The last couple of weeks have been as hectic as ever. You can find out about all the things I’ve been getting up to as Minister for Communities and Local Government by clicking here.

Last night I attended the Mayor’s Civic Award in Wandsworth Town Hall. It was good to see so many local community activists being honoured by the Mayor of Wandsworth. We are extremely lucky in Tooting to have so many residents willing to be volunteers and give up their time for the benefit of the wider community.

I also was able to take along two local residents to a reception held at No. 10 Downing Street by the Prime Minister to commemorate Black History Month. My former teacher at Ernest Bevin College, Rodney Dove and Minister Moses Juma from the Yahweh Christian fellowship, were my two guests at the event. It was really humbling to see so many black British role models celebrating their achievement with the Prime Minister.

I’m really pleased by the announcement today by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions James Purnell MP, that the Post Office has retained the Post Office Card Account. This will mean a great deal for local Post Offices, and will enable them to carry on performing their important role at the centre of our community.

Well. What a night. Even though early results indicated Obama was going to win I couldn’t stop watching the coverage. I don’t recommend 1 hours sleep in two days, but how could I sleep?

This election has been inspirational for so many reasons. Voters queuing for 4 hours; interviews with 70 and 80 year olds who hadn’t voted since JFK, jubilantly coming out to vote for Obama; people carrying pictures of parents and grandparents who had passed away into the polling booths to honour their memory and include them in this historic moment…

One woman reported arriving at her polling station at 5.55am, five minutes before it opened, to find 2,500 people in the queue in front of her.

Hearing those stories I knew something special was going to happen.

In the end it was more than I’d (nervously) hoped for. Iowa – an overwhelmingly white state – overwhelmingly supported Obama. Across the country Obama won over large swathes of the ‘white’ vote, as well as hispanic, blacks, asian, women, men, northern, southern, working class, middle class and college educated voters.

In the end it was the man, his character and his vision that mattered to Americans.

In January there’ll be a black family in the White House for the first time – an image that I think will change the way the world views America forever.

Americans will look to their First Family and see a reflection of what a modern progressive America looks like.

I thought that John McCain’s concession speech was that of a true statesman. The humility with which he encouraged all Americans to unite behind President-Elect Obama was extremely moving. As for Barrack Obama’s victory speech, this was pure electricity. I can’t wait to hear his inauguration speech in January.

There is the potential for a lot of good to be done in the next four years. I’m very excited. I hope you are too.

I’ve had a busy weekend around Tooting. This morning I held my normal drop-in surgery, and over the weekend I met residents campaigning for safer streets in Tooting.

What I really want to talk about though is the US elections. Within the next 48 hours we will all know who the 44th President of the United States will be. This will be a momentous event that will shape the lives of many people worldwide.

This election has had many ‘firsts’. The headlines have almost inevitably been about the first Presidential candidate of African-American heritage and also the first female to be ‘on the ticket’ for the Republicans. Whilst I am proud to see these barriers being broken, it is another ‘first’ which fills me with optimism: first-time voters.

Campaigns by both parties have inspired many Americans to register to vote – many for the first time - and the turnout is expected to be the largest in recent memory. Some reports suggest that the newly registered voters will surpass the nine million mark, can you imagine what kind of positive impact that this will have on the election?

Government Ministers aren’t supposed to express a view on the outcome of elections overseas – but I bet you can guess who I’ll be rooting for.

I have been fascinated to see how both parties have been campaigning and am especially impressed by their use of the internet. I think it’s important that politicians use a variety of forms of communication to makes themselves accessible – wider engagements fosters greater democracy (hence this blog and my regular emails).

With this in mind I’d like to know how I can do a better job of keeping in touch with you as your MP – so please email me at sadiqkhanmp@parliament.uk and let me know what you think.

Over the last couple of years I have been working with local residents and the Wandsworth Fairtrade group to try and make Wandsworth a Fairtrade Borough. You can find more details about the campaign by clicking HERE.

Wandsworth Council had a full Council Meeting last Wednesday where a motion was moved to make Wandsworth a Fairtrade Borough. Local residents have told me how appalled and disappointed they were with some of the comments made by Conservative Councillors and the vote by the majority party in the Council to reject the motion.

