Autism used to be something that most people knew nothing about.  Now there is growing awareness of the effect on someone of being on the Autistic spectrum - a lifelong developmental disability that means someone has difficulties with communication and social interaction and how they experience the world. But public services and support for people with Autism and their families still have a long way to go.

I’ve been contacted by an increasing number of constituents who have a family member with autism and who need help on a whole range of fronts. The biggest concern I’ve been asked for help with is housing. You might be perfectly settled in your home but as an autistic child grows you become concerned about their safety if you live high up or by a busy road. So moving becomes a necessity.  You might have good relations with your neighbours but end up with complaints if your autistic child is noisy at night, banging on the walls. And you might end up with complaints of the noise your child makes in the garden in the summer. Again, you’ll need a move. All children need their own space as they get older. But it becomes particularly acute for a teenager sharing a bedroom with their autistic sibling. They might be woken many times at night and be too tired for school.  A larger home then becomes essential.   

All children need stability and security and constant moving is never a good idea. But if a family with an autistic member is given notice to quit their private rented home they can end up in a hostel or temporary accommodation. Disruption and change is particularly hard for an autistic child and it is difficult for them to cope in shared accommodation such as a hostel and if they also have to change schools, or make a long journey to their existing school.

Parents complain to me about delays in getting their autistic child assessed which can delay them getting the diagnosis and the support that they need. This is especially important to ensure that they are in the right school with the right support. Parents complain that if it’s to be a special school, they are not fully included in the decision about where their child will be placed.

And meeting the care needs of one or more family members who are autistic can affect the ability of the parent to work and therefore involve claiming benefits. That’s a challenge for any family but for someone who doesn’t speak English or who’s new into the country, finding their way through the benefits system and finding the right help by way of services can be a problem.

The council has a strategy on services and support for families with autism which they agreed with the local health service. But all the services are overstretched. The council needs to be providing more help to those with autism and yet their budgets are being cut.

As chair of Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights I’m leading an inquiry into the Assessment and Treatment Units where some autistic young people are detained.  We are particularly concerned that the concerns of parents about whether the place their child is being held is right for them are not listened to and that parents’ concerns are treated as a nuisance rather than an important warning that things are not right. The Human Rights Committee will be publishing our report later this year.

I’m proposing that the Government ensure that every council has a detailed strategy for supporting people with autism and that they ensure that both the council and health services are fully funded to meet those needs. It’s important that autism is more recognised and understood. But it also essential that with that comes the support to which those families should be entitled. 

Lots of concerns from local people about safety due to overcrowded Peckham Rye station & trains on 2nd January. I’ll continue to urge Network Rail to take action. Thanks to CLP Chair, Dave Lewis & Cllr Jasmine Ali for organising!

Natalie Connolly was killed by John Broadhurst during what he claimed was “rough sex”. He blamed her for her own death and said she wanted his violence. He was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to only 3 years 8 months. I referred this sentence as ‘Unduly Lenient’ to the Attorney General in December. I’m very disappointed that he will not appeal the sentence. Men used to evade murder charges with the “nagging and shagging defence”. The 21st century version is the “50 shades of grey defence”. This cannot be allowed to stand and I’m seeking amendments to the forthcoming Domestic Abuse Bill.

Great to meet posties at Camberwell Delivery Office working hard to deliver Xmas for us. Thanks for all you do!

Thanks to all the members & local cllrs out campaigning on 24th November & 9th December. Lots of Brexit concerns raised by local people. All agree government chaos is causing deep problems.

Every year I carry out a report into parents’ first-preference secondary school applications.

My 2018 report finds that:

• Over a third of parents in London missed out on their first-choice secondary school again this year – leaving 31,305 children unable to attend the school they wanted to in September. This is compared to the national average of 17.9%.
• This is a problem which only seems to be getting worse - 2% more parents in London missed out on their first-choice school this year than in 2017.
• In inner London boroughs the situation is even worse - only 63% of parents received their first preference and over 11,000 children were left without their first-choice school.
• Locally in Southwark only 59.7% of parents in Southwark got their first preference secondary school in 2018, compared to the national average of 82.1%.  
• This is the 8^th lowest of all the local authorities in England. The lowest 10 local authorities for first preference school choice are all London boroughs.
  
