Welcome to Ben Bradshaws Website

My role as an MP is to represent all the people in my constituency; not just those who voted for me. Whether or not you voted for me or agree with the views of my party, I am your MP and I am still here to help you with all matters for which Parliament or central government is responsible.

I generally do everything I can to help constituents, but am not able to support every cause, nor will I be able to get the desired solution to every individual problem.

There is a Parliamentary convention which states that MPs can only deal with their own constituents.

2. What can you do to help me?

Problems sometimes arise with work carried out by central government departments. I will be able to help you with many of these problems including areas such as:

- Tax problems involving the Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise Departments.

- Problems related to the Department of Health involving hospitals and other NHS services.

- Problems related to the Department for Work and Pensions such as benefits, pensions and national insurance.

- Problems related to the Home Office such as immigration, asylum, prisons and policing.

Constituents often bring a problem to me because they do not know who else could help them and I try my best to help them. However, if your problem really concerns Exeter City Council or Devon County Council, rather than central government, then you should contact your local councillor.

3. How do I make an appointment to see you?

If you have a personal problem that you would like me to help with, please contact my constituency office on 01392 424 464 or use the contact page on this website to e-mail me.

Strict parliamentary rules mean that I can only see people who live in my constituency.

4. How do I check if you are my MP?

To check that you are in my constituency, visit the
Constituency Locata website.

5. How do I book a tour of Westminster?

If you would like to book a tour of Westminster, you should contact my Westminster office on 020 7219 6597, or e-mail [email protected]

There is more information about Houses of Parliament tours including maps, times and address details on the Parliament website.

6. Where can I find out more information about Parliament?

The House of Commons Information Office

You can also contact the Information Office by phone 020 7219 4272 or email [email protected]

7. What does your role as a Minister for Local Environment, Marine and Animal Welfare involve?

In June 2003 I was appointed Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).
My responsibilities include:

- Local environmental quality
- Air quality and noise
- Waste
- Lead role on planning, regional and local government issues
- Marine issues (including Marine Bill, marine nature conservation, whaling and OSPAR Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic)
- Fisheries
- Animal Health and Welfare including the Animal Welfare Bill
- State Veterinary Service (SVS), Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA), Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD)
- Departmental Sustainable Development Minister

To find about more about the work of DEFRA, or � if you are not a constituent - to contact me specifically about these issues, visit
the Department�s website.

8. What is being done to get pensioners out of poverty?

All pensioners are better off thanks to the policies introduced by this Government. The basic state pension was increased in 2004 to �77.45 a week for single pensioners and to �123.80 a week for pensioner couples � and the Government is committed to increasing the pension by 2.5% or inflation, whichever is higher, for the lifetime of this Parliament. In addition, pensioners benefit from the Winter Fuel Payment, free eye tests and free TV licenses for the over 80s. The Government is spending around �6 billion extra, in real terms, on pensioners as a result of policies introduced since 1997. This will ensure that the poorest third of pensioners receive an additional �2.5 billion - three times more than an earnings link in the basic state pension would have provided.

I do not believe in any just society it is acceptable for pensioners to live in poverty and it is right that the Government has targeted extra assistance to those who have the least: the Minimum Income Guarantee means that no pensioner has to live off less that �102.10 a month and no pensioner couple off less that �155.80. For the life time of this Parliament the Minimum Income Guarantee will rise in line with earnings. It is unfair though to penalise people who have saved for their retirement and that is why last October the Government launched the Pension Credit targeted at those pensioners who have saved for their retirement or who have modest occupational pensions. Around half of all pensioner households will benefit.

9. What is being done to tackle anti-social behaviour in our neighbourhood?

On anti social behaviour, this government legislated to give police extra powers to tackle anti social behaviour. The measures were opposed by the Liberal Democrats but the police in Exeter have told me they welcome the extra powers and they have been useful in cracking down on trouble makers.

The government has recently introduced a Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act, aimed at improving the local environment that directly affects people�s quality of life. We have already banned the sale of spray paints to the under 16s to tackle the problem of unwanted graffiti and introduced �75 fixed penalty notices for minor offences of graffiti. Furthermore local authorities are given additional powers to tackle the problems caused by nuisance neighbours. They have greater flexibility in dealing with burglar alarms and impose fixed penalty fines on licensed premises that ignore warnings to reduce excessive noise level. The Clean Neighbourhood Act also gives local authorities the power to remove abandoned cars from the streets immediately and to recover the costs.

10. Do you support the introduction of ID cards?

I don�t, in principle, object to ID cards. Many European countries have ID cards; I don�t think the civil liberties of the Spanish, Italians or Germans are under threat because they have ID cards. The police and security services say they will help combat terrorism, the banking industry says they will help combat fraud and the British Medical Association say they will help stop the NHS being abused.

Whether or not ID cards are introduced, biometric identification will become the norm rather than the exception in the next few years. The need to develop biometric technology also has an impact on the total cost of the project. About 70% of the money spent developing ID cards is have to be spent producing biometric passports. The ID card would hold only basic information, not build a profile. Information held will be fixed by Parliament and restricted to information required to establish identity; it will certainly not hold information like medical or tax records. There will be strengthened oversight by a single commissioner to ensure information is not abused.

11. What is being done to prevent an outbreak of the bird flu in Britain?

The government is strongly committed to prevent a possible outbreak of avian influenza in the UK. Despite the current assessment of a pandemic risk being low controls on imported birds have been tightened, quarantine regulations are under review and special surveillance of migratory wild-birds is undertaken. Furthermore the Government is working closely together with the British poultry industry and the NFU (National Farmer�s Union) in order to minimize the risk of the disease entering the UK.

