What I spend my time on
You will find that myself and my colleague John Denham work very hard to help Southampton stay a prosperous, functioning city and thriving community. If you'd like to see some specific areas of work then take a look at my reports.
There are several other areas that are of particular interest to me. Partly because I have a Ph.D in politics, I'm very interested in how government functions, particularly constitutional affairs. This may sound rather difficult to relate to 'real life', but how decisions are reached, and our rights are affected, can have a knock-on effect in all our lives.
I'm also very concerned about how we use energy, and how we deal with our waste as a society. I chair two parliamentary groups on renewable energy and sustainable waste, which allows me to ask the difficult questions about how we are to meet our energy needs and environmental commitments.
But I am always interested in what you think is important so please continue to get in touch and let me know.
A short biography
Alan graduated with a degree in Politics and Philosophy from Southampton University and went on to achieve a Ph.D. in Political Science. In 1980 he became a city councillor and then Leader of the Council when Labour took control in 1984.
He worked in research for two national charities during the 1980s and early 90s, and in 1992, came off the city council and became Professor of Public Policy at Southampton Institute (now Southampton Solent University).
He was first nominated by the Labour Party to stand for Southampton Test in the early 1980s, made solid progress in the seat in 1987 and 1992, and finally won in 1997. Alan was re-elected as the Labour MP for Southampton Test in 2010. This was only the second time in the constituency's history where it bucked the national trend by electing an MP from a different party to the one that would go on to form a government.
As a new Labour MP, he was appointed to the Select Committee on Environment Transport and the Regions. In December 1999 was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Baroness Blackstone, Minister for Higher and Post-16 Education. Between June 2001 and May 2002 he was Under Secretary of State in the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, responsible for local government, the regions and the Fire Service.
His special interests now include Further and Higher Education (Lifelong Learning), Local Government, Constitution (Democracy), Environment, Energy and Transport.
Alan is currently a member of the following Parliamentary Select Committees:
- Standards & Privileges
- Energy & Climate Change
- Environmental Audit
He also holds the following national positions:
- Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party Energy and Climate Change Group
- Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Labour Party Environment Food and Rural Affairs Group
- PLP Representative on the Labour Party NPF Creating Sustainable Communities Policy Commission
- Chair of the Associate Parliamentary Renewable and Sustainable Energy Group
- Co-Chair, Associate Parliamentary Sustainable Resource Group
- Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Poland
He is a Fellow of the Institute of Waste Management, and member of the Board for The Environment Centre (Southampton) and the Centre for the Third Age (Southampton). He is a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Media, Arts and Society at Southampton Solent University.
What do you think about this story? Email Alan
