Alan Whitehead

Labour Party | Southampton Test

Monthly Activity Report

May 2009

Work In Parliament

MPs' Expenses

I know people in Southampton will be worried about the revelations about MPs' expenses, and are also probably wondering whether the worst of these stories bear any relationship to how their local MP has behaved. That is why, rather than waiting for the government's deadline for all expenses to be published in July (which in itself was a welcome step forward) last week I published every receipt and every claim I have ever made as an MP since the last election. The records for the year 2004-5 have not yet been processed by the commons Authorities in a way that I can publish and conform to the Freedom of Information Act, but when these are available they will also be published.

For constituents' information, my 'second home' is a small flat in London, for which I claim about £400 per month in mortgage interest payments. I have also claimed for basic flat upkeep (the largest single item of which was to replace the flat's boiler, which blew up) and for food when Parliament is sitting. When I cease to be the MP for Southampton Test, I do not intend to make any profit from the Parliamentary Allowance used to pay for my second home.

Below is what I have claimed from the Additional Cost Allowance (the allowance that covers costs incurred by MPs through living away from home) set against the maximum allowable claim for each year:

1) Year
2) What I claimed
3) Maximum Claim Allowed
4) Difference between my claim & maximum allowable*
5) % of maximum allowance claimed

2004-5
£15,129
£20,902.00
£5,773.00
72.38%

2005-6
£11,916
£21,634.00
£9,718.00
55.08%

2006-7
£15,391
£22,110.00
£6,719.00
69.61%

2007-8
£14,190
£23,083.00
£8,893.00
61.47%

2008-9
£12,647 (provisional)
£24,006.00
£11,359.00
52.68%

* (all unspent money is paid back to the Treasury)

I have also always published a breakdown of all my expenses and office costs each year in my Annual Reports, which goes to every voter in Southampton Test. I have also pledged that if any constituent has any query about anything I have claimed, I will write back to them personally and give them a full and honest answer.

After a fortnight that has been pretty bad for all politics, I do welcome the moves now being taken to address the MPs expenses problem. Any Labour MP who has been shown to abuse the expenses system will be referred to the NEC's Special Endorsement Panel (SEP), which can remove the Labour party's endorsement from that MP if they seek to stand as a candidate in the next General Election. The SEP will also to apply a 'reasonableness' test when considering all claims, meaning that the defence of 'this claim was within the House of Commons rules' will not on its own be enough in all circumstances to save some MPs from deselection. Separately, the Prime Minister has asked the independent Parliamentary Committee on Members Allowances to investigate every claim submitted by every MP in the last four years. MPs also voted earlier this month to reform several other anachronisms to do with MPs expenses, including ensuring all MPs other sources of income are declared (mine will be: £0.00 from other sources) and making MPs staff direct employees of the House, rather than of individual members.

Budget

It may seem like a long time ago, but several very significant decisions were also announced in the budget, which was a little under a month ago. I welcomed in particular the initiatives on tackling fuel poverty and child poverty, and on supporting green energy generation.

On fuel poverty, the Chancellor announced that the increase in Winter Fuel Payments to £250 for over 60s and £400 for over 80s, that was to be just for this winter just gone, will now be maintained for the winter of 2009-10 (this will benefit approximately 34,000 people in Southampton Itchen and Test). Separately, the maximum grants available for constituents through the Warm Front scheme have increased from £2700 to £3500, or from £4000 to £6000 if your home has oil-based central heating.

On child poverty, the Chancellor announced that the child element of the child tax credit will increase by £20 per year above indexation from April 2010.

On green energy, the Chancellor announced that energy produced through Combined Heat & Power generation ('CHP') will get a tax break worth about £2.5 million in investment. Or, in terms of emissions saved, this tax break is likely to result in 3.2 million tonnes less carbon dioxide emitted by the UK. I have been lobbying the government about the efficacy of CHP for a number of years now, including when Ed Miliband and Hazel Blears visited Southampton's geothermal power plant, which runs on a CHP basis, so I was particularly pleased to see this tax break put into place.

Light Dues

This month I met with the Transport Minister about the current review on the fees paid by large ships entering UK ports in order to keep our lighthouses functioning. In my meeting I raised the issue of the imbalance between costs and funding relating to aids in Irish waters. I also raised the question of the extent to which exemption in dues continue for vessels such as pleasure yachts that use ports and aids as much as the commercial shipping to which the dues apply. And I raised the issue of whether the lighthouse boards themselves could be more effectively run, perhaps by means of amalgamation, so that costs can be minimised.

