A (very!) early start this morning with a meeting at 7 45. As part of my Treasury Select Committee work, I went to PriceWaterhouseCoopers for a post-Budget event there with business leaders from throughout London.
In the evening, I met up with the the Editor of the Enfield Independent, Kate Russell, and Dominic Gover, a journalist there. An important part of my job is meeting with the local Press and catching up on important local issues. Tonight was especially poignant as Kate is leaving the Enfield Independent after nine years to go to The Metro. She will be very much missed and it has been a pleasure working with her. Enfield's loss is definitely London's gain!
On Tuesday night, the Queen invited a group of MPs from the House of Commons along to Buckingham Palace for a reception, so my wife and I went along. I was amazed at how beautiful it was – the pictures alone are outstanding, and it’s a shame they’re not on show to the public more often really. It was a lovely evening and we met Charles, Edward, Prince Phillip, as well as the Queen herself!
A fascinating meeting this afternoon, organised by the Great Lakes of Africa All Party Group. Although this is not an area of the world that I do a lot of work with, I do take the time to support them and help out where I can. This meeting was with the Right Honourable Ian McCartney – the Foreign Minister - and talked about how to abolish corruption in the area.
On Monday, I met Caroline Flint MP, Minister of State for Public Health, to promote No Smoking week. With less than 100 days to go until smoking is banned in public places, the anti-smoking campaign is gathering apace and it is hoped that this campaign will encourage people to quit before the smoking ban comes into force.
There’s never been a better time to give up smoking. Over one in four people still smoke and I hope that this campaign will encourage people to kick the habit once and for all.
On Monday I had a high-profile meeting with the Campaign for Peace and Unity in Sri Lanka. It was a panel discussion, chaired by Lord Naseby, the chair of the APPG on Sri Lanka. I made a speech about the peace process in the area. I do a lot of work on Sri Lanka – it’s an area of the world that I care deeply about and I always try and do what I can do bring the issue to people’s attention.
The meeting was very interesting, with quite a few passionate speeches. It received media coverage from as far afield as Colombo, Sri Lanka, in the Colombo Daily News, no less!
On Friday I joined the pupils of Wilbury Way and Mrs Sandra Heaviside, the Headteacher, for their Red Nose Day fundraising. It was great fun and I was interested to see how the extension and refurbishment there is coming on.
I got an early flight back from Dublin and was straight back to the Commons to sponsor Paul Farrelly MP’s Temporary and Agency Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Bill’s 2nd Reading. You can see the Hansard report on this here:
In the afternoon, I headed back to the constituency for my weekly Advice Surgery. It’s good to meet my constituents and find out what is happening in my local area.
As you may know, I am a member of the Treasury Select Committee. I have always been interested in financial matters and I think the work the Treasury Select Committee does in monitoring the business and financial industry as a whole is very important.
This week, we went to Dublin as part of a Treasury Committee Delegation to investigate unclaimed assets in Ireland. This has been a success story for the government over in Ireland. Basically, they have released unclaimed assets from inactive and dormant bank accounts (of which there were a great deal more than expected, as it turned out) to charities and good causes. The Treasury Select Committee went to find out more about this, with a view to deciding if it would be something that would work in Britain too.
We also met our counterparts from the Finance & the Public Service Select Committee over in the Dáil in Dublin. It was a really informative meeting and, although short, the trip was hugely successful.
An important, busy day today. I went to attend the Treasury Select Committee’s Evidence Session on 'Climate Change and the Stern Review’ and what might be the implications for Treasury policy.
I dashed straight from the Select Committee to speak at a Westminster Hall Adjournment Debate on the Lebanon. There was a lot of interest in this debate, and I felt it was important to be there and to make my feelings known. Here’s the report of what was said:
On Thursday, I asked the Leader of the House, Jack Straw, about Lords reforms. You can see my questions and the answers I received here:
Later on, I went to a meeting between the NHBC (the National House-Building Council) and Labour MPs. As part of my work as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Homelessness & Housing Need, I regularly attend meetings of this nature.
I also had a meeting with First Rung, a charity based in Edmonton, which works with local businesses to get young people vital training and business opportunities which, as its name suggests, gives them a step onto the first rung of the job market. Here's more information on the work they do:
Wednesday is always an exciting day here, with Prime Minister's Questions taking place and the usual combative verbal banter between Blair and Cameron.
I started the day with a meeting with the Ambassador to the United Kingdom for the Republic of Guinea, H.E. Mr Lansana Keita, together with Ibrahim Suma, a member of the local Edmonton Labour Party. The situation in Guinea is very concerning at the moment, with a state of emergency being declared after recent violent protests in which nearly 100 people were killed. I have tabled some parliamentary questions about this matter in order to try and raise awareness of it in the Commons. You can find out more about the issue here:
On Tuesday I didn’t get chance to toss any pancakes unfortunately as plenty of work commitments kept me busy all day. You may have heard about the Treasury Select Committee meeting that I attended on Tuesday as it has appeared a lot in the press this week. We considered the Draft Report on 'Are You Covered? Travel Insurance & Its Regulation' which reveals that 10 million British people travelling abroad for holidays last year would not have been covered for medical costs caused by a terrorist attack, which is very worrying indeed. For the report in full, click here:
Later, I met Geraint Day (Head of Health & Environment at the Institute of Directors) for a meeting, before dashing to the All-Party Parliamentary Small Business Group, to find out more about the work they are doing to promote the interests of small businesses. Reform of the House of Lords is a real hot potato issue at the moment in the Commons, with the constitution of the Upper Chamber again coming up for debate. I attended a fascinating discussion on the issue, organised by the Hansard Society which seeks to promote Parliamentrary democracy.
Phew! Another busy week in Westminster. The first week back after recess is always busier than most because we have to catch up with the previous week’s business too.
Monday started with me getting to grips with modern technology, when an IT specialist came to the office to help me update my computer systems. I’m planning to get my website updated and more interactive soon, so watch this space for more information on that!
It’s always nice to get the chance to celebrate big events with my constituents, so it was lovely to be invited to attend Olive Miller’s 100th birthday celebration tea at the Little Park Luncheon club. Olive seemed amazingly healthy and well for someone celebrating 100 and it was a well-attended event. There was even a tea dance, but I didn’t want to demonstrate my two left feet so I left the moves to the other guests!
