Jo is encouraging charities and not-for-profit groups in Orpington to bid for money from a £4m fund to support efforts to reduce global poverty. The Community Partnership Window of the Global Poverty Action Fund allows small, UK-based organisations to put forward innovative ideas in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals to help the poorest people around the world.  The bidding process has now opened and will close on 9 July 2013.

Jo said: 'I would urge any charities and groups in Orpington to put forward their ideas to help people in the poorest parts of the globe. Successful projects will receive funding which can turn their vision into reality and has the potential to change lives.'

Justine Greening, Secretary of State for International Development, added: 'This fund is aimed at giving smaller charities and groups the opportunity to support the UK's development efforts around the world. I encourage any organisation that has an idea for delivering real, positive change to those most in need to submit a bid.'

Photo: Jo visits a school in the Gaza Strip in 2010

To find out more about the Global Poverty Action Fund, click here

Jo has given his strong support to Orpington resident Danny Lavender, who runs the campaign Beat Parkinsons.  

Jo said that Danny, who he met at a recent constituency surgery, "does a wonderful service by raising both money and awareness of this terrible condition.  Danny's positive attitude is an inspiration and I would encourage everyone to learn more by checking out his website and reading of his exhaustive list of physical achievements."

For more information on Beat Parkinsons and to support Danny, click here

Jo has spoken with Tim Smart, Chief Executive of King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, to discuss the Trust's decision to return elective surgery to Orpington Hospital.  Separately, Jo also held meetings with Caroline Taylor, SLHT Trust Special Administrator, to confirm the takeover of the Princess Royal University Hospital by King's.

Jo said: "I spoke to Tim Smart, Chief executive of King's College, this morning and am thrilled that his board yesterday approved the business case for a rapid return of cold elective surgery to Orpington. This means that vital operations such as hip and knee replacements will soon be taking place again in Orpington.

"I am delighted that King's College Hospital has decided to make proper use of Orpington's operating theatres. This is terrific news for residents and a fantastic boost to health services in the area. Kings College Hospital is an NHS Foundation Trust with an outstanding record of delivering world-class care.

"I am greatly encouraged that Kings sees a role for Orpington Hospital within the NHS Foundation Trust. This means that, subject to various remaining approvals, residents will be able to look forward to a bright future for a hospital that has huge meaning for Orpington and the area around it."

Jo expressed his personal support for volunteers working in Orpington at teh end of Volunteers' Week 2013.

Jo said: 'I am always impressed by the fantastic amount of voluntary work which goes on in our community. Volunteers are all around us, supporting children's activities, organising local fetes, charity fundraising, supporting patients at our local hospitals, working for their local communities. I am very grateful for the work they do and I'm glad to make special note of their efforts now, during Volunteers' Week.'

1-7 June is a nationwide week to celebrate the work of millions of volunteers who give up their time to help others, and organisations around the country will be taking the opportunity to recognise the contribution made by their volunteers.

Speaking about Volunteers' Week 2013, Justin Davis Smith, director of volunteering at National Council for Voluntary Organisations said: 'Volunteers' Week is a fabulous opportunity for us to recognise and celebrate volunteers and the incredible contribution they make to our communities.  Volunteers are an integral part of our society, and without their dedication, energy and commitment, many of the services we take for granted would simply grind to a halt. But the magic of volunteering is that it is a two-way relationship. So alongside the contribution to our local communities, volunteers also benefit tremendously from the experience – learning new skills, getting back into paid work, improving physical or mental well-being, or simply meeting interesting people and having fun.'

To find out more about Volunteers' Week, click here 

Work has started on an exciting project to turn the old paddling pool in Riverside Gardens, off St Mary Cray High Street, into a fantastic new sand and water play area for local children.

The renovation has been co-ordinated by Bromley Council working in partnership with the Community Development Foundation, Jewson builders' merchants, Nugent Retail Park, St Mary Cray Action Group and The Veolia Environmental Trust who have awarded £18,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund.

