After six months of sending an email to the office of Sir Kier Starmer (Labour MP for Holborn & St Pancras), we received the following reply on the 10th August 2018:

“Dear Dimitris,

First off sincere apologies for not responding to your email sooner. I’m afraid that we had a problem with one of Keir’s email accounts earlier this year and certain messages have only just come to light.

Whilst Keir is currently on holiday I wanted to respond on his behalf. As a Camden resident and mother of young children, I really do recognise your concerns, and would like to let you know a bit about what Keir has been doing since last year, before the horrendous murders in February, when it was becoming clear that we were facing a growing problem.

As you know,  in recent years the country has had nearly £400 million cut from youth services, over 600 youth centres have closed, and police numbers have fallen by over 20,000 on Theresa May’s watch.

To tackle the local fallout from these and other cuts to vital public services, Camden Council set up the Youth Safety Taskforce in Camden at the end of last year, which Keir co-Chairs. The YSTF is made up of a panel of youth work specialists from across Camden, and its work is focused on improving the outlook for young people in Camden as soon as possible. Over the last eight months, the YSTF has looked at how other communities in the UK have tackled similar problems, and has listened to local young people, parents, teachers, youth workers, the police, businesses and voluntary organisations. Keir has particularly focused on visiting a number of secondary schools to speak with young people, and hear from them where they think the problems lie and what solutions they would put in place.

Now that we have a clear picture of the current offer to Camden’s young people and where the gaps are, the YSTF focus is on what we can all do better, together. Recommendations are to be launched at the end of the summer. I’d be happy to let you know when this happens if you would like me to, and hope that you will continue to be a part of the solution, and let us know how we’re doing.

In the meantime, there was great concern that the Summer holidays could present a flash point for further violence, and with this in mind, Camden has been promoting a really excellent programme of activities to keep our children busy, inspired and out of trouble. You can find out more at this link: http://news.camden.gov.uk/summer-activities-for-children-young-people-and-families/ .

Thanks again for taking the time to write, and please do feel free to drop Keir (and me!) a line if there’s anything else you would like to add.

With best wishes,

Noémi Drew

EU Liaison and Constituency Support Manager

Office of Keir Starmer QC, MP
Member of Parliament for Holborn and St Pancras, Shadow Secretary of State for Exiting the EU

020 7219 6234 or 020 7388 7862″

www.keirstarmer.com