Local MPs, councillors and union activists rally behind the workers at St Mungo's homelessness charity seeking a decent wage

 Apologies for sound quality - not very good PA combined with traffic noise. Speech summaries below.

 

Workers for the homelessness charity St Mungo's, currently striking for a decent wage when the charity's executives are paid large salaries, received support in Wembley on Friday when a solidarity rally took place outside Brent Civic Centre.

Dawn Butler, Brent Central MP, spoke first but had finished by the time I got there. Brent North MP Barry Gardiner told the rally that the government was trying to make people insecure in their employment as a way of  keeping them down. He said, 'We won't buckle down, we won't touch our forelock and say if that's all you can afford, thanks very much then. Because that's not the way trade unions operate, so I stand with you, keep up the fight and solidarity.'

Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, in a speech that was hard to hear, said that the work at St Mungo's was important. He said that as a council they would take the dispute up with St Mungo's to make sure that the dispute process was open, fair and transparent. He, councillors and the Labour Group were commited to fair pay: 'We'll make sure you guys get a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.' [St Mungo's get a good proportion of their income via contracts with local councils.]

A Unite organiser said that the workers had a mandate for indefinite industrial action. He said that there had been other issues as well as the current pay dispute with the charity including a glass ceiling on pay, bullying and harassment and dismissal and attemnpted dismissal of their union members. They had made it clear to the employer that enough was enough and they were not going to put up with it anymore.

The employers thought the strikers would buckle within a couple of weeks and brought in agency workers, ahead of the workers being forced to return. Instead the strike and the momentum of the campaign had grown.

The union was now looking at what extra steps they could take and had a plan to take the fight to the directors, the trustees, and the funders who hold the purse strings. They would be contacting those with whom St Mungo's had business links, the City of London, and other charities linked to St Mungo's.

He concluded by saying that a 10% salary increase was needed at the very minimum/

Jonathan Ffuxman, Secretary of Brent Trades Council and a member of Doctors in Unite, said that this was a battle for control of the charity. He said that it beggared belief that a respected charity was a cash cow for its executive while the workers, who helped people off the street to restore their lives, got the minimum wage, were  bullied and harassed and were completely over-worked.

As a GP  he had seen the work St Mungo's did from his Practice.  Life expectancy for homeless people was just 45 years. St Mungo workers are the people who are picking them up from the street, giving them somewhere to stay and helping them. It was an essential service and, 'What do they get? The minimum wage.'

He appealed for support from the labour movement against the background of strikes  by doctors, nurses and others who are fighting back.

'If you are not in a union - join one.  If you are in a union - get active. Make your union do stuff. Every union needs to be fighting hard and showing solidarity.'

Cllr Gwen Grahl, a member of the Brent Cabinet with a background in working for charities said that over the last few decades the charity sector had become more like corporations with executive earning big salaries while there were povery wages for the workers and the use of fire and rehire  and zero hours contracts. She said some charities then undermined the permanent workers by introducing agency staff: 'I fully support you and will join your picket line on Friday.'

Cllr Jumbo Chan, who is a member of the NEU which is also currently in dispute, said that workers were being blamed for other crises that were going on at the moment including the economy.  

He told the strikers, 'The bosses think they are getting away with it, but by say "No!" you are doing something powerful. You are puncturing not just the bosses but a powerful narrative that is supported by politicians, economists and academics.  There is no law that says bosses can earn whatever they want and workers always have to take what they are offered.'

Chan said that the strikers were facing a titanic struggle but have the labour movement behind them and full support.

Responding to the speeches a St Mungo's worker thanked the speakers and those attending and said it really meant something to the strikers. He said they were fed up with the lie that they had to accept 3% a year when price rises were in double figures. 'Enough is enough' had to start meaning something. They had gone into a meeting with management on Tuesday really hoping that there would be a sensible offer but nothing came. It was a waste of time and they now had no option but to escalate the action.