The pool's shape and structure will remain the same, but it will have improved drainage. Recycled granite-cobbles will be contoured over the existing base and water pumps and interactive sluice-gates will be installed. One third of the area will be a sandpit with a climbing play structure suitable for pre and primary school children.

The play area will also include an outdoor classroom and storytelling area, both features requested by local schools. The play area will also be accessible for pushchairs and wheelchairs.

Jo said: "This is a terrific initiative which shows what can be achieved when businesses and community groups come together.  Particular credit must go to Cllr Peter Fortune, Chairman of the Cray Valley Initiative Panel, Jim Cook, Chairman of the Mary Cray Action Group, The Veolia Environmental Trust and the Landfill Communities Fund.  I've no doubt that this will be a fantastic addition to the area that can be enjoyed by children and parents alike."

The old and vandalised pavilion and its surrounding area in Goddington Park, Orpington, is one step closer to being revamped after a funding boost from The Veolia Environmental Trust.

The Trust have awarded Orpington Football Club a grant of £25,800 towards the renovation of the pavilion and six football pitches, as well as the creation of a cricket square.

Goddington Park has not been used for organised sport for more than three years. The £80,000 project aims to create a sustainable multi-sports hub available to sports clubs and the local community all year round.

The pavilion will be transformed into a pleasant, comfortable and attractive space including six newly-decorated changing rooms, a brand-new kitchen area, replacement showers, boiler, window grills and fencing, and improved security to deter vandals.

The grant was awarded by Veolia's Board at its recent quarterly meeting, where it awarded a total of £1.2m to 47 projects across the UK. The grant awarded to Orpington Football Club means that the amount we have awarded over the past five years to projects in Kent now totals £422,806.

Jo Johnson's elevation to head of the Conservative policy unit means Orpington has "eyes and ears in no 10", the MP has said.  Speaking to this newspaper at Portcullis House last week, Mr Johnson revealed he has been kept busy with around 5,000 pieces of constituency casework since taking office three years ago.  He insisted he remains "fully committed" to local residents, despite his recent promotion to the rank of Cabinet Office minister.

The London mayor's brother told how his mailbox is filled with letters about crime, immigration and health.  On the subject of the local economy he said Orpington was "doing better than most high streets across the country", adding that he was particularly looking forward to a new cinema being opened in the town.  Miller Developments will build and open a 50,000 sq ft development in Orpington, to include a seven-screen multiplex cinema, three restaurants and four large retail units.  "Orpington has reason to be very optimistic," he said.

Mr Johnson also revealed how he thought "long and hard" before voting in favour of gay marriage, contrary to the borough's two other Conservative MPs.  He said: "I recognise there are strong feelings on the issue but I believe in 10 or 15 years this will be a settled part of our social fabric.  "We'll look back on it and wonder what all the fuss was about."

The MP promised to keep a close eye on developments at the local health service, saying the PRUH could "only improve" under a proposed tie up with King's College Hospital.

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Jo enjoyed all the fun of the Pratts Bottom Village Fete on Saturday and was pleased to judge a closely-contested Scarecrow Competition, eventually awarding the prize to a scarecrow which had already been at work in an allotment, made by Derek Scutt.

After a procession from Broke Farm Recreation Park, up Rushmore Hill to the Green, Ellise McDonald was crowned the 2013 May Queen by the outgoing May Queen, Charlotte Dugard.

The fete was very well attended and there was lots on offer for all to enjoy, including a Dog Show, live music, a gymnastics show, tug of war between the Pratts and the Bottoms, a fancy dress competition, lots of games and stalls, a bouncy castle and a Punch and Judy show. Delicious food was on offer throughout the afternoon and the day was rounded off by drawing the raffle of fantastic prizes donated by the local community.

Jo said: 'I would like to congratulate Lesley Jones, Pratts Bottom Fete organiser, and her team of volunteers as well as the local community on such a wonderful fete. There was real community spirit here and I was delighted to be able to attend.'

