One Year On!

I can hardly believe that a year has gone by since the General Election! It's been an incredibly busy year, balancing the workload in Parliament with responding to residents' emails and letters and getting out and about in the constituency.

I've met some wonderful people at my Advice Surgery and elsewhere and seen the fantastic work that is going on in businesses, schools and voluntary organisations across Chiswick, Brentford, Isleworth, Osterley and Hounslow.

It will be a challenging year ahead for many I know. I strongly believe, that working together, we can create a better and stronger local community for us all.

Highlight

The early highlight of the year was stopping the 3rd runway at Heathrow. Throughout the year, it has been great to be able to make a difference, however small, in helping individual residents resolve their problems.

Lowlight

The lowlight so far was hearing about planned closures of Day Centres and other key local services but I am positive about continuing to work with local residents, campaigners and Hounslow Council to find a solution.

Top three issues during the past year

1. Economy - working with businesses and people who are worried about their jobs and the impact of budget cuts




2. Crime - understanding residents' concerns about crime hotspots and significant issues locally such as domestic violence, drug-related crime and knife crime




3. Heathrow - confirming the continuation of runway alternation and campaigning to reduce the number of night flights

Top three challenges for the year ahead

1. Welfare reform - getting people back into work, giving people the confidence to find a job and encouraging entrepreneurship




2. School provision - supporting efforts to increase the number of school places in both primary and secondary schools




3. London 2012 Olympics - working to ensure a successful Olympics, address transport issues and secure a lasting legacy in our area

Marking International Women's Day in Westminster

On Tuesday 8 March I gathered together female MPs and Peers from all parties in Westminster to mark the centenary of International Women's Day.

We were joined in Westminster Hall by the Speaker of the House of Lords, Baroness Hayman, and the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, Dawn Primarolo.

Since its launch in 1911, International Women's Day has grown to become a global day of recognition and celebration across developed and developing countries alike.

I was eager to mark this important day. International Women's Day was founded even before women in Britain were given equal voting rights to men and has been a symbol of women's rights for one hundred years.

We have come a long way since then, but the fact remains that of the 649 MPs currently sitting in the House of Commons, only 144 are women. This is something that I hope will change and I have set up an All Party Parliamentary Group on Women In Parliament to champion this.

We are fortunate in this country that girls and women have good access to education and indeed are outperforming their male counterparts at all stages in the education system - but I believe there is more we can do to encourage and increase uptake of science and technology subjects by women in the UK, both of which are extremely important to the future of the economy.

The global picture is of course quite different. I welcome the role that the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals have played in defining global aims on key issues including access to education for women. In many countries in the world, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, South and West Asia and North Africa, women do not have easy access to education, particularly beyond primary level. It is right therefore that we use International Women's Day to focus on this issue for girls and women across the globe.