He concluded, 'We are getting more confident as this dispute goes on and we are not going back in there until we have won.'

Supporters are asked to join the picket line from 8.30am on Friday at the St Mungo's facility in Pound Lane Willesden, just opposite the bus garage entrance.

Over 1,000 councillors urge Government to increase school funding

Brent's Cllr Jumbo Chan (extreme right) delivering the letter to the Damina Hinds at the DfE  along
 with NEU Joint General Secretary Kevin Courtney (far left)

Locally-elected council members from across the country have backed the campaign by the NEU’s Councillors Network, which is supported by education fair funding campaign group f40, in expressing concern about the desperate state of school funding in England and Wales.

They are urging Government to invest more money in schools in the Spending Review this year to help meet the huge funding crisis across education, which is resulting in growing budget deficits, cuts in teaching staff, a reduction in some subject areas, and a poorer education for children.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies states that schools have suffered a cut of 8 per cent per pupil since 2010. The Education Policy Institute has said almost a third of all council-run secondary schools are now in deficit and, according to last year's Kreston UK report, eight in ten academies are in deficit.

The NEU believes the situation cannot go on and there needs to be a reversal of cuts to school budgets since 2010, and for the funding of schools and Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision to be of a level that ensures all children and young people get the education they deserve, regardless of where they live.

Campaign group f40, which started more than 20 years ago with the aim of influencing significant change in the way government allocated funding to local authorities and schools, threw its weight behind the NEU’s letter to Damian Hinds.

Cllr Jumbo Chan, Brent, NEU Councillors Network Convenor, said:

“This letter represents the next step in trying to lobby the government to urgently stop the hugely damaging cuts to school funding.

“Last autumn, the NEU Councillors Network persuaded a majority of councils in London to pass motions opposing the school cuts. It is now clear that many individual councillors from all over the country also feel strongly about this very important issue. The government must heed the calls of locally-elected representatives who can see first-hand the havoc school cuts – compounded by biting cuts to precious local government funding – are wreaking on many young people.”

Cllr James McInnes, f40 Chairman and cabinet member for children and schools in Devon, said:

“The f40 campaign for fair funding has given its full support to the NEU’s letter to Damian Hinds and is pleased it’s been so well supported by councillors from across the country.  It’s clear that elected representatives are unhappy with the government’s handling of school funding and are demanding an increase in budgets, as well as adjustments to the way funding is allocated.”

Cllr Maggie Browning, Southwark, NEU Councillors Network Convenor, said:

“The cuts to school budgets have reached epidemic levels in England and Wales. Increasingly, tighter funds mean schools across the country are narrowing their curriculum and cutting subjects like drama and art, which is a travesty.

“Schools are also struggling to provide adequate support for students with Special Educational Needs and some are even closing early or starting late to save money. Teachers’ workloads have become unsustainable as they are asked to do more and more with less, including larger class sizes and fuller timetables with less support.

“This is fuelling the recruitment and retention crisis across the country, with one in three teachers leaving in the first five years of joining the profession. This is a complete waste of talent and is deeply disruptive to the learning of students. The Spending Review is a vital opportunity for Damian Hinds to commit to a full reversal of the cuts to school budgets and a significant increase in per pupil funding, particularly for SEND.”

Letter from NEU Councillors Network reads:

Dear Damian Hinds MP,

As councillors, we are writing to express our grave concerns over the Government's ongoing cuts to school funding.

Our excellent state-funded schools have lost out in billions of pounds in funding since 2015. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has equated this to an 8 per cent real cut per pupil in real terms, since 2010. The funding crisis has become so overwhelming that according to the Education Policy Institute, almost a third of all council-run secondary schools are now in deficit, and eight in ten academies are in deficit according to last year's Kreston UK report.

Many schools are now desperately overwhelmed, as more and more students are competing for fewer and fewer resources. Compounded by biting cuts to local council services, in addition to the teacher recruitment and retention crisis, the current settlement is not tenable.

