Last week, I visited the Broadgreen Breakfast Club, which is a charity that runs a daily breakfast facility for those who are homeless or otherwise vulnerable.   It is held at St Luke’s Church Hall in Broadgreen and is run by a team of dedicated volunteers.  The Club sees about30 to 40 people per day, and is a useful focal point, not only for users, but for local organisations such as Threshold that work with homeless people.  Of similar value is the twice weekly Filling Station, which is run by a group of twelve local churches and which sets up in the Queenstown Car Park each Tuesday and Thursday.    My thanks to Angus McPherson for allowing me to see things at first hand; I was very glad to meet workers from Threshold and a local drugs rehabilitation project with whom I shall work in the future.

Despite the poor weather, Saturday’s Broad Green Cohesion Fun Day , organised by the Broad Green Area Community Council and held at the Community Centre was a chance for me to come together with friends from Broad Green to celebrate the progress being made locally.  Local Fire Chief Andy Popowicz and I were pressganged into action with regard to a stubborn and wayward piece of furniture, namely the erection of a table football game!

The flow of emails keeps coming; please bear with me.  Although I like to respond quickly, this is not always going to be possible if I am to keep any semblance of sanity.   

The Attorney-General is pondering whether or not to allow a Coroners’ Inquest into the death of David Kelly.  Last week’s letter to the Times from a group of qualified persons puts the matter beyond doubt for me.  It should be done, and done soon.

My recent visit to Inspire, which is an organisation that helps NEETs into work, allowed me to hear the views of young people at first hand.  They are desperate for a chance to prove themselves, whether it be via work experience, mentoring or some form of hands-on work.   Their curriculum vitae are significantly improved as a result, and it can prove an effective pathway into full time paid employment. 

Plan 500 reflects these needs, so I am delighted to be supporting it.

A mix up about timings meant that I was very late for the AGM of the Swindon Youth Mentoring Service SMASH at their HQ in the Link Centre, West Swindon, yesterday evening.  Despite this, I was very pleased to make my first visit since the election to an organisation that does so much important work in helping to make sure that vulnerable and often troubled young people do not end up in the criminal justice system.  It is a devastatingly simple concept, but one that works brilliantly – a shining example of how intervention at the right stage will save thousands in the long run.  I am very pleased to hear that SMASH has secured some funding from the John Paul Getty Foundation that will allow it to operate over the next three year period, but it can always do with more.  For anyone reading this blog with sponsorship money to spare, please direct it towards SMASH.

The eighth Swindon Mela is taking place today, and I have enjoyed several happy happy hours taking it all in.  My thanks to the organising committee for allowing me to take part in the opening ceremony in the Town Gardens.   There is no doubt in my mind that this particular venue helps make the Mela a very special event; we should do all we can to ensure its continuance in the Town Gardens.  The juxtaposition between Victorian grandeur and South Asian culture is a reminder of the imperial legacy that entwines Britain with South Asia – we mustn’t forget that the sub-continent has its fair share of Victorian parks that brought a little bit of home to British India and which outlived the Raj.  The Mela brings together the whole Swindon community in an unspoken but effective way.   I was given the honour of wearing a fetching blue turban for much of my visit; already, I imagine that several photographs of my headgear have made their way into wider circulation!

Its dedicated team of volunteeers deserves our praise and support.  I very much hope that in the months ahead as they plan for the next Mela, Council officers work constructively with the team.  The culture of Health and Safety regulation has caused real problems for the organisers of events such as the Mela.  It is time for this to stop.  The Young Review into Health and Safety law could be an extremely useful as a means of moving away from an overly presciptive approach that seeks the elusive and impossible goal of risk elimination.   One of the Mela organisers, who has huge experience in this area, put it extremely well when he said that we must move away from the compartmentalist approach to Health and Safety.  No matter what our discipline might be,  peforming the task in a safe way should be an integral part of our professional or other standards.

Another example of a local Community standing up and being counted is today’s re-opening of Freshbrook Community Centre.  After months of hard work, the new Committee can be very proud of the end result- a welcoming centre that is being used by local people.  I was extremely happy to have held my second ever Constituency Surgery there at the end of May, and will be back in September.  My good wishes to the team; it was great to see local ward Cllrs Mick Bray and Michael Dickinson there too.  Michael, who was described as a “star” by one of the Committee, has been able  to provide support and advice based upon his experience and qualifications in the field of accounting. 

