Events Round up and
diary highlights...
For a flavour of some the work I do, I have detailed
some of my diary below and examples of events I have attended and organised.
September 2009 - Unite ByCycling event
I am pictured below with my husband and youngest son
taking part in the Unite ByCycling ride in London to support The Prostate Cancer Charity.
Click here for more information. Since then, I have myself been diagnosed with cancer, click here.
September 2009 - BMAG at Downing Street
I
am pictured above with BBC West Midlands newsreader Kay Alexander and
Councillor Ray Hassall at a celebration in Downing Street of a year of paintings from
Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
Sarah Brown said her favourite picture on display was "The Visit of the King and
Queen to Bournville". I particularly like "The Pink Dress" and
"Llanthony", which I have walked to on Offa's Dyke pass.
F.Gregory Brown: The Visit of the King and Queen to Bournville
Sir William Nicholson: The Pink Dress
John Piper: Ruined Cottage, Llanthony, Wales
The full list of pictures displayed in Downing Street is:
- Sir John Arnesby Brown RA: The Smug and Silver Trent
- Sir William Nicholson: The Pink Dress
- William Scott: Still Life: Flowers and Jug
- John Piper: Ruined Cottage, Llanthony, Wales
- Victor Pasmore: Girl in a Straw Hat
- F.Gregory Brown: The Visit of the King and Queen to Bournville
- Dame Laura Knight: Autumn Sunlight, Sennen Cove
- Sir Stanley Spencer: Old Tannery Mills
- Sir Edward Poynter: The Bells of St. Mark’s, Venice
April 2009 - 'NISP'
In April 2009, I met a with a Chinese delegation visiting
the National Industrial Symbiosis Programme (NISP) in my constituency - click here to read more.
January 2009 - Gaza Protest
I took part in a protest
against Israel's invasion of Gaza on Saturday 17 January in Birminham. Around 5,000
people attended this peaceful and vibrant protest, including other Birmingham MPs Clare
Short, Richard Burden and John Hemming, as well as London MP Jeremy Corbyn.
I spoke at the rally in the city centre and made it clear that Israel's actions
during the conflict were unacceptable.
To read more about my opinions and actions on the Gaza conflict click here.
June 2008 - Parliamentary Bike Ride
I took part in the 2008 Parliamentary bike ride with my new
power assisted bike, pictured below (I was the first customer for Cytronex, see www.nohills.com).
Though it wasn’t a race, I was well ahead of the rest of
the group back to Westminster, thanks to some nifty moves through the traffic at Waterloo
and the additional speed the small electric motor gave me over Westminster Bridge! I
will still keep my trusty folding Brompton bike
for trips to work and local shopping but the powered bike will be great for holidays in
hilly areas and for days when I have several meetings in different locations and
don’t want to arrive too sweaty – especially getting up Hill Street for meetings
at the Council House!
June 2008 - Campaign against ivory trade event
I am pictured below supporting the IFAW event against the ivory
trade. Click here for more information.
June 2008 - Carers' Week event
I took part in the campaign supporting Carers' Week 2008
and am pictured below with Pam Ferris. For more details, please click here for my press release.
Sunday 18 May 2008 - Jubilee Debt Campaign Journey
to Justice
On 18 May 2008 I joined campaigners in Birmingham to
celebrate the 10 year story of how the Jubilee human chain of 1998 has led to a global
movement and debt cancellation around the world.
September 2007 - visit to 'NISP' - National Industrial
Symbiosis Programme
NISP is part funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural
Affairs' Business Resource Efficiency and Waste Programme.
Industrial symbiosis brings together companies from all business
sectors with the aim of improving cross industry resource efficiency through the
commercial trading of materials, energy and water and sharing assets, logistics and
expertise. It engages traditionally separate industries and other organisations in a
collective approach to competitive advantage involving physical exchange of materials,
energy, water and/or by-products together with the shared use of assets, logistics and
expertise.' In September I visited NISP, whose HQ is in Kings Norton in my
constituency. See below for their websites to find out more about the excellent
innovative work that they are doing or click on the picture above to go to their news
story about my visit:
www.nisp.org.uk
www.international-synergies.com
20 June - Growing
the Railways Campaign
I was delighted to show my support for the Growing
the Railways Campaign. I attended the launch of the Growing the Railways manifesto in
March of this year and support their key aims for the West Midlands which are:
Better regional connections between Worcester and London, the
West Midlands and the East Midlands;
A rebuild of Birmingham New Street with longer platforms and
more track;
New signalling on the Stratford - Birmingham line to enable
more trains to run and alleviate road congestion in the busy tourist destination;
In-fill electrification to give more flexibility to the
network and speed up services;
Opening unused terminal platforms at Moor Street Station.