We demand that the Government address this funding crisis in its Spending Review by:

•        Reversing the cuts to school funding since 2010.
•        Giving our schools the funding they need.
•        Funding Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision properly.

Our children only have one chance to go through the school system. By cutting funding to schools, the Government is failing them. It must change course urgently, and give our schools, education professionals and students the proper funding they need.

Your sincerely,

The Undersigned

Brent NEU condemns 'abject failures of governance' at Woodfield School - £400k in wrongful payments uncovered

Brent National Education Union responds to the ESFA report on Woodfield School financial irregularities. NEU statement below:

Damning ESFA Report exposes abject failures of Governance at Woodfield School.

£400,000 in wrongful payments uncovered.

An investigation by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) into financial irregularities related to the academy and Multi Academy Trust (MAT) conversion process between Woodfield academy school and The Village school in Brent has just been published.

£400,000 was wrongly paid to two consultants, one of whom was Greg Foley who acted simultaneously as Chair of Trustees, Member of the Finance Committee and Chief Financial Officer. (All this information can be found out from public records.) Those in charge at Woodfield failed utterly in their duty of oversight and care of monies that should have been spent on their special needs pupils.

Going onto the school Website and looking at the names of Trustees reveals that Kay Charles has been an ex-officio Trustee since September 2017. Kay Charles became the Executive Head of The Village and Woodfield school on the same date. Records show that she was in attendance at every Governing Board meetings for 2017/18.

Kay Charles Ex-officio (appointed 01.09.17)

Resources Committee

Evaluation & strategic development Head Performance management

Brent Schools Partnership

The Village School

None

In the ESFA report there are repeated references to the Chair and Chief Finance Officer (CFO) breaching and not complying with the financial regulations of academy trusts. This was under her oversight.  

Hank Roberts, Brent NEU President and National Executive member said:

“As whistleblower I feel totally vindicated by the findings of this report. The bankrupt academy system is an open invitation to help yourself to school funds. Kay Charles has proved herself inadequate to the task of halting this corruption. If she won’t put the interests of state education above her own, she should go. 

“Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council and Sandra Kabir, Chair of Governors of The Village were warned that there were questions over the finances at Woodfield a year ago, yet neither expressed opposition to the proposal that Woodfield and The Village become a MAT. Now is the time they should show leadership and call for this proposal to be dropped rather than support this disaster in waiting. This is the agreed policy of Brent Constituency Labour Parties and recently was unanimously confirmed by the Local Campaign Forum (LCF) and fully supported by the local Labour MP Barry Gardiner.” 

Governors and trustees of the two schools were aware of the financial situation and failed to act on NEU members’ concerns. Despite this, the majority of these governors and trustees are proposed as trustees and governors of the new MAT where they will be overseeing a budget almost twice as big.

Cllr Jumbo Chan, who has supported the campaign to stop the academisation throughout, said:

“The decision by the governing body of The Village to academise the school was wholly unnecessary and misguided. In light of the ESFA’s damning report into Woodfield School, it has further highlighted a dearth of wisdom at the heart of the decision.

“In addition to offering no concrete benefit, the decision to academise ignored completely the swathes of concerns voiced by parents, campaigners, and the school’s own outstanding teachers and support staff.

“Nearly a year later, the academisation process has left The Village School in limbo, demoralising and sowing uncertainty amongst its committed staff.

“That the ESFA has now produced a litany of gross failings with regards to Woodfield School – including procurement, related party transactions, governance regulations and register of interests, including large payments of thousands of pounds of public money to consultants – corresponds to problems in the academisation process elsewhere.

The ESFA report is a wake-up call that leads to the unavoidable conclusion that the whole academisation process should immediately cease. I urge the governing body to now finally listen to its staff, and withdraw its application to academise, and remain within the Brent Council family of schools.”

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NEU call for a halt to The Village School academy conversion. Butt fails to respond to meeting request.