Photograph shows Jo Johnson MP at the Fete with a member of the Pratts Bottom Dramatic Society

Jo was delighted to attend the May Fayre at Petts Wood Hall on Bank Holiday Monday and was pleased to meet Katherine Madder, who was crowned Petts Wood May Queen. In her role as May Queen, Katherine nominated the British Heart Foundation as her chosen charity.

The May Fayre is a popular annual event, involving the community and supporting local charities, and this year drew crowds of over a thousand supporters. The Fayre featured Maypole dancing, live music, children's rides and community stalls, as well as tea and cakes and was enjoyed by everyone who came out to enjoy the sunshine.

The May Fayre at Petts Wood Hall was organised by Margaret Hoare, Samantha Nemeth and Ralph Ambrose with help from a team of volunteers from organisations including the Petts Wood War Memorial Trust, the RNLI, Petts Wood Churches Together, Petts Wood and District Residents' Association, Petts Wood Business Association, the Rotary Club and the Petts Wood May Queen Group.

Jo said: 'The Petts Wood May Fayre is always a lovely event and yesterday it lived up to its billing. It was a fabulous day and I offer my congratulations to Ralph, Margaret and Sam and all those who worked so hard to make the day such a great success.'

Orpington MP Jo Johnson has vowed to continue campaigning for his constituents after being parachuted into a top role at Downing Street.

He said: "I am proud of the opportunity to serve my country and my party. I look forward to working with David Cameron to help shape and deliver the policies that will make the UK stronger, fairer and more prosperous, and ready to meet the challenges of the coming decades.

"I will continue to represent Orpington residents and campaign for them on the most important issues – securing high quality local healthcare in the town centre, delivering improved and more affordable transport links for commuters and protecting Orpington's green and open spaces."

Political commentators mused over his new role, with Bruce Anderson, former political editor of The Spectator saying: "As a new MP, Jo has shown little interest in personal publicity and has been content to work away quietly.

"Yet he is no less ambitious than Boris, merely more realistic. He has the qualities for his office. If he could also borrow some of his brother's animal magnetism... who knows how high?"

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Commentators are speculating on how Orpington MP Jo Johnson could outshine his brother, the Mayor of London, and become the next PM.

Experts are suggesting there is a similar rivalry to that which existed between Ed and David Miliband when they were vying for the Labour leadership in 2010.

Speculation is mounting that Jo is the rising star of the family which could rile Boris who was sacked from his shadow cabinet post in 2004.

Andrew Pierce wrote in the Daily Mail: "Many Tory MPs believe that Jo is more likely than Boris to become Prime Minister. One backbencher says: 'He's is brighter than Boris, he's nicer than Boris, he's got less personal baggage than Boris. It could be David and Ed all over again.' Diffident to the point of shy, the only things he appears to have in common with Boris are his genes and blonde hair. No showman, he'll never appear on TV's Have I Got News For You or get himself stuck on a zipwire."

The Orpington MP said: "I will continue to represent Orpington residents and campaign for them on the most important issues - securing high quality local healthcare in the town centre, delivering improved and more affordable transport links for commuters and protecting Orpington's green and open spaces."

To read the full article, click here

Some people say that the really smart member of the Johnson family is the quiet one, Jo Johnson, MP for Orpington – and we are about to find out a lot more about him. Jo has just been promoted to perform for David Cameron the role that David Miliband used to fulfil for Tony Blair, running the Downing Street Policy Unit. It is expected that his formidable intelligence will be applied to the task of helping to put together a manifesto on which to fight the 2015 election.

The Johnson brothers are clever, competitive and very different. Boris, the older brother, is a show-off and a risk-taker. He had to carve out his own path by running to be Mayor of London because he was held back as an MP by two successive Tory leaders, Michael Howard and David Cameron, neither of whom trusted him, or believed he was capable of being a team player. Howard sacked him from the opposition front bench because of his chaotic sex life. Cameron refused to let him into the Shadow Cabinet.

