Cllr Shama Tatler moves on from Brent Cabinet to start a new role at the LGA

 Cllr Shama Tatler attended her last Brent Cabinet today to make a presentation on the next stage of the South Kilburn regeneration.

Cllr Tatler earned the nickname 'Towerblock Tatler' for her unapologetic support for highrise developments and densification in Brent housing projects.

From tomorrow she starts a new role at Head of the Labour Office at the Local Government Association.

Cllr Tatler will step down as the Cabinet lead for Regeneration, Planning and Growth  but says she will continue to support Brent Labour from the back benches.

She wrote on LinkIn:

Thank you to all my Cabinet colleagues, past and present and I wish my successor all the best in continuing to deliver progressive Regeneration and Planning for Brent's residents.

Allied Healthcare collapse impacts on Brent adult care provision

Care for older and disabled people in Brent who receive care from Allied Healthcare are facing uncertainty tonight with the news that the company is seeking to off-load its contracts to other providers.

The Care Quality Commission had warned the company last month that it had concerns about its financial viability and issued a notice to this effect. Some council had already begun the process of finding new providers although at the time of writing it is not clear whether this includes Brent.

Allied Healthcare claimed that the CQC statement had 'negatively impacted' on the company leading to loss of customers an d affecting staff retention and recruitment.

The BBC said tonight that it understood the company had been able to extend its credit for three weeks.

Ian Hudspeth, of the Local Government Association LGA, told the BBC that councils had "robust contingency plans in place". 

"Councils are confident of ensuring care for people affected and are also focused on retaining the highly valued staff that deliver these services to help keep the transition in business ownership as smooth as possible.'

In 2014 the Care Quality Commission inspected Allied Healthcare provision in Brent and found it needed improvement due to concern over the safety of its clients. LINK

Cllr Harbi Farah, Brent Council Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care told Wembley Matters:

We have a contingency plan to ensure vulnerable adults in Brent are supported, this is a priority for me and the department. I will update you.

Brent Council hails commercialisation and technological innovation as its potholes multiply

Sometimes we humble residents are unaware of how Brent Council is promoting itself outside the borough. Perhaps our experience of broken pavements, unfilled potholes, flytips, uncollected waste bins, unanswered telephone calls to the council, trouble free approval for nasty new developments and dodgy decision making blinds us to the shiny new world that the Council is busily building in public relations land.

Stephen Hughes gave delegates to the Local Government Association Conference a glimpse of that brave  new world when he spoke on a panel on 'commercialisation' LINK

Stephen Hughes, interim director of resources at Brent Council in London, said that IT had the capacity to transform services “in lots of different ways”.

However, he said that, although it was better to improve IT, “you can do an awful lot even if yours is not the best”. Councils could still get a lot out of commercialisation by rethinking their approach to services, he said, even if their IT offering could be improved.

Hughes said that his council was using shared services as a route to commercialisation. He noted that Brent are running the IT for the London General Assembly and Lewisham, as well as running the registration and nationalisation for Barnet and were in discussions for doing the same with Harrow.

All the speakers at the event stressed that, although commercialisation had been driven by increased austerity, it was something that councils would be working on anyway.

Advice for councils on how to increase revenue in this way included exploiting their brand and public trust - which Hughes said was important when getting involved in commercial enterprises – and focusing on customer needs.

Over at Community Care Magazine Brent Council extolls the range of gizmos that Brent Coucil offer in an advertorial LINK I hope sharp-eyed readers can spot the typo which exposes a deeper truth about the borough (and why is the borough referred to as 'Wembley' - rebranding?  That will get Kilburnite gnashing their teeth!):

iPhones, iPads and Zipcars, typically once-in-a-blue-moon luxuries, are the norm for their social workers. They enable them to work more flexibly and recently revamped their work environment into a high-tech Civic Centre. Which of course are much-deserved conveniences for social workers and signs that Brent care about their employees. It’s why they are one of the country’s 5% of employers to be awarded a Silver level Investors n People accreditation.