A happy day, showing Swindon at its best.

I particularly like the following passage:

“I went to sleep, and now I am refreshed,

A strange refreshment; for I feel in me

An inexpressive lightness, and a sense

Of freedom, as I were at length myself

And ne’er had been before.  How still it is!

I hear no more the busy beat of time,

No, nor my fluttering breath, nor struggling pulse;

Nor does one moment differ from the next.

I had a dream; yes – someone softly said “he is gone”

And a sigh went round the room.

And then I heard a priestly voice

Cry “subvenite” and they knelt in prayer”

A fitting salute to a life well lived.

I was always in favour of building more prisons because I believe that with more room and better accommodation, there is a greater chance of rehabilitating certain prisoners.   The current economic climate makes a wholesale programme of prison building pretty difficult to say the least.  The smart alternative is a truly effective system of community penalties, with restorative justice schemes, meaningful community work and the use of electronic tags to significantly restrict freedoms. 

For some significant time now, there have been fundamental doubts about the effectiveness of sentences of less than twelve months.   Frankly, there is little if anything done with these prisoners.  Judges are told that they are merely postponing problems for a few months by locking people up for a short time. Would be be right to remove the power to pass very short sentences?   The Scots Parliament has decided to abolish prison sentences of less than three months.   Frankly, I think that they are wrong.  The problem does not lie in the power to imprison, but in the prison regime itself.  Sometimes, the only option for a sentencer is a short term of imprisonment where, for example, the offender has already breached an order or orders and shows no sign of being willing to co-operate. 

Having visited quite a few prisons in my professional life, I do not share the “abandon all hope ye who enter here”  mentality.  Prisons can and very often do work, and Ken was not saying otherwise yesterday.  What he did open up was a proper debate into the alternatives.  Labour’s big mouth on sentencing was never matched by money.  It is time to move things away from a tough v soft argument to a smart v stupid argument on criminal sentencing.

The overlooked part of Ken’s speech was the prospect of a change to Legal Aid.  Frankly, the wealthy should be funding the costs of their representation.  The plus side for them would be that they could hire and pay lawyers of their choice, and the benefit to the public is that we wouldn’t be funding their defence.   I suggest a return to the old system of legal aid contributions according to income; it collected much revenue.  Labour’s change to a universal system, with the possibility of making costs orders against convicted defendants, resulted in very few such costs orders ever being made and a loss of revenue. 

Ken’s speech was the first attempt at real leadership on this issue in years; rather than following the agenda of certain parts of the media in a craven way like successive Labour Ministers, this giant of the political scene has once again set the agenda.

Dr Nutt is a sincere and able man, who came between the former Home Secretary and some good tabloid headlines.  The remarkable thing about his depature is how he ever came to be appointed in the first place.  He is a champion of liberty, but takes things too far when it comes to cannabis. 

I had been repeatedly putting my name in for the ballot on Adjournment Debates, and on Monday my number came up.  The debate was on housing development in Swindon, and I was joined by a number of friends including Justin Tomlinson, my North Swindon colleague who spoke at my invitation in the debate.  The Minister responding was Grant Shapps MP – he made it clear that Swindon Council no longer need regard the five year house supply targets as binding.  The break with Soviet-style centralised planning is now complete, it seems. 

The next stage is for both Swindon and Wiltshire Councils to revise their current local plans to take into account the important developments.  I sincerely hope that they will take advantage of their new freedoms so that they plan in a genuinely sustainable way. 

After a busy week at Westminster, I was glad to be able to return to Swindon and my family.  Tonight’s visit to DASH (Discovering Autistic Spectrum Happiness) at their meeting in Lawn Community Centre was a chance for me to meet with people who work with young adults on the spectrum and with Aspergers.  My grateful thanks to all the DASH team for their very hard work.  DASH volunteers are still helping to man the Old Town Library, for example.  I concluded my remarks by reminding everyone that people with Autism/Aspergers/ASD are not a “problem” or burden to others.  So often, their peculiar talents make them an attractive proposition to future employers, rather than some sort of burden to be shouldered by the state.  DASH has a new website, at http://www.dashswindon.com

I found out on Thursday afternoon that I have been elected to serve as a Conservative member of the Justice Select Committee, and am looking forward the work of scrutinising the work  of the Government Department that has responsibility for a criminal justice system that I have worked in for nearly twenty years.  The class of 2010 has done extremely well in these elections, which demonstrates how numerically important the new intake is and how the relationships between its members are already an important factor within the Conservative Parliamentary Party.   I do not detect the rise of factions, rather the willingness of new members to pitch in and get on with the work of the legislature.  Can’t be a bad thing in my book.