It just goes to show how out of touch with public feeling the Conservatives in Wandsworth are. There are 20 London Boroughs with Fairtrade status, and London has just been declared a Fairtrade City (the biggest in the world). Even the Mayor of London supports Fairtrade and says Londoners should be proud to do so.

The majority of Londoners are clearly in favour of Fairtrade. So why do Wandsworth continue to oppose it?


Last week’s Local Guardian front page ran a story about our campaign to "Tidy Up Tooting".

Although I am extremely pleased that Wandsworth Council is finally getting its act together and giving Tooting the investment and respect she deserves I was disappointed by the headline of the story which was ‘Tooting is a dump’ .

My concern was compounded by the parents I spoke to outside the school gates last week who had a copy of the paper with them. They were upset with the headline, which described Tooting as a ‘dump’. How can we expect businesses to move into the area if this is how our local press chooses to report an initiative which should see Tooting improve?

Last night I attended the fantastic Diwali event organised by Tooting traders. The event was a classic example of what is meant by community cohesion. The local family businesses, many of whom are feeling the strains of the economic downturn, are nonetheless willing to donate and contribute towards an event for the entire community, not just Hindus and Sikhs. It was pleasing to also celebrate the election of Indrajit Patel as the Chair of the Tooting Town Centre Partnership Board.

Today is the start of my third week in the Department for Communities and Local Government, and I have to admit the learning curve is pretty steep.

Highlights have been being able to speak from the Dispatch Box at oral questions last week, as well as the Local Government debate on Wednesday.

I have also been busy taking through the final stages of the Planning and Energy Bill which gives large powers to local authorities to ensure new buildings are energy efficient.

If you want more information about my work as a Minister you can visit www.communities.gov.uk

Over the weekend I held my last surgery at Tooting Library before it is refurbished. Local ward councillors, local residents and myself have been campaigning to bring Tooting Library into the 21st century for the last few years.

Although it is extremely exciting that the refurbishment works will soon begin, the downside is that I will not be able to hold my surgeries there for the next year.

My surgeries will continue as normal though. Visit the surgeries page here for more info

Yesterday I joined Councillor Billi Randall and local Labour Party activists walking the streets in and around Bedford Hill talking to local residents about issues that are important to them. The main issues appear to be poor street cleaning, dogs mess on the pavements and insufficient bins along Bedford Hill. I shall raise these issues with Wandsworth Council, who are responsible for this area.

The beginning of October has been fairly hectic for me so far. For those that aren’t aware yet I was promoted to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Department for Communities and Local Government in Gordon Brown’s recent reshuffle. I’m now responsible for Community Cohesion and the Fire Service (the child in me is particularly excited with this bit…), so expect to see more of me speaking in the chamber over the coming months.

My new job doesn’t mean I’ll be neglecting my constituency work though! My casework appointments are continuing as normal, as are my visits to events in Tooting.

On Friday I visited Wandsworth Friends Meeting House as part of National Quaker Week, where I was privileged to hear a piano recital by John Paul Ekin. You can read more about the Quakers, Quaker Week and the work they do HERE.

On Sunday I had a great afternoon at the Tooting Foodival, run with Transition Town Tooting. It's always encouraging to meet local activists, and Lucy Neal and her friends were no exception.
Transition Town Tooting will explore how the people of Tooting can look at the twin challenges of climate change and energy use, with an emphasis on focusing on localisation and the reduction of carbon emissions. I'm certainly a supporter of their work and think it could be a great thing for Tooting. My daughters and I loved the blackberry pie and other puddings made from local produce.

I’ve got my first Ministerial answers session coming up on Tuesday, which I’m fairly nervous about. Wish me luck!

Just a quick note to point you in the direction of the excellent Tidy Up Tooting group, who you can read more about HERE.

I joined them this Sunday and spent the afternoon clearing up an alley that had been targeted by fly-tippers. It was a great way to spend the afternoon, and it was a real pleasure to meet a group of residents who care deeply about Tooting and want to do something to improve the environment they live in.

I highly recommend you have a look!

This week I had the joy of attending the AGM of "The Furzedown Project".

