Tag Archives: dee doocey

Dee Doocey

Baroness Dee Doocey writes… Protecting tenants in estate regeneration schemes

By Dee Doocey | Tue 8th March 2016 - 1:45 pm

In January, the Prime Minister announced in The Sunday Times that he wanted to see 100 of Britain’s most run-down estates transformed.  His ambition is apparently ‘nothing short of social turnaround…with massive estate regeneration, tenants protected and land unlocked for new housing all over Britain.’

‘Together,’ he said, ‘we can tear down anything that stands in our way.’ What fighting talk! Yet what stands in the way is usually the fact that people actually live on these estates. Several generations of the same family may have done so.  People cannot and should not just be swept aside in these waves of prime ministerial purple prose.

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Dee Doocey

Dee Doocey writes: Vigilance over Olympic tickets

By Dee Doocey | Wed 18th April 2012 - 12:55 pm

With just 100 days to go to the London Olympics, you might be interested to read this quote about the interaction of sport and commercial interests:

“Of course sponsors have to receive value for money, but sport has to remain sport, a concept rooted on the track and not in the balance sheet. It must not become another consumer-entertainment package. In all sports we have to protect the fundamentals of sportsmanship, self-determination of the individual and the pursuit of excellence free of commercial expediency, and as Voltaire said ‘the price of freedom is eternal vigilance’.”

You might be surprised to discover that …

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James Sandbach

Opinion: Conference votes again on access to justice, Parliamentarians should follow

By James Sandbach | Thu 15th March 2012 - 2:53 pm

For the third Party conference in a row, Liberal Democrats  voted for a policy motion covering legal aid and access to justice directly contrary to the Government’s legal aid reforms – in the Legal Aid, Sentencing Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) – reaching their final stages in Parliament. Gateshead conference voted to ensure that “the scope of civil legal aid covers appropriate legal help and assistance in categories of law where the issues raised are of substantial importance.. and which cannot be settled by alternative dispute resolution” but night after night I see our Peers voting to remove category after …

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Dee Doocey

Baroness Dee Doocey writes: Legal Aid and Welfare Reform, spot the problem

By Dee Doocey | Wed 7th March 2012 - 12:55 pm

As one of the Liberal Democrat peers engaged in the debate on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill as well as the recent Welfare Reform Bill debates, I am pushing today for a vital amendment which I hope will mitigate the worst aspects of cuts facing the legal aid system– something that is proving to be a controversial issue for the Party.

The coalition agreement committed to reforming legal aid to reduce its costs to the public purse; it did not commit to abolishing it for whole categories of law. Chief amongst these excluded categories in Legal Aid, …

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Caron Lindsay

Lib Dem Peers rebel as Government defeated on Welfare Reform

By Caron Lindsay | Wed 11th January 2012 - 8:09 pm

The Government has suffered a series of defeats in the House of Lords tonight on various aspects of the Welfare Reform Bill.

The House of Lords was discussing amendments relating to the Employment and Support Allowance.

The Guardian reports that 3 Liberal Democrats, Jenny Tonge, Matthew Taylor and Roger Roberts voted for an amendment which protected young people’s right to claim Employment and Support Allowance.

The Government was also defeated on their one year time limit for claiming Contributory ESA. This was increased to two years by the amendment. The Liberal Democrat rebels were Dee Doocey and Jenny Tonge.

The third defeat was …

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Mark Pack

Police compensate teenager banned from photographing Armed Forces Day Parade

By Mark Pack | Mon 12th December 2011 - 7:10 pm

The Press Association reports the latest news on a case taken up by Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member Dee Doocey and others at the time:

Lawyers say a teenager wrongly stopped by police from taking photographs at a public event in a town centre has been compensated.

prevented Jules Mattsson – then 15 – from taking pictures at a military parade in Romford, east London, in June 2010 … Law firm Bindmans, which represented the youngster, said … “Despite the public event taking place in the middle of the town centre, Metropolitan Police officers claimed it was unlawful to photograph

…

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The Voice

“Yates must go” – Dee Doocey exposes News International and Met Police’s cosy relationship

By The Voice | Tue 12th July 2011 - 5:18 pm

A Freedom of Information Request has revealed that the then Met Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman and Assistant Commissioner John Yates had lunches and dinners with News of the World and executives of News International while investigating alleged criminal allegations against the News of the World.

Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly policing spokesperson and member of the Metropolitan Police Authority said:

Such a cosy relationship between the News of the World, News International and senior Met police officers who were leading an inquiry into the News of the World phone hacking allegations goes to the very heart of the

…

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The Voice

Dee Doocey slams Merton Council for buying VIP Olympics tickets

By The Voice | Thu 28th April 2011 - 9:26 am

The Evening Standard reports,

Council bosses came under fire today for taking £4,000 of VIP Olympic tickets at taxpayers’ expense.

Merton Council asked for two tickets – for the Mayor and a companion – for each of the opening and closing ceremonies at a total cost of £3,980.

