This Government is committed to fixing the foundations and delivering change for our country.

After 14 years of the Conservatives in Government, there are huge challenges facing our country, such as crumbling public services and where they made repeated cuts to public finances. My colleagues and I are focused on delivering a decade of national renewal. This will be done through our five missions:

1. Kickstarting economic growth
2. Building an NHS fit for the future
3. Making Britain’s streets safe
4. Making Britain a clean energy super-power
5. Breaking down the barriers to opportunity.

The Prime Minister laid out more details on how we will achieve this, and you can read the details here. The six milestones below will be used to measure progress on the Government’s work:

• Raising real household disposable income
• Ensuring 75% of children are “school-ready” by reception year
• Recruiting 13,000 police officers, special constables and PCSOs
• Building 1.5 million homes
• Decarbonizing the electricity grid by 2030
• Treating 92% of NHS patients within 18 weeks of referral

While the Prime Minister has been working to improve our country, the Conservatives under Kemi Badenoch’s leadership have (yet again!) made unfunded pledges. This includes reversing private schools paying VAT. Furthemore, they have been unable to explain whether they would reverse changes to employer National Insurance Contributions or not.

This Annual Newsletter seeks to provide an overview of some of the important events that have happened this year and in the last month. I hope you find this interesting. Thank you.

General Election July 2024

On Wednesday, 22nd May 2024, the moment we had all been waiting for finally arrived. After so many years of Conservative mismanagement and incompetency, Rishi Sunak called a General Election. So many people expected the election to be held in Autumn. I was thrilled to see such a positive reaction on the doorstep and see the country vote for change.

Ministerial Position

As many of you will know, helping our children and young people succeed is vitally important to me and something I have worked towards for most of my working life. Therefore, when I was appointed as the Minister for Children and Families, I was delighted. I am proud of the work taken by the Department for Education, led by Bridget Philipson, to break down the barriers to opportunity for children across the country.

I have many responsibilities, including improving children’s social care and child protection as well as supporting families and children in need. Additionally, it includes kinship care, foster care, adoption, and care leavers. I also answered oral questions and debates related to the Minister for Skills’ portfolio. As we enter the New Year, I am delighted to help lead on the Skills Bill and the new Children’s Wellbeing Bill that will be introduced in the not-too-distant future.

Furthermore, I want to reassure everyone in Lewisham East that, although I have a national portfolio, I am still determined to be Lewisham East’s local champion. I am proud of our area and want to improve the lives of local people. Rest assured, I will continue to listen to residents and work with them to address the issues that impact them.

International Conflict

It has been well over a year since the conflict in Israel and Gaza began. I continue to be concerned by the loss of life that has occurred since this disturbing violence began. I have followed developments on the conflict, including recent International Criminal Court’s decisions. Rest assured, I will continue to monitor the situation.

I am pleased that Israel and Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire in late November. This will result in Israel and Hezbollah withdrawing their forces from Southern Lebanon, and only the Lebanese Army will operate there. Whilst tension is still high, I am pleased to see this ceasefire being held.

In Syria, the Assad regime has ended after opposition forces dramatically defeated pro-Assad. This comes after years of civil war within the country. Now we see Syrians tearing down Assad’s statutes and reuniting with loved ones who had disappeared. Nevertheless, millions require humanitarian assistance. This will also impact the number of people from the region seeking asylum. With events moving so quickly, I am pleased the Government has stated it will be ready to help the people of Syria achieve a better future.

Meanwhile, in Ukraine, as winter approaches with continued Russian attacks on military and civilian targets, it is critical that international partners and allies come together to back Ukraine and ensure that Putin does not succeed. There have been many big announcements about the UK and the US support of Ukraine, and I will keep abreast of developments.

The civil war in Sudan, like many conflicts mentioned, continues to be of deep concern. Nearly 25 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, and Sudan’s neighbours are also struggling with the number of refugees who have crossed the border. The UK has introduced a UN Security Council resolution that called for the protection of civilians and full, unimpeded aid access. The humanitarian emergency facing the people of Sudan is truly horrifying, and I hope we can secure humanitarian access and bring this conflict to an end.

Housing in Lewisham East

It is no surprise that housing remains one of the biggest issues impacting local people. This includes problems people face with regard to:

• Very high private-sector rent costs
• Freeholders not properly maintaining the properties for their leaseholders and tenants
• People living in unacceptable conditions in social housing due to 14 years of the Conservative underfunding local councils
• The remediation of cladding on multiple high-rise buildings

These are all huge problems that have impacted too many people. I raised these issues in Parliament throughout the years, including in 2024. Furthermore, I recently met with the Housing Ombudsman to discuss some of these issues. Progress can be seen, but much more needs to be done.

Therefore, I was delighted to see this Labour Government make great announcements in this regard. This includes reintroducing the Renters’ Rights Bill, giving more powers and protections to leaseholders, and plans to build 1.5 million new homes. I am also pleased that Angela Rayner, the Housing Secretary, announced plans to speed up the removal of unsafe cladding and to act if landlords do not comply.

When it comes to housing, I am pleased to see Labour taking action to start fixing the mess left by the previous Government.