Press release from Brent National Education Union

An investigation by the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) into financial irregularities related to the academy and Multi Academy Trust (MAT) conversion process between Woodfield academy school and The Village school in Brent has still not been published. This means, according to our source at the DfE, that the possible conversion date has been pushed back until February 2019 at the earliest.
 

This investigation was triggered by reports and whistleblowing from NEU members with regards to overpaid off-payroll consultants who were interfering with governance and HR matters at the Woodfield trust whilst receiving up to £240,000 for ‘services as defined by the school’. The financial due diligence process carried out by governors for any academy conversion, was led by one of these consultants working at the schools.

Since the MAT process was started, consultants have continued to be paid with funds intended for the education of SEND children in the borough. Restructure of the senior leadership teams has increased the funds at the top levels while vacancies remain unfilled and agency staffing increases in the classrooms.

NEU members at the school are seeking a further ballot for strike action, following their 13 days last year, to try to keep their school in the local authority. To this end, they wrote to the Leader of the Council Muhammed Butt on 20^th November requesting an urgent meeting. There has been no response. This follows Brent NEU sending him the resolution below* on 6^th November. There has been no response. Brent Central Labour Party passed a similar resolution at their meeting of 15^th November. There has been no response.

Councillor Jumbo Chan, who has been a vocal supporter of the campaign to stop the academisation said:

 I understand from Brent NEU as well as the NEU membership of teachers and support staff of The Village School that despite nearly a year since a majority of its governing body decided to form a multi-academy trust with Woodfield School, The Village School is in a state of legal limbo.

It was disappointing earlier in the year when the majority of the governing body of The Village School chose to go ahead with academisation despite overwhelming opposition from a coalition of parents, campaigners (including the Brent Labour Parties) and of course, the outstanding, passionate and dedicated teachers and support staff of The Village School. It is worrying now that issues into Woodfield School’s account are being investigated by the ESFA.

I urge the governing body of The Village School to listen to their staff, to rescind their application to become an academy as part of a MAT, and to stay with the Brent local community”

Hank Roberts, Brent NEU President said:

The terminally ill academies programme lurches from crisis to crisis and scandal to scandal with ever increasing frequency and severity. The tawdry plan to pilfer the jewel in the crown of Brent’s education service that is The Village school (costing Brent £29 million) by a rag bag of opportunist privateers has been further knocked back. Months after the school was supposed to be handed over and run privately by a group including the Brent Labour Whip Cllr Sandra Kabir the school remains with the Local Authority. We call on Cllr Muhammed Butt to write urgently to the Governors and the Secretary of State for Education as requested by the Brent NEU, Brent Central Labour Party and the staff at the school

 

*Resolution passed unanimously at Brent NEU General Meeting 6/11/18

Brent NEU note that The Village school is still an LA school and that Brent Labour Party policy is to urge LA schools to remain within the LA family of schools. We further note that the overwhelming majority of staff and the community have called for the school remain in the LA family of schools.

Brent NEU also note that the LP Conference in September 2018 agreed the following. That in government, the Labour Party will bring all schools back under local democratic control including academy and Multi Academy Trusts. Therefore, proposals to wind up MATs and turn over control and management of schools to local democratically controlled structures should be developed urgently.

Brent NEU therefore call on the leader of the council Muhammed Butt to urgently;

    Write to the Chair of Governors and the Governing Board at The Village urging them to withdraw their proposal to become an academy as part of a Multi Academy Trust and remain as an LA school.

    Write to the Secretary of State for Education to urge the Government not to proceed with the proposal due to the difficulties accompanying this proposal to join Woodfield in a MAT.

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Academisation battle: Village School staff strike for another 3 days this week and withdraw goodwill

From the NEU


As staff in the NEU at The Village school in Brent take three more days of strike action this week (20^th, 21^st and 22^nd) they are also withdrawing goodwill. Every non-strike day between now and the 28^th February when the Governors meet to make their decision as to whether to convert to an academy or not, they will only “work your proper hours”. Usually they work many extra hours of non-directed time every week. 

