Brayards Estate Tenants and Residents Association Community Hall was the venue for the Brayards Estate coffee morning.  Many thanks to TRA Chair Lorraine Beck for arranging the venue and for all her hard work as Chair.

30 tenants and residents attended to talk about the issues that affect them most ranging from housing and immigration to anti-social behaviour and air/noise pollution.

Local Nunhead Councillors Fiona Colley, Sunil Chopra and Sandra Rhule, representatives from the Nunhead Safer Neighbourhood Team and representatives from Southwark Council also joined us to listen to tenants and residents’ concerns.

Six years after the last Labour government left office, one of the things that is still there for people is the Equality Act.

The Tories are making it harder for people with disabilities and for people on low incomes. The progress that Labour made for women has stalled but the power and effect of the Equality Act is there for people to turn to.

When Labour were introducing the Equality Act the Tories opposed it, but they haven’t repealed it so it’s still there for people to use. An important objective of the Equality Act was to help women get equal pay but over five years after the Act was brought into force the pay gap still exists. The Equality Act has a clause to bring about a step change towards equal pay through transparency. Everyone can see that nationally there is a gender pay gap, but because businesses haven’t had to publish their own figures they have been able to claim that ‘it isn’t happening here’.

This clause gives women the power of knowledge, to be able to look at their own companies and see their employers record on the pay gap and what they are doing to tackle it.

The Tories opposed this clause at the time, saying that it was a burden on business, but they have recognised that it is necessary and are now at last bringing it into force.  The Government must ensure that companies publish clear, simple and straightforward information.

One of the Conservative’s policies that has hit people in Southwark hardest is the bedroom tax. Along with all Labour MPs, I spoke out against it but the Government pushed it through, even though it is unfair especially on people with disabilities and victims of domestic violence.

It felt like nothing could be done to make the Government recognise this injustice but a group of tenants, on behalf of people with disabilities and victims of domestic violence, took a case to the Court of Appeals under the Equality Act and won. The Bedroom Tax is a problem caused by the Tories but Labours’ Equality Act is still protecting the most vulnerable people even after all these years.

For months the Health Secretary has been trying to impose new junior doctor’s contracts despite constant criticism of their demanding conditions. The British Medical Association is now challenging these contracts on the basis that the Conservative Government has not carried out an Equality Impact Assessment as provided for in Labours Equality Act.

The Equality Act continues to prove that Labour is the party of equality and is protecting people even after six years of the Tories being in power.

Over 1.6 million people across the country are unemployed and looking for work and in Camberwell and Peckham there are an above average proportion of people (3.9%) claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance and Universal Credit.

The last thing anyone expects when they are offered a job is for that offer to be put at risk by the Disclosure and Barring Service. Not because they are criminals and have done something wrong, but because of the DBS missing self-set targets on timeliness which leave applicants unable to take up their jobs, get paid and putting them under financial strain.

The Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) was established by the Labour Government in 1997 and supported the police in providing checks on applications for jobs that work with children, young people and vulnerable adults and ultimately deciding whether or not a person was suitable for that job. In 2012, the Coalition Government merged the CRB with the Independent Safeguarding Authority to create the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS). It is vital that these checks are carried out thoroughly so that vulnerable people are properly protected. However, it is not right that people are facing financial hardship when they have done nothing wrong.

Between April and December 2015, the DBS only met their target, of 95% of disclosures to be issued in eight weeks, four times.

I have been contacted by many local people experiencing long waits for checks for all sorts of jobs; from chauffeurs to doctors. A number of residents in Camberwell and Peckham have lost income and are worried about how to pay their rent and other bills because of these delays. One of my constituents told me about how she had to use her savings to pay for essential bills and even had to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance as she couldn’t take up the position that had been offered to her until her DBS application was complete.

I’ve asked the Home Secretary how many DBS applications from Camberwell and Peckham had taken more than 60 days to process in the last twelve months. Between February 2015 and January 2016, 2,371 applications for Camberwell and Peckham residents took longer than sixty days and the delays only seem to be getting worse.

Figures recently uncovered by Camberwell and Peckham MP Harriet Harman show that local people are being prevented from getting work by delays in processing applications by the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS).

Constituents that have been in contact for help on this include:

Mr Z, a chauffeur, whose private hire driving license expired at the end of 2015. His application was delayed because his DBS check had not been processed.  He was losing income and worried about how he was going to pay his rent and other bills.

Dr Q was offered a job in a North London hospital but was unable to work for over 4 months due to delays with her DBS application. Dr Q had to use her savings to pay for essential bills and reached a point where she had to claim Jobseeker’s Allowance.

In her letter to the Home Secretary today, Harriet Harman MP said:

“I have been contacted by a number of constituents who have had to wait many months for their applications to the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to be completed.

These include a doctor who had to use her personal savings to pay for essential bills as she couldn’t work until the check was complete and eventually had to sign on and claim for Jobseeker’s Allowance to support herself while she was waiting. It is not right that people who have done nothing wrong are being put under such financial hardship when trying to find work.