To read more on my reactions to the manifesto click here.
To read the press release for the national campaign click here
25 April - British
Heart Foundation 30 a-Day Campaign
Keeping fit and feeling well is crucial to being effective in my job
with its long hours and heavy workload. No matter what the pressure on my time,
I am almost religious in ensuring I go swimming at least twice a week when I am in
Westminster. It takes time but it is made up twice over in the feeling of wellbeing
it gives me. I also enjoy cycling to and from my offices in Birmingham and Westminster and
so long as I'm not carrying anything heavy, I always walk up the five flights of
stairs to my office.
That is why I was only too
happy to support the British Heart Foundations campaign to get everyone to do 30minutes of
exercise five times a week. This doesn't have to be going to the gym or running marathons.
All types of activity count, such as walking your dog, washing your car or dancing. Click
here for more information on the campaign and click on the picture to enlarge.
14 March - Rethink
Trident campaign
On the morning of the House of Commons debate and vote on whether the
UK should renew its nuclear weapons system, I attended a Rethink Trident campaign
meeting. The singer and songwriter Annie Lennox (pictured) was also attending to support
the campaign. 'Rethink Trident' believes that:
- Britain should not be rushed into a premature decision to replace its
“Trident” nuclear weapons system;
- More time should be taken for Parliamentary and public scrutiny and
debate;
- The urgent need is both to halt the spread of nuclear weapons to new
countries, and for all states which possess them to move more rapidly and substantially
towards nuclear disarmament;
- Therefore the priority for the UK government should be launching a
renewed diplomatic initiative to seek a breakthrough in disarmament and non-proliferation
negotiations, as it has taken a lead in relation to such global challenges as climate
change and acute poverty.
The campaign is supported by over 100 prominent public figures from politics,
science, religion and popular culture. I wholeheartedly support its objectives and will be
using my vote to try and stop the decision being taken now to renew Trident. Click here for more on my views and click
here to read my article on the subject.
9 March - Growing the Railways
Click here for my full report
1 February - GOJO Campaign Photocall
GOJO is a campaign run by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) and aims to
increase disabled people's confidence in using public transport. Disabled people are four
times more likely to lack confidence in using public transport than non-disabled people.
This often results in disabled people travelling less and, in many cases, actively
avoiding public transport altogether.
I am concerned that this barrier could lead to an increased sense of isolation
amongst some disabled people and prevent them from playing a full role in their
communities and society at large. I was very
pleased, therefore, to support the campaign at its parliamentary launch on 1 February.
The campaign will culminate in major events around June 21st, the longest day of
the year, when GOJO will encourage disabled people to take full advantage of public
transport. Click
here for more information.
On Saturday I went to St Martin’s Church in the Bullring to
help write letters to Guantanemo Bay detainees and Prisoners of Conscience held in
prisons around the world.
This January will mark the fifth year that the US has
arbitrarily detained people at Guantanemo Bay, Cuba, without charge or trail amidst
accusations of torture and inhumane conditions. To date, 400 prisoners remain imprisoned
from 35 countries. This is a disgrace and must
stop! Click here to find
out more.
I was more than happy to sign Stop the Traffik's Global Declaration against people
trafficking when lobbied by a constituent. I believe such a terrible crime needs to be
tackled head on. That's why I have also been calling on the Government to sign the
European Convention on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings. This would give victims
permission to stay in the UK for a period of time so they can receive proper care,
understand their options for the future and decide if they want to help the police with
their enquiries.
The Global Declaration petittion is going to be delivered to the United Nations
and national governments after Freedom Day on 25th March 2007. By
signing it I have called for all governments to prevent the sale of people,
prosecute the traffickers and protect the victims. You can sign the petition
online as well by clicking
here. Or if you want to find out more on Stop the Traffik please click on the
logo below:
I was very pleased to attend the ceremony to unveil new
equipment installed at the Peter Jeavons Neurophysiology Unit (PJNU) at the Queen Elizabeth
Psychiatric Hospital. The new equipment will
allow the PJNU to provide a unique diagnostic and assessment service in the West Midlands for people with conditions such as Parkinson
disease, Huntington disease, Multiple sclerosis, Tourette syndrome, and Chronic fatigue
syndrome/ME
I was told that clinicians in the team who provide care for
people with Tourette syndrome were to receive a “Special recognition” award from
the Tourette Syndrome Association (TSA UK) for “invaluable service to the Association
and to people with Tourette syndrome in the UK and around the World”. I am pleased that this cutting edge equipment will
allow such excellent work being done in the PJNU to continue.
