Wednesday, October 18, 2006
One of the things I have been campaigning on consistently over the last year are for improvements in public transport facilities. This is a particular problem at Earlsfield Station where the steps up to the platform prevent many people from being able to access the trains. To keep up my campaign, I met with the new Minister in the Department of Transport, Tom Harris MP, who is in charge of trains. I was successful last year in making sure Balham Station was in the first tranche of stations to receive part of £370million the government is investing in making our stations more accessible. There have been some improvements over the past few months at Earlsfield including the installation of a disabled help point and a new ticket machine. However, I used the opportunity In my meeting with the new Minister, to emphasise that the access problems are far from being resolved.
On Tuesday, the House of Commons passed the 2nd Reading of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill. This is great news and something that is long overdue. When I was a solicitor my firm acted for the bereaved families of people who had died in preventable deaths such as rail disasters and in places of work. At the moment, we are lacking a proper framework for holding companies and other organisations to account where management failings lead to the death of workers. The Bill will establish a new approach to criminal liability for companies and introduce a more effective offence. Individuals will also be found guilty of manslaughter where they have caused death through gross negligence.
This week, the Public Accounts Committee investigated "Smarter Food Procurement in the Public Sector". The Public Sector in England spends around £2 billion per year on providing food and catering services to staff and service users! Without affecting the nutritional quality of the meals provided, the public sector (which includes school food, hospitals and the armed forces) can secure annual savings of £224 million on food and catering services over the next 5 years.
I also attended Diwali celebrations in the House of Commons that had been organised by Keith Vaz MP. The Hindu festival of Diwali is on the 21st October, but it was nice to begin celebrations a few days early!
On Thursday I took part in the ‘wear it pink’ Breast Cancer Campaign. This will be taking place on Friday 27th October, and anyone can take part by donating £2 and dressing in pink for the day. The donation will allow Breast Cancer Campaign to continue researching the cure and help the one woman in nine in the UK that will be diagnosed with breast cancer. The target this year is £2.1m.To register and to receive your free fundraising pack either call freephone 0800 1073104; or visit the website. My commitment was confirmed beyond doubt by my willingness to look very pink and very silly to raise awareness of the campaign. You can see the photo here.
At the end of the days hearing I spoke in an Adjournment Debate I had secured on neonatal care. I outlined the significant progress that has been made in neonatal care – the fact that four in five babies now survive, compared with one in five in the 1980s is testament not only to the technological advances, but also the work of doctors and nurses in this area. I visited the neonatal unit at St George’s recently – the hospital offers the most advanced neonatal care in South West London, supported by £72m of funding over three years. However, I used the Adjournment Debate to stress that there is an urgent need for more funding, additional recruitment of neonatal nurses, extra capacity and a more effective commissioning service. Research by BLISS has shown that only 3% of neonatal units in the UK can currently provide one to one nursing for premature babies, and that the nursing shortfall is around 2700 nationwide. You can read the full debate here. I was encouraged by the Minister’s response and hope that the debate helped to raise awareness of these issues.
On Friday I took part in a School Council meeting at Ravenstone Primary School in Balham and gave out badges to newly elected members of the Council, who ranged from Year 3-6. I also spent some time with the excellent Headteacher Alan Millington discussing the improvements to the school over the last few years and spent a pleasant morning visiting various classes, taking part in an assembly and meeting students and staff.
On Sunday I reviewed the papers on the Adam Boulton morning show on Sky TV with Tory Rachael Whetstone. I then took part in a fantastic event in Brick Lane on behalf of Concern Worldwide "Standing up to Poverty". I have set out the pledge below, specially written by Richard Curtis, calling on all those who gathered at the event to ‘Stand Up Against Poverty’.
The Pledge:
“We stand here proudly as members of the generation that intends to defeat extreme poverty, the greatest challenge of our times.
We stand up now because we do not wish, years from now, to stand in front of the next generation and say ‘we knew that millions of people were dying unnecessarily every year – and we stood by, doing nothing.'
We cannot stay seated when a child born in a poor country today will die 30 years earlier than a child born in a wealthy one. It’s is time to end all this heartbreak.
And we stand up because we are asking not for charity but justice – we know, that in our names, world leaders have already made promises to bring this to an end – they are called the Millennium Development Goals.