We also discussed how best longer term revisions of the Light dues regime might be pursued, and whether anticipation of longer term revisions might guide current payments into the fund.

Finally, I pressed the minister to consider the possibility of funding a greater proportion of the costs of Britain's lighthouses out of general taxation, rather than through a dedicated tax on shipping. This would be a budgetary commitment of approximately £70 million if the taxpayer was to take on the full burden. I believe we should at least consider some sharing of financial burden on this.

Smart meters

You will almost certainly have missed this, but this month the government also announced another policy I have been a long-time supporter of: ensuring that every home in Britain will have a 'smart' energy meter installed by 2020. There were some arguing that this should be left entirely to individuals and businesses to sort out, however my view was that in order for those most likely to experience fuel poverty to receive the benefits of smart meters, government would have to ensure they were rolled out for everyone, area by area. A smart meter means that both you and your energy provider can get a 'real time' update on how much energy you are using, which means that in future you will only be charged for the energy you use, not how much the energy company predicts you will use.

Other Parliamentary business

This month I spoke on a Westminster Hall debate on the Darwin Initiative and how it has helped foster biodiversity; spoke in favour of funding and spending limits for political parties over an entire Parliament, rather than just for election campaigns; spoke in debates on a Private Members Bill to promote green energy generation and on the production of National Planning Policy notes; and asked questions relating to planning permission for wind turbines and on carbon emissions costs.

Work In Southampton

Royal Mail

On Saturday I spoke to postal workers at a rally organised by Compass. You can now see my entire speech to the rally by visiting my website.

In summary, I said that it is true that the Royal Mail does face real issues about a need to modernise, however it does not automatically follow that part-privatisation is the only or the most effective way to do this.

The Royal Mail has a number of problems at the moment. Volumes carried by the royal Mail are decreasing (down from 84 million items a day in 2005 to 78 million now) and its pension fund deficit is increasing – the pensions deficit stood at £.4 billion in 2006 and is projected to more than double by the next valuation next year.

Nevertheless, all parts of the Royal Mail are now profitable and the Royal Mail itself is making over £300 million profit per year currently.

Royal Mail clearly needs long term stability as an organisation, and the reinvestment to deal with the challenges of changing technologies and mail patterns that confront it. The size and volatility of the pension fund deficit presently places difficulties in the way of stability and investment, and further modernisation of the service is necessary to place it ahead of the rapid changes in the mail market that are under way.

Privatisation of the royal Mail does not provide an answer to these problems or its overall future. Furthermore, it is essential that Royal Mail is maintained as a publicly owned, publicly accountable organisation, not least because it is the main force behind the maintenance of the Universal Service Obligation, whereby post and delivery terms are the same for items sent from anywhere and to anywhere within the United Kingdom. A privatised service would inevitably fragment into differentially priced services as cherry picking of service routes took place.

The business must continue to invest and modernise, but it is not clear why a minority stake in the post office from a private company would enable this to happen in a way unachievable by other means. Investment in the service can take place without the surrender of an equity stake, for example.

The pension deficit of the post office must be addressed, and it is reasonable that any government support for reducing the deficit must be calibrated alongside modernisation and stability. But already elements of these goals are being achieved through existing investment and organisation profitability, and there is no reason why further application of these methods should not be sufficient to underwrite pension reforms.

The Postal Services Bill, which is currently proposing the part privatisation of the Royal Mail, has only so far been considered by the Lords. Not a single elected MP, of any party, has so far had a chance to scrutinise the Bill or table amendments.

As the Postal Services Bill is considered by the Commons, I will be pushing for powers to be taken to require private postal services to contribute to the universal service obligation, and to contribute fairly to the operation of the USP when they are inserting mail at the delivery end of the system.

I will also be lobbying for a clear commitment to the public ownership of the postal service to be enshrined in any new legislation on the post office that is enacted.

Town Depot Move

The City Council this month published plans to move the waste service facilities currently at Town Depot to a Greenfield site in Redbridge, near Test Lane. I have written a detailed letter to the Cabinet Member for Environment and Transport setting out why I believe this would be a bad idea, both because it could potentially create a black-hole without any large-scale recycling services for people living near the centre of the city; because it would significantly increase congestion around the already congested Test Lane site; and because there are important dock industries neighbouring the Town Depot site that need to be protected for the wider economic health of the city.

Other engagements

This month I also attended the Foyes Corner Festival, which volunteers this year made a fantastic achievement in organising. I also attended a regular liaison forum between Labour MPs on the south-coast and local trades unions. I ran 'roving' surgeries in Redbridge and Shirley in addition to my normal surgeries.