Railway arches meeting

On Friday 17 May I hosted a second public meeting in London Fields with The Arch Company, the new owners of the railway arches and representatives from Guardians of the Arches.

The meeting provided an opportunity for local business owners to directly raise their concerns.

The owners informed us that the results from their Tenant’s Charter will be released in June, and I am working closely with the Guardians of the Arches to ensure that that the owners stand by their promise of having a ‘tenants’ first’ approach and that they listen to local business owners.

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Probation reform

The Government has announced that the management of all offenders will be transferred to the National Probation Service. This comes just five years after Chris Grayling introduced a programme of privatisation whilst Secretary of State for Justice.

The Public Accounts Committee, which I chair has repeatedly highlighted the flaws in the privatisation model, the management of the contracts and the lack of resilience.

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Weekly Round-Up: Friday 17th May

An inspiring evening with some real local heroes at the ‘100 Hackney Women’ celebration event.

See this in my new weekly round-up + the Public Accounts Committee hearing on HS2 and Crossrail, and my meeting with the tenants and new owners of the railway arches at London Fields.

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Crossrail and HS2 PAC Hearing

Crossrail was due to be completed in late 2018. It is now not likely to open until spring 2020 (at the earliest) and will be at least £2.8 billion over-budget.  

See me challenge the Department for Transport and Crossrail management team on this here.

Read the transcript of the PAC hearing here.

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Railway Franchising

The railway franchising model is broken, and passengers are paying the price

The PAC has repeatedly raised concerns about the current franchising model; it has been challenged in the courts and we see few bidders for each franchise. All clear signs that there is a problem.

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Weekly round-up: Friday 10th May

Since 2008 there've been 66 fires in the Parliamentary estate. It is only the hard work of the fire wardens and estate staff that have prevented a disaster.  

See this in my new weekly round-up + an inspirational evening with Project Indigo at Pinsent Masons - Stonewall’s 2019 most LGBT+ inclusive employer, and a visit to the Crossrail site ahead of a Public Accounts Committee session on this next week.

 

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BAME Organ Donation

The London Assembly Health Committee published a report highlighting the inequalities in organ donation rates between white and black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.

Though organ donation shortages are relevant to all backgrounds, it is particularly acute for people with BAME heritage who are more likely to need an organ transplant, but less likely to get one. In the survey conducted for the report, the London Assembly Health Committee found that only 1% of BAME respondents were registered as organ donors.

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Weekly round-up: Friday 3rd May

With Parliament making history by recognizing the Climate Emergency, now is the time for urgent climate action.

See this and more, including botched probation reforms and Monday’s surgery in Hackney, in my new weekly round-up. Please don’t forget to register by 7 May to vote in the European Elections.

Click here for the PAC report on Transforming Rehabilitation: Progress Review.

 

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VoiceBox Competition

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.

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