What is needed is the political will to achieve and exceed these goals - So we, hundreds of thousands of concerned individuals from over 100 countries, are on our feet to say:
To the leaders of the wealthy countries – be great - fight to keep your promises – debt cancellation, more and better aid, and trade rules that help fight poverty – you know what needs to be done – do it.
We also stand before the leaders of poorer countries to say:
Be great – make it your first responsibility to save the lives of your poorest citizens. We ask you to achieve real transparency and accountability in how money is spent, to tackle inequality, to root out corruption. You know what needs to be done. Do it.
Every generation has mighty battles to fight against evils such as slavery and apartheid which seem as though they cannot be defeated. But history proves time and again they can, if enough people stand up against injustice.
We wish to set a record today of the number of people standing up to demand action on poverty – but the record we really want to break is the world’s record of breaking promises and just ignoring the poor.
We are six billion Voices. We want justice now. No more excuses. We will not stand for them.”
You can see a photo from the event here.
Sadiq
On Tuesday, the House of Commons passed the 2nd Reading of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Bill. This is great news and something that is long overdue. When I was a solicitor my firm acted for the bereaved families of people who had died in preventable deaths such as rail disasters and in places of work. At the moment, we are lacking a proper framework for holding companies and other organisations to account where management failings lead to the death of workers. The Bill will establish a new approach to criminal liability for companies and introduce a more effective offence. Individuals will also be found guilty of manslaughter where they have caused death through gross negligence.
This week, the Public Accounts Committee investigated "Smarter Food Procurement in the Public Sector". The Public Sector in England spends around £2 billion per year on providing food and catering services to staff and service users! Without affecting the nutritional quality of the meals provided, the public sector (which includes school food, hospitals and the armed forces) can secure annual savings of £224 million on food and catering services over the next 5 years.
I also attended Diwali celebrations in the House of Commons that had been organised by Keith Vaz MP. The Hindu festival of Diwali is on the 21st October, but it was nice to begin celebrations a few days early!
On Thursday I took part in the ‘wear it pink’ Breast Cancer Campaign. This will be taking place on Friday 27th October, and anyone can take part by donating £2 and dressing in pink for the day. The donation will allow Breast Cancer Campaign to continue researching the cure and help the one woman in nine in the UK that will be diagnosed with breast cancer. The target this year is £2.1m.To register and to receive your free fundraising pack either call freephone 0800 1073104; or visit the website. My commitment was confirmed beyond doubt by my willingness to look very pink and very silly to raise awareness of the campaign. You can see the photo here.
At the end of the days hearing I spoke in an Adjournment Debate I had secured on neonatal care. I outlined the significant progress that has been made in neonatal care – the fact that four in five babies now survive, compared with one in five in the 1980s is testament not only to the technological advances, but also the work of doctors and nurses in this area. I visited the neonatal unit at St George’s recently – the hospital offers the most advanced neonatal care in South West London, supported by £72m of funding over three years. However, I used the Adjournment Debate to stress that there is an urgent need for more funding, additional recruitment of neonatal nurses, extra capacity and a more effective commissioning service. Research by BLISS has shown that only 3% of neonatal units in the UK can currently provide one to one nursing for premature babies, and that the nursing shortfall is around 2700 nationwide. You can read the full debate here. I was encouraged by the Minister’s response and hope that the debate helped to raise awareness of these issues.
On Friday I took part in a School Council meeting at Ravenstone Primary School in Balham and gave out badges to newly elected members of the Council, who ranged from Year 3-6. I also spent some time with the excellent Headteacher Alan Millington discussing the improvements to the school over the last few years and spent a pleasant morning visiting various classes, taking part in an assembly and meeting students and staff.
On Sunday I reviewed the papers on the Adam Boulton morning show on Sky TV with Tory Rachael Whetstone. I then took part in a fantastic event in Brick Lane on behalf of Concern Worldwide "Standing up to Poverty". I have set out the pledge below, specially written by Richard Curtis, calling on all those who gathered at the event to ‘Stand Up Against Poverty’.
The Pledge:
“We stand here proudly as members of the generation that intends to defeat extreme poverty, the greatest challenge of our times.
We stand up now because we do not wish, years from now, to stand in front of the next generation and say ‘we knew that millions of people were dying unnecessarily every year – and we stood by, doing nothing.'