I have had excellent feedback from the group of constituents who accepted my
invitation to visit Parliament with non other than Tony Benn as guide. They were also able
to see me in action in the chamber asking Margaret Beckett a question on Iraq.
click here to enlarge picture
The Houses of Parliament are open to all members of the public for guided tours at
specific times. If you are one of my constituents and would like to arrange a tour, please
call my Westminster Office on 020 7219 4190. The UK Parliament website contains more
information on visiting. Click
here to go to the relevant page.
28 November - I deliver teacher cut-outs to Number 10 with Selly Oak
School pupils
With pupils from Selly Oak School, I delivered teacher cut-outs to Number 10 in
aid of the 'My friend needs a teacher’ campaign. The campaign builds on the success
of the 2005 campaign: 'Send my friend to school' which called on world leaders to enable
every child in the world to receive a primary education. At the G8 summit last year, world
leaders pledged to achieve this by 2015.
The 'My friend needs a teacher' campaign maintains pressure on key decision
makers, highlighting that 15 million extra teachers are needed in poorer countries so that
universal primary education can become a reality. Education is vital to eliminate world
poverty and I was proud to see our young people pushing for children across the world to
receive the same lifechances that they enjoy. To find out more on the campaign please click here.
In August, I attended the civil partnership ceremony of David
Green and Brian Ruppert, about whose plight (Brian, as a US citizen, faced deportation) I
held a parliamentary debate in May 1994. Click here
to read the debate (you will need to scroll down the web page to find the start of my
speech).
It was lovely seeing two people that I knew from so long ago
making use of the new civil partnership legislation to celebrate their relationship. What made it all the more poignant was that the
registrar was a dead ringer for a young Tony Blair! See
for yourself in the picture, below! Gay people
now face much less discrimination than in 1997 and this has been the result of several
positive measures taken by the Blair Government.
3 August - Green Flag Day at Cannon Hill Park
In August, I attended the Green Flag Day at Cannon Hill Park, in
celebration of the award of Green Flag status for the third year running. Kings Heath Park, also in Selly Oak constituency,
got the award too. The Green Flag Award scheme
began in 1996 as a means of recognising and rewarding the best green spaces in the
country. It is now seen as a benchmark of
excellence for other parks to aim for.
Green Flag Days are organised by the Park’s staff who take
you on a tour of the Park and show off the huge range of plants and trees you can see. Activities are also on offer at other times of the
year and there are three scheduled for the rest of 2006. These are: an Autumn
Stroll, Bulb
Planting, and Make
a Bird Feeder. Click on the links for more information.
Since winning its first award, Cannon Hill Park has been praised
for its helpful and well-informed staff and was recognised as providing a welcoming site
for diverse communities and people experiencing difficulties with mobility. As this is one of my local parks, I couldn’t
agree more with this praise - the day was lovely and the Park looked beautiful. Birmingham
people are rightfully proud of having such a soothing and tranquil environment only two
miles from the hussle and bussle of the City Centre.
To get more information on the Park, click here.
11 July 2006 Launch of the new 1 in
100 Campaign
I
am pictured below with artist Ian Morris and the Health Minister, Rosie Winterton MP, at
the launch of the new 1 in 100 educational initiative, sponsored by Janssen-Cilag, which
aims to promote choice through knowledge, by providing comprehensive information to people
experiencing schizophrenia and their families and friends.
Approximately one in every one hundred people in the UK develops schizophrenia
which is a chronic, long-term condition that, if not treated appropriately, can be
devastating for both individuals with the condition and their friends and family. It
is important for patients to have access to all available information so they can make
informed decisions about how to manage their condition.
I hosted
the event as Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Mental Health. The new
campaign, entitled, ‘The Picture’s Looking Brighter’, looks to
promote a more positive view on this condition, which with the right treatment plan can be
managed to enable people to lead fulfilling lives.
The event took place at the House of
Commons and attendees at the event included artists who experience schizophrenia, whose
work features in the new 1 in 100 brochure and on the website, and also some of the people with
schizophrenia and their carers who contributed to the development of the new brochure.
