Local Liberal Democrats visit Haringey’s first food recycling cafe

Posted on 20th Dec 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

To get a first taste of Stroud Green’s most recent green community initiative, local Liberal Democrats on Friday visited the newly opened FoodCycle cafe on Ferme Park Road.

The cafe has set up shop in the empty ‘Mind building’ in the heart of Stroud Green, and aims to reduce local food poverty, by cooking healthy cheap lunches, using surplus food from local supermarkets.

Liberal Democrat councillors in Stroud Green and Crouch End have helped get the scheme off the ground by supporting their grant application and spreading the word to local residents.

The cafe, located by the junction Ferme Park Road/Stapleton Hall Road, serves lunch each Friday 12.30-2.30pm. Following a short Christmas break, they will again open their doors to the public on the 7th January.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“FoodCycle is such a fantastic community initiative, with local volunteers helping to cook healthy, cheap lunch, using vegetables and produce which would otherwise have ended up on the landfill.

“It’s an amazing scheme, with seriously yummy food. I would encourage anyone up for a healthy green meal to come along.”

Crouch End Cllr David Winskill adds:

“By using this free kitchen space, and getting free food from local shops, this amazing team of local foodies can really help work towards reducing food poverty and enabling people to get involved and develop skills.

“And they are setting a fantastic example for other people who want to be green and serve their community. I’m really proud to have been able to help them get off the ground, and I look forward to seeing many similar projects in Haringey in the future.”

Extra funding for Haringey’s children – Lynne Featherstone MP

Posted on 16th Dec 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Haringey’s schools are set to receive an extra £4.5million after the Liberal Democrats announced major investment for schools in Haringey through the Pupil Premium this week.

In its first year, the programme will target £625m extra funding to the poorest children in school, with this figure rising to £2.5bn each year, by the end of this Parliament.

In year one, every school is guaranteed an extra £430 from the Government for every child on free school meals and every looked-after child.

Commenting, Lynne Featherstone MP for Hornsey and Wood Green said:

“The pupil premium provides more money for disadvantaged children and means a better deal for Haringey schools.”

“By helping some of the most disadvantaged children, we can help whole school classes work together better and move forward faster. This is great news for children, parents and teachers alike.”

Liberal Democrat education spokesperson Cllr Rachel Allison adds:

“The premium gives Headteachers in Haringey the freedom to use the money how they want, in the ways they know work – not how politicians in Whitehall tell them to.”

“Enabling children from disadvantaged backgrounds to have the best possible start in life was a key pledge of the Liberal Democrats going into the last general election. The pupil premium delivers on this pledge – by providing schools with £430 for every disadvantaged child on top of existing pupil funding.”

Lynne Featherstone MP supports Terrence Higgins Trust's World AIDS Day event to promote HIV testing

Posted on 6th Dec 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, has attended an event at Parliament for World AIDS Day (December 1) to back efforts to increase HIV testing. The event was organised by HIV and sexual health charity Terrence Higgins Trust (THT).

Currently, one in four people with HIV in the UK do not know they have it. This is bad for their health and the health of others as they are not getting vital treatment and are statistically more likely to pass on the virus. In Haringey, 27% of people with HIV are diagnosed ‘very late’, well after they should have started treatment. THT and other organisations are promoting the ‘Halve It’ campaign, which wants to see rates of undiagnosed and late diagnosed HIV halved within the next five years.

Ms Featherstone said: “I am delighted to support this vitally important issue. We all need to work together to increase HIV testing because it is in everyone’s interests. I hope that this World AIDS Day more people who may have been at risk of HIV will decide to get tested. People used to think an HIV diagnosis was like a death sentence, but HIV treatment has moved on so much in the last few years. An HIV diagnosis today is something that could save your life, because as long as you get the treatment in time, you can expect to live well into old age.”

Sir Nick Partridge, Chief Executive of Terrence Higgins Trust, said: “We’re very pleased Lynne Featherstone is helping us to raise awareness of HIV testing this World AIDS Day. People with undiagnosed HIV are not only putting their own health seriously at risk, they are also more likely to pass the virus on. Testing too late costs lives and money.”