  

Harriet Harman MP, Mother of the House of Commons, said:

“The Government must ensure the right steps are taken to make every school a good school that parents want to choose.

“They cannot continue to cut back on school funding in London and expect schools to be able to continue to improve.

“I have written to the Secretary of State for Education, Damian Hinds, with a copy of my report to raise parents’ concerns and to propose that Ofsted’s terms of reference are changed so that when they are inspecting a school they look at the views of parents who don’t want to send their child to that local school as well as the view of parents who do have children in the school. This would enable government and councils to act on the concerns of local parents.”

ENDS

For further information contact Rachel Smethers: [email protected] / 0785 2213 922

Notes to Editors:             

1. Full report: ‘Are parents in Camberwell & Peckham getting the choice of secondary school they want for their child?’ attached.
   
   
2. Data source: Applications and offers for entry to secondary schools in England for academic year 2018/19, DfE. Data collected from local authorities on Secondary National Offer Day - 1 March 2018.

Having a good local secondary school to choose for your child is rightly one of the most important issues for people living in Southwark. So every year I carry out a report looking at the number of parents in Camberwell and Peckham who are able to get their children into their first-choice secondary school.

The teachers and support staff in our secondary schools work incredibly hard.  Parents, pupils, teachers, Southwark Council and the local community all want our schools to continue to improve. My report this year shows that 3 of the 8 schools serving children in Camberwell and Peckham – Charter, Ark All Saints and Sacred Heart – were oversubscribed. And St Thomas the Apostle increased their first-choice applications from parents living in Southwark by a third in just one year.

5 of the 8 schools serving children in Camberwell and Peckham were undersubscribed for first choice applications from parents in Southwark. The lowest were Harris Academy Peckham (23% of places available), Harris Boys Academy East Dulwich (27%) and Harris Girls Academy East Dulwich (37%).

Only 59.7% of parents in Southwark got their first preference secondary school in 2018, compared to the national average of 82.1%. That is the 8^th lowest of all the local authorities in the country and means 1,180 children in Southwark were left without their first-choice school. In comparison 98.1% of parents in Northumberland got their first preference[1].

This is the story across the whole of London – indeed the bottom 10 local authorities in England are all London boroughs. A third of new pupils missed out on their first choice in London this year, compared to the national average of 17.9%. And this is a problem which only seems to be getting worse - 2% more parents in London missed out on their first-choice school this year than in 2017.

But I am concerned that the progress that’s been made is under threat as the Tories push ahead with the first real terms cut in Southwark school budgets for over two decades, despite the strong opposition voiced by local parents, headteachers, Southwark Council and myself and fellow Southwark MPs Helen Hayes and Neil Coyle.   

The Government cannot expect schools to improve without proper resources. It is ludicrous to suggest that Southwark schools can manage with less, and somehow make cuts of £500 per pupil by just reducing electricity and IT bills.  Local headteachers have been clear to me that they will not be able to make the cuts from those efficiency measures alone. They fear they will be forced to cut teachers, support staff for SEN children and after school clubs, and are looking at their budget sheets wondering how they’ll possibly maintain current standards.

While I welcome the Chancellor’s announcement in the Budget of an extra £400m for schools to provide what he called ‘little extras’, this hardly gets close to replacing the money local schools have lost since 2010. Many schools in Southwark don't have enough funding to deliver the essentials let alone provide 'little extras'. What they desperately need is improved central government funding - I am calling on the Government to end the cuts and back Southwark Council up in their action to improve schools in the borough. I have forwarded a copy of my report to the Education Secretary, Damian Hinds MP to ask what steps he is taking to ensure every school is a good school that parents want to choose.

