Monthly Report for June 2007
Below is a summary of my work in Parliament and in Southampton for the month of June 2007. Click here to read previous reports.
If you'd like to know more about any of the work I've been doing, or if you think there is another issue you think I should be acting on, you can always contact my office.
Work in Parliament
Housing
At the end of May I moved my 10-minute rule bill on HMOs and protecting our family housing stock. The Bill, if enacted, would effectively require landlords to apply for planning permission if they wanted to convert a family home into an HMO housing more than 4 people. This would allow the council to better regulate the pressure on local resources and services (like, for example, car-parking spaces), and the cumulative impact of such conversions on the local housing market. I also spoke in the adjournment debate on the subject a week later.
Housing has, over the last few years, become an increasingly hot political issue. The combination of the increasing frequency of HMO conversions, the economic boom in the south of England, the sell-off of much of our affordable family housing stock and the increasing heterogeneity of British society as a whole, all combine to create a shortened supply and increased demand for housing in our region. Put more simply, there is too much demand for too little housing in the south east. My HMO bill, whilst not the answer entirely, will allow us to better protect the family housing we still have in Southampton and should have some positive knock-on effect on the price of family housing for first time buyers, and the supply of properly sized rented accommodation for families on housing waiting lists.
In addition to introducing the Bill, I also spoke in Parliament on the subject in a debate on sustainable communities. I have also written an article for the Daily Echo on HMOs which was published last week.
A compilation of my statements on housing issues can now be found at www.alan-whitehead.org.uk/housing
Climate Change Bill
The joint Commons and Lords committee on the draft Climate Change Bill continues to meet, and I continue to get correspondence from as far away as the Netherlands on people’s hopes and expectations for the final bill. Southampton Friends of the Earth has helped distribute my survey on the climate change bill across the city, and the steady stream of feedback demonstrates the continued importance people attach to this bill.
This month in addition to my committee work on the Climate Change Bill, I attended a round-table discussion on climate change with representatives from the US Houses of Congress, including the new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. I also spoke at the Smith Institute’s conference on sustainable energy.
Freedom of Information
The Conservative Private Members Bill on exempting Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act was moved outside of normal Parliamentary time. As a consequence I was conducting a surgery in Southampton when the Bill was finally voted on. If I had been in the House I would have voted against the motion. I have since co-sponsored EDM 1565, which calls exempting Parliament from the Freedom of Information Act ‘totally wrong.’
If the Bill returns to the Commons again I will not vote for any part of a Bill that still seeks to exempt the Commons from the FoI Act- though I accept there may be a case for a substantially revised Bill that purely seeks to clarify the confidentiality of correspondence between MPs and constituents.
Other meetings
Also this month I met with representatives from Rethink to discuss the next reading of the Mental Health Bill, launched a petition with the Wildlife Trust for a Marine Bill in the next Queen’s speech, and spoke on the energy White Paper at the Westminster sustainable Energy forum.
Work in Southampton
Learning Futures
I submitted a paper in support of the Southampton Education Trust as part of the city council's consultation on who should run the new Millbrook-Oaklands school. I understand that there were a high number of responses on the western side of the city in favour of the Trust bid, which will hopefully make it much more difficult to the new Conservative Council to make a decision based on nothing but ideology.
Health
On the back of the government’s announcement that it would give more support to the teaching of First Aid in secondary schools, I met with students and Red Cross volunteers at Oaklands for a catch-up first aid session. Photos of me in various states of injury are now available on my website.
Carers Week
As part of Carers Week I met with carers who also have work commitments as part of an event organised by USDAW. We discussed what help they needed to better balance their caring and work commitments, in particular the new right of carers to request the right to flexible working hours in the same way as a parent would.