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Speaking at the 2011 Labour Party Conference, Lisa Nandy argued that charities should maintain their independence from government and be able to campaign against policies where necessary

At the fringe meeting, organised by the umbrella bodies Acevo and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, Lisa Nandy said she had worked for the charities Centrepoint and the Children’s Society before being elected as MP for Wigan in May 2010.

The MP for Wigan said that it was ‘problematic’ that charities should be treated like the third arm of the state and that delivering government services means you have to agree with the government about how those services should be run.

A charity’s biggest asset is their legitimacy in the eyes of the public:

“The government loves charities because of that legitimacy, and charities must think carefully before they give it away,” she said.

At the event, called Are charities being co-opted by the state or spending too much time campaigning? Nandy also said charities’ campaigning role was vital. “When you deliver services to the most vulnerable people, you absolutely have to speak up,” she said. “Often nobody else will know what is happening to these people, so campaigning for them is absolutely essential to what you do.”

“One thing that worries me about the way charities have taken on the role of the state and taken government funding is that, now that the funding is collapsing, charities are being pitted against each other to win the contracts that are available,” she said. “At a time like this, charities need to be united.”

Also at the event Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the disability charityScope, said charities must be bolder at campaigning. “There are times when we are not as brave as we could be,” he said. “Charities spend too much time tweaking the status quo and some tend to regard success as getting a place on a government committee. We shouldn’t just be amending proposals; we should be pushing forward radical alternatives.”

He said charities that received public funds should still be willing to criticise central and local government. “Scope recently worked on some research that was critical of local authorities for cutting disability services,” he said. “Some of those councils funded Scope. It was bold but it was the right thing to do.”

Peter Kyle, deputy chief executive of Acevo, said that charities were often able to convince government ministers of their case against a particular policy but unable to offer an alternative. “Charities need to be clear about what they will do once they have won the argument,” he said.

Article originally appeared in Third Sector Online by Kaye Wiggins.

Lisa Nandy MP is calling for young men in Wigan to do something special. The MP has joined other politicians in pledging to recruit at least ten men each between the ages to 18 and 30 to join the Anthony Nolan stem cell register.

Anthony Nolan is a pioneering charity that saves the lives of people with blood cancer. Every day, they use their register to match remarkable donors willing to donate their blood stem cells to people who desperately need potentially lifesaving transplants.

However, there is a shortage of young male donors on the bone marrow register. Men aged 18-30 account for 80% of donations, but make up just 19% of the register. Presently, Anthony Nolan can only find a matching donor for half the people who come to them in desperate need of a lifesaving transplant so this summer they are aiming to recruit 10,000 more young men to the register.

Lisa plans to write to youth groups, colleges and other community groups as well as raising this with young people she meets on a regular basis around the constituency.

Anthony Nolan has provided every MP with a unique code to give to constituents so the charity can track how many young men MPs have recruited. Young men interested in the chance to save someone’s life should go to www.anthonynolan.org/mp and enter the code A993.

The MP for Wigan said:

I am pleased to be part of this vital campaign that aims to save the lives of the 1600 people in the UK currently in need of a stem cell transplant. By joining the Anthony Nolan Register, these young men will be offering patients the chance of life and a new hope to their families.

I have met dozens, if not hundreds, of inspiring young people in my constituency and I am sure many will be ready to step forward and join the Register.

In questions to the Justice Secretary last week, Ken Clarke accused the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination of being ‘disingenuous’ for claiming that his proposals would make it more difficult for victims of human rights abuse by British-based multi-nationals to gain access to justice.

These proposals, contained in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill currently before Parliament, reform the ‘no win/no fee’ regime in a bid to ‘level out the playing field’ between claimants and defendants.

I can think of few other cases where the playing field is currently more imbalanced than between powerful multi-national corporations and victims of human rights violations, often in the developing world.

In a recent case, brought in the UK courts against the British mining firm Monterrico, allegations were made that the company had been complicit in the torture of Peruvians who objected to the damage wrought by the company’s activities on their community and environment.

Very few remedies exist for victims; there are limited options to hold British companies to account when they have committed even the most grievous wrongdoings abroad.

One of the few options that does exist, which is itself unsatisfactory, is to pursue a company like Monterrico on a ‘no win/no fee’ basis.