Cllr Jumbo Chan, said “I am very proud that many of my Brent Labour Group colleagues, including the leadership, are supporting the teachers and support staff of The Village School, who are being forced again this week to take action to stop their school being academised. I do hope the governors finally acknowledge this move as unpopular and unnecessary, and to immediately halt the misguided move towards academisation.” 

As part of their action staff will be holding a letter writing session to Governors on Tuesday after the early morning picket on the steps inside the Brent Civic Centre. On Wednesday, they will return to protest and sing songs to highlight their campaign. They have also been trying to organise one to one meetings with Governors over the three strike days. Gail Tolley, Strategic Director for Children and Young People has agreed to meet the strikers on Wednesday. 

Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North has written further to the Head, Kay Charles following the public meeting on 8^th February. In a detailed letter outlining arguments that called into question the depth of the consultation and the one-sided view given, he urged her to, “convey to all Governors ... the absolute opposition that was expressed by parents, teachers, staff, local council representatives and other fellow citizens of the Borough.” 

He concluded warning Governors that taking what would be “an irrevocable decision” would cut the school off from the “democratic accountability of the local authority” an authority that had given The Village school “the extraordinary endowment of £29 million”. He hoped the Governors would “decide to keep the school as part of the Brent family of schools and decide not to become a Multi Academy Trust” rather than rely on a “potentially distant and hostile secretary of state”. 

Martin Powell-Davies, London Regional Secretary NEU, NUT Section said, “It is astonishing that Governors should be considering academisation of this school in the face of overwhelming evidence that the academies system is failing to improve pupil attainment but, instead, is resulting in an expensive, unstable, inefficient and undemocratic mess.”

Doru Athinodoru, Regional Official NEU, ATL Section said, “Public money, Public ownership, public accountability.” 

These comments mirror the conclusions of the very well attended meeting organised by Barry Gardiner on 8^th February. Staff and others are lobbying for the Governors meeting on 28^th February to be open to the public as Barry Gardiner had urged the Chair to do so. There has been some movement on this but the lobbying continues.

Brent Labour Council backs anti-academisation stand at the Village School

Key speeches from last night's Public Meeting about academisation

Press release from the National Education Union

Yesterday evening (8^th February 2018) a packed conference hall at Brent Civic Centre with parents, staff, and local residents listened to a range of contributions in a meeting hosted by Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North. He was questioning the proposal to turn The Village school in Kingsbury into a Multi Academy Trust (MAT). Mr Gardiner clearly was extremely concerned that there was a complete lack of detail in this proposal and could see no reason why Governors should agree. 
There were no benefits for the school to go down this route yet many reasons raised by the audience as to why it should not. The audience was shocked that no one from the school who is backing this proposal was present – apologies had been received from the Headteacher Kay Charles, the Chair of Governors Cllr Sandra Kabir and Gail Tolley, Strategic Director Children and Families. 

During the meeting, Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of the Council stated, “The academisation of any of our schools is the wrong process. … We want all our schools to remain within the (LA) family of schools. … How much clearer do I need to be I am on your side?” which was greeted by loud applause. Other Cabinet members and Councillors also made it clear that the Labour run Council were against the proposed academy. 

Cllr Jumbo Chan, who has been in full support of the campaign to stop the MAT since the start said after the meeting,

“I would like to thank Barry Gardiner and his office for organising tonight’s very useful, well-attended meeting at the Brent Civic Centre.

In addition to the many probing, productive questions put forward by members of the community, it was extremely encouraging to hear the council leader and cabinet members express plainly their absolute support for The Village School’s outstanding teachers and support staff, and their complete opposition to the unnecessary academisation of the school.

