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.”

Harriet Harman MP has today written to Southwark Council calling on them to review their reimbursement and compensation policy for estate residents in Camberwell and Peckham following the continuous disruption to hot water and heating services.

This is a major problem as nearly 4000 properties have been affected in Camberwell and Peckham in the last 18 months.

Harriet Harman MP for Camberwell & Peckham said:

 “My constituents are experiencing repeated problems with their heating and hot water services this winter. I have today written to Councillor Richard Livingstone, Cabinet Member for Housing at Southwark Council asking him to review the Council’s reimbursement and compensation policy to ensure that the process for affected residents is straightforward, fair and efficient.

• Residents should not have to apply to the Council for compensation when it is clear that there is a loss of an essential service like heating, hot water or gas. The council should automatically compensate them.

• Residents should be reimbursed for the additional energy costs incurred during the period without heating and hot water.

• Residents expect a reliable heating and hot water service and it is inconvenient for them to have to deal with these disruptions on such regular basis.

• There should not have to be a consecutive period of 24 hours without heating and hot water before a rebate is given.

• The compensation process is taking too long. It has taken nearly a year for all residents on the Gloucester Grove and North Peckham Estates to receive their agreed compensation, and some people may have moved out and not received what they are owed “

Today the Prime Minister appeared at the House of Commons Liaison Committee. The Liaison Committee is a body made up of all the chairs of Select Committees.

In my role as Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights I questioned the Prime Minister on:

• If he would publish a coherent policy on targeted drone strikes

• And if he would allow the Intelligence and Security Committee to properly scrutinise these targeted killings

You can watch the full hearing here: http://bit.ly/1RJsmd6 - my questions are at 16:26.

After the session I said:

 “The PM sought to give the impression today that he is allowing the ISC to scrutinise the targeted killing of Reyaad Khan in Syria in August.

But under questioning from the Liaison Committee Chair Andrew Tyrie MP he was forced to admit he is not allowing this scrutiny.

It’s not acceptable that he is clearly frustrating the scrutiny work of the ISC who he appointed and who are all security cleared.”

You can read a press article on the hearing here: http://bit.ly/1RKzo0Z

Ahead of the Faraday By-Election on 21st January, I joined local members and councillors to campaign for Labour's candidate Samantha Jury-Dada. 

Samantha played a big role in the  Bermondsey & Old Southwark election earlier this year, leading student campaigning as Chair of LSE Labour Club. She has worked alongside our Lambeth and Southwark GLA candidate Florence Eshalomi and Tessa Jowell on a review of stop and search and led a successful campaign on legal loan sharks.

St John's & St Clement's Year 5 pupils invited me to hear about their book fundraising project, Better Books, which was a part of the all school topic 'Power to the People'. Their aim was to have better resources in their classroom.

They explained how they decided as a group to raise funds at the Christmas fair and by holding cake sales. They raised almost £300 which was more than they needed and decided that they would donate the extra funds to a school in Cumbria following the recent floods.

Deputy Headteacher Anna Harding, also invited me to participate in a Q&A with Year 5 and Year 6 pupils.

Please find my monthly newsletter for November and December 2015 here: www.bit.ly/1JKvX9o .

Labour Women's Network held their annual Christmas reception at Labour Headquarters this evening. Around 100 Labour women attended and Olivia Bailey, Chair of LWN, asked me to say a few words. Other speakers included Kate Green, Shadow Minister for Women and Equalities, and Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP.

This weekend was borough-wide campaigning in Livesey Ward. We were campaigning for Sadiq Khan MP ahead of the London Mayoral elections in May. I joined Florence Eshalomi, Labour's Greater London Assembly candidate for Lambeth and Southwark, and local members and Councillors to hear about the issues on the doorstep that matter to the residents of Livesey.  

The Political Studies Association held their annual awards ceremony in Westminster this evening.  I was delighted to be awarded the Associations Lifetime Achievement in Politics Award 2015. The awards evening was hosted by Channel 4 journalist and presenter Jon Snow and the award was presented by BBC's political correspondent Iain Watson.

Head teacher Jennifer Parris invited me to visit St Mary Magdalene C of E Primary School in Peckham following their International School award by the British Council. It was given for their commitment to providing a rich and creative range of international work to the curriculum.