My last visit to the Project was earlier this summer when celebrities Lionel Blair and Sylvia Sims attended the launch of the Project's new mini bus. It was a memorable occasion seeing Lionel Blair dancing and flirting with the members!

This amazing Activity Day Centre for Older People continues to go from strength to strength. The highlight for me, yesterday, was meeting some of the members and volunteers who continue to increase the amount of time they give to the Centre. The estimate of hours contributed by volunteers last year was 3,331 hours! Additionally, the Home Visiting Scheme run by the Project serves over 55 older local residents who, but for the scheme , would have almost no human contact at all during the week.

The Trustees, Staff, members and volunteers confirm the huge amount of decency and goodness that exists locally and helps rebut those who claim we have a broken society.

While times may be tough for many, the Furzedown Project, and other groups like it demonstrate how much we can all achieve if we help each other out a little bit from time to time.

On Wednesday night I attended Wandsworth Primary Care Trust's AGM. It's always a pleasure to meet local NHS staff and hear what they have to say, and hear what plans the PCT has for the next year. I take a keen interest in the PCT and admire their dedication and the excellent they provide in Tooting.

I’m afraid the older I get the less I’m invited to 21st birthday parties! One I was invited to was the 21st birthday of Balham Pensioners Centre on Wednesday, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

I attended a special thanksgiving service at Balham Baptist church where the theme was “Celebrating Age”. Reverend Steve Rouse is one of my favourite religious leaders locally. Yes he’s funny and inspiring, but he’s also down to earth and cool! The last time I saw Steve was a rather more surreal experience. It was when we were both in Wimbledon Theatre waiting for our respective daughters during a break in High School Musical surrounded by literally hundreds of school children. I think we both felt far more in our comfort zone this week in the surroundings of Balham Baptist church.

The vision of Reverend Steve and Balham Pensioners Centre is to serve with “Food Fun and Friendship”. As they enter their 22nd year, it is clear to me that they pull this off really well. I wish the pensioners centre and the luncheon club many happy returns and I look forward to being invited to many more birthdays.

Although we are in Parliamentary recess, that does not mean MP's are not busy. It is nice, however, to be out in the community rather than stuck in Parliament for 14 hours a day! Amongst the things I have been up to, other than my visit to Sierra Leone with VSO (click HERE for details of my VSO trip) are: The "Help a London Child" 10k run in Hyde Park. It was really hard work, but good fun and all for a great cause. I was pleased to run alongside and beat Capital Radio DJ Lucio Buffone and Alesha Dixon of Strictly Come Dancing and Mystique fame, and in the process helped raised money for this excellent charity. The bad news is I was only 1791st out of over 11,000… I’m hoping to pick up the pace and do better when I run the Nike 10k later this month!

Click HERE if you want to see me struggling on the course and click HERE if you want to find out more about "Help a London Child."

I have also been to 2 of Tooting's finest restaurants. I visited Tooting's Tiffin Cup Winner, Al Mirage, to present the Head Chef with a white Tiffin Cup Chefs special jacket. Though they didn’t make the final of the national competition they were highly commended by the judges and are looking forward to competing next year and hopefully bringing the award to Tooting. You can see a picture HERE

I also had the pleasure of opening a new Indian Restaurant in Tooting, "Lahore Dreams". This new restaurant can be found at 200 Upper Tooting Rd and is a welcome addition to our family of excellent restuarants.

One of the highlights of the last month has to be attending the wedding of my good friend and neighbouring MP for Battersea, Martin Linton. He married Sara at a lovely ceremony at the picturesque St Mary's Church overlooking the River in Battersea. It really was a wonderful day and i am sure all of us who know the happy couple wish them both many many years of joy and good health.

One of the things I do each year is be a guest speaker at a leadership course run at Oxford University for young men and women aged between 18-30. This year it was held at Christ Church and the Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies. Other speakers this year are Rt Hon Stephen Timms MP, Dominic Grieve MP, Ed Vaizey MP as well as leading figures from the media, judiciary and business.