Jo, by contrast, is a team player, who does not draw unnecessary attention to himself, though there is plenty that he could boast about, starting with the fact that he emerged from Oxford University with a better degree than his older brother – a double first, compared with Boris's 2:1. He is the sort of MP a party leader likes to have around.

Prime minister David Cameron has promoted Orpington MP Jo Johnson to become a Cabinet Office minister as his new head of policy.  Mr Johnson will be based at Downing Street and will work on Conservative, not coalition, policy in a role that has previously been filled by civil servants and political advisors.

The appointment has been made to address the PM's worries that number 10 is currently not political enough, neglecting to draw up policies that are popular with traditional Conservatives.

Some have suggested that the appointment of the Orpington MP marks the beginning of a more Thatcher-style policy unit at the heart of government.

He will be assisted in his new role by a newly-created Conservative Parliamentary Advisory Board, consisting of several MPs who have rebelled against the coalition government.  The former Financial Times journalist is considered by many as a potential future prime minister and rival to his elder brother, Boris.

To read the full article click here

The younger Mr Johnson has been given a chance to emerge from the shadow of his older brother, after David Cameron rewarded him with a top job on Wednesday.  Despite coming from such a high-profile family, the MP for Orpington appears to be much more of a Tory loyalist than Boris Johnson. It appears he has rarely - if ever - spoken out of step with Government policy, hardly ever rebelling against the leadership in Parliament.

Since he entered the House of Commons in 2010, Mr Johnson has been given two party-climbing jobs as an assistant Government whip and a ministerial aide in the business department.  And unlike his talkative brother, he has not shown much appetite for courting the limelight.

The biggest clues about why he might have been chosen for David Cameron's top policy role come from Mr Johnson's articles about how to boost growth.  One talks about how Britain should trade more with India if it wants to compete better in the global race for growth. His website also heralds Britain's role as a "springboard for China into European markets".

Much of his rhetoric about trading with emerging nations reads like it could have been spoken by David Cameron or George Osborne themselves - chiming perfectly with the message from the top of the party.

As a member of the "Growth Factory" group of MPs, he has signed up to supporting policies including a new runway for the south-east by 2020, more high-speed rail and a spaceport.

Like his elder brother Boris, the 41-year-old is also a former journalist, working in Paris and New Delhi for the Financial Times. He then led the influential Lex column, which offers opinions and analysis on the markets

David Cameron has parachuted Boris Johnson's brother into the heart of Downing Street as part of a shake-up to strengthen the No 10 machine and reach out to Tory malcontents.

Jo Johnson, younger brother of the London Mayor and a fellow Old Etonian, is to head the Downing Street policy unit and harden Tory thinking in the run-up to the next election.

The appointment of the Orpington MP is one of a series of moves designed to build bridges with the Prime Minister's backbench critics and to capitalise on the legacy of Margaret Thatcher.

They include: A new Tory advisory board on policy made up of some of the parliamentary party's biggest thinkers, and leading rebels. It includes Peter Lilley, who served in Mrs Thatcher's last Cabinet; Writing to more than 50 Tory MPs over the death of Baroness Thatcher;  Preparing for a July reshuffle to promote figures from the Thatcherite Right, such as Michael Fallon, the Business and Energy Minister.

The eye-catching appointment of Mr Johnson, the brother of one of Mr Cameron's chief rivals for the affections of Tory supporters, will take many MPs by surprise.

The Johnson dynasty has finally secured a toehold in Downing Street after Boris's younger brother was appointed as the new head of David Cameron's policy unit.

Jo Johnson, one of the brightest members of the 2010 intake of Tory MPs, who accompanied the prime minister on his first overseas trade mission within two months of the last election, will run a team of special advisers and civil servants in No 10.

The appointment of the mayor of London's brother, who formally becomes a Cabinet Office minister, is one of a series of moves designed to strengthen the political operation in Downing Street and to patch up the prime minister's frayed links with the Conservative party. One senior figure described the moves as a deliberate attempt to create a more political – though not politicised – Downing Street in the mould of Margaret Thatcher's No 10 operation.

