Stephen's Week

MONDAY 4th DECEMBER 2006

No Education Select Cttee meeting today, as we had just spent a week together in Australia. My sleep patterns still need a day or so to adjust. Today the Prime Minister made a statement on the future of Trident. Ming Campbell pointed out that this appears to be a rushed decision as the boats and missiles have many years service to run. My personal opinion is that Britain does not need to remain a member of the nuclear club. In Westminster Hall I met a group of constituents up for a lobby of Parliament on behalf of the Royal National Institute for the

Blind. We discussed a range of issues including benefits and access to public transport.

In the evening I went to a dinner with the "555 Club" - Lib Dem MPs elected last year.

TUESDAY 5 DECEMBER

A sad day. I came back to Bristol for the midday funeral service of John Gray. John had fought a long battle against bowel cancer. Tyndale Baptist Church was packed with people representing Jon's many interests, including the Bristol Choral Society, the NHS, walking groups and of course politics.

Back in London by mid afternoon to start ploughing through 148 pages of the "Leitch Review" - a major report on UK adult skills.

The House of Commons was a Tory debate day today, with votes at 7pm on a failure to invest in public health and 10pm on congestion on road and rail. Both motions were critical of the govt, so we were able to vote for the Tory motions.

WEDNESDAY 6 DECEMBER

Day started with a Universities UK breakfast briefing on the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review. This will be the Treasury's spending plans down to 2011. Mid day PMQs led to the Chancellor's Pre Budget Report at 12.30. This will be his last Pre Budget Report - we will probably have to wait until March next year for his last full Budget. I thought he missed an opportunity today to announce a radical change in environmental taxes. But he stuck to raising petrol taxes by just inflation and while he doubled air passenger duty, for most flights this will add just £5 to the ticket price.

In the afternoon I had a meeting with the "CMU" group - they lobby for the post 1992 universities. Major concern is the Further Education Bill clause that gives FE Colleges the right to award their own foundation degrees. These are two year courses, a qualification in their own right but can also count as the first 2 years of a full honours degree. Many are taught in FE Colleges, but a partner university gives the degree and accredits standards.

Then to a discussion with the National Skills Forum on employer incentives for training.

THURSDAY 7 DECEMBER

Another breakfast briefing, this time with the Quality Assurance Agency - the body responsible for standards in Higher Education. They were launching a report on the teaching of UK university degrees in Chinese universities. Several Chinese Embassy officials were present to hear of the good links developing between UK and Chinese Universities.

Later in the morning met with UCU - the Universities and Colleges Union to discuss a range of issues concerning their members. The UCU is in the early stages of a merger, it was created out of the old Association of University Teachers (AUT) and NATFE, the equivalent in Further Education.

By lunchtime a group of visitors had arrived from Bristol. These were Tim who works in my office along with Cllr Tim Kent and four volunteers who have been working either for me or the Council group for the last few months. I'm pleased to say that Steve and Sheila who have worked in my office have just got permanent jobs with Lib Dem MPs. We have lunch and a partial tour. Seeing inside the Chambers has to wait until business ends at 6.30pm

In the afternoon I was off to Millbank to pre-record an interview for Radio Four's weekly parliamentary round up. It was on this week's skills report and the Chancellor's announcements.

Tea time meeting with Universities UK to discuss the FE Bill, in particular Foundation degrees.

To Paddington to get a train back to Bristol with today's visitors. We were held at Paddington and then the train was slow so we got back to Bristol at 11.30pm.

FRIDAY 8 DECEMBER

Morning meeting with Ben Ulman, the President of Bristol University Students Union. We discuss Lib Dem national higher education policy as well as a variety of local Bristol issues.

Then I met with a representative of the Baha'i community to hear about their faith, which has spread from its founding in Iran in the 19th century.

After my afternoon surgery in the Council House it was over to St Werburghs Community Centre for the Ashley ward Caribbean evening organised by Cllr Shirley Marshall. Nice food and good dancing by the children.

WEEKEND

Spent most of Saturday and Sunday on a panel with representatives of the Lib Dem national Campaigns Department and Western Counties Region, reviewing progress in selected constituencies in the South West. This is already our strongest region but there are still many opportunities for gains at the next general election. In between, on Saturday night, I went to the annual Henleaze ward Christmas quiz. It was a good night for prizes - I won cash prizes in the Bristol West draw (let me know if you want to join our monthly donor scheme!) and the team I was in won the quiz plus several raffle prizes! Everyone had a great night.

MONDAY 11 DECEMBER

My morning train was delayed as the line to Bath and Chippenham was closed. When we eventually arrived at Paddington I noticed that the engine was called "Penydarren 2004" This refers to the bicentenary of the world's first steam railway journey from the Penydarren ironworks in Merthyr Tydfil to the canal at Abercynon, my home village, in February 1804. We've heard a lot about Brunel this year and I doubt if either he or 1804 railway pioneer Richard Trevithic would have been impressed by our 21st century railways.

Education Select Committee had a panel of faith school representatives. This was part of our enquiry into the teaching of citizenship. Citizenship classes could be an arena where faith school pupils could debate contemporary moral issues such as abortion, euthanasia, sex and marriage. I asked the Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham a series of questions on these issues. I also asked him if, in his role as head of the Catholic Education Service, he recommended all schools to have a policy against homophobic bullying. He did not think that it was a problem...

Some light relief later in the evening as two of my colleagues Greg Mulholland and Tim Farron hosted an office party. I'm starting to feel a bit festive but also in a panic about not yet writing any Christmas cards.

TUESDAY 12 DECEMBER

Meetings with the Lib Dem Education teams and also our Equalities spokesman, Lorely Burt. Afternoon - to an exhibition of ideas and projects of young scientists and engineers. There were 90 exhibitors and I'm delighted to say that Bristol University contributed 6 young engineers and one of the city's companies also sent someone along, making Bristol the best represented city. We had a team Bristol photograph, also with my neighbour Doug Naysmith MP. The young people were mainly Phd students and their projects were in the fields of aero engineering (wing design and helicopter rotor blades) telecommunications, breast cancer detection and contaminated soil treatment.

Back to Bristol early this week.