Local authorities have a duty to provide accommodation for families with children and other vulnerable people who are either homeless or threatened with homelessness. Until now, Birmingham City Council has operated a banding system which gives priority to re-housing families who are staying in temporary accommodation provided by the City Council, over families who are also homeless but staying …
A debate on Global Security in the Middle East took place in Westminster Hall yesterday. The debate followed the publication of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee report on the issue in August last year and the Government’s response in October. The debate focussed in particular on the situation in Israel and Palestine. Speaking in the debate Richard Burden described the current situation in …
A short visit to the Middle East over the New Year brought home to me the contradictory environment in which the Palestinians find themselves following the Annapolis summit in November. At one level, economic activity within the major towns of the West Bank was more buoyant than I have seen it for a long time. The markets were busy and shop owners appeared to be doing a reasonable trade in …
A short visit to the Middle East over the New Year brought home to me the contradictory environment in which the Palestinians find themselves following the Annapolis summit in November. At one level, economic activity within the major towns of the West Bank was more buoyant than I have seen it for a long time. The markets were busy and shop owners appeared to be doing a reasonable trade in …
Before Christmas the Government announced that the Financial Assistance Scheme would be extended. Richard Burden welcomed this announcement and the security it will bring to the 140,000 people who lost their pensions. The Financial Assistance Scheme was introduced in 2005 to offer financial help to people who lost their savings when their employer-sponsored pension schemes collapsed. The scheme …
Richard interviewed Lorna Fitzsimons of the British Israel Communications and Research Centre for the House Magazine in January 2008.
Read the article below.
I was Labour Member of Parliament for Birmingham Northfield between 1992 and 2019 and a former Shadow Transport Minister. I now chair Healthwatch in Birmingham and Solihull, and the West Midlands Board of Remembering Srebrenica. I also work as a public affairs consultant. I am an effective community advocate and stakeholder alliance builder with a passion for human rights. I am a trustee of the Balfour Project charity and of Citizens Advice Birmingham, and a former Chair of Medical Aid for Palestinians.