Monday, February 27, 2006
Last week was the parliamentary recess, so it was a quieter week than normal. However, it did provide a good opportunity for me to catch up with a variety of things in my in tray that required attention.
On Monday 20th, I had my usual drop in surgery in Balham Community Centre on Bedford Hill. I then did a quick interview for a satellite TV station on the comprehensive ban on smoking which parliament had historically agreed to the week previously.
The Education White Paper has had a lot of publicity in the national press, mainly to do with a potential rebellion by Labour MPs. However, the White Paper is important and does include many proposals to make further progress on improving our schools. On Tuesday, I organised a meeting with Lord Adonis (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools at the Department for Education and Skills) to meet directly with the head teachers of the four secondary schools in my constituency, so he could explain in more detail the White Paper as well as giving the heads the opportunity to seek further clarification and raise any issues they had. The meeting proved to be extremely useful.
Under the new proposals there would be opportunities for the schools in Tooting to federate together which allows greater co-operation, and specifically would allow the possibility of more co-operation among the schools on admissions policies. The meeting also revealed that these new reforms will in fact to a large degree liberate the schools in Tooting from the control of the Tory council on admissions, ethos and funding. The Heads also raised the fact that parents’ perceptions of a school were important, and that some of this perception is driven by how school buildings look. Lord Adonis was concerned to hear that the schools in Wandsworth were not receiving all funds from the Building Schools for the Future Programme and the Dedicated Schools Budget that they were entitled to and promised to go and investigate what was impeding this.
On Wednesday, I chaired the termly governing body meeting of Gatton Primary School. The meeting was the first one held in the new premises on Gatton Road. The governors had the opportunity to have a tour of the new buildings. The Head Teacher was able to report that within the space of a few weeks, there had already been significant improvements in children’s attitudes towards school and lessons.
In the evening, I attended the Annual General Meeting of my Constituency Labour Party.
On Thursday, I attended a meeting with the Chair of South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, and other senior members of the board to discuss plans by Springfield Hospital to regenerate the site. A number of the buildings that are being used were built in Victorian times, and are completely unacceptable to treat patients in the 21st century. The poor accommodation has a profound impact on patient well being, staff recruitment and retention, and the number and severity of incidents on inpatient wards. The plans are still being formulated and the Hospital is consulting key local stakeholders.
On Saturday, I attended a coffee morning and bring and buy sale at the Furzedown Project in Moyser Road. The morning began with a fantastic performance by the Great Gustos, who are local Furzedown residents who perform a capella. More details about the Project here.
I also joined Furzedown campaign team to collect signatures in their campaign for a One o’clock club. You can sign this online here.
On Sunday, I joined Labour Party colleagues in canvassing in Tooting ward.
Sadiq
On Monday 20th, I had my usual drop in surgery in Balham Community Centre on Bedford Hill. I then did a quick interview for a satellite TV station on the comprehensive ban on smoking which parliament had historically agreed to the week previously.
The Education White Paper has had a lot of publicity in the national press, mainly to do with a potential rebellion by Labour MPs. However, the White Paper is important and does include many proposals to make further progress on improving our schools. On Tuesday, I organised a meeting with Lord Adonis (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools at the Department for Education and Skills) to meet directly with the head teachers of the four secondary schools in my constituency, so he could explain in more detail the White Paper as well as giving the heads the opportunity to seek further clarification and raise any issues they had. The meeting proved to be extremely useful.
Under the new proposals there would be opportunities for the schools in Tooting to federate together which allows greater co-operation, and specifically would allow the possibility of more co-operation among the schools on admissions policies. The meeting also revealed that these new reforms will in fact to a large degree liberate the schools in Tooting from the control of the Tory council on admissions, ethos and funding. The Heads also raised the fact that parents’ perceptions of a school were important, and that some of this perception is driven by how school buildings look. Lord Adonis was concerned to hear that the schools in Wandsworth were not receiving all funds from the Building Schools for the Future Programme and the Dedicated Schools Budget that they were entitled to and promised to go and investigate what was impeding this.
On Wednesday, I chaired the termly governing body meeting of Gatton Primary School. The meeting was the first one held in the new premises on Gatton Road. The governors had the opportunity to have a tour of the new buildings. The Head Teacher was able to report that within the space of a few weeks, there had already been significant improvements in children’s attitudes towards school and lessons.