We cannot stay seated when a child born in a poor country today will die 30 years earlier than a child born in a wealthy one. It’s is time to end all this heartbreak.
And we stand up because we are asking not for charity but justice – we know, that in our names, world leaders have already made promises to bring this to an end – they are called the Millennium Development Goals.
What is needed is the political will to achieve and exceed these goals - So we, hundreds of thousands of concerned individuals from over 100 countries, are on our feet to say:
To the leaders of the wealthy countries – be great - fight to keep your promises – debt cancellation, more and better aid, and trade rules that help fight poverty – you know what needs to be done – do it.
We also stand before the leaders of poorer countries to say:
Be great – make it your first responsibility to save the lives of your poorest citizens. We ask you to achieve real transparency and accountability in how money is spent, to tackle inequality, to root out corruption. You know what needs to be done. Do it.
Every generation has mighty battles to fight against evils such as slavery and apartheid which seem as though they cannot be defeated. But history proves time and again they can, if enough people stand up against injustice.
We wish to set a record today of the number of people standing up to demand action on poverty – but the record we really want to break is the world’s record of breaking promises and just ignoring the poor.
We are six billion Voices. We want justice now. No more excuses. We will not stand for them.”
You can see a photo from the event here.
Sadiq
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Last Wednesday I attended a Patient Forum at the Courtyard Clinic at St Georges. The clinic helps patients with HIV and STIs and has now had 4 patient forum meetings. Each forum meeting has been better attended than the last one. I am waiting with baited breath to see if the next meeting has more attendees or whether my talk has scared users off! The theme of the evening was "grassroots to government". My talk was about giving power to patients via public and patient involvement eg Patient and Public Involvement Forums as well as other routes to take charge of "our hospital". Much more interesting than my talk were the ones given by Positively Women, the patient representative from Bloomsbury Clinic and the representative of Nursing and PPI at St Georges. You can find out more about the PPIF here.
On Thursday I met with residents of Dalebury Road to discuss their concerns about the lack of proper of traffic calming measures on this and adjoining roads. Tragically a ten year old girl was run over by a car on this road in September and died as a result of her injuries. Residents have signed a petition calling for a reduction in the speed limit from 30 MPH to 20MPH. They have also called for road humps and adequate signs telling drivers to slow down. I have been supporting this petition and am calling on the surrounding schools and play centres to support it also. It is vital that we do what we can now to prevent another child suffering the same end.
In the evening I joined Cllr Judi Gasser and other members of the Labour Action team in Furzedown to call on residents of Leverson and Anvil Close in Furzedown ward to discuss concerns they have about anti social behaviour from young people in that area. As well as urging the Council to provide youth facilities for local youth, residents signed a petition asking for CCTV cameras in the area. This will act as a deterrent and also aid the police is successfully prosecuting anyone taking part in anti social behaviour. A number of residents felt unsafe walking in and around their street. If you have a concern about anti social behaviour and wish to contact your local Safer Neighbourhood Team, their details are available here.
On Saturday I had my usual advice session at Tooting library and on Monday I had my advice session at Earlsfield Library.
This week is Mental Health Week in Wandsworth and October 10th marks World Mental Health day. I spent his morning on board a specially adapted bus to learn more about Wandsworth Primary Care Trust’s aim to challenge the stigma that comes from mental health. The double-decker bus was parked in Sainsbury’s car park, behind Tooting Broadway, and was open to all members of the public. The insightful information available appealed to many people who were happy to dispel many of the common misconceptions of mental health problems. Sleeping problems, stress, anxiety and phobias are prime examples of how people are affected mentally. In a positive and well organised way, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust revealed how everyone can suffer such problems and how one can get over them. The bus will be back in Tooting at St George’s hospital on Thursday 12th October from 11am – 3pm.
After this it was back to Parliament for the first day of term. In addition to the usual Parliamentary business (which included the passing in the House of Commons of the Road Safety Bill) I met with representatives of Bliss. Bliss are the leading national charity focussing on neonatal care and are helping me with an Adjournment Debate I will be moving on Thursday to highlight some concerns in this area. You can find out more about Bliss here.