[1] Source: Applications and offers for entry to secondary schools in England for the start of academic year 2018/19, DfE. Data collected from local authorities on Secondary National Offer Day - 1 March 2018.

Congrats on the launch of Camberwell & Peckham CLP Women’s Forum this evening with so many local Labour women and councillors. Thanks to Izzie Niven, our Women’s Officer, for organising!

Good to meet up with parents, children and staff at Brunswick Park Primary School today.

The Mother of the House of Commons, Harriet Harman MP, has today published the findings from the first-ever Women MPs of the World Conference which saw women from 100 parliaments and 5 continents debate in the historic Chamber of the House of Commons on 8th November 2018.

The summit considered a wide range of issues and found:

• virtually all the women MPs face opposition to their participation in public life.  That ranges from abuse online, threats in person and threats to their families.

• some women had fewer children than they would have wanted because of finding it a struggle to combine their political duties with their family responsibilities.  Some women found that their husband struggled to accept their role in public life.  One was told by her husband to choose her marriage or her politics.  She said her choice was politics but when she became successful he relented, becoming happy to share the limelight.

• once in parliament, many women MPs find that they are overtly discriminated against - they reported not being called to speak and not being able to sit on committees let alone chair them.  They spoke of being criticised for their appearance including having the temerity to wear lipstick.

• in many countries there was abuse and manipulation of the quota systems to support women MPs.  This ranged from men putting their wives, girlfriends, mother’s or sisters into quota seats so that they could control them. 

• women found that working in women’s caucuses across party was essential to ensuring their demands could be acknowledged and met.
  
  
• there was a strong strand of work by women MPs on women’s safety - at home, at work and on the streets.  Many countries are bringing in tough new laws against street harassment.
  
  
• some younger women MPs reported being sexually harassed by older male members of their legislature.

Harriet Harman MP, Mother of the House of Commons said:

“There are now women in nearly every parliament in the world.  We have fought our way in past prejudice and discrimination, often in the face of threats and violence. 

“Women in parliament are pioneers.  We have been elected to sit alongside men in our legislatures.  But we are, as yet, not on equal terms.  We are still in a minority and are relatively new arrivals in legislatures which are male-dominated.

“Most global summits are male-dominated or even men only. For men MPs the international network is well developed, but it isn’t for women. 

“Out of our conference has come a powerful global network of committed women who want to work together for progress for each of our countries and all of our people. There was a strong desire to hold the conference annually in different parliaments around the world so we can continue to support each other and share ideas. Women in politics are a new force for global change.”

ENDS

For more information contact Rachel Smethers [email protected] / 07852213922

Notes to editors:

1. Full report attached.
2. This conference was supported by the FCO, DFID, GEO, Wilton Park, British Council, Westminster Foundation for Democracy, IPU and CPA.
3. The Chamber was used for the plenary sessions. The “breakout” sessions were in the Commons Committee rooms.
4. The plenary sessions in the Chamber were broadcast live and a Hansard transcript was produced.
5. The chairs of breakout sessions were women MPs from the UK and other countries jointly.
6. Women make up 24% of global legislatures. The UK is ranked 38^th in the world, with 208 women MPs (32%).
7. Twitter: #WomenMPsoftheWorld

The Attorney General has sought to establish a new principle that the Government can ignore the will of Parliament if the Government believes it’s not in the “public interest”. That cannot be allowed to stand.

Speaking in the debate in the House of Commons Chamber today on the Government's refusal to publish the legal advice they have received on the Brexit agreement Harriet Harman MP challenged the Attorney General on this point:

"Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman acknowledge frankly to this House that publishing this paper on the legal position on the withdrawal agreement and his statement to the House today does not represent compliance with the motion of this House that was passed unanimously on 13 November, and does that not represent the following fundamental point of constitutional principle?