In the evening, I attended the Annual General Meeting of my Constituency Labour Party.
On Thursday, I attended a meeting with the Chair of South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, and other senior members of the board to discuss plans by Springfield Hospital to regenerate the site. A number of the buildings that are being used were built in Victorian times, and are completely unacceptable to treat patients in the 21st century. The poor accommodation has a profound impact on patient well being, staff recruitment and retention, and the number and severity of incidents on inpatient wards. The plans are still being formulated and the Hospital is consulting key local stakeholders.
On Saturday, I attended a coffee morning and bring and buy sale at the Furzedown Project in Moyser Road. The morning began with a fantastic performance by the Great Gustos, who are local Furzedown residents who perform a capella. More details about the Project here.
I also joined Furzedown campaign team to collect signatures in their campaign for a One o’clock club. You can sign this online here.
On Sunday, I joined Labour Party colleagues in canvassing in Tooting ward.
Sadiq
Tuesday, February 21, 2006
Last week was half term for my children, and for most schools in London. Unfortunately, the officials at the House of Commons managed to organise our recess in the week following half term!
I began the day with a visit to the Electoral Commission. They have recently launched a campaign to promote involvement in the democratic process by providing accessible information about how and when to register, how to vote, and the date of elections, to raise interest in the upcoming elections. The deadline for registration in London is 13th March, and if you register by this date, you will be able to vote in the local elections on 4th May. You can download a electoral registration form for Wandsworth Council here.
I am involved in a campaign to highlight the unfairness of the Extradition Treaty 2003 between the US and the UK. At the moment, the United States can make extradition requests to the United Kingdom without having to provide prima facie evidence about the case. However, the same is not true in reverse, and this points to an inequity in the extradition law. This has affected a constituent in Tooting, Babar Ahmad. There is now a cross party alliance on this issue, which includes Boris Johnson MP. I attended a meeting with Boris, who also has a constituent affected by the Extradition Treaty, along with Babar Ahmad’s family.
On Monday, I also attended an extremely interesting meeting to launch a book called ‘The New East End: Kinship, Race and Conflict’ from the the Young Foundation. The book is a study of residents in Tower Hamlets, conducted over 12 years and there is a good article about the book on the Guardian website.
The Identity Cards Bill was debated in the House of Commons, which considered amendments made by the House of Lords. The Commons accepted the recommendation made by the House of Lords that before Identity Cards become compulsory there will need to be fresh primary legislation with both the Commons and the Lords approving this. I made an intervention during the debate , and was with my good friend and colleague, Dawn Butler MP, when she also made an intervention that had been causing me some concern
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has a weekly press conference each Tuesday. He had agreed to raise the case of Babar Ahmad in the press conference at City Hall. Last Tuesday, Babar’s father, Doug Jewell from Liberty and myself shared a platform with Ken, highlighting our concerns with the Extradition Treaty.
Tuesday was one of the highlights of my time as an MP so far. During the Health Bill debate in the afternoon, the House of Commons historically voted for a complete ban on smoking in all pubs and clubs. Labour MPs had a free vote on the issue, and I recently wrote a column about banning smoking for the Wandsworth Borough News which you can read here. I was a bit confused by the stance taken by opposition MPs over the smoking ban. For example, the Conservative Health spokesman, Andrew Lansley MP, made a number of criticisms to do with ‘nanny state’ and the ‘rights of the individual’ (seemingly overlooking the conclusive evidence about how damaging smoking is for people’s health). These were the same sort of objections made when wearing seatbelts was made compulsory more than 30 years ago. I pointed this out to him during an intervention in the debate.
On Wednesday, the House of Commons discussed the amendments made by the House of Lords to the Terrorism Bill. The House of Lords’ main concern was around the offence of ‘glorification of terrorism’. The publicity surrounding this has been predicated on misinformation and misunderstandings. During the debate, I made a number of interventions to seek assurances from the Home Secretary as to the real remit of the clause. My intervention is here. The Home Secretary confirmed that to be guilty of this offence one must glorify terrorism with the specific intent to induce others to emulate the terrorist act. Additionally, he confirmed that Lord Carlile (a Liberal Democrat peer) would be reviewing the six year old definition of terrorism. Click on these links to see my interventions: intervention one; and intervention two.
