5 February 2007
MP to Experience the Reality of “Breakdown Britain”
North East Herts MP Oliver Heald will this week come face-to-face with ‘Breakdown Britain’. The Centre for Social Justice has devised five-day hard-hitting placements that will pit MPs into the toughest social problems facing Britain today. Oliver Heald will be rolling up his sleeves and volunteering in a project in order to come face to face with homelessness, addiction, worklessness and the full effects of family breakdown. The experience will be particularly useful for Oliver in his role as Shadow Minister for Social Exclusion.
Oliver will be serving 54 homeless men in a 24-hour direct access hostel in Sheffield and has cleared 5 days in his diary to serve in this small, grass-roots charity which is tackling poverty head on and saving lives.
Commenting, Oliver Heald said, “It’s vital that MPs experience the reality of ‘Breakdown Britain’. These night shelters and rehabs are run by the men and women who are saving lives and healing our self-harm society. MPs and government need to get on their side.”
The North East Herts MP will be involved in preparing meals, cleaning toilets and getting stuck into whatever practical service he can. His overnight accommodation is with or near the client group.
Oliver will be in touch with the project for the rest of this Parliament: re-visiting; providing Parliamentary internships to charity staff; researching the issues he has encountered through the project; bringing his experience back to Westminster. He will also be keeping a diary to be published on the
