England Handball visited Parliament today to showcase and promote the sport.

Clive Efford MP hosted the event in which MPs, Peers and staff all had the opportunity to find out about this up-and-coming sport. We also got the chance to take a penalty shot against the Team GB goalkeeper!

The sport is played widely across Europe and is growing in popularity. The event was a great success.

This morning I met parents at the school gate of John Donne Primary school in Peckham along with local councillors Sandra Rhule and Sunil Chopra. I also visited the school and met with Head Teachers Evelyn Holdsworth and Nick Tildesley, and Community Governor Olive Lewis, to discuss their campaign for a secondary-level Free School.

This afternoon I met with Dave Ward, Tom Higginson and Adam Love from Network Rail at the House of Commons to discuss plans for the re-development of Peckham Rye station area. It was a constructive meeting and encouraging to see that they fully support extending the public consultation period.

The Arts must be for everyone, not just for some. That was the theme of my keynote speech to the Roundhouse today, where I launched a Labour Party consultation document on Young People and the Arts.

On Saturday I attended the annual Southwark Civic Awards ceremony at Southwark Cathedral. The awards are for local people - nominated by their local community - in recognition of their service to the community. The ceremony was followed by the inauguration of Southwark's new Mayor Cllr Sunil Chopra and Deputy Mayor Cllr Neil Coyle.

On Saturday I attended the annual Southwark Civic Awards ceremony at Southwark Cathedral. The awards are for local people - nominated by their local community - in recognition of their service to the community. The ceremony was followed by the inauguration of Southwark's new Mayor Cllr Sunil Chopra and Deputy Mayor Cllr Neil Coyle.

One of the most important things for most people is our NHS. From cradle to grave, we need to know our health services are there when we need them. And most people’s regular contact is with their GP. People want to be able to get an appointment quickly, see the same doctor each time and feel that their doctor has enough time for them.
 
People in Southwark tell me that they are finding it harder to see their GP. A teacher from Peckham complained she had to wait over 3 weeks for an appointment that she could fit in with her work. But her symptoms worsened and she tried to get an appointment sooner. She rang first thing in the morning but all appointments for that day had already been booked by 8.10am. She was told by the receptionist to call again the next day and ‘hope to be one of the lucky ones’.

A woman from Peckham Rye complained she had to wait almost a month for an appointment. She was told when she called that she could call again the next day to see if an appointment was available but this was inconvenient for her because she starts work early in the morning. In the past, she has even been late to work because she couldn’t get through on the phone when trying to make a same day appointment. 
 
People need to be able to see their GP promptly to avoid worry, get an early diagnosis and treatment, and it should not be a struggle to get an appointment when you need it. People should not have to take time off work to see their GP and lose pay or suffer anxiety, or be forced to go to A&E when it isn’t an accident or an emergency.
 
A survey at my advice surgery showed three quarters said they had to wait over 48 hours to get a GP appointment and over half were not able to get an appointment on the same day. Most worryingly, over half of the constituents surveyed said they had had to go to A&E because they couldn’t see their GP in time.
 
When Labour was in Government, 80% of patients got a GP appointment in 48 hours. Only 20% had to wait longer. Now 60% have to wait more than 48 hours to see their GP.
 
As your local MP, I’ve worked hard over the years with other South London MP’s to improve our NHS. My worry is that with this Tory/Lib Dem Government we are slipping back.
 
That is why the next Labour government will invest in GP surgeries and give people the right to an appointment within 48 hours, and on the same day for those who need it.

Everyone was horrified to see that over 200 girls had been abducted from their school in northern Nigeria. But it has been particularly heart-rending for the many Southwark residents who come from Nigeria and who still have family there. It’s been over a month since they were taken. The video broadcast by their captors must have been yet more torture for the parents who await their return.

They were taken by a militant group called ‘Boko Haram’, who are against Western education and are against any girl going to school.

It is the right of every child - boy and girl - to get an education. 

The most important thing now is to find the girls and bring them home. That is vital not just for each and every one of them. But it’s also important for all the other boys and girls in northern Nigeria. If Boko Haram are able to get away with this terrible crime, then parents in northern Nigeria will become fearful of sending their children to school - especially their daughters.

It’s essential not just for each child, but for Nigeria's future, that all girls in Nigeria go to school.  A country cannot develop and prosper economically if half the population - its women - are kept in illiteracy and ignorance. 

Given the gravity of the crime against so many young girls, it was extraordinary how long it took the Nigerian government to take action. And for too long the international community did not seem to be responding.

