A Brief Spell in Prison and a Less Than Satisfactory Stage Appearance

---

Report back from Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith and Chiswick

Andy Slaughter MP treading the boards at St. Stephen's Church of England School

November 18, 2024

Last week in parliament, I spoke about the Budget and the impact it has on the Ministry of Justice. It is great that in this Budget we can see the first real investment in the justice system in 14 years. This is a good start, although won’t be enough to resolve all the crises within the system. You can read my full statement in the Debate on Budget Resolutions here.

This week the Justice Select Committee made its first visits to Brixton Prison and Snaresbrook Crown Court. The issue of overcrowding and rehabilitation in prisons, as well as the court backlogs is of interest to the Committee and these visits are helpful in informing our work.

I sponsored an event in Parliament recently for local charity, Advance. Advance works to support women and girls who are involved in the criminal justice system and also those who are experiencing domestic abuse. The event allowed MPs along with people who work in the criminal justice system to come together to discuss support for women in the criminal justice system, including early intervention and prevention. You can find out more about the event and about the work that Advance does here.

On Remembrance Sunday, after 40 years attending remembrance services in Fulham and Shepherd’s Bush, this year I laid a wreath at the Chiswick War Memorial in the new part of my constituency. Although I couldn’t be there, my friend and longstanding Councillor in Hammersmith & Fulham, Wesley Harcourt, laid the Parliamentary wreath in my place.

Chiswick War Memorial on Turnham Green

I was also delighted to be given the opportunity to present an award at the British-Somali Graduation Ceremony. It was a pleasure to attend the awards with my colleagues Joe Powell, MP for Kensington and Bayswater, and Ben Coleman, MP for Chelsea and Fulham. We had the privilege of meeting some outstanding people who have all recently graduated from the best universities with the highest awards.

Presenting an award at the British-Somali Graduation Ceremony

To celebrate Polish Independence Day, last weekend I attended an event at POSK, the Polish cultural centre. It was a great celebration of the battles and achievements of the past century. UK politicians including fellow west London MP, Rupa Huq, Polish diplomats, and local people came together to remember the close bonds between our countries. You can find out more information about POSK here.

I used the rare occasion that Parliament wasn’t sitting last Thursday to meet groups of interested young people who are learning more about how Parliament works. Firstly, I was delighted to participate in St Stephen's C.E play on democracy, it was all going well for them until I took to the stage. Great fun, but I won’t be giving up the day job!

With the children of St. Stephen's School

Later in the morning I had the pleasure of meeting the Youth Select Committee to talk about being a select committee chair. The Youth Select Committee is made up of young people aged 14-18 who are appointed from the Youth Parliament. We discussed many aspects of Select Committees, including their role, the impact they have and what makes a good inquiry.

Last but not least, I finished the morning by meeting Politics students from West London Free School during their visit to parliament. I had a lovely chat with them and a Q&A. I am looking forward to meeting even more young people from Hammersmith & Chiswick next week during UK Parliament Week. You can find out more information about UK parliament week here, there is still time to sign up!

 

Andy

andy@andyslaughter.com

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.