It has been a very busy start to what is sure to be a very busy year!

Departmental Responsibilities
In the current session of Parliament, I have retained my UUP Westminster responsibilities for Home Affairs (with particular reference to policing and human rights), Culture, Media and Sport and Youth and Women's Issues.

Contributions
So far in this session of Parliament, I have made over 80 contributions, in the form of speeches, Written and Oral Parliamentary Questions, at Westminster.

Today and tomorrow, for example, I am participating in the Police (Northern Ireland) Bill. I addition, I have also made active contributions to the Northern Ireland (Assembly Elections) Bill, the European Parliament (Representation) Bill, the Extradition Bill and the Criminal Justice Bill.

Having served on over 30 sittings of the Standing Committee considering the Criminal Justice Bill, and being the only Member from a Northern Ireland constituency represented on it, I am convinced that this particular Bill was given more than adequate scrutiny and the interests of the people of Northern Ireland were well represented.

I am glad to have been able to support as a co-sponsor the Animals (Electric Shock Collars) Bill, tabled by David Rendel MP, as well as the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Amendment) Bill, tabled by David Stewart MP.

Orders in Council
Given the re-introduction of direct rule following the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly, the 22 Bills from the Assembly moved to Westminster as Orders in Council. This increased my workload considerably but I should like to thank our MLAs most sincerely for their input in the briefing process.

Visitors
I continue to welcome constituents to the Palace of Westminster and certainly encourage them to visit the House of Commons if they are able to do so.

In addition, I am happy that my office has been able to facilitate many work experience placements for pupils from schools across the constituency. At present, I am delighted that I have been able to assist the American Consulate in Belfast in placing an American Student, Mark Koenig, in my Westminster Office until June 2003.

It was also great pleasure to have been able to persuade the County Down Spectator to agree to permit one of their journalists, Julie Waters, to travel to London in order to witness first-hand to workings and procedures of Parliament.

Lobbies of Parliament
Lobbies of Parliament provide an ideal way for constituents to travel to Westminster to highlight their concerns about a particular issue.

The lobby attracting the largest number of constituents to Westminster was the Trade Justice Movement's Lobby of Parliament. Constituents used this opportunity to call for a fundamental change to the rules that govern international trade in order to reduce world poverty and sustain the environment.

The National Pensioners Convention also held a Rally and Lobby of Parliament, during which I was able to hear the concerns of constituents about the many pressing difficulties facing pensioners.

More recently, I received representations from local Fire Brigades Union representatives, including firefighters from Bangor Fire Station.

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet several Northern Ireland grammar school principals to discuss their serious concerns about the future of education in Northern Ireland and, in particular, their views on the proposed arrangements for post-primary education in the Province.

Awards
After 18 months at Westminster, it was a very great honour to have been short-listed for the prestigious Channel 4 'Opposition Politician of the Year' Award 2002.

All-Party Groups
I continue to be actively involved in a wide variety of All-Party Groups (APGs), including the APG for Muscular Dystrophy, Fibromyalgia, Telecommunications, Town Centre Management and Dignity at Work. Furthermore, I am delighted to have been elected to serve as the Vice-Chair of the All-Party Police Group as well as the All-Party Group for Diabetes.

Campaigns
Given the recent commitment by Defence Minister, Dr Lewis Moonie MP, to see what further assistance could be given to the families of murdered UDR members, I am pleased to have been able to join an Ulster Unionist Party delegation accompanied by victims' relatives, including Bangor man James McFall, to a follow-up meeting with Dr Moonie at the Ministry of Defence in London.

Following complaints from residents in Bangor and Holywood about the possibility of late-night flights into Belfast City Airport, I also joined a Party delegation, accompanied by MLAs Sir Reg Empey, Alan McFarland, Sir John Gorman and local Councillor, Diana Peacocke, to bring their concerns directly to the attention of Angela Smith MP, the Environment Minister within the Northern Ireland Office.
I continue to be unrelenting in my campaign to have the Government's recent drive in Great Britain to combat anti-social behaviour extended to Northern Ireland. Measures such as the crack down on noise and nuisance by the issuing of fixed penalty notices and the decision to make the carrying of an air weapon an arrestable offence are particularly welcome. Such problems are not unique to England and Wales and I intend to ensure that they are extended to Northern Ireland.
I am maintaining strong pressure on the Government to reverse the discriminatory 50:50 recruitment procedure to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. After 30 years of some of the most stringent anti-discrimination legislation in Northern Ireland, I find it personally offensive that the Government should legalise religious discrimination. It is intolerable and it brings disrepute upon those who maintain it.
At a time when our pharmacies are under pressure by the Office of Fair Trading's recent recommendation that pharmaceutical dispensing should be made open to free market competition, I have been vocally supporting the campaign by local pharmacies urging the Government not to accept the OFT recommendation. Such a move would undoubtedly lead to supermarkets using and indeed abusing their market power to undermine and eliminate our small local pharmacies which provide a lifeline to many in the community.

Clearly, our eyes are currently focused on the war in Iraq. In circumstances where Saddam Hussein was not prepared to disarm peacefully and where the UN route was blocked by France, we had no choice but to disarm him by force. For these reasons, I joined my Party colleagues in supporting the Government's motion to use all means necessary to ensure the disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.


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