It would be a very positive step if parents, staff and other concerned stakeholders of The Village School can now be reassured through a public statement by all members of the cabinet reiterating their stances”.

Members from Woodfield school which is already an academy and would join The Village as a MAT if this proposal goes ahead, spoke out about the fact that there was already lots of collaboration between the two schools across a wide range of services and subjects so why change. Staff had different contracts at Woodfield and worse conditions since becoming an academy. 

There was a call from a local resident and Labour Party member for Cllr Sandra Kabir, Chair of Governors at The Village and Brent Labour Group Chief Whip, to either resign or agree with her fellow Labour Councillors and speak out against the academisation of the school. This was greeted by loud cheers. 

Finally, Mr Gardiner called on the Governors meeting on 28^th February where the decision is to be made to be open to the public to attend. He said that as the school is currently a maintained community school an open democratic meeting was essential.

Village School strike intensifies as NEU complains about Butt's 'hypocrisy'

From the National Education Union in Brent
 

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Teachers and support staff at The Village School in Kingsbury, North West London, are increasing their action to prevent the academisation of their special school. Following their two days of strike action on 16^th and 17^th January members of the NEU* have upped their level of opposition to three days of strikes as management refuses to pause the consultation. 
 

They will be on strike on Tuesday 30^th, Wednesday 31^st and Thursday 1^st. Picket lines outside the school will be in operation each strike day from 7.30 till 9.00.

On Tuesday members and supporters will then take placards and songs to the civic centre for a visible protest from 10.30-11.30.

After Wednesday's picket 35 members will travel to Parliament for a scheduled meeting with Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North. 

At Thursday's picket, members will be joined by Louise Regan, NUT NEU section National President, who is bringing prizes for best contributions to the protest. This will be followed by a big breakfast in the local cafe.

Further, members also voted at a very well attended union meeting on Friday 26^th to strike again on the mornings of February 20th, 21st and 22nd.

Brent Labour Councillor Jumbo Chan said, “I give my full, wholehearted support to the outstanding hardworking and passionate teachers and support staff at The Village School, who work tirelessly every day to nurture the school’s young students and maximise their potential. Like them and many other members of the local Labour Party and trade unions, I strongly oppose the wholly unnecessary, unhelpful and misguided proposed plans to academise such a valuable local asset, and urge others to do the same”.

Members have signed letters of complaint to the Chair of Governors and Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council. In a letter to all staff Muhammed Butt has attacked the staff of The Village and the Union Reps saying that their action is ‘to punish these children’ and of being irresponsible by taking strike action when the truth is staff are seeking to protect it. He recognises the fact that is it the work of the overwhelming majority of staff who oppose academisation who have raised the school to outstanding. Yet he discounts the fact that, as at Copland, if its staff are forced against their will into academisation very large numbers will leave. Thus, as occurred at Copland when it became an ARK academy with experienced and able staff leaving, education will be adversely hit for these very vulnerable children. ARK Elvin is yet again at the bottom of the league for Brent secondary schools, this year well below the others with only 31% A to Cs.

His own constituency Labour Party have unanimously opposed his stance of supporting the move for the school to be turned into an academy. The London Regional Labour Party also oppose academisation. Barry Gardiner, MP opposes the academisation of The Village. Muhammed Butt’s own Union the GMB opposes the move to academisation. The Headteacher and Chair of Governors, shamefully the Brent Council Labour Whip, are arguing that the school has to become a privatised academy despite the huge opposition to this of the staff and increasingly parents. 

Muhammed Butt wrote to all LA schools in December 2015 saying, “The only way to ensure that our schools remain communities, and do not become businesses, is for them to remain under the control of Brent Council. On behalf of Brent Labour’s leadership, I urge you to do all you can to ensure that they do.”

