John Mann (politician)

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John Mann (born 10th January 1960, Leeds) is a politician in the United Kingdom. He has been a member of Parliament for the Labour Party for Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency) Bassetlaw since 2001, after the previous MP, Joe Ashton retired after serving the constituency since 1968.

John Mann MP is the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Sports Minister Richard Caborn. He has previously served on the influential Treasury Select Committee where he led the campaign for more transparency in the consumer credit industry.

Mann has a BSc in Economics, Manchester University and Diploma in Training Management. Active in the Labour Party from his youth, his activities have taken him from residence in London (he was a councillor in Lambeth), to Lewes - East Sussex, Baldock - Herts and Bassetlaw (Worksop). He was chair of the National Organisation of Labour Students from 1983-1984.

Before entering Parliament he previously worked for the Amalgamated Union of Engineering Workers(AEEU) as Head of Research and Education and as the National Training Officer at the TUC National Education Centre in North London (now closed). Mann has also been a party employee and a trade union liaison officer. He is an ally of Phil Woolas. He leads a campaign for better treatment of drug addicts and is nationally recognised as a leading expert in Parliament on the renewal of UK drugs policy. Bassetlaw now has one of the most successful drugs treatment programmes in the UK. Mann is Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism. Mann is a member of Amicus and GMB, YHA, IPD and the Co-operative Party.

[edit] Heroin Enquiry

In September 2002, John Mann held a public inquiry into heroin in his constituency; since the inquiry John has been working with national and local government, schools, treatment providers, the police and other agencies to reverse the epidemic.

In addition he has been working at understanding how other countries' drug policies work and how British policy can be informed by overseas examples.

In July 2002 there were only two addicts being treated for heroin misuse in Bassetlaw; now there are over 400, and burglary in Bassetlaw has fallen by 75 percent. Four years on, Bassetlaw has been transformed. The communities that had once been rife with heroin are beginning to recover, former addicts are receiving treatment and getting jobs in the local industries, and crime has been slashed.

[edit] All-Party Parliamentary Group on Antisemitism

John Mann, Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Antisemitism, commissioned the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Antisemitism in 2005.

The inquiry panel, chaired by former Europe Minister Rt Hon Dr Denis MacShane MP, gathered written and oral evidence on antisemitism in Britain and published a report of their findings on 7 September 2006.

The panel's recommendations included improved reporting and recording of antisemitic attacks; a crackdown on anti-Jewish activity on university campuses; and improved international co-operation to prevent the spread of racist material online.