As part of my visit I was invited to speak with Key Stage 2 pupils as part of their inspirational speaker’s programme and I was given an excellent tour by year 6 pupil and chairperson of the school council, Toluwani. Before I left I also joined the whole school assembly for a Q&A session. I also got the chance to catch up and chat with Parents in the school playground.

This evening I joined a roundtable discussion chaired by Andy Slaughter MP, Shadow Minister for Human Rights, to discuss the governments proposals to scrap the Human Rights Act. We were also joined by leading human rights experts from Liberty, Amnesty, Justice as well as representatives from trade unions, the legal profession and others. We discussed our response to the government's proposals.

Great to join local party members and councillors for the annual Camberwell and Peckham Labour Party gala dinner. We were delighted to have London Mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan MP as our guest speaker and thanks to Neil Coyle MP for his support too!

After 5 months of detention in an Indonesian prison Camberwell journalist and resident Rebecca Prosser finally returned home to her family on the 11th November.

Rebecca and fellow journalist Neil Bonner were arrested by the Indonesian Navy while filming a documentary about piracy in the     Malacca Strait. They were doing their jobs and were not criminals.

I pressed for Rebecca’s release and met with FCO Minister Hugo Swire MP, the Indonesian Ambassador H.E. Mr. Thayeb and asked the Secretary of State at Foreign and Commonwealth questions to do all he could to support Rebecca whilst she was detained and to ensure that she was allowed to return home.

On her return I was delighted to welcome, Rebecca, her family and Neil to Parliament for tea.

Chaired by Jackie Ashley, President of Lucy Cavendish College. I joined the shared celebration of the 50th anniversary of the BBC's The World at One, Lucy Cavendish College and Carers UK at an event to debate Gender Inequality. I participated in an Q&A session with Martha Kearney, presenter of BBC's The World at One to reflect on 28 years in frontline politics. 

The programme also included sessions from leading women who discussed some of the issues and choices facing women from work to the challenges of caring to public life.

At Borough High Street war memorial I joined local people, the Mayor, Councillors, civic leaders and members of our armed services to pay tribute at a service of remembrance.

This afternoon Camberwell and Peckham Labour women met for a drop-in social and snack lunch at the Peckham Liberal Club. It was a great chance to meet and get to know each other. We were also joined by:

*          Dora Dixon-Fyle, long-standing local councillor for Camberwell Green and current Mayor of Southwark

*          Jo Baxter, Secretary of our Constituency Labour Party and member of the National Executive Committee

*          Fiona Colley, local councillor for Nunhead and Southwark Council Cabinet Member for Finance & Modernisation

Rye Lane Chapel was the venue for todays New Members Event. We were joined by Guardian columnist Owen Jones and were delighted to welcome so many new members to the Labour Party.  A great event arranged by Jane Bevis, Chair, and Johanna Baxter, Secretary of Camberwell and Peckham Labour Party.

 Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights Harriet Harman has written to Secretary of State for Justice, Michael Gove, setting out several issues which the Committee is likely to take an interest in.

More here incl letter to Michael Gove.

 Questions which the Committee is keen to explore include:  

• Can the Government confirm that it has officially ruled out withdrawing from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)?

• Is the Government ruling out ending the UK obligation under international law (ECHR Article 46) “to abide by the final judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in any case to which they are parties”?

• What consideration has been given to the possible impact of changes to human rights framework on Britain’s standing abroad, and role of the Foreign [and Commonwealth] Office in the consultation?

• What are the proposals – and budget - for wider public consultation?

• What approach will the Government take to consultation of devolved institutions and ensuring that views of different parts of the UK are heard?

Committee Chair Harriet Harman said:

“In the first six months, Government proposals have gone from a Bill in the Queen’s Speech, to “proposals” to “a consultation.” The timescale has moved from the first 100 days to “this autumn” and then “in a few months’ time.” There is no more clarity about the government’s plans than there was back in May: we have no indication as to whether the Govt intends to publish a White Paper, draft clauses or indeed a draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny. It’s essential that such a vital issue is widely scrutinised and debated – and not just by politicians and lawyers. 12 weeks is not enough.”

@UKParlJCHR

#HRA and #BoR