Last winter, I had the privilege of selecting Hackney’s winning joke to compete in the final of the VoiceBox competition. VoiceBox is a UK-wide joke-telling competition run by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists. It helps build young people’s confidence whilst raising awareness of the life-long importance of communication skills.

Today saw the final take place in Parliament. It was a real pleasure to see the talent on display from children across the UK. British comedy is in safe hands.

Every year the UK throws away nearly 3 billion nappies a year. 90% end up incinerated or at a landfill, taking more than 300 years to break down.

Going green is easy but I know more can and must be done to support parents.

This is why I welcome the Nappies (Environmental Standards) Bill. This will establish clearly defined environmental standards for nappies and promote reusable nappies. Read more here.

Reach Out is one of the UK’s largest mentoring charities. They provide an invaluable service in Hackney by helping to build up young people’s skills, resilience, and pride.

It was a privilege attending their 2018 Impact Report launch event, where I heard first-hand accounts of Reach Out’s transformative impact. See the video of the event here. 

It is not good enough that London Overground services are still missing Hackney stops. I have already received a commitment from the Deputy Mayor for Transport, Heidi Alexander, that TfL will investigate this matter and apply pressure to the train operator (ARL) to prevent continued disruption and inconvenience. However today I’ve written to the Freedom of Information (FOI) team at TfL to find out exactly how often Hackney commuters miss out.

I recently met a group of volunteers in Hackney to hear about the excellent work they do accross London to welcome refugee families to the UK.

The group hopes to welcome a new family of refugees into Hackney South and Shoreditch in March.

To find out more about the work of the group visit their twitter here or email them at northhackneywelcome@gmail.com

We have a 'No Second Night Out' shelter in Hackney, funded by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. 'No Second Night Out' focuses on helping those who find themselves rough sleeping on the streets of London for the first time.

If you see a rough sleeper alert Street Link via their app or website here. Street Link will help connect people to services and get them support. 

You can donate money to the London Homeless Charities Group on the GoFundMe page here.