But crucially, these tools also unlock a better quality of care. They mean that social workers can spend less time in the office and more with the children and families that need their help. The iPad even provides a useful engagement tool, with games that can, for example, help a troubled child to open up. To serve Wembley, one of Britain’s most ethically, economically and socially diverse boroughs, arming social workers with a suite of such exercises is a major boost.

Thanks to Alan of Kilburn Unemloyed Workers Group  for drawing this item to my attention.

Will Brent Council make a stand on forced academisation?

On March 26th the statement below was sent to Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council and  Cllr Ruth Moher, Lead Cabinet member for Children and Families. I have had no response although other signatories may have done. 

 Statement by Chairs of Governors of Brent Primary Schools

We the under-signed are opposed to Government proposals to force all LA primary schools to convert to academy status because:

There is no evidence that this would improve the quality of teaching and learning in our school

It would remove local democratic accountability of schools through the local authority

It would further destabilise schools already affected by new curriculum and assessment demands and problems of recruitment and retention

The statement was also sent to our three local MPs, Dawn Butler, Tulip Siddiq and Barry Gardiner.

Dawn Butler wrote to Cllr Butt on March 29th: 

Dear Cllr Butt, 

I am writing to you in regards to my concerns about the Government’s proposals, announced in the Budget, to reform England’s schools system by instituting the forced academisation of all schools by 2020. 

The Government are claiming that the academies programme will transform education by helping to turn around struggling schools while providing the freedom for successful schools to build on their achievements even further. 

In practice, however, it seems that there is little substantive evidence to show that turning a school into an academy will automatically raise standards. Ofsted chair, Sir Michael Wilshaw recently criticised seven sizeable academy chains for failing to improve the results of too many pupils in their schools. 

I am concerned forced academisation will bypass consultation amongst parents, schools and communities particularly in local areas like Brent where vital ground-level knowledge is needed.

The Tories obsession with changing the school structure will do nothing to tackle the real problems facing our education system. A flawed teacher recruitment programme and retention crisis added to the widening attainment gap between poor pupils and their peers. Furthermore, I believe forced academisation will cause utter chaos for successful local schools, such as Wykeham Primary, who prove the very point that you do not need to be an academy to be a successful school. 

I want us in Brent to lead a fight back and bring schools back in to local authority control. I will fight the government and ask for money to make this happen. It is important that our schools work together.

Today I have also received letters from the Secretary of State for Education Nicky Morgan MP confirming that two further Brent schools, Oakington Manor Primary and Furness Primary, will be converted into academies, please see enclosed a copy of the letters. I hope you will share my concerns of this continued assault towards taking Brent schools out of Brent control.

Academies do not automatically equate to good schools.

I hope we can discuss this matter further, and I look forward to your reply. 

Yours sincerely, 

Dawn Butler MP

 Tulip Siddiq wrote back:

Many thanks for passing the below email to me.

Needless to say, I entirely agree with the three bullet points and I’ll keep you updated on Parliamentary work I do on this.

 As yet Barry Gardiner MP for Brent North has not replied.

Since then of course there has been a national petition against the forced academisation plans, statements of opposition from many councils, including Conservative shire councils and this weekend the unprecedented threat of industrial action by the National Association of Headteachers.

The Labour Group on the Local Government Association has published the following model resolution for councils that may help Brent coucnil make a stand:

 

Model Motion Opposing Forced Academisation
This council meeting notes with great concern the proposal in the recently published education White Paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, which will force all schools to become academies, irrespective of each school's wishes.

This council meeting notes that the White Paper’s proposals –

-       would remove the requirement for schools to elect parent governors.

-       would require the transfer of land and buildings of such schools to central ownership by the Secretary of State.

-       do not include any say for parents and local communities over the future status of local schools.

-       would require over 17,000 schools to conduct costly and lengthy conversion exercises at an estimated national cost of over £1billion.

 *OPTIONAL ADDITIONAL COMMENT* In [NAME OF TOWN], the cost of converting the [INSERT NUMBER OF NON-ACADEMY SCHOOLS] non-academy schools would be £[INSERT RESULT OF CALCULATION – NUMBER OF NON-ACADEMY SCHOOLS x £66,000]. 