1 in 100 offers people the opportunity
to receive an information pack containing:
o
Facts and information about schizophrenia:
including possible causes and symptoms
o
A pocket-sized card that lists questions to
help individuals have more informed discussions with their doctor regarding their
treatment regimen
o
Comprehensive listing of mental health support
groups and their contact details
o
Information on a range of treatment options
(both NICE recommended medications and psychosocial treatments)
o
A guide for families and friends of people with
schizophrenia
To request a free information pack,
visit the 1 in 100 website at www.oneinonehundred.co.uk
or freephone 0800 587 1153.
Established artist Ian Morris, who
experiences schizophrenia (pictured above) said “Being diagnosed with a serious
mental illness can be a real shock. However, developments in understanding,
rehabilitation and treatment can now enable people with schizophrenia to get on with
enjoying their lives. The campaign is important for providing information not only
to people with schizophrenia, but also to the general public, who often have little
understanding of the condition.”
More on mental
health
20 May 2006 - Building Project Exhibition Day at Christ
Church
The photo below was taken at a visit to the exhibition day at Christ
Church on Pershore Road to see their plans for their new building. I am pictured with Revd
Nigel Hand.
There are more details about the proposed building on the
church's website:
http://www.christ-church-selly-park.org.uk
06 May 2006 - Third
Farmers' Market for Constituency
Kings Heath Farmers'
market was launched on 6 May. I am pictured celebrating with Stan Hems Chair of
Kings Heath Business
A
ssociation.
We now have
three farmers' markets in the constituency:
1st Saturday of the month: Kings Heath
2nd Saturday
of the month: King's Norton
Last
Saturday of the month: Moseley
Thanks must go
for the hard work of all those behind the setting up these markets. I am sure
the Kings Heath market will prove as popular as those in Moseley and King's
Norton and will attract more people to the centre, to the benefit of all
traders. I have found the markets are a great place to meet up with friends and keep
up with local gossip!"
For more pictures of the launch of Kings Heath Farmers' Market, please click here: http://www.kingsheathfarmersmarket.org/photos.htm
The picture below was taken at Moseley Village Farmers' market in February:
At the end of February, I joined Brian Lucas, the local Orang-utan
and Friends of the Earth supporters at Moseley Village Farmers' Market amidst temperatures
of grim to freezing. We raised awareness of Early Day Motion
697, which I have supported in Parliament:
EDM 697
MODERNISING COMPANY LAW
10.10.2005
That this House believes companies are critical in achieving the aims
of sustainable development and to making poverty history, but that in order to be able to
do so their freedom to operate must be balanced with clear responsibilities to society and
the environment; and urges the Government to enshrine in new company law a duty for
directors to identify, consider, act and report on any negative social and environmental
impacts caused by a company's activities in the UK or overseas.
Rainforests are being destroyed to make way for palm oil plantations
and if the global industry continues in its current way, the habitat of the orang u tan
will be lost leading to their possible extinction (Friends of the Earth predict within the
next 12 years).
16 Jan 2006 - Meeting year 10 pupils at the First
Impressions Hair and Beauty Salon at Kings Norton High School
I was delighted to be invited to Kings Norton High, in my
constituency, to open their beauty salon, First Impressions, part of the new
vocational centre at the school. The centre offers pupils the chance to gain
industry recognised qualifications. Hair and beauty courses are provided as well as
construction courses, bricklaying, plumbing and carpentry. Students demonsrated some
of the treatments they had been taught and the salon will also beopening its doors to
adults to study NVQs in hair, beauty and holistic therapies from February 2006.
Cutting the Ribbon to celebrate the opening of First
Impressions vocational salon
13 May 2004 - Baby Milk Marketing Event
On Thursday 13 May 2004, in conjunction with Baby Milk Action I launched a report of
international monitoring evidence of breaches of the World Health Assembly International
Code of Marketing.
For details, click
here.
19 March 2004 - Pension Credit Event
I attended Cotteridge Church and Coffee Shop on Friday 19th March 2004 where the
Local Pension Service held an event to promote the Pension Credit. The Local Service Team
talked to around 200 people about Pension Credit throughout this particular event.
At the Cotteridge Church Pension Credit Promotion Event
Some examples of meetings I attend in a typical week:
7 - 28 November 2003
7 November: Meet with Legal Aid lawyers concerned
about funding arrangements through the Legal Services Commission.
