Please find my monthly report for February 2016 here.

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When Labour were introducing the Equality Act the Tories opposed it, but they haven’t repealed it so it’s still there for people to use.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.

Please find my monthly report for January 2016 here.

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.

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