Because they are British companies, claims can be taken against them in the British Courts even though the harm was done abroad. Often these are complex cases, involving hundreds of claimants, and costing millions of pounds to bring to court. Few lawyers are willing to take them on due to the difficulties obtaining sufficient proof and the levels of work involved even in the initial investigation stages. In order to compensate lawyers for the level of risk and to encourage them to take on cases that aren’t guaranteed to be successful, lawyers can bill the losing company for a ‘success fee’ on top of their costs if they win the case. There are safeguards to stop this getting out of hand. It has to be approved by the courts and the bill is scrutinised by judges, line by line, to determine whether it is fair.

But Justice Secretary Ken Clarke wants to remove this option for victims. His reforms to the ‘no win/no fee’ arrangement will abolish the recoverability of the success fee from losing defendants, meaning that if lawyers are to profit from a case, they must take it out of the victims’ damages.

In these types of cases the situation is even worse. Because of a recent EU Regulation, damages for victims overseas must be awarded at the local market rate, so even though the costs for pursuing Monterrico were incurred in the UK, the damages are based on rates in countries like Peru where the harm was done.

In one of the most famous cases to date, victims of the British oil company Trafigura were awarded £1000 each. The idea of taking a cut out of £1,000 awarded to a victim of torture or to someone who has lost their home and livelihood is not one that lawyers who are prepared to take on this kind of case would contemplate.

Clarke maintains that the system as it stands has attracted litigation from other countries to the UK. This is a strange argument when you consider that the firms against which litigation has been pursued are British firms; it is only right that they should be held to account by the British Courts.

And since the no win/no fee system was introduced; only nine such cases have been brought in the UK. In the case of Trafigura, in which 100,000 Ivory Coast residents were affected by the dumping of toxic waste, only 30,000 victims received compensation; as far as I’m aware, lawyers are not falling over themselves to represent the other 70,000.

It cannot be right to rebalance the system so far in favour of powerful, multinational companies that victims of human rights and environmental abuse are denied justice altogether. Yet victims are not the only losers. By removing this limited right to remedy, the government is sending a strong signal to the business community that those who heed the social and environmental impacts of their operations will have a competitive disadvantage against those that don’t. To coin an over-used phrase, we will see a race to the bottom in terms of corporate responsibility and accountability at precisely the time when standards have to rise.

Lisa Nandy MP has encouraged schools across Wigan to encourage them to sign up to the School Games programme.  The programme aims to boost the existing work in school sport to create a year-round calendar of competition for pupils of all abilities.  Schools from across the country will compete against each other with the national final at the Olympic Park in May 2012.

So far, three schools in the Wigan constituency have signed up: Woodfield Primay; Wigan St Andrew’s CofE Junior and Infant School; and Abraham Guest High School.  Lisa is hoping to get as many young people involved and enjoying the benefits of competitive sport.

Lisa Nandy said:
The School Games Programme offers a fantastic opportunity for young people across Wigan to compete against their peers from around the UK and hopefully be involved in the first competition at the Olympic venue next year!

I have and will continue to work closely with the Olympic Committee to ensure that the benefits the games bring are brought home to Wigan.  This will come from the Olympic legacy for our young people in sport but also for local business in delivering contracts to support the Olympic games.

Schools can register to take part at www.yourschoolgames.com

Lisa Nandy is pictured with MPs from Labour and the Liberal Democrats in support for the Palestinians to be granted recognition as a state and admission to the United Nations.  Member States of the UN will vote on the issue later this month and nearly 100 MPs of all parties have now signed a Commons motion calling on the UK to back the Palestinian state.

Middle East minister Alistair Burt told MPs at a special one-hour debate that the Government still has not made up its mind how to vote – saying it depended on the exact wording of the Palestinian motion which is expected to be tabled next week. The Palestinians can apply to the UN General Assembly for recognition as a state, giving them the right to attend UN meetings and join UN organisations, or they can apply to the UN Security Council for full membership.

Polls show that 71% of UK voters believe Palestine should be recognised as a state and even more in France and Germany but none of those three Governments has yet come out to support Palestine, and within the UK only the Labour Party has come out in favour of recognising Palestine at the UN next week.

This week the House of Commons will debate the Coalition Government’s wasteful and bureaucratic reorganisation plans for the NHS, which local MP Lisa Nandy has said will get in the way of patient care.