Sadiq
On Thursday I met with residents of Dalebury Road to discuss their concerns about the lack of proper of traffic calming measures on this and adjoining roads. Tragically a ten year old girl was run over by a car on this road in September and died as a result of her injuries. Residents have signed a petition calling for a reduction in the speed limit from 30 MPH to 20MPH. They have also called for road humps and adequate signs telling drivers to slow down. I have been supporting this petition and am calling on the surrounding schools and play centres to support it also. It is vital that we do what we can now to prevent another child suffering the same end.
In the evening I joined Cllr Judi Gasser and other members of the Labour Action team in Furzedown to call on residents of Leverson and Anvil Close in Furzedown ward to discuss concerns they have about anti social behaviour from young people in that area. As well as urging the Council to provide youth facilities for local youth, residents signed a petition asking for CCTV cameras in the area. This will act as a deterrent and also aid the police is successfully prosecuting anyone taking part in anti social behaviour. A number of residents felt unsafe walking in and around their street. If you have a concern about anti social behaviour and wish to contact your local Safer Neighbourhood Team, their details are available here.
On Saturday I had my usual advice session at Tooting library and on Monday I had my advice session at Earlsfield Library.
This week is Mental Health Week in Wandsworth and October 10th marks World Mental Health day. I spent his morning on board a specially adapted bus to learn more about Wandsworth Primary Care Trust’s aim to challenge the stigma that comes from mental health. The double-decker bus was parked in Sainsbury’s car park, behind Tooting Broadway, and was open to all members of the public. The insightful information available appealed to many people who were happy to dispel many of the common misconceptions of mental health problems. Sleeping problems, stress, anxiety and phobias are prime examples of how people are affected mentally. In a positive and well organised way, South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust revealed how everyone can suffer such problems and how one can get over them. The bus will be back in Tooting at St George’s hospital on Thursday 12th October from 11am – 3pm.
After this it was back to Parliament for the first day of term. In addition to the usual Parliamentary business (which included the passing in the House of Commons of the Road Safety Bill) I met with representatives of Bliss. Bliss are the leading national charity focussing on neonatal care and are helping me with an Adjournment Debate I will be moving on Thursday to highlight some concerns in this area. You can find out more about Bliss here.
Sadiq
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
One of the big political issues of today is the environment. However, there is a common misconception that this massive issue effects countries and business, and is solely to do with greenhouse gases and renewable energies. One of the biggest concerns I have is the amount of water that is wasted by leakages or by our use of water. The hosepipe ban that was introduced in Tooting, a number of months ago, brought home the problems of water usage to many Tooting residents during the summer. I have been in constant touch with Thames Water to see what they have been doing. One of the things I agreed to do was to spend an evening with their special water leakage team. You can find out more about this here.
The new Department for Communities and Local Government is an exciting step forward which I welcome. DCLG has a powerful new remit to promote community cohesion and equality, as well as responsibility for housing, urban regeneration, planning and local government. A lot of these issues are of paramount importance to Tooting so I have been keen to meet with the DCLG team to discuss the range of issues facing our community in Tooting. I have met with the Minister for Local Government and Community Cohesion Phil Woolas MP and advisors from the department.
I also spoke at and chaired events at the Progress Annual Conference – on ‘Security versus Liberty: Will we be forced to choose?’ and a Question Time panel with Peter Hain MP, Estelle Morris and Tristram Hunt. More details available on the newly re-launched Progress website.
I was the chief guest speaker at the AGM of the Wandsworth Bengali Welfare Association on Trinity Road. More than 40 users turned up to the AGM. I used the opportunity to pay tribute to all the volunteers, trustees and staff who make the centre such a huge success, notwithstanding the yearly threats of cuts from the Council.
The last week of September was spent in Manchester for the annual Labour Party conference. This year was busier than usual for me as I was speaking at more than 10 fringe events ranging from the NHS to Higher education, from the conflict in Palestine and Israel to community cohesion and much more. It was a really enjoyable week. There was not the civil war that the so called experts had predicted! The highlights of the week were clearly the speeches from three of the biggest statesmen of the last generation; Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. I have been present at every party conference speech made by Tony Blair as leader of the Party and Gordon Brown as first Shadow and then Chancellor over the period. It is sad that this will be the last year that these two play these roles but the week has renewed my confidence that we have the team and the policies to govern this country successfully for at least another ten years. Another highlight of the week is the annual MPs vs Press football match. The MPs have not won this fixture for the last 5 years… until this year! We won 6-4 but surprisingly no coverage was given to this victory in the press unlike the years when the press win.