There's no doubt that the Nigerian government face difficulties with Boko Haram in northern Nigeria. That's why help from other countries internationally is so vital. Think of the massive international effort to find the missing Malaysian Airways plane with search equipment mobilised from all around the world.
To mobilise international action and to show the Nigerian government that we in the UK want them to do everything they can to get the girls back, and after discussions with my Nigerian constituents, I started a campaign in Parliament. I took up the case of the Nigerian girls with the Foreign Secretary William Hague and the Women’s Minister, I wrote to the Nigerian High Commissioner, and tabled a motion in Parliament which was signed by 94 Members of Parliament from all the political parties calling on the Government to support Nigerian efforts to find the girls and bring them home safely.

Our government has now sent a team of experts to help the Nigerian authorities and I welcome this. But we need to keep up the support and the pressure. I hope everyone will sign petitions and write to our government urging action.

This is not just a Nigerian issue. We must stand together in solidarity and back the right of every girl to receive an education. And we must leave no stone unturned until these girls are back with their families.

Clare Moody European candidate for the South West, David Drew PPC, Geoff Wheeler, Leader of Stroud District Council and I met up at Stroud Labour Party office today ahead of tomorrow’s local and European elections. It was great to meet and chat with local members who busy preparing to get the vote out!

Azhar Ali, PPC for Pendle and Yvonne Tennant local candidate for Marsden and I joined local Labour members in Marsden Ward to campaign ahead of the local and European elections on Thursday. We were also joined by Julie Cooper PPC for Burnley. It was a great morning and we got speak to lots of residents about the issues that are affecting them in their local area.

On Saturday I was out campaigning in Rotherhithe with Neil Coyle, Parliamentary candidate for Bermondsey & Old Southwark, Val Shawcross AM, Southwark Council Leader Peter John and local Labour councillors, candidates and Party members.

Today I met with Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley (Specialist Crime & Operations Unit), along with Simon Hughes MP, at New Scotland Yard. We discussed what progress the police has made in ensuring justice for victims of rape and serious sexual offences following the IPCC's report on the failure of Southwark Police Sapphire Unit to properly report and investigate victims complaints of rape and other serious sexual offences.

Today I met with Met Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe and Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley (Specialist Crime & Operations Unit), along with Simon Hughes MP, at New Scotland Yard. We discussed what progress the police has made in ensuring justice for victims of rape and serious sexual offences following the IPCC's report on the failure of Southwark Police Sapphire Unit to properly report and investigate victims complaints of rape and other serious sexual offences.

Today I challenged Nick Clegg on the Government’s failure to protect tenants from rip-off letting agencies.

Lara Norris PPC for Great Yarmouth and Trevor Wainwright, Labour Leader of Great Yarmouth Borough Council and I visited the Marine Centre on Marine Parade to hear from Wayne Nixon, General Manager, on the improvements and upgraded facilities the centre has recently undergone as well as discussing the great plans for the future of the centre.

The Publisher’s Association held their AGM this morning in Central London. 60 members of the association came together to discuss the current issues affecting them within their industry.

This morning I visited St Thomas the Apostle College in Nunhead to talk with members of the school council and tour the new school building. Thanks to Serge Cefai, the Executive Head, and Head Teacher Eamon Connolly for showing me around, and congratulations on achieving their best ever GSCE results - 73% including maths and English.

In Parliament I am leading a campaign to raise awareness of the abduction of over 200 schoolgirls from the Government Secondary School in north-eastern Nigeria on 14th April.

I welcome the Government’s condemnation of the attack and pledge to support the Nigerian Government in its efforts to locate and safely return the missing schoolgirls.  But there is still a chronic lack of information on their whereabouts – and it has been over three weeks since the abduction. 

That is why I have written to the Nigerian High Commissioner to the UK and asked for a meeting, to raise my and my constituents’ concerns and to hear what the Nigerian Government is doing to bring the girls back.  I have also written to the Women’s Minister, Nicky Morgan MP, to see how this issue can be raised internationally with UN Women, and to the British High Commissioner to Nigeria for further information about what is being done to return the schoolgirls.  On Thursday 1st May I tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament, which I hope all MPs will sign.

See below for my letter to the Nigerian High Commissioner -

The High House Production Park is a new charity to support a centre of excellence for creative industries in Thurrock - to inspire a new generation. This has been established through the partnership of Royal Opera House, ACME Studios, Creative and Cultural Skills, alongside Thurrock Council. I joined John Kent, labour Leader of Thurrock Council and Polly Billington, Labour’s candidate for the 2015 General Election for a tour of the Park.