On Thursday, I attended a careers convention organised by our local Connexions office aimed at 13-19 year olds. The aim of the event was to raise awareness of education, training and career opportunities and to provide young people with practical information such as qualifications required, alternative related careers and any barriers they may encounter. The event was a huge success, with over 600 young people attending, and over 70 organisations representing different organisations and occupational areas.
In the afternoon, I attended the launch of the In patient Carers Support Group at the Seacole Ward in Springfield Hospital. This is a new initiative where the Hospital will hold monthly meetings for carers. This enables carers to meet other carers and also health professionals. The service Director of South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust made the important point during his short speech that a partnership approach between the health professionals and the carers was crucial in treating patients with mental health problems. He also confirmed that the Government had committed record sums to carers’ initiatives such as the one that had been launched at Springfield.
As a result of concerns about commuter safety at stations in London, Dawn Butler MP launched a Safer Stations campaign. The Evening Standard adopted this campaign and organised a photograph of other supportive MPs outside the House of Commons, which is here. This was published along with a quote from me in Friday’s Standard.
In the evening, I chaired a public meeting to discuss the UK-US Extradition Treaty. Also on the platform were Boris Johnson MP; Vince Cable MP; Sally Ireland from Justice; James Welch from Liberty; and Gareth Pierce (solicitor) and representatives from families effected by extradition to the USA, including Babar Ahmad’s father. The meeting was a huge success with a large turnout from the public and the media.
On Friday, I was one of the guests on the Daily Politics programme, along with Colonel Bob Stewart.
On Saturday, I attended my usual appointment only surgery at Tooting Library.
I also spoke at a ‘Unite Against Fascism’ Conference at Congress House. The BNP got 4.2% share of the vote in the most recent General Election and fielded 119 candidates. They have 19 councillors in all parts of the country, and in the upcoming local elections, it is vital that people are not complacent about the threat that the BNP represent. More information about Unite Against Fascism is here.
Sadiq
I began the day with a visit to the Electoral Commission. They have recently launched a campaign to promote involvement in the democratic process by providing accessible information about how and when to register, how to vote, and the date of elections, to raise interest in the upcoming elections. The deadline for registration in London is 13th March, and if you register by this date, you will be able to vote in the local elections on 4th May. You can download a electoral registration form for Wandsworth Council here.
I am involved in a campaign to highlight the unfairness of the Extradition Treaty 2003 between the US and the UK. At the moment, the United States can make extradition requests to the United Kingdom without having to provide prima facie evidence about the case. However, the same is not true in reverse, and this points to an inequity in the extradition law. This has affected a constituent in Tooting, Babar Ahmad. There is now a cross party alliance on this issue, which includes Boris Johnson MP. I attended a meeting with Boris, who also has a constituent affected by the Extradition Treaty, along with Babar Ahmad’s family.
On Monday, I also attended an extremely interesting meeting to launch a book called ‘The New East End: Kinship, Race and Conflict’ from the the Young Foundation. The book is a study of residents in Tower Hamlets, conducted over 12 years and there is a good article about the book on the Guardian website.
The Identity Cards Bill was debated in the House of Commons, which considered amendments made by the House of Lords. The Commons accepted the recommendation made by the House of Lords that before Identity Cards become compulsory there will need to be fresh primary legislation with both the Commons and the Lords approving this. I made an intervention during the debate , and was with my good friend and colleague, Dawn Butler MP, when she also made an intervention that had been causing me some concern
The Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, has a weekly press conference each Tuesday. He had agreed to raise the case of Babar Ahmad in the press conference at City Hall. Last Tuesday, Babar’s father, Doug Jewell from Liberty and myself shared a platform with Ken, highlighting our concerns with the Extradition Treaty.
