John Hemming's Web Log

The big point about the proposed second runway for Birmingham International Airport is that it is having an effect today on many people living in Sheldon. The uncertainty affecting their properties causes them difficulties if they wish to move. I don't personally believe that the runway will ever be built, but the uncertainty causes sufficient problems to justify the government revisiting their assumptions. This is my yesterday's list. Apart from the usual written question responses, (I am going in further on the issue of the Safer Stronger Communities Fund where the government are being strangely evasive - like many other answers.) there were two debates that on Council Housing and that on Climate Change (see above link). Housing is in a worsening crisis nationally and particularly in Birminghamm. The government appear to wish to abdicate responsibility for housing. From local sources: The Draft HRA Business Plan gives a projected stock loss for the period to 31 March 201...

In my maiden speech I referred to three issues: The 99 bus, which is being replaced. The proposed splitting of the communities of Yardley by the Boundaries commission which I am pleased to say today that the Boundary Commission have revised. The blight on Sheldon caused by the proposals for the Second Runway - which I am working on. It is good news that the revised proposals for Yardley Constituency are based upon keeping communities together and traditions that have existed for millenia. The new proposed consituency is Stechford, South Yardley, Sheldon and Acocks Green.

It may sound superfically odd, but there is a provision in Section 12 of the ID Card/Database bill which means that people could be fined up to £1,000 if they shave without telling the government. Considering the bill which is on the net at ID Cards bill at Hansard See the following sections: Section 12 Notification of changes affecting accuracy of Register (1) An individual to whom an ID card has been issued must notify the Secretary of State about— (a) every prescribed change of circumstances affecting the information recorded about him in the Register; and (4) The things that an individual may be required to do under subsection (3) are— (a) to attend at a specified place and time; (b) to allow his fingerprints, and other biometric information about himself, to be taken and recorded; (c) to allow himself to be photographed; (6) An individual who contravenes a requirement imposed on him by or under this section shall be liable to a civil penalty not exceeding £1,000. From Section 1 (6...

I have been quite busy over the past few days with meetings and trying to sort out technology to demonstrate Iris Scanning (The Panasonic Authenticam). I now have the technology mainly working. The point about Iris scanning is that it is something that the police could use to determine identity up to a point, but it does not require the establishment of an ID Database. Information could be stored on the police national computer. At the same time the government's record on the National Insurance Database where they admit freely to having no information about the proportion of fraudulent entries and also deny having any information about how many fraudulent entries have been found, is not good. Why we should trust them to maintain a database which is used to prove who we are is unclear.

I suppose it has to be global warming. The paddling pool took days to blow up and as far as I know has not actually been used for paddling purposes. Recently, however, there has been a lot of rain which has started filling up the pool. Various 2-5 year olds were spraying each other with water around it which led me to look in the water which seemed to have mosquito grubs swimming in it (or some other flying insect). Cue "drain the swamp" manoeuvre. Still it is an interesting new issue which does incline one to consider that things are getting warmer.

Response to question: I have been supporting the Make Poverty History campaign. If we really mean to make poverty history, however, we need to understand the nature of political structures and how this country through its influence can either make things better or worse. Much of international politics is based upon interests rather than principles. The "Ethical Foreign Policy" that this country was supposed to have involves accepting evidence collected under torture from a country which boils people alive (Uzbekistan). On a superficial level accepting such evidence seems reasonable. The problem is that it endorses the behaviour which led to obtaining the evidence. The evidence itself is also unreliable. However, the biggest problem is that the patterns of behaviour then lead to further conflict with the UK and the citizens of that country. Much human conflict is based upon "them and us". The groups that are "them and us" can vary. They can be Shi...

Started the day by seeing off the Make Poverty History cyclists. Richard Burden and I held the ribbon. Lynne Jones (who cycles a lot) had her bike with her. Lynne and I are both to some extent fairweather cyclists although I did cycle through London in the rain. Lynne brought her bike in by car. Lynne is probably my favourite Birmingham Labour MP. I used the opportunity to bend Richard's ear about EDM 225 (Moor St Railway Station). We do need some action from Labour MPs on lobbying for Birmingham. Then the normal Advice bureau at which one of the issues was Sheldon Squirrels. One proposal which has been implemented is cages with mars bars to trap the Squirrels. A standard (BCC) treatment for "squirrels in the loft" is Radio 4. The theory is that in listening to a talk radio station the Squirrels decide the loft is occupied and leave. In the mean time we are told that the law requires that captured Squirrels are killed rather than released in Sheldon Country Park. ...

So the government don't have a "target" for council tax increases. Instead they have an amount by which it is assumed to increase.

I was thinking about what people may wish to do to get copies of my responses to various consultations and the like. Clearly these things will be in the final papers, but it would be silly to post them to the blog as there would be too much text. I have, therefore, established a YahooGroup This group called imaginatively johnhemming has a files section from which you can obtain information. Furthermore it operates as a discussion forum for any public discussions about issues that I am campaigning on (eg Silent Calls, Hydrocarbon Depletion, Family Tax Credit etc). The first message anyone posts is moderated by me (to stop spammers), but after that it is generally unmoderated although if anyone abuses the system I shall simply exclude them. People do need to Join to access the service, however.

