Chuka has become one of the first Child Poverty Champions – pledging to work towards ending child poverty by 2020.

Shan Nicholas, Chief Executive of Child Poverty Action Group, said that Chuka “stands out as one of the first to have signed a personal pledge committing to action. “We are delighted that Chuka Umunna MP is so strongly committed to ending child poverty”, he added.

Chuka has also pledged to work in Parliament on national action that will end child poverty for all UK children.

For more details of the excellent work done by the Child Poverty Action Group, click here.

The progressive pressure group Compass has launched a major new campaign to end legal loan sharking.

Chuka, who is a member of the management committee of Compass, co-launched the campaign in a letter to the Guardian along with other leading politicians, academics and campaigers. The letter calls on the government to introduce interest rate caps and increase access to affordable consumer credit.

An interest rate cap would help prevent the exploitation of vulnerable people in places such as Streatham, where High Street lenders charge as much as 400% APR. Some payday lenders in the UK legally charge up to 3000% APR.

Local organisations such as the London Mutual Credit Union which serves Lambeth and Southwark and of which Chuka is a member, provide an alternative to loan sharks by lending small amounts of money while encouraging people to save.

To learn more about the End Legal Loan Sharking campaign and to sign the petition, follow this link.

Following concerns raised by members of the Somali community in Streatham, Chuka tabled a parliamentary question on the substance khat, which is currently legal in the UK.

The Parliamentary Under Secretary for Crime Reduction gave the following reply:

“The Department commissioned two studies in 2009 to explore the social harms associated with khat use, though the perceived health effects of khat are also briefly reported on in each of the studies. The first of these is a mainly qualitative study undertaken among the UK’s Somali, Yemeni and Ethiopian communities exploring perceptions of the social harms associated with khat use and perceptions of the appropriate role of Government intervention (the study also included a short survey of drug action teams to gauge the availability of treatment service provision for khat users). The second is a review of the national and international literature examining the evidence on the social harms associated with khat and the impact of legislation in countries which have legislated against khat use and supply.

“In addition, the British crime survey report “Drug Misuse Declared 2009/10″, published on 22 July 2010, for the first time includes estimates of the prevalence of khat use in the general population. Preliminary findings (based on six months data) show that 0.2% of adults reported using khat in the last year.”

Do you think that the use of khat should be banned? Or should it remain legal? Chuka is keen to hear your views.

The Department for Education has announced that Dunraven’s Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project will take place as planned.

Last month, the Liberal Democrat – Conservative government announced sweeping cuts to the BSF programme affecting three schools in the Streatham constituency: La Retraite, Bishop Thomas Grant and Dunraven.

Following this announcement, Chuka tabled an Early Day Motion in Parliament protesting against the BSF cuts which has been signed by 30 MPs, spoke up for our local school building projects in Parliament and set up an online petition against the cuts which now has over 400 signatures.

As a ’sample’ school, Dunraven’s project faced a review but will now go ahead. Chuka will continue to pressure the government to reverse its decision on La Retraite and Bishop Thomas Grant schools’ essential projects.

The Save Streatham’s School Building Projects petition can be signed here.

A local investment project which was thrown into doubt by the Liberal Democrat-Conservative government has been given the all clear.

The project, set to deliver 120 new homes on the Clapham Park estate was put on ice last month, being included in a list of housing projects agreed under the previous government subject to review and possible cancellation.

Clapham Park was shortlisted to benefit from £9 million of funding for new homes under Labour as part of the Kickstart scheme and was visited by the then Housing Minister John Healey in January.

Following the new government’s announcement, Chuka wrote to Housing Minister Grant Shapps and tabled a series of Parliamentary Questions demanding answers from ministers on the funding.

Thankfully, this week the Homes and Communities Agency has announced that the project will now go ahead as originally planned.

Earlier this week, Chuka appeared on BBC Newsnight, debating with Michael Portillo and arguing against the Liberal Democrat-Conservative government’s ideological spending cuts.

To watch Chuka’s appearence, follow this link

Chuka has been busy attending street parties and fun days in recent weeks in the Summer sunshine. These have included Streatham Festival, Abbeville Fair, Streatham Septagon Fair, Clapham Park Festival, Windmill Gardens Summer Festival , Friends of Unigate Wood Summer Fair, Weir Link Fun Day and the Sophie Centre Summer Fair.

He has also been to school fetes at Fenstanton, Bonneville, Orchard, Christ Church, St Julian’s and Sunnyhill schools.

Below is a small selection of photos from some of these fantastic events:

Last month, Chuka invited Lambeth Living, representatives from the Council and Tulse Hill Tenants and Residents Association to accompany him on a walkabout of Tulse Hill Estate to meet local residents and listen to their concerns.

One of the problems reported during the visit was the number of potholes around the estate. Following the visit, Lambeth Living assured residents that the worst of the potholes will be filled in within the next two to three weeks and the Council suggested that Lambeth Living should meet with the Council officers responsible for filling in potholes in the borough to see if their knowledge and experience can be of assistance – a small example of why walkabouts like this, with representatives from all the relevant agencies, are so important.

Local residents also raised the lack of activities for young people, and Chuka visited the Jubilee Hall facility which has lain dormant because of a lack of funding – following this Chuka is meeting with its steering group which is working to get the building up and running again.

Chuka will be doing regular walkabouts throughout the constituency to meet as many constituents as possible, hear their concerns and take action.

This week, Chuka spoke in an adjournment debate in Parliament on the Liberal Democrat – Conservative government’s cuts to school building projects, making the case for the government to reverse its decision and for the crucial projects at Dunraven, Bishop Thomas Grant and La Retraite to go ahead.
You can watch Chuka’s speech here (it starts at 52m20s in).

To read the speech in full, follow this link

In our area, La Retraite and Bishop Thomas Grant secondary schools, which were due to benefit from new, state of the art buildings, have seen their BSF projects stopped. As a result La Retraite will remain the only school with post-16 provision in Lambeth without purpose-built sixth form buildings.

The other project at Dunraven School – as one of a handful of ’sample’ projects nationally – has been put in doubt and placed under review. It is crucial that the government announces the time scale and terms of this review, which it has completely failed to do so far. Chuka has tabled a number of Parliamentary questions to Ministers seeking clarification on this for constituents.