On Friday I took part in the Macmillan coffee morning at St Georges Hospital. The World's Biggest Coffee Morning is Macmillan's biggest fundraiser and breaks world records every year with the number of people taking part. The money raised goes to support vitally needed cancer services across the country. The efforts of the Macmillan medical team at St George's Hospital make a real difference to the local community. The success of the Coffee Mornings shows how much people care about raising money for cancer services
On Saturday, I attended the 27th Dirga Puja – the annual autumn festival of the local Hindu Bengali community at Bina Hall on Upper Tooting Road. The Deputy Mayor of Wandsworth, Tooting's excellent Labour Councillor Nick Bowes and Honorary Alderman Dilwar Hossain were also present along with more than 200 locals.
On Monday I held an assembly with pupils from Fircroft Primary School where I was pleased to hand out the 16 footballs I had been given by McDonalds. As a member of the UK Parliamentary Football Club, I recently played in a competition against teams from the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament. As well as raising £1,000 for the UKPFC’s good causes, I was invited to donate a variety of footballs to a primary school in Tooting.
Sadiq
The new Department for Communities and Local Government is an exciting step forward which I welcome. DCLG has a powerful new remit to promote community cohesion and equality, as well as responsibility for housing, urban regeneration, planning and local government. A lot of these issues are of paramount importance to Tooting so I have been keen to meet with the DCLG team to discuss the range of issues facing our community in Tooting. I have met with the Minister for Local Government and Community Cohesion Phil Woolas MP and advisors from the department.
I also spoke at and chaired events at the Progress Annual Conference – on ‘Security versus Liberty: Will we be forced to choose?’ and a Question Time panel with Peter Hain MP, Estelle Morris and Tristram Hunt. More details available on the newly re-launched Progress website.
I was the chief guest speaker at the AGM of the Wandsworth Bengali Welfare Association on Trinity Road. More than 40 users turned up to the AGM. I used the opportunity to pay tribute to all the volunteers, trustees and staff who make the centre such a huge success, notwithstanding the yearly threats of cuts from the Council.
The last week of September was spent in Manchester for the annual Labour Party conference. This year was busier than usual for me as I was speaking at more than 10 fringe events ranging from the NHS to Higher education, from the conflict in Palestine and Israel to community cohesion and much more. It was a really enjoyable week. There was not the civil war that the so called experts had predicted! The highlights of the week were clearly the speeches from three of the biggest statesmen of the last generation; Gordon Brown, Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. I have been present at every party conference speech made by Tony Blair as leader of the Party and Gordon Brown as first Shadow and then Chancellor over the period. It is sad that this will be the last year that these two play these roles but the week has renewed my confidence that we have the team and the policies to govern this country successfully for at least another ten years. Another highlight of the week is the annual MPs vs Press football match. The MPs have not won this fixture for the last 5 years… until this year! We won 6-4 but surprisingly no coverage was given to this victory in the press unlike the years when the press win.
On Friday I took part in the Macmillan coffee morning at St Georges Hospital. The World's Biggest Coffee Morning is Macmillan's biggest fundraiser and breaks world records every year with the number of people taking part. The money raised goes to support vitally needed cancer services across the country. The efforts of the Macmillan medical team at St George's Hospital make a real difference to the local community. The success of the Coffee Mornings shows how much people care about raising money for cancer services
On Saturday, I attended the 27th Dirga Puja – the annual autumn festival of the local Hindu Bengali community at Bina Hall on Upper Tooting Road. The Deputy Mayor of Wandsworth, Tooting's excellent Labour Councillor Nick Bowes and Honorary Alderman Dilwar Hossain were also present along with more than 200 locals.
On Monday I held an assembly with pupils from Fircroft Primary School where I was pleased to hand out the 16 footballs I had been given by McDonalds. As a member of the UK Parliamentary Football Club, I recently played in a competition against teams from the Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament. As well as raising £1,000 for the UKPFC’s good causes, I was invited to donate a variety of footballs to a primary school in Tooting.
Sadiq