I have got an answer about Council Tax. They claim, however, that " The Government do not set a target increase in the amount which local authorities can raise from council tax ". The only thing is that the government do have an expected increase figure. Now I need to find out exactly what that is called and put that in.

Labour believes a powerful weapon in persuading working-class voters not to back the BNP is to label it as "Nazi" and now a landmark ruling by the Standards Board for England has allowed the description. It should not be a matter for the Standards Board to decide whether or not the BNP can be called Nazis. The reason this is the case is that the Standards Board actually regulate the words that Councillors use on leaflets.

This is a question I have asked. I tried to get called under the question relating to the Supermarket Code of Conduct, but was not called. "What plans does the Minister have to deal with Monopsonys and Oligopsonys particularly in reference to Supermarkets, disintermediation and the demise of the small shops?" Watch out for lots of references to Oligopsonys.

I am not quite sure what this link will do as it appears that the parliament server uses cookies. Through the EDM Web Server one can find all of the current Early Day Motions. I have "sponsored" 7 which means I have written 7 and proposed them and others have seconded them. I am working on a database of EDMs with comments to enable me to work out which others to support. In the mean time I have signed a couple. I put two more EDMS in Yesterday. One related to Family Tax Credit (the same issue as below). The Employments Right Act 1996 has been pointed out to me. This act basically means that before an employer can deduct overpayments from wages "there is a general rule that an employer must not act in such a way as to undermine the employment relationship or to breach trust and confidence. In the light of this general duty, the best advice for an employer is to discuss the overpayment with the employee and propose repayment over a reasonable period of time dependin...

At the start of the day there are prayers in the House of Commons. This is more important to MPs because if you pray you can book a seat on the benches for the day. Any time after 8am when the chamber opens an MP can, themselves and not on behalf of another MP, collect a little green card, write their name on it and slot it into a little slot on the green benches. Then at prayer time (when the business starts) they arrive. The card in on the bench. They put it back into the slot and pray. If they are not there at that time they lose their reservation. Wednesdays is a day upon which lots of people wish to reserve a seat you do, therefore, see far more people praying.

One thing missed from the last week was that we now have a replacement for the 99 bus which will be a more frequent 13 service. This will cover the parts of the route that have no service. That was resolved at a meeting on Friday last, but things got a bit busy with journalists camped out all over Birmingham after that.

Paul Rowen (Rochdale) and I attended an event to support the London Olympic Bid. Notwithstanding the lack of support for Birmingham's Bid or Manchester's bid we supported the principle in terms of supporting the UK as a whole. London should reciproicate at a later stage. Part of the process involved meeting up with Jonathan Edwards Just days before Olympic gold triple jumper Jonathan Edwards flies to Singapore as part of the London 2012 delegation hoping to bring the Olympic Games back to Britain for the first time in 64 years, John Hemming MP has added his/her support to the 2012 campaign. John Hemming MP said "If the IOC awards London the Games on 6 July, it will be a fantastic day for the whole of the UK. Hosting the Olympics is a great honour and will bring real benefits up and down the country. "Over 1 million pieces of sports equipment used during the Olympics would be passed onto sports clubs and charities after the Games end - as will five temporary swimmi...

That this House calls for the Strategic Rail Authority to expedite the opening up of the new platform at Moor Street Station to use by passengers and trains. With a bit of luck we should have three Birmingham CC Area MPs signing this soon. Andrew Mitchell (Sutton Coldfield) and I have already signed it and Khalid Mahmood is looking at it.

There was a quite reasonable statement from the Paymaster General (Dawn Primorolo) about Tax Credits today. The problem is that if you have a responsive system which changes as people's incomes go up and down then you will end up with some overpayment. These overpayments may from time to time need recovering. There needs, therefore, to be a system for this. The problem with this is that the government merely take the money out of people's bank accounts and wait for them to complain. Many households are very marginal from a cash flow perspective and cannot afford this. What the government should do is agree the repayment rate before clawing back the money. I have written a letter (follows) to the Paymaster General to call for this. Letter to Dawn Primorolo I understand that currently you are stopping clawback if a dispute is raised. Would it not be better to only claw back when the recipient has agreed the clawback rate? Hardship is caused when the clawback rate is too high....

This is the link to today's questions. (Plus my comment on the Religious Hatred bill where I abstained). I don't really like abstaining, but there are times when I don't support either option. Incidentally it took 15 minutes for my colleague to walk the same distance (he is not affected in the same way by traffic lights).

That's 9 minutes and 25.83 seconds. I have found the stopwatch on my mobile phone and used it to measure how long it takes to cycle from my flat to the House of Commons today. One of my London team is doing the same route on foot and I should be able to compare times later. I can understand why many London cyclists take traffic lights as being advisory given that there are so many of them. The distance itself would have taken nothing as long without that. It is also relatively level (a slight downward incline).