May 2009 report

Parliamentary Business

MPs expenses

As an MP who lives in inner london and represents an inner london constituency I do not claim any allowances for a second home nor any other related personal allowances. All my claims since I was elected in 2005 have been for the costs of running my office and serving Hackney constituents. Every single claim has been accompanied by receipt.

On constituency business I travel almost exclusively on public transport (when not walking or cycling). I do not claim for the cost of food.

I have a policy of encouraging local Hackney students to do short placements in my office and ensure that they are paid for out of pocket expenses (lunch and reasonable travel costs) which I believe is reasonable. The same applies to anyone doing a work placement. I do not employ anyone related to me and all staff have been appointed through an open access application and interview process - sometimes with an external person on the interview panel.

Each year I publish my headline expenses on my website ahead of formal publication. This year the full receipts will be available very soon.

Ultimately every pound of taxpayers' money saved is a pound to spend on vital public services. It is this ethos which has driven my approach throughout my career in public service and will continue to do so.

Equality Bill

The equality bill had its second reading on 27 April.

The bill sets out new laws to help narrow the gap between rich and poor; outlaw age discrimination; require businesses to report on gender pay and strengthen Britain's anti-discrimination legislation.

The new equality bill draws together nine pieces of legislation and around 100 statutory instruments and replaces them with a single Act to be written in plain English so everyone knows their legal rights and obligations.

The bill places a new duty on Government ministers, departments and public bodies such as local authorities and the NHS to consider what action they can take to reduce socio-economic inequality through their service delivery.

The equality duty on the public sector (which currently covers race, disability and gender) will be extended in the new duty to cover pregnancy and maternity, sexual orientation, gender re-assignment, age and religion. It will require public authorities to consider disadvantaged groups in the community when designing policies, programmes or services. For example, extra park benches for older citizens to enjoy parkland as well as children's play areas or providing halal and kosher options for meals on wheels.

The bill will make it unlawful to discriminate against someone because of their age when providing services, for example, travel insurance should be provided on the basis of actual risk not an arbitrary assumption of how healthy someone of a particular age is. This will not affect products or services for older people where age-based treatment is justified such as priority flu vaccinations for over-65s.

The bill also contains a power to require employers in the private sector with 250 or more staff to report on gender pay gaps. The Equality and Human Rights commission will be drawing up the framework for such reports with business and unions over the summer.

The bill extends the permission to use women-only shortlists in elections until 2030.

The bill will allow for recommendations to be made in employment tribunals for discrimination cases which will benefit the whole workforce not just the individual who wins the claim.

The bill strengthens the law to protect those who are caring for others. A person cannot be refused a job on the basis that they have caring responsibilities either for a child or elderly relative.

Draft floods and water management bill

The Department for Environment has published a draft bill and consultation to look at how to reduce the impact of flooding, improve our ability to manage the risk, give water companies better powers to conserve water during drought, reduce pollution and improve water quality.

Since the major floods in 2007 over 43,000 homes have been protected by new flood defences. This new bill outlines plans to give communities greater protection and improve the response to flooding for the future.

It also looks at future risks from climate change such as greater demand for water and more frequent extreme weather.

The bill and consultation document can be downloaded at
www.defra.gov.uk

Other matters

Engaging Communities in Criminal Justice

The Government has launched proposals for making the justice system more responsive to local communities.

The proposals include measures to enable local people to find out the outcome of cases of particular local concern online and get more information on justice outcomes in different formats linked in to area crime maps.

The proposals also contain measures to give people more of a say in how recovered assets are used and determine which projects in the community should be undertaken by offenders during their community service.

Hackney is one of 60 pioneer areas across the country that will see a number of these measures piloted over the course of the year.

Already the Community Payback scheme (which gives people the chance to nominate projects to be undertaken through community service) has been piloted in Hackney.

The proposals introduce community impact statements to give communities a chance to feed their views into the justice process so the impact of an offence on the community will be taken into consideration when sentencing.

There will be a new adult restorative justice strategy to expand successful schemes in which young offenders are confronted with the consequences of their actions and have the opportunity to make amends to their victims.

The consultation ends on Friday 31 July and can be found at http://consultations.cjsonline.gov.uk/?conid=1

Smart meters

The Government has announced plans to install smart meters in all homes and small businesses in Britain by 2020.

Smart meters display the amount of energy being used in real time and enable meter readings to be taken remotely.

These meters will mean householders will be able to see from moment to moment exactly how much gas and electricity they are using and how much energy can be saved by switching off a light or taking a device off standby.