One of the passions I have is making Parliament more accessible to constituents from Tooting. I was really keen to host Ninian Harvey and his daughter Nelly who had bit for tea on the terraces with me at at a raffle held at Ravenstone Primary School in Balham. I was delighted to give Ninian and Nelly a tour of the Palace of Westminister and the rain stopped long enough for us to go on the terrace.

If you would like to visit Parliament please do not hesitate to email me and I would be happy to set this up. There is no charge and it is great fun.

I recently took part in a programme called ‘Election’ for Children’s BBC. The programme was loosely based on ‘The Apprentice’, but with a focus on politics instead of business.
The series pits a group of children against each other, and the host, Jonathon Dimbleby, to see who is best budding politician of the bunch. In the episode I was in I had to attend two launch parties that the two teams had devised and hosted on two different campaign issues. As one of the guest judges, along with my colleague Dawn Butler MP, I had to decide which group got their message across the most effectively.

I thought the quality of ‘politicians’ in both teams was exceptional. It is amazing to see students aged between 11-14 having such mastery of campaigning techniques and of the issues.

The boys’ campaign was called "scoop the poop" and was trying to encourage dog owners to clean up after their dog whilst the girls’ team had "garbage the gum" which was about encouraging gum chewers not to throw their gum on the floor.

I am not allowed to say who won but the series looks like it will be a huge hit and is a wonderful and clever way to get young people interested in politics. Who knows I may have met a future Prime Minister!

This particular episode should go out on Thursday 23rd October at 4.35pm on BBC1 – so make sure you and your children watch it!

I am writing this having just returned from my visit to Sierra Leone as a Voluntary Service Organisation (VSO) volunteer. The 8 days I spent there were both inspiring and humbling.

Sierra Leone has recently come out of an extremely bloody eleven year civil war. But since the war ended there have been two general elections (including a change of government) which occurred without any major problems and also the first ever council elections.

I am proud to say that it was British politicians who took the brave decision to step in and stop the civil war in May 2000. It was also British politicians, with the permission of British voters, who have taken the decision over the last few years to help redevelop and rebuild Sierra Leone.

The UK is the single biggest bi-lateral donor to Sierra Leone and works with many British, international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) as well as the civil government to help build the capacity of local groups and civic society generally. But of course, there is still more to be done.

During my stay I used my background as a Human Rights lawyer and ex-Chair of Liberty to train advocates, paralegals, field officers and volunteers at the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDHR) on human rights, working with politicians, lobbying and advocacy.

I also worked with local chiefs (who are heads of remote rural areas called chiefdoms), local members of parliament and local councillors on how to improve participation of local residents and improving the flow of information between representatives and constituents.

There are particular issues in Sierra Leone to do with women’s rights and the education of girls and I was particularly pleased to join groups dealing with these problems when I visited the chiefdoms.

I was bowled over by the commitment and dedication shown by the fourteen VSO volunteers I met in the various local groups that they were involved in. My pride in the work they do was compounded when I met a Tooting resident, Susie, who is a nurse at St George’s hospital who has decided to be a volunteer for two years in one of the poorest places in the world.

All of the VSO volunteers I met had a great impact on me and I particularly want to mention two other Londoners, Diya Mukarji and James Boyle, who are the best ambassadors that our country could hope for in West Africa.

You can read more about my trip, the work the VSO do, and see some pictures (the best bit!) HERE

Labels: Sierra Leone

Last week I spent some time at local schools getting into the Olympic spirit. As this will be the final week many schools meet before the Beijing Olympics it was good to see local children really getting excited about the Olympics. Both events were excellent examples of sporting prowess, almost like the real thing, with teams competing in a very sporting manner, cheering from the sidelines, and brilliant opening displays; I particularly liked the display of flags at Earlsfield School and the costumes at worn at the opening ceremony at Sellincourt School.

I am sure that Tooting will once again be well represented at the London Olympics in 2012. Who knows, some of young athletes may well be there while we cheer them on. You can see a picture HERE.

I also spent some time at St Georges Hospital. Thankfully, none of these visits were for medicinal reasons. I was really pleased to present the staff with a massive 60th birthday card on behalf of local residents.