Cost-of-Living Crisis

It has been a challenging few years as people struggle to make ends meet. Conservative mismanagement, including Liz Truss’s mini-budget, which has sky-rocketed people’s mortgages and pushed rents up, has seriously hampered people’s ability to get by.

Therefore, I pay a huge amount of thanks to individuals and organisations that help people as they struggle with the cost-of-living crisis. This is very powerful work; however, it is also the Government’s job to lift living standards.

As a result, I am pleased to see the recent budget increase the living wage to £12.21 an hour alongside measures to boost growth so we can create jobs and reform our public services. Labour has preserved the state pension triple lock. This will see the new State Pension and Pension Credit’s standard minimum guarantee uprated by 4.1%. This will see over 12 million pensioners gaining up to £475 next year. Additionally, Labour’s Child Poverty Taskforce is up and running, which will improve children’s lives and life chances by lifting them out of poverty.

If you know anyone who is struggling, you may find the following links useful:

• Benefit entitlement – Better off Lewisham
• Child Poverty – Lewisham Bank of Things
• Domestic Abuse – Victim Support / Refuge
• Emergency grants for food, utility bills, and essential items – Single Support Grant / The Household Support Fund
• Energy bill assistance – South London Healthy Homes
• Lewisham food banks – Food bank donation and distribution points
• Mental Health Support – Lewisham Talking Therapies / South East London MIND

Local Environmental Protection

This year, I was thrilled to hear the news that Lewisham has the best-performing parks in London. Residents value and use our green spaces, and this highlights how we have so much to be proud of. I was also pleased to find out that Lewisham Council is carrying out work to improve Beckenham Place Park and reduce the risk of flooding to the river Ravensbourne.

To complement the high quality of our green spaces, I will continue to call for more to be done to tackle air pollution. This was one of my pledges in the recent election because it is unacceptable that so many people suffer the effects of unsafe levels of air pollution. This will remain on my agenda going forward.

Additionally, many residents suffer from living under a double flight path and noise pollution. Earlier this year, it was announced that City Airport will be allowed to increase its annual passenger cap from 6.5 million to 9 million by 2031, although the maximum number of flights allowed—up to 111,000 per year—remains unchanged.

Residents deserve action on noise pollution, and I will continue to look for ways to address this in the new year.

Update from the past month

Minister for Children and Families

As Minister for Children and Families, I am determined to ensure that this Government breaks down the barriers to opportunity for our young people. I am proud that we are kick-starting work to reverse years of neglect of children’s social care. As a result, new powers will be handed to Ofsted to crack down on exploitative children’s care providers and increase transparency around their finances. You can read more about this here.

I was also delighted to speak in Parliament about what this Government is doing to increase educational opportunities, support kinship carers and how we can make apprenticeship and T-Levels work for our young people. I have also met multiple stakeholders. I recently spoke at the National Children and Adult Services Conference to thank social care champions for their incredible work keeping children safe.

Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill

On Friday, 29th November, MPs voted to allow the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill to start its journey through Parliament. A total of 330 MPs voted for this motion and 275 against. The provisions of the Bill stated that to be able to end their life, a person must:

• be aged over 18, live in England and Wales, and registered with a GP for at least 12 months
• have the mental capacity to make the choice free from coercion or pressure
• be expected to die within six months
• make two separate declarations expressing their wish to die
• satisfy two independent doctors that they meet the above criteria

Additionally, a High Court judge must rule each time a person requests to end their life on whether they meet the criteria.

During the second reading debate, I voted for the Bill. I explained my reason for doing so on my website, which you can read here.

I must reiterate that I did not take this decision lightly and spent a lot of time engaging with both sides of the debate. In my statement, I said that if the Bill is amended and the safeguards contained in the Bill are altered, this could impact how I vote in the later stages of the Bill’s journey in Parliament.

Remembrance Day and Honouring our Armed Forces

On Remembrance Sunday and on Remembrance Day, we came together in Lewisham East and across the country to remember the sacrifices made by UK and Commonwealth veterans and current personnel to keep us safe. Therefore, I was delighted to join Lewisham’s Annual Remembrance Sunday Service with Ellie Reeves MP, local councillors, and so many from our community. On Remembrance Day, I attended a moving Armistice service in Downham.

I am grateful to all groups and individuals who have worked so hard to make these events successful across the constituency.

Last month, I visited Rosenthal House with Cllr Will Cooper and Lewisham Council staff to meet with residents following the shocking fire that took place in that building in October. We also discussed the ongoing work following the incident. I was pleased to hear that the Council is planning upgrades to improve fire safety and address damp and mould issues within Rosenthal House.

Litter picking

As I have said many times before, it is essential that we take pride in our surroundings. We must all take a zero-tolerance approach to fly-tipping because it has impacted too many individuals. Therefore, last month, I was pleased to join local volunteers in Hither Green and staff from Lewisham Council on a litter pick to keep our community clean and build community cohesion.

You can play your part and report fly-tipping by using this website: https://lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/environment/street-cleaning/flytipping/report-a-flytip or download the “Love Clean Streets” app, which can be accessed: https://cleanerlewisham.lovecleanstreets.com/help.

Thank you for reading this newsletter.

Best wishes,

Janet