David Cameron has broken his promises on the NHS:

• He promised no top-down reorganisations but is pushing through the biggest reorganisation in the history of the NHS.
• He promised real terms increases every year of this Parliament, but he cut the NHS by £150m last year.
• He promised to protect the NHS, but over 400,000 more people have suffered long waits for treatment and tests since the election.

The essential elements of the Tories’ long terms plans are to set the NHS up as a full scale market, based on the model of the privatised utilities. A new economic regulator will enforce competition law on the NHS for the first time, and have the power to fine hospitals 10% of their turnover for working together.

The Bill removes a key protection of the 1946 Act that set up the NHS – that the Secretary of State for Health is directly accountable for providing the health service. The Government’s plans will break up the NHS as a national public service so that patients will increasingly see the services on which they depend subject to the lottery of where they live.

Pictured alongside ‘Barclay Guards’, MP for Wigan Lisa Nandy opens new Barclays Branch in Wigan, in support of the jobs and investment in local business that it will bring.

Lisa also questioned what action Barclays were taking on apprenticeships in order to create jobs and opportunities for Wigan’s young people.  She has said she will continue to work with business to bring new investment into the region and support local workers.

Lisa Nandy MP this week welcomed the Council’s decision to keep library services running across Wigan.There has been public concern about the future of library services since the Coalition Government forced Wigan to cut its leisure and culture budget by £1.1 million.

The Council’s plan will ensure the new library in Wigan town centre is open for 50 hours a week and Standish library will remain open.

Libraries in Ince and Aspull will move to new locations within the local area, and Marsh Green and Shevington Libraries will continue to run with increased help from volunteers.

The Council has also announced that Beech Hill will retain its library service from a new location. Lisa is working with local Councillors and cabinet member, Councillor Chris Ready, to negotiate the detail.

Lisa said: “Councils up and down the country have been forced to close much-loved libraries because of the Government’s spending cuts.

I have fought hard against this in the Houses of Parliament, and I am glad that Wigan Council has found a way to keep libraries running.”

“Last year there were over a million visits to libraries in Wigan. I know from the letters I receive what a good service they provide and how highly valued they are.

“Many people thought it was impossible to keep them open and I am grateful that the Council has worked so hard to prove them wrong.”

New figures show an alarming rise in the number of house repossessions in Wigan over the last 3 months.

Over the summer 155 mortgage possession claims were issued to people in Wigan – a 24% increase on last year.

Responding to the new figures from the Ministry of Justice, Lisa Nandy MP said:

 “This Tory led Government needs to urgently rethink its disastrous economic strategy.

“As a direct result of savage cuts to public spending, many people are facing a cut in hours, lower wages or unemployment. At the same time they are taking away help with legal costs and cutting funding to advice agencies like the Citizens Advice Bureau.

“Unless this Government stops these reckless policies, more families will be threatened with eviction and many more will lose their homes.”

Wigan MP Lisa Nandy has joined forces with Consumer Association charity Which? to end unfair surcharges levied by businesses on transactions by credit or debit card.

The Charity made what is known as a ‘super complaint’ to the Office of Fair Trading in March of this year about the amount that some businesses charge when processing a payment with a credit or debit card. This is a typical practice for airlines and holidays, some of whom charge up to 33% of the ticket price.

However, other sectors have begun to make use of high surcharges including, alarmingly, the government, which charges a fee for paying taxes by credit card.

The OFT have recommended that the Government take regulatory action on surcharges either through the Consumer Rights Directive or amending the Payment Services Directive. It has also announced it would take enforcement action against companies who continued to hide payment charges from their customers. If you have been charged a ‘hidden amount’ please consider contacting your MP to let them know.

Lisa Nandy has welcomed the response of the OFT, recommending that businesses should no longer impose surcharges for debit cards, which are the most commonly held payment card in the UK and called on the Government to introduce measures quickly to prohibit businesses from imposing surcharges in this way.

The Wigan MP said: “I am delighted that the OFT have taken firm action on this and moved to end the charging of unfair payments to consumers. I know events tickets are another particular problem, with fees of up to £10 or £15 in ‘handling costs’, this simply can’t be right and I am happy to work with Which? and local business to correct this and get a fair deal for consumers.”