The creation of the NHS was one of the greatest achievements of our country in the last century. It is thanks to the dedication of staff at St George’s that the Trust continues to move forward and is recognised as one of the best in the country. While I was at St Georges, I took the opportunity to thank the hardworking staff there as they, and the staff at every other hospital, GPs surgery, walk-in centre and clinic, make the NHS what it is today. You can see a picture HERE.

I was equally proud to join members of the Balham and Tooting Community Association (BATCA) to present a cheque for £3500 to the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) as a result of the recent Funday we had. The money will be spent on an additional transducer probe for their Sonosite mobile ultrasound system, one of the most used pieces of equipment in the PICU. It will mean that small veins can be visualised more easily and therefore that damage to nerves and other tissues will be reduced when intravenous lines are introduced. The portability of the apparatus will mean that lines can be introduced more simply in the often cramped conditions around an intensive care bed.

I was recently made aware of some concerns about alleged wastage of blood at St Georges. I have since spoken with the Chief Executive of St George’s Hospital Trust, David Astley, to discuss the situation, establish the extent of the problem and identify solutions to the problem.

I am reassured that the main reason for the loss of blood last year was due to fridge failure. This was an isolated incident which is not representative of St George’s long-term record. The Trust has recently refurbished its blood transfusion facilities in response to these problems, and invested in new systems to track blood around the hospital.

Having investigated the issue and discussed it with the Chief Executive of the Trust, I am satisfied that St George’s has in place robust measures to ensure that the blood stock in the hospital is well managed and is committed to minimising wastage.

Sadly, the most shocking statistic to emerge from my discussions on this matter is that blood donations have fallen by 25% since 2004. It is absolutely vital that people continue to give blood; it is literally a matter of life or death. Potential blood donors can make an appointment to give blood by calling 0845 7 711 711 or visiting www.blood.co.uk. I would encourage every resident in Tooting to give blood, and help save someone’s life.

I really enjoyed meeting children from Earlsfield Primary School twice in a short space of time. A group of children came to Parliament to present MPs with books as a part of the MP Summer Reading Challenge. They recommended some great books to help politicians understand the lives and concerns of young people. I’ll definitely be reading one or two of them to my two children over the course of the summer! You can see a picture HERE.

For the last couple of months I have been busy consulting local residents about plans to redevelop Springfield Hospital. My initial campaign with local residents forced the developers to reconsider and delayed the submission of their planning application until September.

Since then, I’ve conducted a survey in response a great number of concerns expressed by local residents. I felt the consultation was needed because this is the biggest development to take place in Tooting in over ten years and Wandsworth Council has failed to carry out any consultation of local residents at all.

The results are now in and they revealed massive opposition to the plans, with only 4.3% of local residents supporting the plans in their current form. I took swift action and presented the results to Andrew Simpson, Director of the Springfield Development.

I’m going to keep up the pressure on the developers and the council to reconsider the plans, but in the meantime, please encourage your friends and neighbours to get in touch. The more people respond, the louder our voice. Click HERE for more details.

I attended the White Pigeon Sports day, which continues to go from strength to strength. White Pigeon are a great local charity that raises money for orphanages in Sri Lanka. This year more than 150 young people took part in the annual event at Tooting Bec Athletics Track. In addition to watching the young athletes complete, I was given the pleasurable task of handing out medals and certificates. You can find out more about White Pigeon HERE and see pictures from the sports day HERE

I have always been an admirer of News at Ten newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald. I was really pleased to meet him and talk to him at the first ever BME (Black Minority Ethnic) Cancer Awareness Week in the House of Commons, which I hosted recently. There are huge inequalities in relation to the incidence of cancer amongst certain sections of our society. Almost 1/3 of all deaths in the UK are cancer related. Raising awareness of the early signs and encouraging everyone to be able to spot the symptoms, are crucial to fighting these deadly diseases.

The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, is involved in a huge amount of charity work. I have met a number of constituents in Tooting who have benefited from the Prince’s Trust scheme. Another charity he is involved in is "Business in the Community". You can find out more about BitC by clicking HERE. I attended an inspiring evening at the Royal Albert Hall where BitC Awards for Excellence were awarded to businesses doing some really good work in communities up and down the country.

