By 9.30am on Monday I had had three of the five recommended items of fruit or vegetables per day. This was a first for me and was thanks to Form 6DJ at Offmore Primary School.

From their own idea they are setting up a business to prepare in bulk fruit smoothies for members of the school during breaks in the Summer Term. They asked me to test one of their products.

I watched as this was prepared with meticulous care for food hygiene and then tasted the delicious result which I finished to the last drop. They showed me the business case and their recipes and told me of the donations that had enabled them to start. Taking heed of dental advice a straw will be provided for each drink. Their own taste tests have been critical as they decided to eliminate honey from their products as it made them too sweet.

Hoping to be still in this job, I have asked if I can go back to visit them one breaktime in the summer term to see how their production line copes with the expected huge demand at 50p for a small one and £1 for the large size. Every member of the form was involved and enthusiastic and their teachers were delighted with the benefit of the project on several parts of the normal curriculum. A splendid effort by all concerned!

Last Thursday we had a debate on the recent Health Select Committee report on Patient Safety in Parliament. I concentrated on three aspects of this report. First, that errors sadly are inevitable in any branch of human behaviour and that the best way of coping with these is an open culture of learning from mistakes rather than attaching blame which leads people to hide their errors.

Secondly I rammed home the message about the necessity of protection for whistle blowers as I had been unable to express this message when the second reading of my Bill was blocked two weeks ago.

Third, I stressed the importance for patient safety of the electronic summary care record and suggested ways of making this acceptable to everyone. It is unbelievable that the fears about lack of confidentiality have still not been solved in this country when such records are used in other countries without problems.

This week has seen the clearing up of Parliamentary business before the Budget and the election is called. Uncontroversial Bills have sailed through including the Child Poverty Bill which fulfils the Government’s commitment to enshrine the 2020 child poverty target into legislation.

The Cluster Munitions (Prohibitions) Bill sets the scene for the Government to ratify the international Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Third Parties (Rights against Insurers) Bill disentangles insurance proceeds payable to an insolvent company or individual from insolvency proceedings.

This will make it easier for a person injured by the insured to access the proceeds of insurance policies payable to the debtor.

As soon as the election is called I cease to be the MP and so just in case this is the last Viewpoint of this Parliament I hope readers have found them interesting and informative as I enjoy writing them and thank The Shuttle for printing them.

DR RICHARD TAYLOR MP