The only clear tangible outcome of academisation has been shown to be vastly increased salaries to those at the top and a wider pay gap between those at the top and the overwhelming number of staff. Muhammed Butt has said that it is his aim to seek to ‘reverse the outsourcing of services’ that Brent has done previously and bring them back in house as a way of providing a better and more economical service which we applaud. But at the same time, in complete contradiction, he is proposing support for the running of yet another Local Authority school to be outsourced. Utter hypocrisy.

A week ago, many members at the school dressed in black symbolising the death of local authority schools. On Friday, they again dressed in black and added red to show their anger. They will continue to wear black on Fridays and the NEU would encourage anyone to join in wearing black too as a show of solidarity. Please send us your photos and we will pass them on to the NEU Reps at The Village

Brent Labour Group fail to make clear stand against academisation of The Village School

Forty or so people turned up this evening at Brent Civic Centre to lobby the Labour Group regarding the governing body of The Village School  move to convert to academy status.

The school's Chair of Governors is Sandra Kabir a senior Labour councillor and chief whip of the group.

Phil Pardoe, NEU Regional Official, said the pre-lobby meeting with Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of the Council and Cllr Mili Patel, lead member for children and families had been positive. They had said they could tell parents at consultation meetings that the Council would prefer the school not to academise. Pardoe said that the impact of this was unclear but that pressure needed to be exerted on chair of Governors Cllr Sandra Kabir, a key proponent of the academy bid.

Cllr Jumbo Chan reiterated his opposition to what he called Tory policy on academies and free schools and said that he would try and persuade the Labour Group to express their outright opposition to academisation in line with Labour Party policy.

At the Group meeting  that followed Cllr Kabir adopted a contorted position of supporting and promoting academisation while at the same time claiming she did not want that outcome.  Cllr Butt claimed his first preference was to keep local control of the school and academisation was a last resort but he stopped short of saying the Council would oppose The Village School academisation.

Cllrs Mashari, Miller and Long asked sceptical questions about academisation and Cllr Jumbo Chan and observer Michael Calderbank  opposed.

Cllrs Mili Patel, Shama Tatler andAslam Choudry adopted the position of not liking academisation but said the Council had no choice.

The upshot, rather than a firm decision to state Labour Group opposition, was that the matter would be referred to Scrutiny Committee and that Butt would write to The Village School governors asking them to explore the viability of staying in the 'Brent family of schools'.

Academy conversion of The Village School would complete privatisation of special education in Brent

If The Village School were to academise it would be the third Brent special school to take this route. Woodfield converted in April 2014 and Manor formed the Brent Specialist Academy Trust, along with The Avenue special free school, in April 2017.  This would remove all the borough's  specialist special education schools from Brent Council oversight and open the way to them combingin to form a Multi-Academy Trust. The vehicle already exists in the Brent Specialist Academy Trust.

All three schools co-operated in setting up the free school and claimed that the move was supported by Brent Council.

Brent Labour as represented by councillors has never taken a firm stand against academisation or free schools. It claimed the local authority did not have the resources to support Copland High School when it failed Ofsted and supported Ark taking it over as Ark Elvin. Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, is the local authority representative on the Ark Elvin governing body. The authority has supported Ark in opening a new primary 3 form entry free school on the York House site in Wembley.

The stance taken by Brent Central CLP, Brent Central CLP trade union liaison officers and Cllr Jumbo Chan is therefore a significant departure from this policy of acquiescence.

They are not only up against Muhammed Butt but also Cllr Sandra Kabir (Queensbury) who chairs The Village School governing body - the same governing body that wants to convert the school to academy status!  The lobbying of the Labour Group to oppose the position of its own chief whip is rich in irony.  Cllr Mili Patel, lead member for chidlren and families, is relatively inexperienced and does not appear to have made any statement on the issue.

The lobby of the Labour Group which will include NEU officials and staff from The Village School will take place at 6pm this evening in the antrium of Brent Civic Centre.

For the arguments against academies see the Anti Academies Alliance website HERE    The TUC, NASUWT, NUT, ATL, UCU, UNISON, UNITE, GMB, PCS, MU and FBU are affiliated to the Anti Academies Alliance.