One the most harrowing experiences I have had as an MP, was visiting Auschwitz and Birkenau last year. You can see details of my visit by clicking HERE. I was pleased that Graveney School (who provided two pupils for my visit along with Ernest Bevin College) have enhanced their teaching of the Holocaust even more as a result of the experiences of the students who came with me. Year 9 put on an excellent production of "And then they came for Me……..Remembering the world of Anne Frank". After the play, Anne Frank’s step sister Eva Schloss made a surprise appearance and mesmerised the students (and us non-students) with her answers to some really interesting, clever, thoughtful and insightful questions and comments from students from Year 9. The whole morning was extremely sad and thought provoking.

This year my first week of recess will be spent in Sierra Leone as a volunteer with the international development charity VSO. The VSO is an international development charity that uses volunteers to meet its goals. The average age of volunteers is now 38, and most come from skilled and professional backgrounds - the aim is to provide volunteers who can pass on vital skills and expertise to allow long-term development in the host countries.

Sierra Leone was ravaged by a civil war between 1991 and 2000, and there is still a lot of work to be done to rebuild the country in the aftermath of this. I will be working at the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights helping locals improve their para legal and advocacy work, which is vital to the re-development of civil society in the country.

As part of my preparations for the visit I have had a number of meetings and briefing sessions with VSO and experts to fully prepare myself for the visit and to ensure that the maximum is gained from the visit. You can see a photo of me with the other participants in this summer's programme HERE.


I recently hosted a reception for South Thames College in the House of Commons (click HERE to see more details of this). Last week I visited the College in Tooting Broadway to hand out certificates to all those students who had successfully completed various ESOL and carers course at the College. The morning was a huge success with hundreds of proud parents, husbands (all but one graduate was a woman!) and children expressing real pride in the achievements of their family member. One of the biggest challenges we have as a society is raising the skills base of the general population and potential employees. South Thames does a great job in giving women a real chance to improve their own life chances as well as their families by the wide choice of access and more advanced courses offered. You can click HERE to see a picture from the event.

The weekends in Tooting, in Summer, are always fun filled. This weekend we had fairs or fetes in at least four local primary schools; Eardley, Fransiscan, Sellincourt and Fircroft. I spent most of my time at Fircroft School with my children and had a great day.

I then joined the "Inter faith walk" through Balham and Tooting. This had begun at 10am and lasted until 630pm with upto 100 local residents visiting Hindu temples, Sikh Khalsa Centres, Muslim mosques and Christian Churches in and around Tooting. The highlight for me was the Q and A at St Peter’s Church in Beechcroft Road.

Last weekend I attended the Fire Service Mela at Graveney School, which was a huge success and a brilliant way of promoting fire safety in a fun environment.

I particularly enjoyed the food and the Indian dancing was awesome, but there was a more serious message behind the festivities.

The cooking oil fire display was particularly frightening, but it was a useful display in demonstrating the importance of having a smoke alarm and also of what not to do when you have a fire in the kitchen.

As the house fire in Tooting last week showed, following basic fire safety precautions, such as fitting smoke alarms, can save lives.

I would urge everyone to make sure they fit smoke alarms in their homes and make a fire plan for emergencies; it could save your life and the lives of loved ones.

You can call 08000 28 44 28 or visit http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/ for more information.

The last few weeks have been as busy as ever.

One of the highlights was meeting staff and students at Graveney with the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls MP. The visit presented a great chance to see first-hand what the government’s record investment is doing to improve schools in Tooting. Graveney is just one of the schools in Tooting that will benefit from over £250 million funding in the next few years as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme. The programme guarantees that all secondary schools in Wandsworth will be refurbished or remodelled. It was great to see students from Sellincourt Primary School taking advantage of Graveney's IT facilities on the visit - it's wonderful to see Tooting's schools working together like this.

You can see a great picture of myself and Ed Balls at Graveney with students from Sellincourt Primary School HERE


I also had the privilege of spending 2 hours with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, discussing with him and a handful of MP’s a variety of issues that he has been working on and talking about for some time now. Things like; interfaith work, the role of faith in politics, fighting poverty, the mature way of influencing politicians, the role of the Church in our society and much much more. He is a very thoughtful and decent man.I have always been a long distant admirer of Dr Williams and I feel that he is now a friend.

