John Hemming's Web Log

There is a debate going on about whether the Recall Bill is "Real" or not. As usual there is a lot of confusion about what alternatives are proposed. Zac Goldsmith put forward proposals for a different system.  The government proposal is triggered by one of two options either a criminal conviction or a decision by the Standards Committee.  Zac Goldsmith's is triggered by 5% of constituents signing a petition.  The government proposal then looks for a petition signed by 10% of constituents whereas Zac Goldsmith's then goes to a petition signed by 20% of constituents. The first point is that the government's proposal happens to be what is in the manfesto.  Although I rebel on some issues they are generally not issues which were in the manifesto.  I am making it clear to my constituents that I take a different view to the party on some issues (such as the EU referendum) hence I am not going to be bound by what it says in the manifesto on that. The second po...

The Witchfinder General has written about the case of Re D. I do think the case is important as it highlights the fact that one jurisdiction believes that a child should be cared for by its mother and the other jurisdiction believes that a child should be adopted or at least subject to a special guardianship. The mother is the same, the children are about a year or so apart. The underlying issue is one of risk.  What element of risk requires the complete removal of a child from its wider family?  

The Department for Education are trying to talk away the story about the NAHT producing guidelines as to when term time absence should be allowed. Earlier this year I wrote to the Department suggesting this as way towards a solution.  However, the department refused this as a proposal.  The Minister as I understand it is now signing off on the guidelines. Hence it is a clear U-turn on the department's previous position that "exceptional circumstances" was all that needed to be said. It remains, however, that the underlying argument still needs to be made.  At this stage I do not have a copy of the guidelines and so cannot comment in detail. It is also important to understand the role of Ofsted.  If Ofsted pressurise schools to reduce the number of approved absences regardless of the reasons for the absence then silly decisions will continue to be made. Hence progress is being made. The DfE have made a partial U-turn.  However, more work needs to be do...

This table is from research done by the government in 2011. It demonstrates for KS2 that taking a small amount of holiday in term time does not necessarily harm a child's education (at KS2 of course) and can in fact improve achievement. John Hemming said: "The government's obsessive demand for children to go to school almost regardless of normal family circumstances (such as illness, family bereavement and holidays) is not actually justified by the evidence that the government has in its research. Separate research looking at one primary school concluded that a small break can actually be beneficial to the children's education. We do need to be sensitive to the varied position that families find themselves in. Police Officers, Nurses and many other people often have no choice as to when they take their holidays. We should not effectively ban them from going on holiday particularly as the evidence is that it is beneficial to their children." Obviously ...

Hansard now has Friday's speeches on the parliamentary website.  I spoke in both debates. This is a link to my speech in the EU referendum debate . This is the debate on the Transparency and Accountability bill Both are I think important speeches.   The difficulty on the issue of pan-European institutions (including the Council of Europe and the European Union) is that the heat of the debate tends to obscure the underlying issues.   The underlying issues are, however, real and we should not avoid them.

This chart from the BBC demonstrates clearly the problem with Ebola and the solution. Ebola is, of course, a threat to everyone in the world. However, the chart demonstrates how Nigeria has kept tight control of infection whereas Liberia has been particularly bad at controlling infection (starting in 3rd place, but racing into 1st place). It is important that we recognise that it is possible that an infected person from one of the infected countries (Sierra Leone, Senegal, Nigeria, The USA, Spain and Liberia) could come into the UK without us knowing that this is happening in advance. It is, in fact, likely that an unidentified infected person will go somewhere else in the world. What is important is that we recognise what to do in the event that someone does come to the UK. The key for people in the UK is the following (from the BBC): Symptoms of Ebola include fever, headache, vomiting, diarrhoea and bleeding - but these are similar to more common infections like flu...

In one sense I lost a battle in court today (having 13K costs awarded against me).  However, possibly over 500 dumps of green waste have been cleared up as a result of the legal action although not all of the ones I highlighted were removed.   Some long standing ones like in Nooklands Croft have now mainly gone (but not all). I am likely to appeal the case.  However, the clear message of the case is simply to do lots more applications for litter abatement orders, but avoid taking them to final hearing.  I will, of course, consult with my constituents, but the early response is that they would like me to continue to fight the council on this issue.

