On 14 March 2011 the Government launched Working for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Equality: Moving Forward, which sets out the actions Government is taking to tackle lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender inequality.

But trans issues are often quite distinct and we recognise the need for some of those issues to be addressed separately.

To make sure we really deliver for the trans community, we need to know how you think we should be progressing the agenda.  The first E-Bulletin can be found here.

The bulletin includes an online survey asking for your views and ideas. We will use the findings of this first survey to shape the Government policy in trans equality and the transgender equality action plan. We would be grateful if you could complete the survey by 6 May 2011.

To help us make sure we are reaching the widest range of people, please forward this message and bulletin to your friends and colleagues; post it on your blogs and discussion forums; and raise it in your community groups.

As readers of this blog will know – the Government’s Body Confidence campaign (co-founded when we were in opposition by myself and LibDem MP Jo Swinson way back when) is moving forward.

One of our main themes is the persistent delivery of perfected images which imply that the use of a certain product will deliver such perfection – when of course – the perfection is courtesy of the air brush or digital alteration.

The advertising industry has moved forward on this issue. It is a step in the right direction – a small step – but a step!

The Committee of Advertising Practice/Broadcasting Committee of Advertising Practice – the two bodies who make the rules for the advertising industry and work with the ASA to enforce them have produced a paper (guidance) on the use of production techniques in cosmetics.

It was published on the 4th April and sets out in simple form what can and cannot be done to advertisements to ensure that they do not mislead the consumer.

There is more info and a summary of the guidelines available on the CAP/BCAP website here.

This shows that the ASA are acknowledging the pressure that is mounting about pre and post production techniques and demonstrating that they understand that this is a real issue. I welcome this move in the right direction.

Whilst this particular step forward moves the agenda on (so long as they enforce it) in terms of misleading advertisements – we are still working on a number of fronts to address the endless concentration on one type of body image being desirable (impossibly thin and perfect) – and campaigning for diversity of image.

This isn’t about the advertising industry alone – there are many industries who could contribute hugely to improving the situation including: the broadcast media, fashion industry, magazines, sport, education and both the film and drama fields as well.

And it’s not just about women and girls – there are a growing number of men and boys resorting to steroids to give them the perfected male images that are now promoted in men’s mags too.

I hope to be able to update everyone on progress on the Government Body Confidence campaign next month.

Robert Gorrie, LibDem Council Group Leader on Haringey has told us that he will be stepping down as Leader at the AGM next Month. A new leader will be elected at that point.

Robert has been such a great leader for our LibDem group – I am very sorry to see him go – but totally understand that there are other demands in life that dictate what happens. And Robert wanted to step down now so as to leave plenty of time for the new leader to prepare for the next local elections in 2014, when the Lib Dems will be campaigning to overturn over 40 years of Labour rule. He hands over one of the strongest and largest Liberal Democrat groups in London.

Robert was first elected to Haringey Council in Hornsey in May 2006, where a big swing to the Liberal Democrats wiped out Labour from Hornsey ward. He took on the leadership of the Liberal Democrat group in 2008.

Since then, Robert has been successful in spearheading the scrutiny of the Labour Council over the tragic death of Baby Peter, which saw the resignation of senior Labour figures. He had also led the group in highlighting Labour’s financial disasters and mismanagement such as the £37million of local taxpayers’ money frozen in Icelandic Banks. This year, he has provided robust alternatives to Labour’s decision to close older people’s day care centres and cut youth services by 75 per cent.

He was also key in my successful re-election as the Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, with an increased majority.

I wish him all the very best for the future.

Now I have the specific figures for how Haringey benefits from the LibDem manifesto pledges delivered by the Coalition for this new financial year:

In Haringey:

• 84000 people are getting a £200 income tax cut – benefiting 23 million people across the country
• 2900 people (those on the lowest earnings) have been lifted out of paying income tax altogether, with more to come
• £625million extra has gone to our schools, aimed at the most disadvantaged pupils – rising to £2.5billion a year by 2015 (£4.5million to Haringey).
• 25500 pensioners have been given an extra £4.50 a week – and those retiring from today will be on average £15,000 better off over their retirement.

And yes – of course there are some really tough decisions that have been made – but these measures are progressive, improving the situation for those with the least, even in the face of the massive deficit left by Labour.

One part of the social mobility strategy announced this week is about removing barriers to employment.  And I was very pleased to see a very simple idea that I floated during the passage of the Equality Bill (rejected by Labour – surprise) finally find its way into being.

This is a very simply idea for job applications where applicants don’t put their name or school on the application form – using something like their National Insurance number instead – to ensure that judgement is on experience, skills and qualifications in the first sift. The Deputy Prime Minister’s Office introduced the removal of which school the applicant attended in addition to the removal of name – for obvious reasons.

I long ago wrote a column for the Ham & High on this – pasted below.

What’s in a name?
I had two interns a while back whose surnames were Hussein and Patel. They were bright as buttons and of course, because that is the point of interning for an MP, they went on to get very good jobs – one at the Ministry of Defence and the other in public relations.

Prior to coming to my office they told me that they had applied for hundreds of jobs but not even got through to the interview stage. It wasn’t rocket science to wonder if their surname was a barrier.