This year we celebrate the 60 th Anniversary of our NHS. The NHS is Labour's greatest achievement; a health service that is available to all based on need – not the ability to pay.

60 years on and the NHS is there throughout all of our lives. I was born in St George’s Hospital in Tooting, as were my 2 children. Our local NHS has been a life saver for my family over the years, and I'm incredibly proud to be part of a government that has done so much to improve it in recent years.

As part of the celebrations I met with the Secretary of State, Alan Johnson MP to discuss his plans on how we prepare the NHS for the challenges over the next period. One of the biggest differences over the coming period will be the greater attention being given to Public Health. Not only will this improve the quality of life for potential patients of the NHS but it could lead to huge savings to the HNS by following the old maxim that "prevention is better than cure". At our meeting Alan mentioned some excellent work that he and Professor Ara Darzi had been working on in relation to a blue print for the next ten years of the NHS - so bring on the 70th birthday and an even stronger NHS.

One of the things I regularly try and encourage is for our local schools to come and visit Parliament and see for themselves the work that goes on here and also so local children can have aspirations to be future Parliamentarians or work in politics and Government. I was extremely impressed by the Gatton Primary School pupils, of varying ages who came on a recent visit. All the questions that the students asked were relevant and fascinating. As a governor of the school I have seen the huge emphasis the school gives to the issue of citizenship. This hardwork is clearly bearing fruit. You can click HERE to see a photo of the Gatton School visit.

Since January I have been acting as a mentor to three students from the Three Faiths Forum Parliamentors Scheme a project they are conducting in Tooting. The group worked closely with Year 10 students at Graveney School over four weeks in May and June to produce a really excellent project, which was based on the things the students at Graveney felt were important to them. They decided to focus on the culture of stereotyping, problems with respect and gang culture and produced an excellent video that investigated the impact these issues had on their fellow students. It was a pleasure to meet all the students at in parliament at the end of the project and I look forward to next year's programme.

With the Summer weather approaching, it is a great time to be attending and enjoying local festivals and fundays.I thoroughly enjoyed the first day of the Furzedown Festival, which is traditionally the Funday. My family had a great day, as always, at this year’s festival. My own contribution this year was to be in charge of the bouncy castle, which was good fun. The festival goes on for another 2 weeks and is an excellent advert for all that is wonderful about Furzedown.
I also thought the inaugural Balham and Tooting Community Association Funday was a real treat. The day clearly took months to organise and all the volunteers deserve our thanks. Not only has this event brought different faith groups closer together but it has also made our local community stronger. It was so good to see the Bishop of Kingston and the Imam from Tooting Islamic Centre spending time together with local families enjoying the day.

You can click HERE to see a photo from the funday.

In our community there are many different faiths and beliefs that local residents have. I was really pleased to have been able to join Tooting ward Labour Councillor Nick Bowes and hundreds of local residents for the ordination of Dr David Dean at the Shofar Christian Church. The ceremony was moving and the visiting preacher from South Africa who performed the ordination inspiring. David is a local man who has a lovely family. I am sure that the local Shofar Church will go from strength to strength and I wish him and his congregation well.

I regularly hold canvasses, street surgeries and listening sessions with local residents. Last Sunday members of London Young Labour joined us on one of our regular sessions. If you are interested in joining London Young Labour you can find out more about them by clicking HERE. You can see a photo of us by clicking HERE.

I've had a very busy couple of weeks, both in parliament and Tooting.

For obvious reasons there has been a great deal of attention paid to the votes in Parliament to approve the Report Stage and Third Reading of the Counter Terror Bill, which have been taken over by the decision of David Davis to resign from the Tory Front Bench and hold a by election.

To ensure that the Home Secretary understood the legitimate concerns local residents and community groups had about the original Bill, I invited Jacqui Smith to Tooting where she met local community leaders. You can find out more about the reasons why I think it is important to change the law, in light of the ever changing threats facing the UK, by clicking HERE.