Earlier this month, I submitted a written parliamentary question asking how many applications to the DBS from people living in Camberwell and Peckham have taken more than 60 days to process. Karen Bradley MP answered that between February 2015 and the end of January 2016, 2,371 applications from Camberwell and Peckham have taken over 60 days to be completed.”

The panoramic views from Nunhead Reservoir are second to none, and today I visited the site with Peckham Rye Councillor Renata Hamvas, Richard Aylard (Director of External Affairs & Sustainability) and other senior representatives from Thames Water. We discussed the history of the site and what options there are for public access.  I am pleased that Thames Water have agreed to meet with the local community to discuss the possibilities of opening the site to the public.

Nunhead Reservoir is a private site owned by Thames Water. It regularly falls victim to vandalism, break-ins, graffiti and littering.

You can find my article for Newsweek here.

Please find my monthly report for January 2016 here.

Nunhead Reservoir is owned by Thames Water and is not open to the public however there has been growing local interest in whether this site could become a public site. Open space is at a premium in our crowded city and would be much appreciated by local residents.  Thames Water are a private company but should be a good corporate citizen in our local area while protecting public health and safety.

In her letter to Thames Water, Harriet Harman MP said:

“There is a growing local interest in Nunhead Reservoir being opened to the public for recreational and leisure use.

I would be grateful if you could answer the following questions:

-       Why isn’t Nunhead Reservoir open to the public? 

-       Can a way be found to enable public access without compromising public health and safety?

-       Are Thames Water considering allowing any public access to Nunhead Reservoir?

I would be happy to meet on site with you or a representative of Thames Water as well as representatives from Southwark Council to discuss this further. But in the meantime, I look forward to hearing from you with an update to my questions.”

Over 6000 students in Southwark (academic year 13/14) and 500,000 nationally currently receive Student Maintenance Grants of up to £3,387.  These include higher education students at Southbank University and Camberwell College of Arts, medical students at Kings College Hospital and young people studying at institutions such as LeSoCo. 

This Conservative Government said nothing about abolishing maintenance grants in their manifesto.  But as soon as they were elected they announced that they would be axed. I immediately opposed this while Interim Leader and condemned the proposed abolition in my budget response to the Chancellor in June 2015. The Labour Party campaigned against these changes and we all voted against abolition of maintenance grants.

Student Maintenance Grants provide vital support for students in Camberwell and Peckham and nationally to pay for rent, food, energy bills and study materials. Already, 77% of students work alongside their studies to help ease the financial burden of university. These changes will force students to spend more time working to support themselves and less time studying to get a good degree. 35% of students told the NUS that they would not have gone to university if they had not had access to maintenance grants.

Students from the lowest income families will be hit hardest and this further undermines the Tories' absurd claim to being a One Nation government.  Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, Angela Eagle MP said: “Abolishing maintenance grants is an assault on aspiration, an assault on opportunity and an assault on those who want to get on in life.”

It is unfair that students from poorer families should leave university with higher debts than their better-off peers. These students will now have up to £53,000 of debt after a three year degree.  The Conservative Government are giving tax cuts to millionaires at the same time as piling more debts onto poor students [and it isn’t fair]. This Government is not on the side of people working hard and trying to get on in life. In 2010, the Coalition Government trebled tuition fees but said that poorer students would still be able to afford to go to university through the availability of maintenance grants. 

The Government knows that maintenance grants are essential to levelling the playing field of education yet they have attempted to avoid scrutiny and force these sweeping changes through in a committee without a full debate or a vote. Last week, the Labour Party forced the Government to debate and vote on this issue.  But the Government pressed ahead and forced these changes through anyway.

I voted against the abolition of maintenance grants and will continue to back students, universities and colleges and everyone who is campaigning to get the government to change their mind. Southwark students from low income families have every bit as much a right to go to university or further education as students from better off backgrounds.  It is important for the economy of this country that everyone is able to fulfil their full potential and are not held back from pursuing higher education because they can’t afford it.

Yesterday the Court of Appeal ruled that the Bedroom Tax, brought in by the Coalition Government, was unlawful and discriminatory. The Conservative Government are going to appeal to the Supreme Court but they should accept the court’s ruling and not put the families who took their cases to court through any more misery.  The Government should admit that their bedroom tax is unfair and unjust.

Harriet Harman MP said:

“This Conservative Government has been told by the Court of Appeal that the Bedroom tax is unlawful and discriminates against people with severe disabilities and victims of domestic violence.  But it is still intending to waste public money on taking an appeal to the Supreme Court.

While it is disappointing that Labour is not in government and able to abolish the bedroom tax it is important that our Equality Bill is there to protect the hardest hit families.

I remain strongly against the bedroom tax and will continue to vote against it and in support of exceptions for people who need an extra room. It’s wrong for the Government to impose financial hardship on low income families while giving tax cuts to millionaires.