However, the help of the British public in preventing the spread of the virus is vital. Unusual die-offs (unusually high number of dead wild birds) should be reported to the DEFRA Helpline (08459 33 55 77). Especially all people that keep poultry and other domestic birds are encouraged to remain vigilant for signs of the disease and as well as maintain a high level of biosecurity. For this purpose DEFRA is providing special guidance and advice. In the event of an avian influenza virus entering the country the Government will be taking every step to ensure that any outbreak in poultry would be quickly recognised, contained and eradicated.

I must underline that avian influenza is essentially a disease of birds and poultry. A risk to human health only occurs in case of very close contact with infected birds. The World Health Organisation and the British Food Standards Agency have both confirmed that properly cooked poultry products present absolutely no risk to human health.

12. What is being done to fight crime in Exeter?

Crime has actually fallen by more than 25% in Devon since Labour came to office in 1997. The chances of being a victim of crime are at a 20 year low. Labour has increased police resources to fund an expansion of police numbers. There are more police officers than ever working in Devon and Cornwall.

As a result of that Exeter is annually witnessing a reduction in many key areas of crime. Forgery and fraud offences were further reduced by 46.7% last year. Handling was reduced by 42.1%, theft of cycles by 25.8% and robbery by 25% between April 2004 and September 2005. Exeter, with the Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, remains a safe place to live. The crime rate is the 7th lowest nationally.

Not only has Labour improved the police force and the fighting of crime on the spot. We have furthermore brought in longer sentences for persistent offenders and reformed the probation service to reduce re-offending.

However, I think we need to do more to tackle some of the underlying problems � for example most violent crime is linked to excess alcohol. We need to do more to tackle the binge drinking culture. Also, more treatment centres are needed for drug addicts to get people off drugs.

13. How do you deal with constituents� problems?

When your problem involves central government, I have a number of methods available to try to resolve the matter. A letter from me to the relevant department or official will often provide a solution. If not, I may decide to take matters a stage further by writing to the Minister involved, or even making an appointment to see the Minister personally. Many constituents� problems can be resolved in this way but not all problems, of course, have an easy solution. The Minister may not be able to give the answer that you wanted to hear but if the decision has been made in the right way, there may be little that can be done.

If, on the other hand, there has been unnecessary delay, or if some essential procedure has been missed out, i.e. if there has been maladministration, I may be able to take your case to the Ombudsman (Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration). The Ombudsman can only be approached via an MP - a constituent cannot appeal to her directly. The Health Service Commissioner can provide similar help where the problem involves the NHS.

The Government�s attention can be drawn to a matter by what is called an Early Day Motion. Although EDMs are not usually debated, it is a record of MPs� opinion on a subject and a gauge of their support. As a minister I cannot sign an EDM, but am always happy to take up issues with ministerial colleagues. To find out about current EDMs, see the EDM database website.

14. What is being done to help tackling the problem of global climate change?

I completely agree with you about the importance of tackling climate change � nationally and internationally it is one of the biggest challenges we face. As you may know the Prime Minister made climate change, along with tackling poverty in Africa, the priorities for the UK presidency of the G8.

In the UK emissions of greenhouses gases have fallen every year since 1997. The government has set a tough target of emissions of greenhouse gases in 2010 being 20% below 1990 levels. We�ve increased the amount of renewable energy we use and by 2020 want 20% of energy to come from renewable sources. Through initiatives like the Carbon Trust we�re also helping businesses to address their energy use and encourage low-carbon innovation which is expected to save almost 8 million tons of carbon from business by 2010 (more than 10% of their emissions in 2000).
Car fuel efficiency has improved since 1997 and we�ve reformed the tax system to make clean, low carbon fuel more appealing. We�ve also changed the law on company cars so there is an incentive to have fuel efficient cars rather than big inefficient vehicles.
Although more people than ever are using public transport, the number of people using trains is up, the number of people using buses in Exeter has also increased. But still there remains a lot to do.

15. What is the governments view on the Middle East conflict?

The Middle East Peace Process remains a foreign policy priority for this Government and our position on Israeli settlement building is clear: it is unlawful and an obstacle to peace. Therefore we are highly pleased to see the Israeli Government�s promise for disengagement in the Gaza Strip fulfilled. We do also welcome the strong international support for the Palestinian Authority to run the territory since Israel has removed itself.
Now we must ensure that similar withdrawals take place from the West Bank in the future.

Together with all Quartet members (EU, US, UN and Russia) the UK is committed to revive final negotiations in the Middle East as soon as realistically possible. Our jointly set out agenda, the Roadmap, provides guidelines for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to achieve negotiated settlement. Since both parties have accepted the Roadmap and have given public commitments to it, we firmly believe its implementation is the best way to trigger a sustainable peace process in the Middle East. In the end, though, it will be the Palestinian Authority and Israel that are going to have to compromise and reach a solution that their people can live with. The international community can help (as we do with significant funding to the Palestinian Authority), we can cajole and pressurise but, in the end, we cannot force the two sides into making an agreement. It would not hold.

16. How do you justify your government�s action in Iraq ?

I know that some people felt unhappy about the decision to take action against Saddam�s regime. My own view was that it was justified because of Saddam�s repeated flouting of a series of mandatory United Nations resolutions. If we hadn�t taken the action Saddam would still be in power. What I think is important now is that we support the Iraqi people in their efforts to build a free, democratic and stable Iraq.

On your point about our relationship with the United States: where we disagree with the US we say so. We have on a whole range of issues including trade, climate change, the International Criminal Court and the death penalty. But we share the US concern about the threat from global terrorism and the proliferation of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Sometimes it is a judgement as to whether one has more influence on American policy by quiet diplomacy or public criticism. My view is that we have achieved much more, for example persuading the US that it has to seriously engaged in the Middle East peace process, through quiet diplomacy than, for example France has, by being more publicly critical.