Tuesday was one of the highlights of my time as an MP so far. During the Health Bill debate in the afternoon, the House of Commons historically voted for a complete ban on smoking in all pubs and clubs. Labour MPs had a free vote on the issue, and I recently wrote a column about banning smoking for the Wandsworth Borough News which you can read here. I was a bit confused by the stance taken by opposition MPs over the smoking ban. For example, the Conservative Health spokesman, Andrew Lansley MP, made a number of criticisms to do with ‘nanny state’ and the ‘rights of the individual’ (seemingly overlooking the conclusive evidence about how damaging smoking is for people’s health). These were the same sort of objections made when wearing seatbelts was made compulsory more than 30 years ago. I pointed this out to him during an intervention in the debate.
On Wednesday, the House of Commons discussed the amendments made by the House of Lords to the Terrorism Bill. The House of Lords’ main concern was around the offence of ‘glorification of terrorism’. The publicity surrounding this has been predicated on misinformation and misunderstandings. During the debate, I made a number of interventions to seek assurances from the Home Secretary as to the real remit of the clause. My intervention is here. The Home Secretary confirmed that to be guilty of this offence one must glorify terrorism with the specific intent to induce others to emulate the terrorist act. Additionally, he confirmed that Lord Carlile (a Liberal Democrat peer) would be reviewing the six year old definition of terrorism. Click on these links to see my interventions: intervention one; and intervention two.
On Thursday, I attended a careers convention organised by our local Connexions office aimed at 13-19 year olds. The aim of the event was to raise awareness of education, training and career opportunities and to provide young people with practical information such as qualifications required, alternative related careers and any barriers they may encounter. The event was a huge success, with over 600 young people attending, and over 70 organisations representing different organisations and occupational areas.
In the afternoon, I attended the launch of the In patient Carers Support Group at the Seacole Ward in Springfield Hospital. This is a new initiative where the Hospital will hold monthly meetings for carers. This enables carers to meet other carers and also health professionals. The service Director of South West London and St George’s Mental Health Trust made the important point during his short speech that a partnership approach between the health professionals and the carers was crucial in treating patients with mental health problems. He also confirmed that the Government had committed record sums to carers’ initiatives such as the one that had been launched at Springfield.
As a result of concerns about commuter safety at stations in London, Dawn Butler MP launched a Safer Stations campaign. The Evening Standard adopted this campaign and organised a photograph of other supportive MPs outside the House of Commons, which is here. This was published along with a quote from me in Friday’s Standard.
In the evening, I chaired a public meeting to discuss the UK-US Extradition Treaty. Also on the platform were Boris Johnson MP; Vince Cable MP; Sally Ireland from Justice; James Welch from Liberty; and Gareth Pierce (solicitor) and representatives from families effected by extradition to the USA, including Babar Ahmad’s father. The meeting was a huge success with a large turnout from the public and the media.
On Friday, I was one of the guests on the Daily Politics programme, along with Colonel Bob Stewart.
On Saturday, I attended my usual appointment only surgery at Tooting Library.
I also spoke at a ‘Unite Against Fascism’ Conference at Congress House. The BNP got 4.2% share of the vote in the most recent General Election and fielded 119 candidates. They have 19 councillors in all parts of the country, and in the upcoming local elections, it is vital that people are not complacent about the threat that the BNP represent. More information about Unite Against Fascism is here.
Sadiq
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
On Monday, I had an early breakfast with Martin Linton MP and children from High View School, at the L.A.R.A Community Centre in St John’s Hill Battersea as part of Cancer Research UK’s ‘Britain’s Biggest Breakfast’ campaign. More information about the campaign is available online.
I had my usual advice surgery at Earlsfield Library between 10.30 and 11.30am.
In the afternoon, I attended the inaugural Associate Parliamentary Limb Loss Group meeting, and also the Public Accounts Committee (of which I am a member) where we looked at supporting elite athletes. Since 1999, UK sports have used National Lottery money to support elite athletes competing at the highest levels of sport for Great Britain. Our performance at the Olympic and Paralympics Games have improved since the start of UK sports world class performance programme. Since 1997, and since Sydney, the rate at which our elite athletes are funded has increased by more than 33%. I had asked a related question to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell MP, during Oral questions the week previously, which you can read here.
On Tuesday morning, I was part of the MPs football team that trounced the Police 4-1. A photo from the game is here. I also recorded a session of ‘The Surgery’ for LBC Radio with Richard Midson.
