| Northern Line update, and another hectic week... |
| Tuesday, 25 October 2005 12:53 |
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The last seven days have been the usual
rollercoaster of events in both parliament and Tooting
. I met a senior official from Tube Lines to raise my serious concerns about the Northern Line. Tube Lines are responsible for maintaining and upgrading all of the underground infrastructure – stations, trains, tracks, lifts and escalators. One of the key targets for Tube Lines is a new signalling system for the Northern Line by 2011, which in addition to being more efficient than at present, will increase capacity by 30%. I have also seen Tube Lines’ plans for improvements over the next 5 years and these include tube station refurbishment, modernisation and track replacement. The completed refurbishment of the escalator at Tooting Bec will be completed by July 2005. The refurbishment of the other escalator at Tooting Broadway will start in late 2008. By 2010, the stations in Tooting constituency will get upgraded PA systems, CCTV cameras, facilities for stations staff and redecoration, including repair of any structural damage. Inside the parliamentary chamber, I raised an issue which is very important to constituents as well as to me, in relation to reform of the House of Lords. You can see the question I asked here. Constitutional reform has been a big feature of the Labour Government over the last 8 years, but often goes unnoticed. Some of the things that have been achieved since 1997 are worth reminding ourselves about: devolving power to Scotland and Wales; an elected London Mayor and London Assembly; incorporating the European Convention on Human Rights into the Human Rights Act 1998; and the abolition of hereditary peers. However, I have been concerned about the slow nature of further reform in the House of Lords. I am pleased that we should shortly be getting a Joint Committee to review the options for the Second Chamber to ensure that it better reflects the UK in the 21st century. I will continue to put pressure on Ministers to ensure that there is no further delay in this area. I had the pleasure of visiting Garratt Park School on Garratt Lane last week. The acting Deputy Head, Irene Parks, rightfully took great pride in showing me around the school, and meeting the children at Tooting’s only secondary school for children with special needs. At the moment there are temporary classrooms accommodating the advisory unit and children who use the facilities. However, building works begin in January for an exciting new two story addition to the school which, fingers crossed, should be completed and opened for children and staff by September 2006. I recently tabled a question about funding for Special Needs schools in Wandsworth, and you can see the answer here. Special Needs funding for Wandsworth has increased each year since 1997. I recently signed Early Day Motion 85‘Parliamentary Approval for Armed Conflicts’ which says: “That this House believes that the decision to deploy British armed forces in conflict is of the most serious nature possible; notes that this is a decision to be taken by Ministers via the Royal Prerogative and that Parliament has no right to decide on the matter or even to be consulted; further notes that the Public Administration Select Committee has recommended in its report of 4th March 2004 that this situation should be ended and that Parliament should have the right to decide this matter in advance, or in cases of emergency retrospectively; further notes that in the last session of Parliament over 200 honourable Members supported this view; and therefore calls on the Government to introduce legislation to this effect.” MPs can enter a draw for Private Members’ Bills, and if they are fortunate to be chosen, then these bills are debated in the Commons on Fridays. Clare Short MP was one of the MPs whose name was chosen and the Bill that she sought to introduce was the Armed Forces (Parliamentary Approval for Armed Conflict) Bill. This Bill provides for parliament to have a vote before British forces are deployed in an armed conflict and also allows for retrospective authorisation to be sought in cases of emergency. I took part in the debate, and you can read my speech here. For a Private Members’ Bill to obtain a 2nd Reading, 100 MPs need to vote in favour of the Bill. Unfortunately, only 91 of us voted in favour (with 12 against) which means that the Bill falls. Yesterday, I took part in a Public Accounts Committee which looked into the Learning and Skills Council who are responsible for delivering Government objectives in combating social exclusion and improving the skills of the workforce. I raised issues surrounding South Thames College and the problems with the way certain courses are funded and the implications this has on adult learners in Tooting. I also talked about: concerns around proposals to change the way ESOL courses are funded; the difficulties in recruiting and retaining governors in light of constraints placed on FE colleges by the DfES; the delay in colleges receiving draft budgets amongst other things. |
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