Meet with Michael Sterling, Vice Chancellor of Birmingham
University regarding education funding. BirminghamUniversity supports the
Government’s proposals but would wish the upper limit for tuition fees to be set at
£5,000. The University is also concerned about possibly being required to recycle
any additional income into providing bursaries for poorer students.
Attend the second meeting of the Selly Oak Constituency
Committee which has been set up as part of Birmingham City Council’s centralisation
proposals. I expressed concern that responsibility is being devolved to this
Committee without adequate powers to influence service delivery.
The day finally ends with my surgery at CotteridgeChurch.
8 November: Advice surgery at All Saints Church in
Kings Heath.
10 November: Meet with representatives of Postwatch
about potential post office closures in the Constituency.
11 November: Chair a very well attended meeting to
decide to set up a new All Party Parliamentary Group on pensioner incomes. The aim
of the Group is to get cross-Party support for the shape of future pensioners’
policy, including the amount of the basic state pension so that these vital issues can
be removed from the battleground of Party politics. The meeting was attended by
several parliamentarians with an interest in pensioners’ policy as well as the
Pensions Ombudsman and representatives from Help the Aged, Age Concern and the National
Pensioners’ Convention. The National Federation of Post Office and BT
Pensioners will provide the secretariat for the Group which is also receiving support from
the Independent Pensioners’ Policy Institute (IPPI).
14 November: Meeting at University Hospital Trust to
discuss plans for the new hospital and the value for money of PFI
funding for this scheme.
Advice Bureau at Selly Oak Centre.
17 November: Visit to Tall Trees Project funded by
the Mental Health Trust which provides training and work experience and helps people
recovering from mentally ill health to work.
Attend a meeting of Parliamentary and Scientific Committee about
the regulation of nano-technology.
21 November: Meeting with Birmingham Crown
Prosecution Service to discuss liaison between the local police and the Service.
Meet with, Managing Director, Alastair Nee and the Editors of the Birmingham Post and
Mail. Has resulted in halving of Westminster-based reporters and the poor quality of
recent reporting of events at Westminster. It was agreed that management should meet
with MPs more regularly in the future and provide more opportunity for MPs to feed back
views on the new arrangements.
24 November: Chair meeting of Birmingham Bond Scheme
which provides bonds in lieu of deposits for non-priority homeless people to help them get
tenancies in the private sector.
28 November: Visit to Cadbury to see their
refurbishment plans and to hear about their volunteer programme
6 - 17 October 2003
6 October: Speak at Pensioners' Convention Rally calling for the
restoration in the value of the state pension.
7 October: Visit to Tyco Healthcare in Kings Norton. Tyco is a
multinational company specialising in medical products. Tyco Healthcare as a whole
(Birmingham is one of the company's six plants in England and N.Ireland) is the second
largest supplier to the NHS of consumables such as needles/syringes, sutures, wound care,
orthopaedic products, clinical instruments and devices and other operating theatre
equipment. The company directly employs 1742 people across the UK.
The Kings Norton plant, which employs 41 people, specialises in orthopaedic
footware which are in use throughout the National Health Service. It was interesting
to see the skilled design and manufacturing work that goes into their products, some of
which are pictured here:
8 October: Speak at West Midlands Home Energy Conservation Act
Forum Conference. I call for more imaginative use of renewable energy technologies (click here for more info) in the construction and renovation of local
housing.
10 October: World Mental Health Day. Speak at Women's Mental
Health Fair
17 October: Speak about the work of the All
Party Group on Mental Health at a seminar organised by Workability, an offshoot from
the local Mental Health Trust that helps people with a mental health problem overcome
barriers to work.
Talk to school students at New Street Odeon following a viewing of "Dirty
Pretty Things", a film about asylum-seekers. The students find the film challenges
common stereotypes about asylum seekers and we discuss media distortion.
Delighted to open the children’s art exhibition at Primrose Hill Junior and
Infant School (some of the wonderful artwork is shown in the photo below).
The school’s popular head teacher Jan Spooner has worked hard in recent years
to raise the morale of staff, people and parents in the area and the school is much
improved and is succeeding in meeting the needs of all pupils although there is still
progress to be made.
There has been some really good work done with parents during the life-long
learning opportunities and the school has now succeeded in attracting nearly £2 million
of Government money to create a neighbourhood nursery. It is hoped that there will be
further developments to include a children’s centre.