On Wednesday, I took part in the telephone hearing check with RNID, More details about the campaign are available here, and a photo here. I also took part in a post PMQs panel of MPs with Simon Mayo on Radio 5. Unfortunately, the political experts who went on before the MPs had spent a considerable time talking about how the Prime Minister had demonstrated quite clearly how opportunistic and unprincipled the new Conservative leadership is... which meant there was no need for me to crow as much as I would have liked!
On Wednesday, the Public Accounts Committee meeting examined faster access to better stroke care. I had the opportunity to raise the fact that St George’s has a world class stroke care unit, and Sir Nigel Crisp, Chief Executive of the NHS, praised the measures (excellent stroke care, new medicines, fast turnaround times) that were being used at St George’s, which are far above the national average.
At the close of formal business, Labour MPs packed out the House of Commons chamber for a centenary photograph. You can see this online here. 100 years ago, the first 29 Labour MPs formed a Parliamentary Labour Party, and it was a good opportunity to honour the occasion and reflect on our values and goals for the future.
On Thursday morning, I attended an informal seminar at No 10 Downing Street on Trust Schools. Businesses, faith organisations and education experts were there, and there was a good discussion about the education reforms.
In the evening, I undertook the 4th in the series of Just Listening exercises. The meeting in Furzedown Primary School was extremely well attended with excellent contributions from all who came. You can still contribute to the Just Listening process – more details here.
On Saturday I attended the peaceful rally at Trafalgar Square. I made a short speech to all those who came to peacefully disassociate themselves from the extremists who the Friday previously had held placards that were inciting murder and glorifying the attacks on July the 7th. I emphasised the need for it to be made clear that there is no clash of civilisations nor did the events of recent weeks in relation to the publication of the offensive cartoons and the response from fringe elements mean the Islam was incompatible with the West. There were thousands of British Muslims and non Muslims present demonstrating and attending the rally in an exemplary manner.
On Sunday, I canvassed parts of Furzedown ward with the local campaign team.
Sadiq
I had my usual advice surgery at Earlsfield Library between 10.30 and 11.30am.
In the afternoon, I attended the inaugural Associate Parliamentary Limb Loss Group meeting, and also the Public Accounts Committee (of which I am a member) where we looked at supporting elite athletes. Since 1999, UK sports have used National Lottery money to support elite athletes competing at the highest levels of sport for Great Britain. Our performance at the Olympic and Paralympics Games have improved since the start of UK sports world class performance programme. Since 1997, and since Sydney, the rate at which our elite athletes are funded has increased by more than 33%. I had asked a related question to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell MP, during Oral questions the week previously, which you can read here.
On Tuesday morning, I was part of the MPs football team that trounced the Police 4-1. A photo from the game is here. I also recorded a session of ‘The Surgery’ for LBC Radio with Richard Midson.
On Wednesday, I took part in the telephone hearing check with RNID, More details about the campaign are available here, and a photo here. I also took part in a post PMQs panel of MPs with Simon Mayo on Radio 5. Unfortunately, the political experts who went on before the MPs had spent a considerable time talking about how the Prime Minister had demonstrated quite clearly how opportunistic and unprincipled the new Conservative leadership is... which meant there was no need for me to crow as much as I would have liked!
On Wednesday, the Public Accounts Committee meeting examined faster access to better stroke care. I had the opportunity to raise the fact that St George’s has a world class stroke care unit, and Sir Nigel Crisp, Chief Executive of the NHS, praised the measures (excellent stroke care, new medicines, fast turnaround times) that were being used at St George’s, which are far above the national average.
At the close of formal business, Labour MPs packed out the House of Commons chamber for a centenary photograph. You can see this online here. 100 years ago, the first 29 Labour MPs formed a Parliamentary Labour Party, and it was a good opportunity to honour the occasion and reflect on our values and goals for the future.
On Thursday morning, I attended an informal seminar at No 10 Downing Street on Trust Schools. Businesses, faith organisations and education experts were there, and there was a good discussion about the education reforms.
In the evening, I undertook the 4th in the series of Just Listening exercises. The meeting in Furzedown Primary School was extremely well attended with excellent contributions from all who came. You can still contribute to the Just Listening process – more details here.