World AIDS Day, which has been running every December since 1988, is dedicated to raising awareness of HIV and AIDS. In the UK alone, 86,500 people are living with HIV and over 6,500 are diagnosed every year.

Lynne Featherstone MP launches new measures to help close gender pay gap

Posted on 3rd Dec 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Employers will be asked to help tackle the gender pay gap by publishing data about their workforce on a voluntary basis under new plans announced yesterday.

MP for Hornsey and Wood Green and Equalities minister Lynne Featherstone said that the proposal, which is part of a new Equality strategy, will increase transparency and help employers identify problems.

It is aimed at organisations that employee 150 or more people and follows a similar commitment for the public sector announced earlier this year.

Lynne made the announcement at the publication of the annual Female FTSE100 report which shows that the number of women on the boards of Britain’s biggest companies has barely increased in the past three years.

She told the audience of business leaders: ‘We want to move away from the arrogant notion that government knows best, to one where government empowers individuals, businesses and communities to make change happen.

‘Different organisations face different challenges in promoting equality so if we are to get this right for everybody a much more flexible approach is needed.

‘Today’s equality strategy is our blueprint for change, including plans for voluntary pay reporting and positive action in recruitment and promotion.

‘These plans are absolutely not about political correctness, or red tape, or quotas. They are about giving individual employers the tools they need to help make the workplace fairer.’

Ms Featherstone also announced that the government will enact the Equality Act measures on positive action in relation to recruitment and promotion.
This will help employers make their organisations more representative by giving them the option, when faced with two or more candidates of equal merit, to choose a candidate from a group that is under-represented in the workforce.

For example, a primary school that has no male teachers could choose to appoint a male candidate who is of equal merit to a female candidate. This does not mean allowing ‘quotas’ or giving someone a job just because they are a woman, disabled or from an ethnic minority — positive discrimination remains illegal.

Published today, the cross-government equality strategy explains the government’s new approach which is based on treating people as individuals with individual needs.

As part of the new approach the Government Equalities Office will become a unit of the Home Office, bringing equality into the heart of government.

Haringey Liberal Democrats standing up for local businesses this Christmas

Posted on 29th Nov 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

To see how they can best support local businesses through the difficult financial times and in the run-up to Christmas, Local Liberal Democrats have today launched a business survey to go out to businesses across Haringey.

The business survey, part of the ‘be local’ campaign, intended to encourage volunteering and support for local shops, was today launched by Lynne Featherstone MP and Councillor Robert Gorrie on Hornsey High Street. The Liberal Democrats are also writing to local residents in December to encourage them to support their local shops this Christmas.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“The tough economic climate has been hard on our local businesses, and as the run-up to Christmas is so important for local shop, we’re today launching a survey to hear what matters to traders.

“We want to know about the top issues to tackle, and will be speaking to businesses up and down the borough in the coming month.”

Liberal Democrat Finance Spokesperson Cllr Robert Gorrie adds:

“There are many spectacular businesses in our community. They are the life-blood of our local town centres and local economy.

“We want to know what more can be done to encourage people to use our High Street and ‘be local’ this winter, and that’s why we are also writing to residents, encouraging them to do their Christmas shopping locally this year.”

MP Lynne Featherstone appointed International Violence against Women Champion

Posted on 26th Nov 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Liberal Democrat Home Office Minister, and Local MP Lynne Featherstone, was yesterday appointed International Violence Against Women Champion. This role will see her lead British efforts to tackle violence against women overseas.

Commenting on her appointment yesterday, Lynne Featherstone said:

“Today marks International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women and I am delighted to have been asked by the government to fulfil the role of championing this cause around the world.

“Today, women around the world are still subject to rape, domestic violence and abuse, the scale and true nature of which can often remain hidden. Britain has a duty to use its influence across the globe to shine a light on this issue and I am proud to take on responsibility for doing so.

“Among women between the ages of 15 and 44, acts of violence cause more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined. It is truly one of the most pervasive human rights violations in the world today.

“We must bring this issue out in the open through increasing awareness, furthering work on prevention and helping the women who have been subjected to violence pick up their lives again. Only then can we put a stop to the cycle of violence against women once and for all.”

