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Karen criticised the failure to consult and engage with parents using Westminster Children's Centres at a packed meeting at the Stowe club last week. Around a 100 parents attended, only to find no Majority Councillors there to explain their planned cuts, no figures and no hard information about what Westminster Council is planning. Parents told powerful stories about how the outreach, drop-in and other services at the network of Children's Centres had changed their own and their children's family lives. What kind of false economy is it to cut these services and leave parents adrift?

Westminster's Commander of Police has assured Karen that there will be no ‘major changes' to Safer Neighbourhood Police Teams, after several months in which the vision of the Met police service for SNTs has been unclear. Karen questioned plans to merge wards under a reduced number of sergeants, arguing that this would risk losing the unique local knowledge and leadership which has helped make Safer Neighbourhood Teams successful. However, new information indicating an overall loss of 28,000 staff from the police service could mean throwing everything back in the air.

Westminster City Council has decided to cut over £1 million from Voluntary Sector grants over the next two years, according to figures obtained by Labour Councillors.

The figures show that over £630,000 of grants is being cut from the Adult and Community Services budget and £425,000 of grants cut from the Children's Services budget.

The biggest cut is £169,000 from the Arts and Recreation budget which represents a 34% cut, followed by a £94,000 cut from the Older People grants to voluntary organisations.

Nearly £60,000 (39%) is being cut from the financial support given to Information and Advice agencies at… » Read more

On Monday I pledged my commitment to Holocaust Memorial Day by signing a Book of Commitment in the House of Commons to honour those who perished in the Holocaust.

With 27th January marking the 66th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration and extermination camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, the Holocaust Educational Trust places a Book of Commitment in the House of Commons every year to give MPs the opportunity to remember those who were persecuted and murdered during the Holocaust - and to support a ‘Legacy… » Read more

The winning idea at the ‘Dragon's Den' style contest for best community initiative last Friday night was for a series of ‘Strictly' -styled dance classes, pitched at older residents but with a specific aim of promoting inter-generational involvement. The hoped for outcomes? Older people will have an enjoyable local activity (and useful exercise) and, because young people are involved too, their fear of teenagers might be reduced. The team putting this forward? A group of exactly those teenagers from whom too many people shrink when encountered on a dark evening on a street corner.

The young men who designed this… » Read more

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Floating Classroom is through to the final of the People's Millions Competition.

The group have applied for £45, 000 to develop and deliver four single week filmmaking workshops, called On the Waterfront, for schools in four Wards in Westminster North. Participants will be asked to research the history of the canal and their local neighbourhood, digging up the wealth of local stories and discovering for themselves how our part of London has changed over time. They will then develop short films based… » Read more

Before the General Election local Labour Councillors and I warned that should the Conservatives take power they would introduce plans which would effectively end social housing as we know it, by raising council rents to near market levels and ending ‘secure' tenancies in favour of short term lettings. We were regularly accused of scaremongering for doing so.

In Wednesday's Comprehensive Spending Review the Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced plans that, coupled with proposals trailed in the last few weeks, will see the… » Read more

This morning Karen Buck opened the latest medical facilities at Ha'penny Steps in Harrow Road. The new Centre will be open 365 days a year, 12 hours every day and is managed by General Practitioners. It is another good example of the real difference which the outgoing Labour Government's investment in local health services has made to the lives of people in communities across London.

The practice can treat any patients during their opening hours and will be especially valuable to patients needing… » Read more