This council meeting further notes – 

-       over 80 per cent of maintained schools have been rated good or excellent by Ofsted, while three times as many councils perform above the national average in terms of progress made by students than the largest academy chains.

-       the invaluable role of parent governors and the local authority in acting as ‘critical friends’ to both support and hold to account head teachers and schools.

-       the comments of The National Association of Head Teachers that plans to force every school to become an academy presented “a particularly high risk to the future viability and identity of small, rural, schools.”

This council meeting believes – 

-       no single system of school organisation has a monopoly on success, and that a one size fits all model as proposed by the White Paper would not deliver the improvement in school standards and outcomes that this council wishes to see. 

This council meeting therefore resolves to – 

-       ask the Leader of the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Education expressing the concerns of the council as set out in this motion about the proposals to force all schools to become academies, asking her to demonstrate how the proposals will improve educational outcomes in [NAME OF TOWN].

-       ask the Leader of the Council to write to our local MPs expressing the council’s concerns and to seek their views on the proposal. 

-       engage with head teachers, school governors, professional representatives, parents, and the wider local community to raise awareness of the Government’s proposals.

Grand Alliance needed to fight forced academisation

It was fitting that it was the Chancellor of the Exchequer who announced the new government policy of forcing every local authority school to become an academy because the policy has everything to do with the seizing of public assets for private profit and very little to do with education.

On Twitter yesterday I called it a proposal with no democratic mandate to abolish democratic accountability fo schools.

It is now widely acknowledged that there is no convincing proof that acdemisation improves the quality of education, even when judged solely by narrow examination results. At the same time Ofsted has been critical of the educational failure of some academy chains and the high salaries (creamed off from schools) that their CEOs command.

It is easy to ignore the fact that the public service ethos in local government is not just limited to Labour or Lib Dem led authorities but is also shared by some Conservatives. LINK   This shared commitment could be the basis of a Grand Alliance to fight to maintain the role of local authorities in the oversight of educational provision.

The statement by the Local Government Association yesterday LINK is particularly significant and an opportunity for dialogue with an influential body that could make an impact on the Chancellor's plans.

The government often claims that parents are in favour of 'freeing' schools from local authority 'control' but there is no evidence for this. London Councils research in September 2014 indicated that parents would like to see MORE powers for local authorities to intervene in poorly performing academies and free schools LINK:

A new report has found substantial variation and confusion about these things. According to research by You Gov for London Councils, parents are most likely to look to their local authority, rather than Ofsted or the Department for Education, if they have concerns about school governance or leadership, inappropriate treatment of their child by staff, educational issues or bullying.

This finding reflects many parents’ imperfect knowledge about where responsibility lies. For example, 38% of London parents with a child in an academy school believe their local authority has the power to step in if the school is under performing, and no less than 56% of those with youngsters in free schools believe the same.

In fact, local authorities have no such formal powers, as academies and free schools are run by central government. Yet many parents clearly wish they did. You Gov found strong parental support for councils having powers to intervention across the spectrum of state schools. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this was found to be highest, at 77%, among London parents with children at local authority maintained schools. However, 68% of parents with children at free schools and 63% of those with children at academies felt the same way. Even 35% of parents who’ve “gone private” would like their council to be able to step in in this way.

There was even stronger parental support for local authorities having influence over schools in their area expanding and supplying more places. At 81%, this is up by five points compared with the same time last year. London Councils thinks this particularly significant in view of its own estimate that the capital will need a further 133,000 school places, secondary and primary combined, by 2018 to accommodate its current baby boom. And it is highlighting all parts of the report suggesting parents favour local councils having more clout in education oversight and provision.

A campaign uniting education unions, governor organisations,  local authorities and parent groups could be very effective in maintaining the democratic accountability of schools, their public service ethos and saving them from privatisation.

