Research shows the Summer Reading Challenge increases children’s reading range and their enjoyment of reading significantly. It builds confidence and independent reading, while preventing the dip in children’s literacy levels during the long break from school.

A unique partnership between The Reading Agency and public libraries across the UK, the Summer Reading Challenge got a record 810,000 children reading in the summer holidays in 2013. With the support of local MPs, libraries, schools and a host of well-known children’s authors including Jacqueline Wilson and Michael Morpurgo, even more children aged 4-11 will be encouraged to join the library and complete the challenge this year.   

Children will also be encouraged to share their love of reading by recommending a book to friends, family and carers with a campaign called ‘pass-it-on’ this year. The campaign is intended to inspire them to share their reading choices. It is endorsed by the new National Curriculum, which suggests that pupils should be "recommending books that they have read to their peers, giving reasons for their choices.”

I hope parents, grandparents and carers in Lewisham, Deptford will take their children to the library to sign up for the Summer Reading Challenge.  It’s free, inclusive and makes reading fun - a vital ingredient in building literacy. Last year 3832 children in London Borough of Lewisham took part in the Challenge. I hope we can increase that number this year and show local libraries what a valuable asset they are to us and our community.

Each year the Challenge uses a new theme to inject fun and creativity into reading. The 2014 theme is “Mythical Maze”, illustrated by award winning Sarah McIntrye. Children sign up at the library and receive a mythical maze poster.  As they borrow and read library books over the summer, children collect stickers of mythical creatures to complete their poster and discover facts about the creatures as they go. It’s a highlight of the holidays for thousands of children and families.

On Friday 9th May I visited the Lewisham, Greenwich and Southwark branch of the Samaritans for an update on its activities. 

I was very impressed by the branch’s continued commitment to its core services alongside the valuable new outreach programme it is developing. This impressive new work includes the provision of support for the three prisons at Woolwich, as well as working with Network Rail and local stations, homeless shelters and community facilities. Its work with young people in schools and at Goldsmiths is particularly important given the enormous pressures placed upon them through bullying, trolling and other difficulties they face within their social environments.

I was amazed to hear that the branch now has more than 100 active volunteers who are committing at least 5 hours a week each to listening to and supporting some of the most vulnerable people in our communities. Equally impressive is the way in which Samaritans are using new technologies to expand their traditional telephone listening service to include emails and text messaging. Charities need to grow and develop what they do to remain relevant to the changing society they support and I congratulate the Samaritans on the way in which they are dealing with this challenge.

The Political Studies Association has just launched this year's Student Short Video Competition and I would like to encourage A-Level and Higher Education students to take part.

The theme of this year's competition is "Europe - in or out?" and groups of students are invited to submit short videos on this subject. Shortlisted groups will be invited to Speaker's House in the Palace of Westminster to discuss their work with a panel of politicians, journalists and academics. Previous judges have included Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty.

The winners will receive their award at the PSA's Annual Awards Ceremony in Westminster on 25th November.

Full details of the competition and how to enter can be found on the PSA's website: www.psa.ac.uk

Every year the Big Lottery Fund awards grants to community groups, organisations and charities.

If you are interested in applying, you can find more information about the types of funding which might be available to you on the Big Lottery Fund website.  

As you may have seen in the media, the Home Office is reviewing the use of stop and search by the police.  As part of this review they are conducting a public consultation.

Community trust and confidence in the police is vital, particularly amongst young people who often report having experienced negative encounters with the police. 

Lewisham Community Police Consultative Group and Lewisham Stop and Search Scrutiny Group are therefore supporting this review and encouraging people to make their views known.

If you would like to participate in the consultation, you can do so by visiting www.gov.uk/government/consultations/stop-and-search.  The closing date is September 24th.  

Lewisham Stop and Search Scrutiny Group is always looking for community members to get involved.  Visit their website or call 020 8314 8975 for further details.

Today I joined Ed Miliband (Leader of the Opposition), Heidi Alexander (MP for Lewisham East) and Tessa Jowell (MP for Dulwich and West Norwood) in meeting representatives of the Young Citizens' City Safe Haven 10,000 Hands campaign from Prendergast Ladywell Fields College in Brockley.

The campaign is the brainchild of Lewisham teenager Camilla Yahaya and its aim is to tackle youth crime and to make our streets a safer place for young people.  Camilla, a pupil at Prendergast, set up the Young Citizens group after the murder of Lee teenager Jimmy Mizen.

Since its launch in March 2013, schools, politicians and local organisations such as the Jimmy Mizen Foundation and the Stephen Lawrence Trust have come together to support the campaign. 

This event, the third in a series of four planned by the organisers, involved us and adding our purple hand prints to City Safe banners, alongside those of pupils from all over Lewisham.  The banner will be presented to City Hall later this year.

This is an excellent campaign which shows real initiative on the part of our young people and I was very pleased to be a part of it.

On Friday 28th June I joined youngsters from Pitta Patta Day Nursery in Forest Hill in celebrating their graduation from pre-school.

I was pleased to be able to share their special day and wish all of the children luck with their transition to primary school.

The People's Health Trust is an independent charity which funds local groups, organisations and charities.  It distributes funds raised by HealthWisdom through the Health Lottery.

The Trust has recently opened Active Communities, a funding programme which may be of interest to groups and charities in Lewisham Deptford.  It is offering grants of £5,000-£50,000.

Applications will be accepted between now and 12pm on Monday 15th July 2013.

It is very easy to apply - the form can be found on the People's Health Trust website, along with further information about the scheme.

On Thursday 16th May I joined fellow MPs in meeting with the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) and a group of deaf children aboard the Listening Bus in Parliament.  The society is calling for a parliamentary debate to protect specialist services, such as Teachers for the Deaf.

The NDCS Listening Bus travels around the country to provide support to deaf children.  I was able to find out more about service provision for deaf children in the local area, as well as speak to the children themselves about their hopes for the future and the support they need at school.

Everyone agrees that we must protect funding for vulnerable learners, so it's deeply worrying to learn of reductions to these vital services.  I am therefore joining other MPs in calling for a parliamentary debate to highlight this key issue.

As part of its campaign, NDCS has been running a petition to support calls for the debate.  Nearly 50,000 signatures have been collected, calling on the Department for Education to intervene at a national level and ensure local authorities protect funding for deaf children.

Although the petition has now closed, supporters can still get involved in other ways - see www.ndcs.org.uk/petition for further details. 

Youth unemployment continues to be a problem in South London and young people need support now more than ever.

The South London Press has teamed up with the Prince's Trust for a two month drive to encourage young people to turn their lives around.  The campaign coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Trust's Enterprise Scheme, which helps disadvantaged and unemployed young people to become entrepreneurs.

The scheme provides training, mentoring and one-to-one support, as well as the opportunity to apply for a low interest loan to help you start your own business.

For more information, visit the Prince's Trust website.