The Government announced a further £3.5 billion to help with the removal of cladding for buildings over 18m. This is a welcome step, but it does not go far enough to protect all leaseholders impacted by the cladding scandal. There also remains a lot of unanswered questions surrounding how the money will be allocated and how the loan scheme for low-rise buildings will work. I am pursuing the details on this.

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The Public Accounts Committee has today published a report on the Government's Progress in remediating dangerous cladding.

Three years after the Grenfell Tower disaster in which 72 people lost their lives, only a third (155 out of 455) of high-rise buildings with Grenfell-style flammable cladding due to be fixed by now have had their cladding replaced with a safe alternative.

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Before Covid-19 I held open advice surgeries at Hackney Town Hall twice a month for local residents as well as local doorstep surgeries.

With lockdown measures being slowly eased by the Government, I am looking at how to hold advice surgeries and meet with residents. I understand that not everyone has access to the internet and face to face appointments provide a vital service for many. However, ensuring everyone’s safety is the most important issue.

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I have received an unprecedented amount of emails from constituents regarding policy issues, including the Black Lives Matter movement and the Gender Recognition Act. Thank you for contacting me and raising your concerns and support. I am responding to everyone individually however, due to increased levels of correspondence this is taking longer than expected.

If you have emailed me on an issue, I will respond to you. Thank you for your patience.

 

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Due to the coronavirus epidemic, we are currently dealing with a higher volume of emails in the office. This means we may not be able to meet our 10-working day turnaround as we are prioritising urgent cases. However, my office phone lines are open Monday – Friday 10am-5pm if you need any assistance.

Hackney Council have created a support hub and I would encourage you to visit their website to find out information on what is being done in the local community.

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Every day more than 250 shop workers are attacked and up to September 2019, there have been at least 42,000 violent and abusive attacks on shop workers. This is clearly unacceptable. 

There are now more than 50 types of products that are restricted by law and shop workers are expected to enforce the law. Staff often pay the price by being on the receiving end of violent and abusive behaviour from customers. 

Nobody should face violence at work. The laws on the protections of shop workers need to be strengthend.

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December 12th is our chance to elect a truly transformational Labour Government. 

See me discuss why only Labour will give the public a final say on Brexit, invest properly in our public services, and put the climate emergency top of the agenda.

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This week the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) looked at the Home Office’s response to fraud in English Language Tests for visas. Whilst it's right there was a clampdown, the Home Office also wrongly accused thousands of innocent people of fraud – some of whom have since been deported whilst others have had to spend thousands of pounds to clear their name.

See me discuss this as well as the PAC hearing on Overseas Development Assistance spending, a visit to Cardinal Pole school, and the worrying developments at Hackney New School, in my new weekly round-up. 

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