Zoom's Wood Green Santa 5th winner of Lynne Featherstone's Christmas Card competition

Posted on 26th Nov 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

With his festive, innovative and eye-catching design of Santa flying over Wood Green Shopping city, ten year old Zoom Rockman today became the fifth winner of Lynne Featherstone MPs annual Christmas card competition.

The Hornsey and Wood Green MP congratulated the Rokesly Junior student with a certificate and book vouchers, and his winning design will appear on the thousands of Christmas cards being sent out across the borough in December.

Lynne Featherstone was sent hundreds of entries from primary school students across the constituency and, in addition to the winning entry, two runners-up were selected, whose pictures will appear on the back of the card. These are: Georgia Aberdeen from Highgate Primary and Katy O’Neill from Campsbourne Primary.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“Zoom’s Wood Green Santa was truly eye catching – it feels really contemporary and fun and I’m really looking forward to seeing it on the cover of my Christmas card.

“The students at Hornsey and Wood Green’s Primary Schools never fail to impress me with their innovation and fun creations. Thanks also to the runners-up Georgia Aberdeen and Katy O’Neill for their colourful and clever designs.”

Lynne Featherstone MP on visit to festive arts class for Christmas card competition

Posted on 8th Nov 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

To see the children at Highgate Primary in full creative Christmas spirit, drawing entries for her fifth annual card competition, Lynne Featherstone MP on Friday visited the Storey Road school.

This year the Hornsey and Wood Green MP has decided not to set a theme for the competition, instead the children are encouraged to draw what Christmas means to them. The Highgate children were drawing a range of colourful designs, from Christmas trees to stars and snowmen. The competition deadline is the 11th November, and the winner will be announced shortly after that.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“It’s so wonderful to see the children having so much fun and getting in to the Christmas spirit as they create their festive designs for the competition.

“The decision this year to have an open theme has worked really well – the kids are really using their full imagination and creativity to make wonderful colourful, sparkling designs.

“I have certainly seen some real contenders here, and can’t wait to see the rest of this year’s entries!”

Lynne Featherstone MP makes a difference on volunteering day

Posted on 1st Nov 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

To celebrate the enormous contribution of local volunteers, Lynne Featherstone MP last week met with Special Constables and helpers at Muswell Hill Police Station to mark Community Service Volunteers (CSV) ‘Make a Difference’ Day.

The Hornsey and Wood Green MP and local crime spokesperson, Cllr Martin Newton, spent the morning on Friday (29th Oct 2010) helping out on the front helpdesk at the police station and walked the streets with Special Police constables talking about their roles as volunteers and urging more residents to volunteer in their local community.

Lynne Featherstone MP, comments:

“Volunteers at Muswell Hill Police Station do an invaluable job to make sure our local services are open to the public.

“I have been fighting to keep Muswell Hill Police Station front counter open for over a decade – this would not have been able to happen without the service of our army of volunteers.

“Volunteering is so rewarding and I would urge more people to take part, help out and volunteer.”

Cllr Martin Newton, Liberal Democrat Crime Spokesperson, adds:

“Volunteering is not only great for the community but also can give volunteers wider work experience that they wouldn’t otherwise receive.

“I admire any person who would give up their spare time to provide a service to others.”

Lynne Featherstone MP on the hunt for festive design as she launches fifth annual Christmas card competition

Posted on 29th Oct 2010 by Lynne Featherstone

Lynne Featherstone MP is this week on the hunt for Hornsey and Wood Green’s most festive and Christmas themed picture, as she launches her fifth annual Christmas card competition.

The Liberal Democrat MP is calling on children in Hornsey and Wood Green to use their imagination to create the winning Christmas design for the thousands of Christmas cards she is sending out this December. This year’s competition has an open theme, to encourage the children’s festive imagination to run free.

The competition, which is open to children at all primary schools in Hornsey and Wood Green, is running until the 11th November.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“The Christmas card competition is one of the most fun things in my winter diary – and I am sure this year will not disappoint.

“I decided on an on open theme this year to really encourage the children to use their imagination and create something really festive and fun. I can’t wait to pop into an arts class at one of the local schools to see the creativity in action!”