Week beginning 18 August 2003
Monday and Tuesday
In Westminster office.
Wednesday
Spoke at a Public Meeting on Foundation Hospitals, Friends Meeting House, Bournville.
Other speakers included:
Dr Peter Fisher
President NHS Consultants Association
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
former Health Minister
John Rostill
Chief Executive of Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust
Chair:
Dr Aquil H Chaudary
Week beginning 11 August 2003
Monday
Attended open day launch of new optician's service
in Weoley Avenue...
click here for press release of event
Tuesday
Met with Birmingham NHS Concern to discuss the
Private Finance Initiative
Wednesday
Visited St Mary's Hospice to
discuss funding for palliative care and meet patients.
Thursday
Meeting with other Birmingham MPs and Alstom management at
the Washwood Heath Factory.
Some more examples of events and
meetings:
Birmingham Creative Partnerships opening
July 2003
On 7 July, I opened the Creative Partnerships Exhibition at the
University for Central England Centre for Visual Arts in Bournville...
click on picture for Creative Partnerships website
|
Creative Partnerships
Birmingham is part of a national programme which gives school children the opportunity to
develop their potential, their ambition and their creativity through sustainable
partnerships with creative and cultural organisations, businesses and individuals.
Twenty-six participating schools in Birmingham have been organised into five
clusters. Each cluster working with one or two long-term partners. Projects
cover a wide range of different subjects from history, science, drama, geography, dance,
technology, visual arts and music. The schools in my constituency (Queensbridge and
Moor Green Infants') are involved in the Performing Arts Cluster and have been working
with Birmingham Royal Ballet. I very much enjoyed finding out more about their work.
Parliamentary Recess 2002
I recently helped launch the awareness raising
campaign, 1 in 100 in the West Midlands organised by Janssen-Cilag Ltd, which aims
to provide people living with schizophrenia and their carers with information and
support. Click here for a press release and fact sheet for more
information. On 11 October, I attended the Young People's Parliament as part of a family
learning weekend about the experiences of refugees in Birmingham and then met firefighters
at Bournbrook Fire Station to discuss their pay claim and my work as a constituency
MP. Over the last few weeks, I have used the opportunity afforded by the
parliamentary recess to make constituency visits and meetings. I have visited Centre 13 in
Moseley, Kings Norton Church and other nearby listed buildings. I have spoken to young
people at Camp Hill Girls' School and Wychall Farm J&I and discussed the situation in
the Middle East with representatives of the Muslim Community. I met with the Chief
Execitive and staff involved in the delivery of Child and Adolescent Mental
Healthcare Services at the Children's Hospital and carried out a fact-finding day of
visits to three slaughterhouses to see how pigs, cattle and sheep were treated.
Visit of José Bustani - 9 May 2002
José Bustani, ousted Director General of the Organisation for
the Prevention of Chemical Weapons spoke at a meeting for parliamentarians. Considerable
concern was expressed by those in attendance, including Professor Julian Perry Robinson, a
member of the UK Government’s advisory committee on chemical weapons, about the
precedent created by which an international civil servant, duly elected to head an
international organisation can become vulnerable to the whims of major contributors to the
organisation’s budget. The world owes José Bustani our thanks for refusing to go
quietly thus exposing the behind the scenes manoeuvring to remove him. I have tabled a
number of parliamentary questions including the following which demonstrates quite clearly
that the US, Germany and Japan have failed to honour their obligation to pay their
contributions by 1st January: please also see my press
release and article on the visit and Early
Day Motion 1188 in the name of Harold Best, which I have supported. See below
for photograph and text of one of my Parliamentary questions on
this issue.
Lynne
Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which
countries are the main contributors to the funding of the Organisation for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons; which of them are in arrears with their contributions; and
by how much. [53458] |
|
attendees including MPs, José Bustani and Brian Eno
|
Mr. Bradshaw: The major contributors to the funding of the Organisation for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) amounting to approximately 70 per cent. of the
OPCW's budget are: the United States (22 per cent.), Japan (20 per cent.), Germany (10 per
cent.), France (7 per cent.), UK (6 per cent.) and Italy (5 per cent.). The UK, France and
Italy have paid their contributions for 2002 in full. The United States and Germany
usually make staged payments and have so far paid approximately 50 per cent. of their 2002
contributions. Japan is expected to pay the entire amount of its 2002 contribution around
the middle of this year.For information on Iraq and
Weapons of Mass Destruction click here. |