3,233 families in Southwark, over 45,000 families in London and nearly half a million families across the country are being hit hard by the bedroom tax. In Southwark, tenants are paying over £1000 a year for a spare room in their homes. This is a considerable amount of money and especially for those on low incomes.  The Government has been trying to justify this discriminatory policy by saying that it will shorten waiting lists, but with council houses being bought quicker than they are being built this is just not right.

Southwark Council has done their best to protect local people, but cuts by the Government to council funding are bringing councils across the country to their knees. This ruling doesn’t end the bedroom tax for all, but it will be a welcome relief for some of Southwark’s most needy families.”

You can see my quarterly casework report for October - December 2015 here.

At Cabinet Office questions in the House of Commons, I asked Rt Hon Oliver Letwin MP (Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster) to guarantee that the voice of Scotland would be heard in the Government's consultation on the Human Rights Act:

"Ms Harriet Harman (Camberwell and Peckham) (Lab):

The Cabinet Office is responsible for the guidelines on Government proposals. As the Joint Committee on Human Rights discovered when we went to Scotland earlier this month, there is a strong feeling about the consultation on the Human Rights Act 1998. Will the right hon. Gentleman make sure that the voice of people in Scotland is heard, and that they will not be gagged by the fact that the consultation will be issued during purdah following the dissolution of the Scottish Parliament? Will he give such a guarantee?

Mr Letwin:

As the right hon. and learned Lady will know, the consultation principles, which we have recently promulgated—I spoke to the Joint Committee about them recently—have the effect that every Department should make sure that all consultations are proportionate, and that we make due allowance for any time during which it would be difficult for people to respond so that we get a full and adequate consultation on every occasion."

You can watch my question to the Minister and his answer here.

Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP has today written to the Charity Commission following accusations that Gilbert Deya Ministries, which is based in Peckham, is selling Aldi branded olive oil to members of the public claiming that it can cure HIV, cancer and infertility.

In her letter to the Charity Commission, Ms Harman said:

“I understand that the Charity Commission is undertaking a regulatory compliance case regarding Gilbert Deya Ministries. 

I am very concerned about further allegations that have arisen that Gilbert Deya Ministries is involved with selling oil to the public claiming that it can cure HIV, cancer and infertility.  It is wrong to exploit ill and vulnerable people in order to make money.”

Harriet Harman MP has asked the Charity Commission if they are investigating these new accusations and when they anticipate reaching a conclusion.

At Justice Questions in the House of Commons, I asked Dominic Raab MP (Minister for Human Rights and Civil Liberties) about the Governments consultation plans on the Human Rights Act:

"Ms Harriet Harman (Camberwell and Peckham) (Lab): The Minister is yet to issue his consultation on the repeal of the Human Rights Act and its replacement with a British Bill of Rights, but it is eight weeks until the Scottish Parliament is dissolved and goes into purdah—it is the same with Northern Ireland and Wales. Will he give an absolute guarantee that he will not squash out Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales from this important consultation by issuing his proposal before, or worse still during, the election purdah period? Will he give that absolute guarantee?

Mr Raab: There will be no squashing out of any of the devolved Administrations. We are already in detailed soundings. When we come to our consultation, there will be full consultation with all the devolved Administrations. There are clear rules and Cabinet Office guidance on purdah, and we will be mindful of them."

You can watch my question to the Minister and his answer here.

Samantha Jury-Dada was today elected as Councillor for Faraday Ward. Congratulations to Samantha and to all the local members, councillors and everyone that campaigned to get her elected!

Faraday Result

Lab - 1072

LD - 255

Con - 117

Green - 138

UKIP - 93

Dean Porter - 47

APP - 38

Turnout 22.8%

Great to join Samantha Jury-Dada, Labour's candidate for Faraday ward, as well as local councillors and members campaigning to get Samantha elected on Thursday 21st January.

Samantha Jury-Dada said:

"Living locally off East Street, I want the best for my area and our community. I'll fight for a better Walworth - improved housing, better buses and opportunities for young people."

Today MPs voted on whether or not to abolish maintenance grants of up to £3387 which go to the poorest students to make sure that students from low income households can go into further and higher education.

Now the Conservative Government have abolished these maintenance grants. Currently over 6,000 Southwark students depend on maintenance grants for financial support to help them get educational qualifications.

Speaking after voting against the abolition of maintenance grants today, Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP said:

“I’m disappointed that 6230 (academic year 13/14) students from Southwark, and over 500,000 nationally, will be affected by the abolition of maintenance grants that this Conservative Government have just forced through.

Whilst interim leader in June 2015 I condemned abolition of maintenance grants in my budget response to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Grants provide vital support for students in Camberwell and Peckham and ensure that poorer students do not leave university with greater debts than their more privileged peers. You can read my speech here.

The government should be doing all it can to ensure that those from the poorest backgrounds reach their full potential. This change would do the opposite, and could make poorer students think twice about going into higher education due to the considerable debts they will rack-up in the process.

Southwark students have every bit as much a right to go to university as students from better off backgrounds.  It’s important for the economy of this country that everyone is able to fulfil their full potential and are not held back from higher education by lack of funds.”