The meters will be the end of estimated billing and waiting for the meter man.

The installation of smart meters is a key step in moving towards smart grids where renewable generation at micro and community level can feed into the main grid to support low-carbon energy use.

To find out how you can save energy and reduce your carbon footprint visit http://actonco2.direct.gov.uk/index.html

Carbon capture

The Secretary of State for Energy announced in May that carbon capture and storage will be retrofitted on all coal-fired power stations in Britain within five years of the technology being secured.

Carbon capture and storage technologies capture CO2 and lock it permanently underground reducing carbon emissions by 90 per cent.

The technology is yet to be fully demonstrated at a commercial scale. The race is now on for the first end-to-end demonstration which will see Britain leading the world in carbon abatement industry.

No new coal fired power stations will be built in the UK without this technology.

National strategy for autism

A national consultation on autism has been launched by the Department of Health aimed at improving the quality of services provided to adults with autism.

The consultation will run for 20 weeks and seeks the views of people with autism, their families, carers and those delivering services.

The consultation is available at www.dh.gov.uk

Or you can write to Adult Autism Strategy consultation, Department of Health, Room 124, Wellington House, 133-155 Waterloo Road, London, SE1 8UG.

Or email autism@dh.gsi.gov.uk

Fair wages

The Government is changing the minimum wage rules to stop tips counting as payment of the minimum wage.

Using tips to make up a worker's minimum wage payment will be outlawed from October this year ensuring that tips go to staff on top of their pay and not put through the payroll.

The 10th anniversary of minimum wage was celebrated last month.

To report an employer not paying minimum wage you can call the national minimum wage helpline in confidence on 0845 6000 678.

Workers Memorial Day

Workers Memorial Day is held annually on 28 April to commemorate the thousands of people who have been killed or injured through work.

The day is not currently officially recognised and the Government is looking at changing this.

Reported major injuries in the workplace have fallen 9 per cent since the start of the decade and workplace deaths have also fallen (around 5 per cent). The UK has one of the lowest fatal injury rates in Europe. However, despite this progress 229 people were killed at work in 2007/08.

Workers Memorial Day started in Canada in 1984 and is officially recognised in many countries including Brazil, Spain and the USA.

Graduate talent pool

The Government has launched a new online matching service for employers and graduates looking to offer and take up internships.

The 'Graduate Talent Pool' website will go live in September along with an advice line.

A number of employers have already signed up including Network Rail, the Police Service, Marks and Spencer and Microsoft. Organisations can register their interest at www.dius.gov.uk/graduatetalentpool.co.uk

Expanding the number of internships will help more graduates kick-start their careers and enable companies to bring fresh talent into the workplace.

Cracking down on bad landlords

The Government is introducing new measures to tackle bad landlords and protect tenants living in privately rented accommodation.

A new national register of landlords will be introduced. Landlords will need to include their registration number on tenancy agreements and could be removed from the list for persistent poor performance such as failing to carry out repairs or not protecting tenants deposits.

The measures will also include a better complaints and compensation procedure. A system will be set up to enable tenants to register official complaints about sub-standard landlords who may be removed from the register.

The Government is also looking to change the law to ensure tenants have a minimum of two months' notice if they have to leave their home because their landlord has been repossessed.

Hackney issues

Hackney pharmacy pioneers test

Kingsland Pharmacy on Kingsland Road is pioneering a new hepatitis testing scheme.

City and Hackney Primary Care Trust, the Hepatitus C Trust and Kingsland Pharmacy are joining together to offer free, on demand hepatitis B and C blood spot tests.

The pilot will run from 19 May until 19 August 2009.

The majority of the 600,000 to 800,000 people living with hepatitis B or C in the UK are undiagnosed. If the pilot is successful the model may be rolled out nationally.

East London line construction

Work taking place on the east London line at Dalston Junction which has temporarily diverted traffic on one lane of Dalston Lane is now likely to extend to October 2009.

Work to replace the bridge has uncovered unmapped steel beams and means work cannot proceed as originally planned. The one lane diversion is now likely to be in place until October.

Hackney musicians scoop award

Hackney Music Development Trust won the prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Education in May for their fantastic Confucius Says production

It is the second time HMDT have won this award (won the first time in 2004 for Operaction Hackney: On London Fields).

The programme involved nine Hackney schools in activities exploring and celebrating Chinese culture. The programme culminated in a new opera performed at the Hackney Empire by 350 of the participants.