Wednesday, February 28, 2007
On Monday I held my usual drop in advice surgery at Balham Community Centre on Bedford Hill.
In the afternoon I Chaired a meeting on Offender Management with the title "Offender Management-How can we reduce re-offending?" We heard from three leading experts on this issue. Firstly, the Chief Executive of Rainer, a national voluntary organisation that works with under-supported young people and young adults. Rainer’s services tackle the effects of involvement in crime, homelessness, leaving care and lack of education and training. For more information on Rainer click HERE. We then heard from the manager of the Prospects Bristol drug intervention scheme. The Bristol men’s project is run by KALYX as a residential and community-based drug intervention programme. It provides support for offenders with sentences of fewer than 12 months who presently do not receive probation support on release. We also heard from a representative from the Public Services Directorate, CBI. Locally, Wandsworth Prison does good work but the start fact remains that re offending rates for those who leave our prisons is just too high at over 60%.
In the evening I took a flask of tea and some biscuits to Parliament Square where Reverend Hugh Grear from Holy Trinity Church and St Augustine’s Church was taking part in a ‘sleep-out’ organised by the Refugee Council for Britain as part of the Just.Fair campaign to highlight the plight of failed asylum seekers who choose to remain in Britain. Reverend Grear was joined by 30 other people on the sleep-out and I have written to the Home Secretary to make representations on the important points raised by all those I met.
On Tuesday, in addition to my normal Parliamentary duties, I attended a meeting of the CWU group of MP's.
On Wednesday Martin Linton MP and I hosted a reception for the 14 Safer Neighbourhood Teams of Battersea and Tooting. The visitors to the event included SNT members, their families, members of Neighbourhood Watches and Community safety Panels. The Home Secretary, John Reid MP, was our surprise guest and used the opportunity to thank the SNT's for all the hard work they do in our community. The evening ended with tours of the Palace of Westminster given by Martin and me. for information on how to contact your local SNT click HERE
On Sunday, I attended the Parish Communion at Holy Trinity Church which was led by The Revd Barry Nichols. It was the first Sunday of Lent and I was impressed by the service and the number of worshippers present. After the service (and coffee and biscuits!) I rushed to Club Jasmine in Tooting to speak at a special service organised by the Yahweh Christian Fellowship on "Guns and Gangs". There were more than 200 local people gathered for an excellent event held in partnership with the Tooting Safer Neighbourhood Team to discuss the issue of gang culture in our community. Sgt Lisa Hurley made an interesting and relevant presentation and took questions from the floor. I was really impressed by the ideas from young people about steps that we can all take to address some of the underlying causes of local gang culture.
In the afternoon I Chaired a meeting on Offender Management with the title "Offender Management-How can we reduce re-offending?" We heard from three leading experts on this issue. Firstly, the Chief Executive of Rainer, a national voluntary organisation that works with under-supported young people and young adults. Rainer’s services tackle the effects of involvement in crime, homelessness, leaving care and lack of education and training. For more information on Rainer click HERE. We then heard from the manager of the Prospects Bristol drug intervention scheme. The Bristol men’s project is run by KALYX as a residential and community-based drug intervention programme. It provides support for offenders with sentences of fewer than 12 months who presently do not receive probation support on release. We also heard from a representative from the Public Services Directorate, CBI. Locally, Wandsworth Prison does good work but the start fact remains that re offending rates for those who leave our prisons is just too high at over 60%.
In the evening I took a flask of tea and some biscuits to Parliament Square where Reverend Hugh Grear from Holy Trinity Church and St Augustine’s Church was taking part in a ‘sleep-out’ organised by the Refugee Council for Britain as part of the Just.Fair campaign to highlight the plight of failed asylum seekers who choose to remain in Britain. Reverend Grear was joined by 30 other people on the sleep-out and I have written to the Home Secretary to make representations on the important points raised by all those I met.
On Tuesday, in addition to my normal Parliamentary duties, I attended a meeting of the CWU group of MP's.
On Wednesday Martin Linton MP and I hosted a reception for the 14 Safer Neighbourhood Teams of Battersea and Tooting. The visitors to the event included SNT members, their families, members of Neighbourhood Watches and Community safety Panels. The Home Secretary, John Reid MP, was our surprise guest and used the opportunity to thank the SNT's for all the hard work they do in our community. The evening ended with tours of the Palace of Westminster given by Martin and me. for information on how to contact your local SNT click HERE
On Sunday, I attended the Parish Communion at Holy Trinity Church which was led by The Revd Barry Nichols. It was the first Sunday of Lent and I was impressed by the service and the number of worshippers present. After the service (and coffee and biscuits!) I rushed to Club Jasmine in Tooting to speak at a special service organised by the Yahweh Christian Fellowship on "Guns and Gangs". There were more than 200 local people gathered for an excellent event held in partnership with the Tooting Safer Neighbourhood Team to discuss the issue of gang culture in our community. Sgt Lisa Hurley made an interesting and relevant presentation and took questions from the floor. I was really impressed by the ideas from young people about steps that we can all take to address some of the underlying causes of local gang culture.