This statement shows that the Latvians are taking action in respect of a case in England. There is a conference in Prague tomorrow about the problems in England (such a conference would be in contempt of court here because it would talk about cases). Sadly as a result of the Russians pulling out of the Council of Europe the report into English family law has been held back. It remains, however, that international concerns about England continue.

A group of residents who are concerned about the growing problem of Knotweed (Fallopia japonica) have asked me to assist in launching a campaign to bring it under control. The following photographs are of Morden Road, the River Cole in Stechford and the River Cole near Larch Walk. A lot of the banks of the River Cole in Stechford are being taken over by Knotweed. The council have sprayed a bit of it, but a much more strenuous effort is needed. Not only does Knotweed undermine biodiversity, but also it can do a lot of damage to properties nearby. part sprayed by council All above in Stechford near River Cole Morden Road Larch Walk

Followers of my twitter feed will have noticed a discussion between the local Labour candidate and myself about the way in which she was rehousing people living in Sandwell in Birmingham so that they could claim more benefits.  Specifically to claim more council tax benefit. This was based upon a speech that she gave on the subject of Children and Families with no recourse to public funds at a City Council committee in 2013. She explained how she didn't rehouse anyone living in the refuge she managed in Sandwell into Sandwell itself, but instead housed them in Birmingham, Walsall and Wolverhampton.  She said that this placed an even greater burden on Birmingham's resources. She is now claiming that she was not doing this for reasons of finance, but instead because of safety issues.  According to what I have been told, however, she made no mention of safety and merely mentioned differential rules in terms of benefits. Debates on Twitter are in public, but are const...

There will be a vote later today on the following motion. I am currently in Birmingham, but will soon catch a train to London in order to vote on the motion. I opposed military action against Assad and opposed the 2003 attack on Iraq. The wonders of modern technology enabled me late last night to send out a survey (including the motion) to those constituents of mine who subscribe to my electronic newsletter.  For some reason those with hotmail accounts were blocked, but many others did get the newsletter and a lot have responded.  I will put an analysis of the responses later. THIS IS THE MOTION That this House: Condemns the barbaric acts of ISIL against the peoples of Iraq including the Sunni, Shia, Kurds, Christians and Yazidi and the humanitarian crisis this is causing; Recognizes the clear threat ISIL pose to the territorial integrity of Iraq and the request from the Government of Iraq for military support from the international community and the...

The following image demonstrates that the decline in the number of post offices has been halted. It is an extract from a parliamentary library briefing.

There does seem to be some interest in the question of devolution for England.  I am, therefore, trying to find out if there is sufficient demand to run an e-Conference or Q&A session on the issues for Constituents (and if there is space in terms of time for anyone else from Birmingham. If you are interested in this please email tom.lister@john.hemming.name You would need a Skype video account to be able to ask questions or make statements.

Quite a few people are unhappy with politics. In Scotland this has resulted in 45% of the country voting for independence with all of its potential problems.  I see that as being in part driven by increased alienation from politics more generally. I am in the end pleased that they have voted to remain part of the UK although I don't like the Barnet Formula.   I also support proposals to strengthen devolution in England based upon City Regions.   The city region of Greater Birmingham is a much better approach than the previous concept of Government Office Regions.  It also allows the Marches to either have a devolved area of their own or to do things around the counties that exist. It is, however, crucial that attempts to push Coventry into the Greater Birmingham area are resisted.  Coventry is part of its own smaller city region and forcing it into the Greater Birmingham (which obviously includes the Black Country) immediately creates a conflict of interest...

