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Showing posts from June, 2009

Attachment Disorders

The linked story in today's Daily Mail is about a boy who has an attachment disorder. No research has been done as to what extent the actions of the local authorities for young babies cause attachment disorders. It needs to be done.

That Urgent Question Yesterday

Another good sign of the new speaker regime is the agreement to an Urgent Question on Cybersecurity. This has the effect of discouraging ministers from announcing things outside parliament. The ancien regime was very resistant to doing this.

A bit of a nasty world

I am encountering a number of cases where it seems to be that things are getting nastier in this country. Those are cases where things are done to people which don't seem to have any merit at all and seem excessively harsh. We managed to prevent Eugene Sands from being deported on Friday with moments to go. He is a 77 year old ex police officer from New York who brought his wife's ashes back to the UK so he could spread them in the area where she was born and visit the site. He is living on a US pension. I really don't see why he is such a threat to the UK that he should be deported. I am also dealing with a case where someone borrowed £2 without permission. The only reason his managers found this out was that he told them. He was sacked. This to me seems way over the top. Then I have a case of someone who ended up getting a 5 year jail sentence because there were no resources to get him sectioned. He is not a threat to others. I did manage to get him released. Then

Statement on extra parliamentary income

I am a full time politician, but I remain a director of two companies that I founded and also other businesses that run through as John Hemming Trading My working week is around 70 hours a week. I spend about 4 hours a month chairing John Hemming & Co LLP. This means that over 98% of my time is spent on political issues. I do not think it is right to concentrate on counting things when working out how effective an MP is. For me the measures of success are what I achieve for my constituency, for Birmingham and more widely. However, according to “they work for you”, I am above average on most measures of what an MP does (speaking, voting etc). I am also on three select committees which is an usually large number. I have declared my external interests, but the new rules require more information about the amount of money I receive from various sources. Hence this statement.

Election Result 18th June 2009

Inverclyde UA, Ward 6 - Inverclyde South West The SNP Candidate won with 1087 votes at the sixth stage. First preference votes are given below: - SNP 919 Lab 490 LD Eric Forbes 454 Con 171 Ind 67 UKIP 49 Free Scotland Party 17 Turnout was 26.5%

Mental Capacity in the chamber

2. John Hemming (Birmingham, Yardley) (LD): What recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the arrangements by which the Official Solicitor is appointed to act in the family division. [279664] The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice (Bridget Prentice): There has not been a recent assessment and there are not any plans for one. However, the family procedure rule committee has invited the family justice council to consider producing good practice guidance for those cases in which parties lack capacity to give instructions. That is currently being considered by the relevant sub-committee. John Hemming: I thank the Minister for that answer. More than 100 times a year, mothers are prevented from opposing the adoption or the taking into care of their children as a result of a single expert opinion part-paid for by the local authority. Will the Minister meet me so that I can reveal to her the details of the dossier behind that and demonstrate how many mothers have

Election Results 4th June 2009

Runnymede BC, Englefield Green West Con 485 (39.5;-5.0) UKIP 357 (29.1;+3.8) Lab 150 (12.2;-0.2) Green 128 (10.4;+10.4) LD Ian Heath 108 (8.8;+1.4) Majority 128 Turnout not known Con hold Percentage change is since 2008 St Albans DC, Harpenden South Con 1602 (53.5; -21.8) Lab 703 (23.5; +17.2) LD Albert Moses 427 (14.3; +0.5) Green 264 (8.8; +4.1) Majority 899 Turnout not known Con hold Percentage change is since May 2008 Suffolk Coastal DC, Felixstowe South East Con 856 (49.2; -10.6) LD Bernard Price 693 (39.9; +18.0) Lab 190 (10.9; -7.3) Majority 163 Turnout not known Con hold Percentage change is since May 2007 Tewkesbury BC, Brockworth LD Judith Mary Perez 940 (52.7; +10.4) Con 679 (38.1; +15.4) Lab 164 (9.2; +9.2) [Green (0.0; -9.3)] [Others (0.0; -25.8)] Majority 261 Turnout 34.9% LD hold Percentage change is since May 2007 Three Rivers DC, Leavesden LD Keith Williams 857 (63.3; -8.7) Con 369 (27.3; +5.7) Lab 128 (9.5; +3.0) Majority 488 Turnout 33.4% LD hold Percentage change i