Pavey challenges Butt for Brent Labour Group leadership

There has been little rest for Brent Labour councillors over the weekend following the news of likely contests for leadership at Saturday's Labour Group AGM.

Michael Pavey will be challenging Muhammed Butt for the leadership.  So far no job has emerged for Butt from Sadiq Khan, but intriguingly Butt's relatives seem to be pushing him as a possible successor in Khan's Tooting constituency.  George Galloway has hinted that he may stand in Tooting - what a combo!

Senior councillors rejected Butt's suggestion for deputy and I understand that a pliable pudding is standing.  Hopefully someone with more credibility will throw their hat into the ring

Sarah Marquis has been a well-informed and independent Chair of Planning, presiding over a committee of lesser talents. As Butt is a champion of Quintain and all its deeds he may push for someone more pliable in that role too.

Ruth Moher has been a low profile lead member for children and families and has frustrated many by her failure to take a firm position on forced academies.  Both Cllr Shama Tatler and Cllr 'Jumbo' Chan as teachers have a keen interest in education although there has been no confirmation either will challenge Moher for the role.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood has had to deal with Cllr Duffy's revelations over alleged Council incompetence at Environment and a contest between the two of them would be interesting.

Regeneration and housing are key areas,  particularly in the light of the GLA campaign and recent controversial regeneration projects, including South Kilburn, and there may be a challenge to Cllr Margaret McLennan based on a failure to stand up to developers on affordable housing provision.

There are a number of others who may come forward including the ambitious Cllr Roxanne Mashari and Cllr Sam Stopp. Stopp has recently made critical comments on the planning consultation procedures in the borough and called for more open and transparent dealings with residents. Matt Kelcher has probably been chair of Scrutiny for too short a period to face a challenge.

Overall however with 56 councillors, the majority of whom as far as the public are concerned are faceless, and because they don't speak at council meetings have little political form (apart from putting their hands up on command), it is hard to know how close Butt's critics are to garnering sufficient votes. 

Ex Cllr James Powney gives his account of the process on his blog LINK

Process in the Labour Group

It may be worth noting the due process in Group meetings, as they appear to have escaped Cllr Butt and possibly others.  Votes are held of all the paid up Labour councillors and no one else.  The vote is by secret ballot, and follows the rules known as "exhaustive ballot".  This means that where there are multiple candidates (as I imagine there would be if Cllr Pavey becomes leader as far as the Deputy Leader post goes), the candidate with the lowest number is elimated and a new vote taken, until somebody get 50% plus one of the votes.

The Group officers (such as Leader and Deputy Leader) are voted on by the whole group, as should other positions such as the Planning Chair and the members of the Executive.  This also applies to the new Deputy Mayor, but the Mayor post is normally taken by whoever was last year's deputy without an election. 

The Scrutiny positions are voted on by the non Executive members (i.e. excluding the Leader, Deputy Leader, Executive and (I think) the Mayor and Deputy Mayor.

Since all these votes are by secret ballot, they can be expected to take a long time and be unpredictable.  My past experience of such elections is that many councillors promise their votes to multiple candidates.  I take it from Cllr Butt's attempts to suspend one of his critics and other rumours I have heard, that he is far from confident of victory.

Kensal Green By-election Result

Chris Alley Conservative 255
Jumbo Chan Labour 931
Sarah Dickson Lib Dem 417
Jafar Hassan Green Party 102
Juliette Nibbs UKIP 38

Labour achieved 53% of the vote.
Turnout 20.3%

FULL RESULT

Five way contest in Kensal Green by-election

Nominations closed this afternoon for the Kensal Green by-election caused by the death of Labour councillor Dan Filson.

The candidates are:

Labour: Jumbo Chan
Green: Jafar Hassan
Liberal Democrat: Sarah Hickson
Conservative: Chris Alley
UKIP: Juliette Nibbs