I am pleased to be able to say that the prosecution against the Haymores has been dropped by Essex County Council. Although the council is relating this to them going to the USA, they did this in July a few days after the plea hearing.  In fact they faced substantial costs in fighting the case merely to travel back to the UK. I wonder if this outbreak of common sense on behalf of the council arises because of the first Not Guilty finding relating to Kerry Capper on Friday. It remains, however, that the rules need to change.  However, this is a clear success for the Parents Want a Say Campaign Group. Here is Dana Haymore's statement: "We are so happy with the decision the County Council has made to drop the case. We feel it is the right decision. No parent should have criminal charges brought against them for doing what is in the best interest of their children. Parents' roles are to know and love their families individually, better than any government does c...

One key element of life is looking at trends in the way things are happening.   Both of the above cases were in the news last week. I don't know enough about medicine to take a view as to whether Proton treatment is appropriate for Ashya King.   However, it is quite clear that: a) The doctors should not have threatened an Emergency Protection Order merely because they were being questioned by his parents. b) The Courts are too ready to give EPOs when requested to do so. c) Such decisions and the over used power to prevent parents from being in contact with the courts are at times damaging to the children. d) The only way the family could in practise get a second opinion was to be in the words of Brett King "Refugees" from the UK. It will take some time to work out where else in the process of issuing an arrest warrant and the arrest of the parents things went wrong.  Clearly if Naveed King had not been as capable as he is at dealing with social media etc...

When I took over as the House of Commons co-Chair of the DWP parliamentary policy committee in May I had two top priorities. One was to make some changes to the Spare Room Rent (aka Bedroom Tax). The other was to reduce the number of wrongful sanctions. After a while I persuaded the party to adopt my proposals for automatic exemptions for people who need spare rooms for reasons relating to disability and secondly that people who wish to move should not have to pay until they have refused a reasonable offer. I am pleased that once those had been put into the manifesto the opportunity came for Andrew George to press for those in a PMB.  Today the Private Members Bill passed its first hurdle.  (a second reading) It is difficult to get PMBs into law. In practise these changes create a better environment for many people, but change the situation from a payment through Discretionary Housing Payments to one relating to Housing Benefit.  Even in cases where people are m...

The Rome Statute is the founding document for the International Criminal Court. It is the ICC which enforces International Humanitarian Law. Because the USA and Israel have not ratified the Rome Statute it does not have any enforcibility in terms of the behaviour of those two nations. In the long term we need to strengthen the Rome Statute. As far as Europe is concerned a pre-condition for membership of Europe wide bodies should be ratification of the Rome Statute. This should apply to bodies such as the European Broadcasting Union. Frankly I do not think it is reasonable for a country to be allowed to participate in things like the Eurovision song contest whilst refusing to be accountable for war crimes.

I thought it was worthwhile putting a post on my blog that looks at the votes relating to this particular bill (during some of which votes I have rebelled and during others of which I have not). Firstly there is a statutory instrument: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/859/schedule/made This is The Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 No. 859  under this SI phone companies are required to hold certain information about phone calls and ISPs are supposed to keep track of who has what IP address.   Obviously this has been in place since 2009 and prior to that date other rules existed as to recording certain information relating to calls and internet access. Obviously there are advantages to law enforcement in being able to get information about particular accounts and phone calls.  This was, in fact, used as part of the Aston Election Petition back in 2005 so although I don't know precisely what information was retained prior to 2009 it is clear tha...

I have been asked what actions I have taken recently in respect of the dispute in the middle east. I wrote to the Secretary of State on 2nd July concerned about the disproportionate response of the Israeli Government to the murders of three Israeli youths. I issued a public statement at the demonstration in the City Centre on Friday 15th July. "Collective punishment was one of the more reviled acts of the Nazis in the second world war.  If we wish to bring greater peace in the world then we need to avoid escalating disputes between groups of people.  The use of techniques which are akin to collective punishment are not a step in the direction of peace and should be condemned as against international humanitarian law (Rule 103)." I spoke at a meeting on Saturday 16th July.  I explained at that meeting that the murder of innocents was not on the pathway to peace as it increased anger. I have also signed a number of Early Day Motions relevant to the issues in ...