Letter from Westminster

This week has seen more votes on the European Treaty, a Tory MP in disgrace over abuse of allowances, a debate in Bristol about prison reform, an appearance on the Politics Show, the election for Bristol's reps at the UK Youth Parliament and as usual lots of work on education.

First, I was in the BBC Bristol studios this Sunday for the Politics Show.

The main topic was young people and politics. On Saturday I had been to the Bristol Council House for the results of the schools elections for the UK Youth Parliament. This institution has been going for four years and is a great way to introduce all teenagers to the world of electioneering, candidates and votes. The winners get to meet with colleagues round the country to discuss issues that concern them. What doesn't work well so far is feeding their view through to the real MPs, but I'm keen to work with Bristol's Youth Service to make that happen. While on TV I'm able to outline why I favour giving 16 and

17 year olds the right to vote. You can work, pay tax, join the army, have sex and get married at 16 and drive at 17 so why not vote? Many of the sixth formers and college students that I meet are very well informed about political issues. If they get to vote while most of them are still in education then their vote is likely to be an informed one and voting will become a life time good habit.

The second issue discussed on the Politics Show was the scandal that had engulfed Tory MP Derek Conway. When his abuse of the Parliamentary staff allowance was exposed earlier this week I was stunned by the venality of it all. I've written before that the media reporting of MPs' office budgets and describing them as "expenses" is a real problem. Now we have the spectacle of an MP driving a coach and horses through the rules, bringing disgrace upon himself but spattering the rest of us with collateral damage. I think Parliament needs to act fast to restore confidence that there are tight rules in place and that compliance with them should be transparent and open to audit. For the record, I employ five people (three full time, two part time) and pay 12.8% employer's national insurance out of a staff budget of approximately £90,000 a year.

None of my staff are related to me.

The show also mentioned that the Bristol Old Vic had been thrown a financial life line. On Friday I had received a call from the Arts Council informing me that they had decided to confirm a grant of £2m to the restoration appeal and also just under £600,000 for next years running costs. This means that the theatre is back in business. On Saturday morning I was with a few hundred people who had gathered at the theatre, meeting Dick Penny who has now agreed to be the new chair of the board.

Now the city needs to raise several million pounds so that the theatre can be refurbished to an acceptable standard.

In Westminster this week the committee stage of the European Union

(Amendment) Bill got underway. As it is a constitutional matter the committee is of the entire House so the votes on amendments involve all MPs, rather than those on a small committee that would normally be the case. This means frequent clanging of the division bell and lots of exercise getting to the chamber to vote! In a couple of weeks there will probably be votes on whether there should be a referendum.

On Wednesday Nick Clegg put in another strong performance at PMQs. He's now got four sessions under his belt and morale is high on the Lib Dem benches. Later on Wednesday at the weekly meeting of Lib Dem MPs we hear from Brian Paddick, our candidate for Mayor of London. He is very impressive.

In my Dept of Innovation, Universities and Skills role I had no Commons duties this week, but several meetings. I met with Prof David Latchman, Master of Birkbeck College to discuss funding of part time students and also the continued uncertainty over government grants for equivalent or lower qualifications. On the Innovation front I went to a reception for scientists and the media at the Royal Society. And on skills I went to a Prince's Trust event. Unfortunately I arrived half way through (held up by one of those Europe divisions!) so miss the star guest speaker, Bill Gates, billionaire founder of Microsoft. Back in Bristol I met up with two of the students union officers to discuss issues such as students and their relationship with the local community as well as student debt and university development plans.

Back in the Commons, large chunks of Tuesday and Thursday were swallowed up by the committee stage of the Education and Skills Bill. On Tuesday we finished the evidence stage and then started the line by line, clause by clause, scrutiny of the Bill. Both myself and David Laws, as well as the Conservatives, have put down a large number of amendments designed to strike out the compulsion of young people to stay in education beyond sixteen. Amendments are also designed to probe the government's intentions and to get ministerial opinions on the record.

Finally, some people have suggested Derek Conway should go to prison for fraud. I agree he deserves punishment but we already send too many people to prison. This was the topic of two other events this week. First of all, I went to the Lord Speaker's apartments in the House of Lords for the first time. She was hosting a reception for the Prison Education Trust.

I was the only MP there but I feel that this is a very important issue.

There is little point in sending people to prison if you don't invest in turning them into better equipped citizens before they are released. By sheer coincidence, the ex-offender speaker is from Bristol. He had served an 18 year sentence for a violent crime. But while inside Bristol Prison and then Leyhill Open Prison he studied for an Open University degree and now he is a lecturer in the city.

Most prisoners don't have the skills for a degree. Many of them have very poor literacy and numeracy skills and poor social communication abilities.

This is one of the points that I made at a debate held in the council chamber of Bristol University on Friday. The local branch of the Howard League for Prison Reform had organised a debate between me and Kerry McCarthy, Labour MP for Bristol East and Charlotte Leslie, the Conservative candidate for Bristol North West. I didn't think this would be too popular but the hall was packed out, with students and lecturers having to sit on the floor. I put the case for more community sentences, investment in mental health treatment (70% of prisoners have a mental health issue) and drug rehab as well as education for prisoners.

So another busy week, with activities on all seven days. Bristol West residents can be assured that their MP, and his staff, work hard for their money!

Stephen Williams MP