Tuesday, June 24, 2008
I've had a very busy couple of weeks, both in parliament and Tooting.
For obvious reasons there has been a great deal of attention paid to the votes in Parliament to approve the Report Stage and Third Reading of the Counter Terror Bill, which have been taken over by the decision of David Davis to resign from the Tory Front Bench and hold a by election.
To ensure that the Home Secretary understood the legitimate concerns local residents and community groups had about the original Bill, I invited Jacqui Smith to Tooting where she met local community leaders. You can find out more about the reasons why I think it is important to change the law, in light of the ever changing threats facing the UK, by clicking HERE.
This year we celebrate 60 years of the NHS. One of the biggest secrets in our NHS is the huge role volunteers play. As part of the celebrations I attended a reception at 10 Downing Street hosted by the Prime Minister. My guests for the reception were Daniel Blagdon from Millennium Volunteers Wandsworth, Kiron Kurien, a member of numerous local patient liaison groups including Expert Patients Programme (EPP) and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Steering Group for Wandsworth PCT and Chris Lewis, a “buddy” and fundraiser for St George’s Hospital. All three do excellent work in Tooting, which makes a massive difference to the lives of their fellow Tooting residents. The volunteers were thanked personally for their efforts by Gordon Brown, Sarah Brown and the Health Minister Ann Keen. You can see pictures and read more about the event HERE.
I often get concerned when I see young people demonised by the media (and sometimes politicians) The vast majority are a huge credit to themselves and their families, however there are a very small minority who do cause residents problems with anti social behaviour. I recently attended a public meeting at West Side Church to discuss the concerns some local residents had about the behaviour of young people who attended a local youth club at the church. I was really pleased that the church organised this meeting, as it gave us a chance to explore the issues that worried residents and discuss a way of working towards solutions. One public meeting will not solve all the problems that have been occurring locally, but it is a good start for local residents to work together to find joint solutions to their concerns.
I always enjoy visiting our excellent Primary Schools and over the last week I held a special assembly to honour a pupil from Fircroft Primary School. James Pang, aged 9 helped raise over £1000 for survivors of the recent earthquake in China. James, whose family originally came from China, was extremely upset by the earthquake in China, and decided he wanted to do something to help those who had been affected by it. He brought this to the attention of his school by writing a letter to the Head and Deputy Head. The teachers were impressed by James’ letter and helped him organise a Red Clothes day to raise money for the victims of the earthquake.
You can see a photo of James, his dad and me by clicking HERE.