On Saturday I attended the peaceful rally at Trafalgar Square. I made a short speech to all those who came to peacefully disassociate themselves from the extremists who the Friday previously had held placards that were inciting murder and glorifying the attacks on July the 7th. I emphasised the need for it to be made clear that there is no clash of civilisations nor did the events of recent weeks in relation to the publication of the offensive cartoons and the response from fringe elements mean the Islam was incompatible with the West. There were thousands of British Muslims and non Muslims present demonstrating and attending the rally in an exemplary manner.
On Sunday, I canvassed parts of Furzedown ward with the local campaign team.
Sadiq
Tuesday, February 07, 2006
On Monday 30th January, the Council commemorated National Holocaust Memorial Day. Martin Linton MP, Cllr Stuart King (Leader of the Labour group), the Mayor, and other councillors and members of the public, attended an event in the Town Hall. The theme of this year’s Holocaust memorial event was ‘one person can make a difference’. During the years of the Holocaust, everyone had to make a choice – to become a perpetrator, a bystander, or to help those being persecuted. This year’s theme allowed every person to challenge our own current behaviour and to examine the moral choices that we can make. Recent atrocities such as Rwanda, Bosnia, Sierra Leone were also reflected on.
I also asked Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport a question on the help the Government is giving to our elite athletes in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics. You can read this online here. This was an issue that was also explored by the Public Accounts Committee the following week.
On Tuesday 31st, a fellow MP managed to secure an adjournment debate on post Earthquake relief in Pakistan. This is an important issue to local constituents and so I attended the debate and participated. You can read my contributions here. On the same day in Westminster Hall, there was also a debate on House of Lords reform, and again I managed to make a few interventions.
This was also the day when the House of Commons considered the amendments made by the House of Lords to the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. The proposal to bring in a new offence of incitement to religious hatred was in the Labour Party manifesto. The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill left the House of Commons late last year with a clear majority in favour of the provisions. The Bill was subject to a concerted campaign outside parliament, where a coalition of evangelical church groups and public figures spread scare stories about how the Bill would lead to the prosecution of comedians, authors, preachers and artists. The campaign was based on a false premise but it was well orchestrated and led to the press mobilising against the Bill. The Bill was passed by MPs, but with vital clauses defeated by the opposition parties. I was closely involved with the Bill from start to finish. Political points were undoubtedly scored in the defeat inflicted by the opposition parties, but there is a wider issue at stake - the Bill that was passed has been significantly diluted and the loophole in the law (that does not offer Muslim, Hindus or Christians the same protection from hatred as followers of mono ethnic religions like Judaism and Sikhism) has still not been fully closed.
On Wednesday 1st, I had the privilege of attending the official opening of the Offender Management Unit at Wandsworth Prison. The unit has been established to assist prisoners with their re-settlement into society. Courses will be provided at the Unit by Learn Direct as part of The Pathways Project, with prisoners receiving training on securing employment and managing businesses. The prison’s Education Department will also run courses on topics including English, Maths, Citizenship and IT. One of the primary causes of re-offending is the failure of prisoners to obtain stable work after release. The opening ceremony was conducted by Lord Ramsbottom, the former Chief Inspector of Prisons, and it was exciting to be involved with the beginning of this initiative, that will hopefully make a significant contribution in helping prisoners to resettle into the community.
In the evening, I attended the Channel 4 Political Awards, which was pre recorded. I was privileged to be nominated for an award as a ‘rising star’. I am slightly uncomfortable with the idea of a politician being a ‘star’, let alone a newcomer being a ‘rising star’. However it was great to have ex spin doctor Lance Price, comedian par excellence Arabella Weir, winner of peer of the year, Baroness Ashton, pollster Peter Kellner and celebrity Big Brother winner, Chantelle on the same table as me. My team in Westminster and Tooting (who are all Fast Show fans) were extremely thrilled that I met Arabella Weir.
On Thursday, I had another of my Just Listening consultation exercises. More information about this is available here. This was at Chestnut Grove Secondary School in Balham. I was extremely pleased to see such a big turnout when the temperature was below freezing, with so many Balham residents making thoughtful contributions to the consultation process.