At £995 a time, they are the most expensive of the tickets offered to London boroughs, which are each entitled to buy 100 prime seats worth £50,000 from Games organisers. Details of Merton’s move comes just weeks after the borough ordered…

Lib-Dem London Assembly member Dee Doocey said: “I am astonished that Merton council plans

…

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The Voice

New questions over the police’s relations with the News of the World

By The Voice | Fri 1st April 2011 - 10:53 pm

The Independent reports:

The police chief who headed Scotland Yard’s inquiry into phone-hacking dined with the News of the World at the height of his criminal investigation into the newspaper.

The sensitively timed meeting between then Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman and the NOTW was left off lists of contacts between senior officers and the paper’s owner sent to the Metropolitan Police Authority. Its disclosure in a Freedom of Information request prompted claims that the force had an unduly “cosy relationship” with Rupert Murdoch’s print empire News International (NI)…

Liberal Democrat MPA member Dee Doocey said: “It is extraordinary that when serious allegations about

…

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The Voice

Senior police regular met privately with News of the World staff whilst paper was under investigation

By The Voice | Tue 22nd February 2011 - 12:55 pm

Diary details released by the Metropolitan Police show that senior police officers met personally with senior editorial staff from the News of the World eight times in the last two years alone and a further five times in the previous three years. The tally excludes any general crime briefings or encounters at social events put on by third parties.

Dee Doocey, Liberal Democrat London Assembly Policing Spokesperson, has reacted to this revelation saying,

I find it quite extraordinary that when allegations about illegal phone hacking relating to the News of the World were still unresolved that the Met Commissioner thought it

…

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Dee Doocey

Baroness Dee Doocey’s maiden speech

By Dee Doocey | Sun 23rd January 2011 - 1:51 pm

In recent months, LDV has been bringing its readers copies of our new MPs’ and Peers’ first words in Parliament, so that we can read what is being said and respond. You can find all of the speeches in this category with this link. On Friday, Baroness Doocey made her maiden speech in the House of Lords during a debate on the Rehabilitation of Offenders (Amendment) Bill . Her words are reproduced below. Baroness Susan Kramer also made her maiden speech in the Lords during the same debate; we featured it yesterday.

My Lords, I also begin

…

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Helen Duffett

Fifteen new Liberal Democrat Peers appointed

By Helen Duffett | Fri 19th November 2010 - 11:33 am

Fifteen new Liberal Democrat working peers have just been announced…

  • Dr Sarah (Sal) Brinton – Executive Director of the Association of Universities in the East of England

  • Dee Doocey OBE – Chair of the London Assembly

  • Qurban Hussain – Deputy Group Leader of the Liberal Democrat group on Luton Borough Council

  • Judith Jolly – Chair of Executive Committee of Liberal Democrats in Devon and Cornwall

  • Susan Kramer – former Liberal Democrat MP

  • Raj Loomba – businessman and campaigner for widows’ rights

  • Jonathan Marks – commercial and family law QC with specialist interest in human rights and constitutional reform

  • Monroe Palmer OBE – Liberal

    • …

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    Helen Duffett

    Dee Doocey challenges Met Police Commissioner over treatment of photographers

    By Helen Duffett | Tue 27th July 2010 - 4:05 pm

    Met Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson at City HallMetropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson has said that although the Met has issued guidelines to officers about people taking photographs in public places, he cannot guarantee that officers will interpret them correctly.

    His remarks came at a meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority at London City Hall on July 22, where Liberal Democrat Assembly Member Dee Doocey asked him,

    Are you confident that your officers are aware of the law when it comes to members of the public taking photographs in a public place?

    Stephenson replied,

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    Posted in London | Also tagged , , and | 2 Comments
    Helen Duffett

    Londoners: have your say on civil liberties and DNA

    By Helen Duffett | Tue 6th July 2010 - 9:20 am

    The Metropolitan Police Authority Civil Liberties Panel held an open meeting at City Hall on Thursday 1 July to hear what individuals and campaigning organisations think about DNA in policing and the use of National DNA Database (NDNAD).

    The meeting enabled participants, as well as those who could not attend but submitted written evidence, to voice their concerns about the current and future use of DNA.

    Major themes which emerged during the meeting included:

  • DNA collection seems to have become an end in itself, a process to be completed irrespective of proportionality
  • there should be more transparency specifically about how the DNA database is

    • …

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    Posted in London | Also tagged | 1 Comment
    Caroline Pidgeon

    Opinion: Countdown to 2012 has already started

    By Caroline Pidgeon | Thu 20th May 2010 - 12:20 pm

    Harold Wilson’s phrase that a week is a long time in politics was never more true than the dramatic developments that took place last week.

    The creation of a new Government, with Liberal Democrats at the heart of it and with so many of our policies built into the coalition agreement, has quite rightly dominated the media. I am sure these events will not easily be forgotten by many Liberal Democrats.