So I developed my theory that there might be a subliminal discard of applications because of an unconscious bias of some sort. My suggested proposal to counter any such bias is that we should move to anonymous job applications where the applicant uses something like their National Insurance number instead of their name on written application. Without a name – the ethnicity, gender and age of the applicant would be hidden – and the application would be judged on its merit in terms of qualifications and experience.

Of course, when it comes to interview, all would be revealed. But once an applicant is in the room – that subliminal discard is out the way – and the force of character takes over. Lord knows, I have been in enough ‘equal ops’ panels interviewing to know that regardless of the scores and the weighting given to questions and answers – it is far more to do with the instincts of the panel about the person – than any of the ‘rules’ of interview. So getting through to the interview is key.

We give children numbers to write on their exam papers to ensure that there is absolutely no bias in marking. This is really the same kind of thing.

I floated my thesis in the second reading of the Equality Bill and it caused quite a hoo ha in the employment world. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development supported the idea – although did not believe it should be mandatory. Some in the human resource industry thought it was a stupid idea.

Not deterred by the outrage of the agencies that make a living from examining CVs, finding employees, etc – at Committee stage of the Bill, I tabled an amendment which would see this brought into law. The Solicitor General, Vera Baird (Labour Minister) after sneering for a bit, admitted that the Department of Work and Pensions, since I put the idea forward at second reading, was doing some survey work to find out if my theory was correct. She said she was sorry to tantalise the committee as the work would not be finished until the summer – but initial findings showed ‘significant discrimination’.

I was really excited – because if this were to become best practise – this would really blast apart one of the biggest barriers to work that people can experience. So – we will see in the summer where this goes.

Then the Mail on Sunday gets the wrong end of the stick and blasts the government for another bit of work it is clearly doing on the issue. Apparently the DWP sent out two thousand applications with false names to companies to ‘see if they are racist’. Well – firstly if the ‘experiment’ demonstrates that there is deep and systemic ‘racism’ then it is a valuable experiment. The Mail and the CBI are saying how dare the Government waste business time.

Blimey – this is a proposal that actually won’t cost business any money and might drastically improve the situation for applicants for jobs – bringing fairness and equality – and still they moan.

I don’t know how many and what type of experiments the Government is carrying out to prove or disprove my theory – it is without doubt important to prove – so good on them for taking it seriously. If it is proved – then it will be important to remove that barrier. To have the qualifications and experience and be barred from getting through the first stage of job applications for some unconscious reason is not acceptable.

And to those who think this is about racism, sexism or ageism per se – it isn’t just about that. The Mail on Sunday jumped to that conclusion – but a little work to research the issue would have shown them that this is a theory based on science as well as subliminal discrimination per se. There has been some work done which shows that the brain reacts differently to that which it is familiar as opposed to that which it finds alien. That is why this is about eradicating subliminal reactions.

So what’s in a name? Quite a lot!

This week, a number of Liberal Democrat policies are coming into action that will make a huge difference to people lives. Over the next seven days, Liberal Democrat policy will:

· give £625m extra to our schools, aimed at the most disadvantaged pupils

· lift more than 800 thousand low earners out of paying income tax altogether

· give 23 million people a £200 tax cut (on basic rate taxation)

· ensure pensioners retiring now will be £15,000 better off over their retirement

Funding for the pupil premium, a longstanding and key Liberal Democrat policy, began on Friday April 1. We believe that education is the engine of social mobility and in the next year the pupil premium will see £625m extra going to our schools to give the most vulnerable children the best possible start in life. Over the course of the Government, funding will increase to £2.5bn.

That is £4.5 million for Haringey this year – and more every year this parliament.

As the new financial year starts – and some of the financial decisions come into reality – I hope that people can see that despite the very, very tough regime – the changes in finances are progressive.

Last week:

I was invited to the AGM of Haringey Race and Equality Council to speak about the equalities agenda and take questions. The key concerns were on funding and the future of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. On funding it was clear that small groups are having funding withdrawn by the Council. It was interesting that the frustration was around support for vulnerable people – and yet if you take the Supporting People funding  – the Government has actually cut 1% from the £650million. Without the ring fence (removed by Labour when in government) it appears that cuts are being made way disproportionately to that 1%.

The EHRC is remodellling itself to become probably what it was always intended to be – a much valued and respected national institution for upholding equality and human rights in this country. It had an unfortunate birth – where the previous three commissions (race, women and disabilities) were folded into one body without any real decisions being made on purpose. The EHRC is now moving towards that new vision. A consultation on its future has now gone out and how it achieves its new incarnation is up to the EHRC – as it is an independent body – albeit in financial terms it is funded by public money and has to be accountable for its expenditure.

I received a lobby from local environmental and sustainability groups on the Energy Bill. They presented their case for improvements and additions to the Energy Bill and I have undertaken to take those ‘asks’ to the appropriate ministers. In fact – to facilitate the lobby I had in attendance one of the special advisers to the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate change – so straight (so to speak) to the horse’s mouth.

I had the pleasure too, on Friday, of visiting Treehouse – our exemplar facility for children with autism in Muswell Hill. This was to celebrate the opening of the OGA (outdoor games area). It is a wonderful new area for games where not just the children from Treehouse – but also children from the local schools – can come and do games and sport together. As part of the celebrations children from Muswell Hill School had come (as they do once a week) to demonstrate a range of games with each of them paired with a child from Treehouse. It was extremely moving – and there can be no better education than children playing together to encourage understanding, kindness and community.