On Friday, we received the excellent news that waiting lists are at their lowest ever in the history of the NHS. In December 2004, 504 in-patients at St. George’s were still waiting longer than six months, since December 2005 no in-patients have been waiting longer than six months. From December 2004 to December 2005, the total in-patient waiting list at St. George’s has fallen from over 5,000 to 4,641.
There was also another Just Listening exercise at the Earlsfield Library Reading Club. The Club only meets once a month, and is well attended. I was originally asked to spend 20 minutes with them, but their enthusiasm for the consultation meant that we spent more than double that time discussing key issues that were important to them.
On Saturday, I had my usual appointment surgery at Tooting Library.
Sadiq
I also asked Tessa Jowell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport a question on the help the Government is giving to our elite athletes in the lead up to the 2012 Olympics. You can read this online here. This was an issue that was also explored by the Public Accounts Committee the following week.
On Tuesday 31st, a fellow MP managed to secure an adjournment debate on post Earthquake relief in Pakistan. This is an important issue to local constituents and so I attended the debate and participated. You can read my contributions here. On the same day in Westminster Hall, there was also a debate on House of Lords reform, and again I managed to make a few interventions.
This was also the day when the House of Commons considered the amendments made by the House of Lords to the Racial and Religious Hatred Bill. The proposal to bring in a new offence of incitement to religious hatred was in the Labour Party manifesto. The Racial and Religious Hatred Bill left the House of Commons late last year with a clear majority in favour of the provisions. The Bill was subject to a concerted campaign outside parliament, where a coalition of evangelical church groups and public figures spread scare stories about how the Bill would lead to the prosecution of comedians, authors, preachers and artists. The campaign was based on a false premise but it was well orchestrated and led to the press mobilising against the Bill. The Bill was passed by MPs, but with vital clauses defeated by the opposition parties. I was closely involved with the Bill from start to finish. Political points were undoubtedly scored in the defeat inflicted by the opposition parties, but there is a wider issue at stake - the Bill that was passed has been significantly diluted and the loophole in the law (that does not offer Muslim, Hindus or Christians the same protection from hatred as followers of mono ethnic religions like Judaism and Sikhism) has still not been fully closed.
On Wednesday 1st, I had the privilege of attending the official opening of the Offender Management Unit at Wandsworth Prison. The unit has been established to assist prisoners with their re-settlement into society. Courses will be provided at the Unit by Learn Direct as part of The Pathways Project, with prisoners receiving training on securing employment and managing businesses. The prison’s Education Department will also run courses on topics including English, Maths, Citizenship and IT. One of the primary causes of re-offending is the failure of prisoners to obtain stable work after release. The opening ceremony was conducted by Lord Ramsbottom, the former Chief Inspector of Prisons, and it was exciting to be involved with the beginning of this initiative, that will hopefully make a significant contribution in helping prisoners to resettle into the community.
In the evening, I attended the Channel 4 Political Awards, which was pre recorded. I was privileged to be nominated for an award as a ‘rising star’. I am slightly uncomfortable with the idea of a politician being a ‘star’, let alone a newcomer being a ‘rising star’. However it was great to have ex spin doctor Lance Price, comedian par excellence Arabella Weir, winner of peer of the year, Baroness Ashton, pollster Peter Kellner and celebrity Big Brother winner, Chantelle on the same table as me. My team in Westminster and Tooting (who are all Fast Show fans) were extremely thrilled that I met Arabella Weir.
On Thursday, I had another of my Just Listening consultation exercises. More information about this is available here. This was at Chestnut Grove Secondary School in Balham. I was extremely pleased to see such a big turnout when the temperature was below freezing, with so many Balham residents making thoughtful contributions to the consultation process.
On Friday, we received the excellent news that waiting lists are at their lowest ever in the history of the NHS. In December 2004, 504 in-patients at St. George’s were still waiting longer than six months, since December 2005 no in-patients have been waiting longer than six months. From December 2004 to December 2005, the total in-patient waiting list at St. George’s has fallen from over 5,000 to 4,641.
There was also another Just Listening exercise at the Earlsfield Library Reading Club. The Club only meets once a month, and is well attended. I was originally asked to spend 20 minutes with them, but their enthusiasm for the consultation meant that we spent more than double that time discussing key issues that were important to them.
On Saturday, I had my usual appointment surgery at Tooting Library.
Sadiq
