Thanks Kazeem and the NHS for giving me my vaccine today. It was quick, painless, and easy.
Please take the vaccine when it is your turn to do so. It's the best way of protecting ourselves and our loved ones.
The Government allocated £37 billion for Test and Trace and yet despite the unimaginable resources thrown at this project, Test and Trace cannot point to a measurable difference to the progress of the pandemic. Taxpayers are not the Government's ATM machine. We need a clear plan and costs better controlled. The Public Accounts Committee will return to our investigation on this in the summer.
Young people in Hackney and the UK have spent the majority of their lives here but must pay eye-watering fees for citizenship.
They are talented, capable, and essentially British – but priced out of citizenship. The Government must act.
I remain concerned about the slow broadband in parts of Hackney. With more people working from home, I am pressing Openreach about the not-spots. The average download speed in London is 78.3 Mbps, however in Hackney Central it is as low as 47.4 Mbps, putting it in the worst 30 per cent of areas across the UK. Shoreditch is also in the worst 10 per cent of areas in the UK for people unable to receive good speeds.
No worker removed from their frontline role should see their career suffer. This applies particularly to workers from black and minority ethnic backgrounds who were removed from frontline duties for their own safety during this pandemic.
I pressed the Minister for Equalities, Kemi Badenoch MP, on this (see above) and have recently received a letter in response to my question. Read the letter by clicking the pdf link below.
Hackney Community Champions are doing excellent work communicating key public health messages to family, friends, colleagues and neighbours.
Find out more and apply for grant funding here.
Deadline for this round of grants is tomorrow.
This Government has failed to put in place a proper financial support package for those struggling to afford self-isolation. It means that only 3 in 10 people are following the instruction to self-isolate when contacted by Test and Trace.
I'll continue pressing the Government to step up and support those struggling to afford self-isolation.
I have been working hard to press the Government to ensure that every child has access to regular, nutritious, healthy food. Last month, I signed Emma Lewell-Buck MP's letter to the Minister for Children and Families to urge the Government to scale up school breakfast funding and make support to schools permanent. See more here.
We have now received this response from the minister. Read the letter in full by clicking the pdf attachment below.
It is vital that COVID-19 vaccination centres are accessible for everyone, including people with sight loss.
I wrote to the Minister for Vaccine Deployment and asked him to outline how the Government is ensuring that COVID-19 vaccination centres are fully accessible. You can read his response here and click on the pdf link below to download and read the letter in full.
The big event in Parliament this week was the Budget and I challenged the Chancellor for its complete lack of vision. There was little in it for supporting people into affordable homes, it failed to properly grapple with the transition to a net zero carbon economy, and there was no long term plan for social care.