"It would be serious for any Minister to resist a motion of the House, but it is more so for it to be the Attorney, going along with Government defiance of the House, when his very office is about our constitution—when he is the person in Government whose job it is to make sure the rest of them stay within the rules. How can he do that if he himself is acquiescing in breaking them?

"He has in his statement rightly acknowledged that he has a duty to this House as well as to the Government and that his duties involve giving legal advice to the House. It is in our Standing Orders that he is legal adviser to the Privileges Committee.

"So how can we have a situation where the Attorney allows the Government to openly defy the will of the House?

"The Government have a choice: they can either comply with the motion of the House or seek to change it, but they cannot remain in defiance of it. It is the Attorney General’s responsibility to tell them that; will he?"

Read the full debate here. 

Read the motion of the House passed unanimously on 13th November requiring the Government to publish the legal advice on the Brexit Withdrawal agreement in full here.

“This new survey backs up our concerns and those of organisations like Rape Crisis and Limeculture who sit in court supporting rape victims through the ordeal of trial.  The Criminal Bar Association survey shows in a quarter of all rape cases the defence makes an application to the judge to be able to cross-examine the complainant on her previous sexual history and in the overwhelming majority of those cases the application is granted so that the complainant faces interrogation about her sex life in open court.  Reporting restrictions don’t save the complainant from the humiliation of having to answer questions about her previous sex life and now social media means that those reporting restrictions cannot effectively be enforced against those who choose to share the information online.  

“The survey of 140 criminal barristers, directly involved in both prosecuting and defending in rape trials, proves that the Government are wrong to rely on the assurance from the Crown Prosecution Service that everything is fine.  This is another serious dent in the deeply flawed CPS research published earlier this year by the Ministry of Justice and Attorney General.

“It’s clear that a change in the law is needed. The Courts and Tribunals Bill which is now being considered by parliament is the opportunity to do that and address a problem which undermines the prosecution and traumatises the complainant. The Government have launched a Victims Strategy consultation.  But it has a big gap in it unless they tackle the problem of victims in sex cases being interrogated about their previous sexual history”.

Dame Vera Baird QC, Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria said:

“We cannot allow rape trials to be inquisitions into the complainant’s sex life. The fear of a complainant being confronted with evidence relating to sex with other men in open court is, and has always been, a huge deterrent to reporting rape.

“The Criminal Bar Association’s study is further evidence that the Government’s review carried out by the CPS does not reflect the situation in court rooms across the country.

“The Government must use the Victims Strategy and Courts and Tribunals Bill to protect complainants and ensure they are treated fairly in the court room”. 

ENDS

For more information contact: Rachel Smethers [email protected]  0207 219 2057

Notes to editors:

1. The Criminal Bar Association report found of the 565 complainants, 144 (25%) involved applications being filed under section 41.
2. The report shows that of those 144 section 41 applications 105 (73%) resulted in questions by the defence being allowed, either by being agreed between counsel, or being granted by the court in full or in part.
3. Harriet Harman and Vera Baird wrote to the Attorney General and Secretary of State for Justice on 8^th January 2018 to challenge the Crown Prosecution Service’s research on section 41.
4. On 29^th January 2018 Harriet Harman and Vera Baird launched a cross-party coalition to challenge the Government to take action on the use of rape complainants’ previous sexual history in court.
5. On 25^th September 2018 Harriet wrote to Justice Minister Edward Argar to urge the Government to include complainants’ previous sexual history being dragged through the court in rape trials in their forthcoming Victims Strategy consultation. 
6. Harriet Harman raised concerns about the operation of section 41 in the Second Reading of the Courts and Tribunals Bill in the Chamber on 27^th November 2018.

Today Stephanie Peacock MP and the Mother of the House of Commons Harriet Harman have called on Speaker Bercow to set in train parliament’s adoption of the GMB ‘Work to Stop Domestic Abuse’ Employer Charter to ensure that parliament is an exemplary employer in how it deals with employees who are experiencing domestic violence.  