For all its flaws, however, PMQs well embodies the principle that the head of the Executive has to come to Parliament to answer for his decisions and policies.  The noise of support or opposition is in a strange way reflective of the wider noise of democracy-our print media, TV, internet and general discussion in the street, pub or living room.  However powerful the PM may be, for at least half an hour a week he or she is at the mercy of a House of Commons whose mood can change with a word or gesture.  It is political high wire, and not too bad a thing.   Those who ask the questions have either taken part in a random ballot or have been selected by the Speaker.  The overly fawning question is rightly mocked.  The constituency question is heard with respect.  The partisan questions are sometimes ruled out of order.  The short, pithy question is rightly valued.

The Commons can also be an incredibly charged place, as it was on Tuesday when the PM made a statement about the Saville Inquiry.  The need for reconciliation shone out from the contributions.  Mark Durkan, MP for Foyle, made a deeply emotional contribution.  The Unionist MPs reminded us of all the slaughter, not just that of Bloody Sunday.  Whether there will be prosecutions remains to be seen.  My hope is for peace and reconciliation, not recrimination, if the Province is to finally move on from the Troubles.

More mundane news: we have an office in Westminster!  I am sharing with Justin Tomlinson in the old Scotland Yard building, which is a five or six minute walk from the Chamber.  A large and airy room with the opportunity for some exercise when the Division Bell goes.  My thanks to the Swindon staff for working so hard to deal with the avalanche of letters and emails that keep coming in.  My apologies to anyone who has not yet been answered- we will get to you, and if for some reason you don’t hear, please contact me again. 

The best email to use now is robert.buckland.mp@parliament.uk.  My Westminster phone number is 02072197168, which will be answered by staff who are arriving in the next few days.  I am not spending my time moaning about IPSA, but am waiting for things to bed down as they must.  In the mean time, I am continuing to learn about the interesting ways of Westminster.

My next Surgery will be on Friday 18th June at the Ellendune Centre in Wroughton, at 10am to 12.45pm.  No appointment is necessary; we allow everyone about 15 minutes to make sure there is not too much waiting.

A further opportunity came up yesterday during the Second Reading debate on the Bill to abolish the National ID Card scheme and National Identity Register.  This time, I had twelve minutes but frankly I felt just as nervous.  I thanked the work of Swindon No2ID, who were part of one of the most effective campaigns I have ever seen.  David Blunkett acknowledged this in his speech to the House.  Alan Johnson, the Shadow Home Secretary, made a spirited defence of a difficult position.  He kindly allowed an intervention from me in which I asked him to name any other country that had a National Identity Register.   He said France, but he was not correct.  France has localised databases, but nothing national, as was noted by Damian Green the new Immigration Minister. 

These are early days, and I am still very much in newbie mode.  I was able to ask an oral question of the Communities and Local Government Ministerial team today, but managed to ask it at the wrong stage!  The Speaker was kind enough to allow me to ask it again later.  The question was about the need for local authorities to revise downward their housing projections bearing in mind the recession, which is a very important issue for anyone who has an interest in  the future development of Swindon and its sustainability.

I have to accept that as someone who is relatively unversed in these procedures, I will make mistakes.  The issues, however, do not allow me to sit quietly and wait.  The needs and interests of residents plus my own personal convictions are pretty good motivators in this place.

The mood of the House today was consensual, with one or two references to the debates to come.  I am sure that the atmosphere will change in the weeks to come.

Last night I went with North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson to see the second leg of the League 1 Play-off Semi Final between Charlton and Swindon Town at the Valley.  Swindon went in to the second leg with a 2-1 advantage but at half time, all looked lost as the deficit was 2-0 and Swindon were down to ten men.  A Swindon goal in the second half levelled proceedings and a red card for Charlton meant that the numbers were evened.  After a goalless half an hour of extra time, it all came down to penalties.  Swindon won 5-4 on the shoot-out and the away end went bezerk, as did the players and staff.  Swindon’s dedicated fans roared themselves hoarse and left on a high, ready for a Wembley final.  A tense but very exciting evening.