The fresh approach involves the creation of a new Conservative policy board, consisting of a veteran and newcomers, to help the party draw up policies and to ensure that authentic Tory voices are better heard in the higher echelons of the party. Peter Lilley, 69, who served briefly in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet as trade and industry secretary and who was later identified by John Major as one of three Eurosceptic "bastards" in his cabinet, will join the board.

Jo Johnson will be appointed as Cabinet Office minister later today, Downing Street confirmed. His core remit will be to head up the Downing Street policy unit which until now has been presided over by a civil servant.

Sources suggest he will be expected to sharpen Tory strategy ahead of the next election and try and claw back support from party malcontents.

Later today Mr Cameron is expected to announce a new Conservative parliamentary advisory board. They will include Jesse Norman, who led the rebellion over House of Lords reform, Mr Cameron's former press secretary George Eustice, Peter Lilley, who was social security secretary under John Major, former schools minister Nick Gibb, Jane Ellison and Paul Uppal.

But it is the appointment of the brother of the London Mayor that is likely to elicit surprise, as well as criticism from some quarters. The MP for Orpington remains a largely unknown entity inside senior government, having only entered parliament in 2010.

David Cameron moved to appease the Tory faithful last night by appointing Boris Johnson's brother to head his Downing Street policy unit.

Jo Johnson, the MP for Orpington, will take charge of political strategy in No 10 in a dramatic shake-up modelled on the days of Margaret Thatcher.

In a further bid to satisfy disgruntled right-wingers, Mr Johnson - a former Financial Times journalist - will also lead a new Conservative Parliamentary Advisory Board designed to reflect different views across the party.

In an olive branch to Tory malcontents, Jesse Norman, who led the backbench rebellion on the House of Lords reforms, also joins the board, along with Nick Gibb, a former education minister fired by Mr Cameron in his last reshuffle.  Mr Johnson will help create the Tory manifesto for the next election.

Jo Johnson, younger brother of London mayor's, Boris Johnson, will on Thursday be given a ministerial role as head of the Downing Street policy unit, in a significant shake-up of David Cameron's political operation.

Mr Johnson will have a key role in shaping and delivering Tory policy, in what amounts to a Conservative coup over a part of the Downing Street operation currently staffed mainly by civil servants.

After criticism of an apparently lacklustre Number 10 operation and allegations of drift, Mr Cameron wants to put rising Tory stars at the heart of shaping the party's policy ahead of the 2015 election.

It is also an attempt by Mr Cameron to connect Downing Street with a restive parliamentary party and to show that he is listening to a wide range of views, including those of his critics on the right.

"This is a more political – Thatcher-style – policy unit," said one Conservative official. "There has been criticism that it hasn't been political enough.  "There is a desire for a sharper edged political operation in the policy unit, offering creative thinking, implementing announcements and making sure Downing Street is working well with the rest of the parliamentary party."

A third fire in five weeks broke out at a St Paul's Cray recycling plant on Monday night, just days after Orpington MP Jo Johnson labelled it as "a dangerous hazard".

Firefighters faced a familiar site as they battled flames at the Waste4Fuel site, in Cornwall Drive, at around 11pm.  Mechanical diggers were once again used to plough through the 10m deep pile of rubbish, allowing smouldering waste to be dampened.

Little over a month ago the site caught fire and stayed alight for eight days, officially becoming Bromley's longest running blaze.  The business was served with an environmental permit suspension notice by the Environment Agency last week, meaning all combustible waste must be removed from the site by July 15.

Mr Johnson wrote to the Environment Agency asking it to review whether Waste4Fuel has been respecting the terms of its licence and, if not, to take steps to revoke it.

He said: "The Waste4Fuel site has become a dangerous hazard to the local community and it is high time that it faced robust enforcement action. I will continue to work closely with the Environment Agency and local councillors to ensure that the operator complies in full with the notice."  Waste4Fuel refused to comment.

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