Adopting the policy would include adopting clear procedures for supporting staff experiencing domestic violence, notifying staff of the policy on posters around parliament and never saying “this is a private matter which must not be allowed to affect your work”. Ms Peacock, a former officer of the GMB union brought GMB members and officers to parliament last week to set out why the new policy is needed and how it would work.

GMB policy has been consulted on with trade unions, employers and organisations combatting domestic violence. And individual GMB members who’ve experienced dealing with domestic abuse while they hold down a job.

According to new data from the Crime Survey for England and Wales 2 million adults aged 16 to 59 experienced domestic abuse in the last year.

Harriet Harman MP, Mother of the House of Commons said:

“When a woman (or a man) is subjected to domestic violence, their workplace can either make things worse for them by saying that it’s a personal issue which must not be allowed to affect their work.  Or it can be a safe place to disclose and through which to find help. 

“People suffering domestic abuse need to know where they can get help. Even a poster with a phone number on it can save lives.  

“As a large employer of over 6,700 staff Parliament has the opportunity not only to help our individual employees when they need it most but also to be a high profile example to other employers around the country. That’s why we are urging the House to adopt the thorough policy developed by GMB.”

ENDS

For more information contact Rachel Smethers: [email protected] / 0207 219 2057

NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. GMB ‘Work to Stop Domestic Abuse’ Charter
    - https://www.gmb.org.uk/domestic_abuse_charter.pdf
   
   
2. Domestic abuse findings from the Crime Survey for England and Wales: year ending March 2018 https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/articles/domesticabusefindingsfromthecrimesurveyforenglandandwales/yearendingmarch2018
   
   
   
3. The GMB Charter launched at a House of Commons meeting on 26^th November 2018, chaired by Stephanie Peacock, MP for Barnsley East and GMB member.

I’m working with Stephanie Peacock MP to press Parliament to lead the way & adopt GMB’s model policy to ensure employees suffering domestic violence get the support they need at work. Thanks to the brave survivors who spoke out in Parliament on 26th November.

To mark 100 years since women won the right to stand for election women from all over the UK including Cllr Dora Dixon-Fyle came to Parliament today. Much work still to do — women are outnumbered by men 2 to 1 in the Commons.

On 19th November Helen Hayes MP, Cllr Richard Livingstone & I met Network Rail again to demand action on overcrowding at Denmark Hill & Peckham Rye. Network Rail are now scoping a new entrance at Denmark Hill.

Universal Credit is a single payment which will replace six means-tested benefits and tax credits for working-age individuals and families. It is the Government's flagship welfare reform and I am concerned that it has been plagued by problems in its design and delivery. 

UC was intended to lift people out of poverty and smooth the transition into work to ensure that it always pays. Unfortunately, the programme has acted as a vehicle for cuts and caused real hardship for many people across the UK. It has pushed claimants into debt, rent arrears and forced some to rely on food banks.

I agree that the rollout should be stopped. 

Indeed, a report by the National Audit Office found that UC may end up costing more than the benefit system it is replacing. It also stated that it cannot be proven that UC helps more claimants into work and concluded it is unlikely to ever deliver value for money. 

More recently, a report from a House of Commons Select Committee concluded that UC is causing unacceptable hardship and that the Government's approach is failing claimants. It argued that the recent announcement of a further delay to the rollout is not a solution. I believe this report reveals the culture of denial about the failings of UC. It is shocking that the Government is still refusing to accept the hardship it is causing and is determined to go ahead with the next phase of the rollout.

As you may be aware, at the Budget the Chancellor announced there would be an additional £1.7 billion funding for UC. However, I am concerned the Government has not addressed wider cuts to social security or the structural problems with UC. I know that figures from the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggest that there are £5 billion worth of cuts to social security still to come in this Parliament, which I am concerned will hit the incomes of those who have the least. 

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue. I am committed to rebuilding and transforming our social security system and I will continue to press the Government on this important issue at every opportunity.