    Against such as background it is far from surprising that changes that have taken place in town halls across London and at City Hall have not received a huge amount of …

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    Posted in Local government, London and Op-eds | 1 Comment
    Helen Duffett

    Dee Doocey: London Mayor should not take over the Metropolitan Police Authority’s role

    By Helen Duffett | Fri 14th May 2010 - 2:59 pm

    Commenting on the statement by Theresa May, the new Home Secretary, that she intends to push through plans for directly elected police commissioners, Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly policing spokesperson and a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority said:

    For ten years the Metropolitan Police Service has been accountable to Londoners through a police authority. To now place all that accountability in the hands of one person would be a serious mistake.

    “Boris Johnson struggled to even chair the Metropolitan Police Authority, so the idea that he, or indeed any Mayor, could now do the

    …

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    Helen Duffett

    Dee Doocey elected chair of London Assembly

    By Helen Duffett | Thu 13th May 2010 - 9:01 pm

    From a news release by the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Group:

    The London Assembly has today elected Dee Doocey AM as its new Chair for 2010/11. Jennette Arnold AM has been re-elected as Deputy Chair. At their Annual Meeting Assembly Members also re-established a number of committees to examine the Mayor of London’s policies and investigate issues of importance to London.

    Chair of the London Assembly Dee Doocey AM said:

    “I am honoured that my colleagues have chosen me to lead the Assembly for the year ahead. I will do my utmost to justify their confidence in handing me this additional opportunity to serve Londoners. I am also proud to be the first Irish person to Chair the London Assembly.

    At this changing time in our national political landscape it is more important than ever that London has a strong voice and powerful advocates to make the case for funding vital projects like Crossrail. The London Assembly is determined to ensure that the sound arguments for investing in the capital’s future, and the benefits that will also bring to the rest of the country, do not go unheard.

    In the months ahead the Assembly will continue to monitor the refinement of the Mayor’s strategies and measure what impact they do or do not have on the quality of life in London. We will also continue to challenge the London 2012 team to deliver not just an excellent Games but also the long term benefits the capital was promised in the bid.”

    You can also listen to Dee’s acceptance speech via Audioboo, courtesy of Mayorwatch:

    Listen!

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    Posted in London and News | Also tagged and | 2 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Innocent people deserve better treatment from Met over DNA database

    By Mark Pack | Thu 25th February 2010 - 11:49 pm

    A party news release brings the message:

    Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly policing spokesperson and member of the MPA, has today called for the Met to address its poor record of meeting requests by innocent people for the deletion of their DNA records held on a national database.

    At present only 24% of the requests from innocent people to have their DNA removed are granted by the Met.

    After questioning the Met Commissioner at today’s full meeting of the MPA Dee Doocey said:

    “The current situation is totally unsatisfactory. The Met Commissioner has the power to delete the records of innocent …

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    Posted in London | Also tagged , and | 11 Comments
    Mark Pack

    Boris Johnson breaks employment promise

    By Mark Pack | Thu 23rd July 2009 - 12:13 am

    From The Pink Paper:

    Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, will not be entering the Greater London Authority as a candidate for Stonewall’s annual Top 100 employers list, PinkPaper.com can reveal.

    The news comes as a surprise considering that the authority – which is based at City Hall – was ranked second in 2008 and third in 2009.

    The decision has also contradicted a former promise by Johnson who, in response to a previous question, said the GLA would be entered for 2010…

    Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrat London Assembly Member , “Last Summer Boris Johnson’s office was in such a mess at City

    …

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    Helen Duffett

    Dee Doocey: “Surveillance cuts both ways”

    By Helen Duffett | Mon 20th April 2009 - 12:10 pm

    “Never again,” says Dee Doocey AM, Member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, on the death of Ian Tomlinson during the G20 demonstrations on April 1st.

    Writing on the Progressive London blog today, Dee lists six basic principles which should be reflected in future police policy towards protest:

    • Demonstrations and other peaceful forms of protest are a fundamental democratic right

    • Demonstrations are usually peaceful

    • Policing should be proportionate

    • It is unacceptable for any officer deliberately to obscure his or her identification number

    • The police must exercise due care and attention when making statements to the media

    • The police have Britain’s reputation …

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    Helen Duffett

    Dee Doocey on Sir Ian Blair’s resignation

    By Helen Duffett | Thu 2nd October 2008 - 4:55 pm

    Sir Ian Blair resigned this afternoon as Metropolitan Police Commissioner, with effect from 1st December.

    Dee Doocey, Liberal Democrat London Assembly spokesperson on policing (and a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority) said:

    The Metropolitan Police Service is crying out for strong leadership, and whoever takes over has a mountain to climb. The lack of leadership at the top of the MPS in recent weeks and months has resulted in the top brass fighting among themselves, rather then getting on with their real jobs of policing London.

    The Met must now devote all its efforts on keeping the streets of our

    …

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