This year we celebrate 60 years of the NHS. One of the biggest secrets in our NHS is the huge role volunteers play. As part of the celebrations I attended a reception at 10 Downing Street hosted by the Prime Minister. My guests for the reception were Daniel Blagdon from Millennium Volunteers Wandsworth, Kiron Kurien, a member of numerous local patient liaison groups including Expert Patients Programme (EPP) and Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) Steering Group for Wandsworth PCT and Chris Lewis, a “buddy” and fundraiser for St George’s Hospital. All three do excellent work in Tooting, which makes a massive difference to the lives of their fellow Tooting residents. The volunteers were thanked personally for their efforts by Gordon Brown, Sarah Brown and the Health Minister Ann Keen. You can see pictures and read more about the event HERE.

I often get concerned when I see young people demonised by the media (and sometimes politicians) The vast majority are a huge credit to themselves and their families, however there are a very small minority who do cause residents problems with anti social behaviour. I recently attended a public meeting at West Side Church to discuss the concerns some local residents had about the behaviour of young people who attended a local youth club at the church. I was really pleased that the church organised this meeting, as it gave us a chance to explore the issues that worried residents and discuss a way of working towards solutions. One public meeting will not solve all the problems that have been occurring locally, but it is a good start for local residents to work together to find joint solutions to their concerns.

I always enjoy visiting our excellent Primary Schools and over the last week I held a special assembly to honour a pupil from Fircroft Primary School. James Pang, aged 9 helped raise over £1000 for survivors of the recent earthquake in China. James, whose family originally came from China, was extremely upset by the earthquake in China, and decided he wanted to do something to help those who had been affected by it. He brought this to the attention of his school by writing a letter to the Head and Deputy Head. The teachers were impressed by James’ letter and helped him organise a Red Clothes day to raise money for the victims of the earthquake.

You can see a photo of James, his dad and me by clicking HERE.

Just a quick note today. I've been extremely concerned by reports in the press about the risk of identity fraud to Tooting residents.

Rest assured I am working hard to tackle this problem for Tooting residents, both in the constituency and in parliament.

For information on what you can do to protect yourself from this type of fraud visit my identity fraud page HERE.

The last few weeks have been busy in both Parliament and Tooting.

The Friday before half-term I visited Sellincourt Primary School to present the prize for winning a skipping competition I had organised for schools in Tooting. I had previously competed in a skipping competition against my fellow MPs, just missing out on a podium place in 4th position but winning over 1000 Active Kids vouchers. It seemed fair that I should award the vouchers to the school in Tooting with the best skippers! Sellincourt Primary School was head and shoulders above the competition and won the vouchers, which can be exchanged for sports equipment. To see a photo of me with two of the winning girls at Sellincourt School click HERE.

I have met with the person behind a new organisation called "Transition Tooting" who are starting to do some really exciting work in Tooting encouraging local residents to live more sustainable lifestyles. I have agreed to get involved with this new initiative and hope to build on some of the work I am already doing with local environmental groups in this very important area. You can find out more about their work and how to get involved at their website HERE

I also met with the new Dean of St Georges University Professor Peter Kopelman. He in fact attended St Georges Medical School but then went on to specialise in diabetes care and obesity care, eventually establishing one of the foremost obesity treatment clinics in the country. He is very passionate about St Georges and has an exciting vision for the University.

One of the highlights over the last couple of weeks was being asked to be one of the Guests of Honour at the STAR (St Georges Action for Refugees) fundraising dinner. STAR does a really important job helping some of the most vulnerable members of our community. It was great to be able to celebrate the things refugees have brought to Britain and help raise money for refugees in Tooting. It was really inspiring seeing some of the most privileged members of our local community doing voluntary work with local children who have had a tough start to their lives.

I am always impressed by the work that our Special Constables do in and around Tooting. I was pleased to invite the Minister of Policing, Rt Hon Tony McNulty, to the Wandsworth Policing Contact Centre to meet local Specials and all the volunteers who do such an amazing job. Since its inception the Contact Centre has gone from strength to strength; silencing doubters and becoming a valuable contact point for the police and local community alike; with over 12,000 visitors it really can be called a great success for community relations in Tooting. You can see a picture of myself, Rt Hon Tony McNulty MP and Fred Ahmed MBE HERE.