take part in some of the discussions and decision-making of the Covid Operations Committee. I also led the work on the forthcoming reforms [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-westminster-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2157"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2169,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2157\/revisions\/2169"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.johnwhittingdale.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}