Butt's blog bites back

Brent Council leader, Muhammed Butt's, New Year blog has on the Council website LINK has received four comments.  He wrote about the Council's strategy on improving and creating employment opportunities:

Posted 16/01/2013 10:05:11 by Shel

It's great to see that the creation of new jobs and getting people into work is a top priority. I hope Brent will be able to fund projects aimed at getting locals into work through training sessions on interview techniques, job hunting, finding relevant training programmes etc... I can-not express the great importance of such programmes. 4 years ago, I attended a 2 day workshop run by Brent Council aimed at getting the long-term unemployed into work. At that point I had been busy raising 3 children. The workshops gave me the confidence to get back into employment and my career has been moving from strength to strength. I feel indebted to the programme.

Posted 16/01/2013 08:56:47 by Jean Roberts

It is good to see that you are concentrating on jobs and growth. Education is also under attack by this government with its drive to make all schools academies or free schools through bribery with our money or by force to big chains who will ultimately run the education system for profit. Brent should be doing more to stand up for our great community schools. We now face a possible free school paid for by the DfE (our taxes) without any consultation with the community, appearing somewhere in Wembley Park. The ruling by the Information Commissioner that this process should be open and transparent will hopefully mean we will find out exactly what is happening.

Posted 15/01/2013 22:34:19 by Tracey Burke

Increasing employment opportunities is a laudable aim but I have concerns that this is being promoted as some kind of panacea for the supposed ills in society. What type of employment opportunities will these be? Will there be affordable housing and ethical private landlords to house these employees? There is a wealth of research that points to perceived ills as being in depth and entwined issues, the underlying commonalities being inequality, low pay scales, lack of affordable housing and statutory services raising the gateways for access to services. We are mindlessly accepting central government cuts that will decimate our most vulnerable members of society. What you don't clarify Mr Butt is how your cabinet will support people who work for disgustingly low pay with little or no employment rights. Nor do you address your strategy for supporting Brent residents who will never be able to work? As you are only too well aware the universal credits system that will hit us shortly is a template for increasing inequality. How are you and your cabinet planing to ensure that this government doesn't impact on the residents who vote for you and for whom you have statutory duties of care?

Posted 15/01/2013 17:41:41 by Michael Calderbank

I'm very glad to hear that jobs are such a priority. In that case, I take it, the council won't be making compulsory redundancies as a result of implementing cuts to the budget? Also, I wonder how many people who work for external contractors procured by Brent Council to provide services are paid less than the London Living Wage, and why paying a living wage isn't a precondition of the tendering process? Perhaps you can let us know on your next blog?