In the short term there is the demonstration advertised above and a Twitter storm organised to coincide with Nicky Morgan's appearance on BBC 1 Question Time tonight:

Teacher ROAR ‏@TeacherROAR 1 hr1 hour ago

SPREAD THE WORD FOLKS! Twitterstorm tonight to coincide with Nicky Morgan on BBC QT. When the programme starts use the hashtag #tellNickyNO

A petition against the policy has also been launched: CLICK HERE TO GO TO PETITION

This is the wording of the petition:
 

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Hold a public inquiry and a referendum over turning all schools into academies 

The government has announced that every school in England will become an academy. This was not in their manifesto and is therefore a completely undemocratic move. 

There is growing evidence that academies underperform & serious questions about their financial oversight. Buildings & land are being handed over to unaccountable orgs. Once they are transferred there is no legal mechanism to get them back. Before all schools become academies we demand the government holds a full public inquiry - that takes into account educational research and the views of teachers, parents and students - followed by a referendum in order to show that they have a mandate.

  

LGA set out proposals on local government budgets and powers ahead of the Budget

The Local Government Association have issued the statement below which makes interesting reading in the light of discussion about how communities should resist local government cuts..

 

Councils could boost housebuilding, increase the number of school places and reduce unemployment if they are handed extra powers to run local services in this week’s Budget, town hall leaders say today.

The Local Government Association has set out a range of proposals for the Chancellor to consider as part of the Budget which would not only improve people’s lives and protect the local services valued by residents but would also deliver sustainable savings to the public purse.

The Chancellor has recently suggested further public sector spending cuts might be needed towards the end of the decade to combat slower than expected economic growth and to meet the Government’s manifesto pledge to achieve a surplus by 2020.

More than half of all day-to-day departmental spending by government – health, schools, defence and overseas aid – is currently protected. If this continues, other unprotected areas – including local government – could be hit once again as a result, the LGA said.

Councils face significant reductions to government grants over the next four years. Local government leaders are also warning George Osborne not to exacerbate these funding challenges by deepening planned cuts as part of his Budget this week.

Council funding cuts in recent years have had a knock-on effect on other parts of the public sector, such as the NHS, which are being left to pick up the pieces leading to a number of false economies. As a result, the LGA insists that ring-fencing certain budgets no longer makes any sense and could put the very services being protected at risk.

Lord Porter, LGA Chairman, said:

“Councils have more than played their part in trying to balance the nation’s books in recent years and all councils will have to continue to find substantial savings from local services to plug funding gaps over the next four years. Extra council tax powers and transitional funding will help some but won’t be enough to completely offset the full impact of funding pressures.

“Giving councils the option to fix longer-term funding settlements has been an important step and rightly recognised by government as being essential to give councils the financial certainty they need to protect local services. It would be perverse to then undermine this with further cuts handed down just one month later.

“Cutting local government to prop up other departments is a false economy. The Government should carefully consider the effect council funding cuts have on other parts of the public sector and whether to tear down the ring-fence around health and education spending.

“Pumping money into the NHS while councils receive less social care and public health funding is a false economy. A properly funded social care system is essential to alleviate the pressure on the NHS while schools and councils also need to be able to pool resources to ensure children are school ready, reduce drop-out rates and improve children’s physical and mental health.

“The Government should use our submission as the blueprint for empowering local government to play a leading role in balancing the nation’s books while improving public services and local economies.”

The future of local government should be an election issue

Readers may be interested In this editorial from the Local Government Chronicle LINK :

“Britain is walking tall again,” declared George Osborne in his Budget statement last week. For much of the past five years local government has felt a long way from walking tall after being targeted in a series of cuts that have diminished councils’ ability to provide for their local populations. “Local government is walking small and lean,” is a fair representation of its fate.

The chancellor made much in his speech of the projection that in 2019-20 public spending, as a share of gross domestic product, will be at the same level as it was in 2000, three years into the Blair administration. However, this line from his speech – a response to the critics accusing him of taking public spending back to 1930s levels – hardly tells the whole story.

Further swingeing cuts take place in the next few years before, according to the Treasury, spending perks up in what is set to be the year before the next general election. Any respite from austerity seems a long way away.

Councils will contrast their current position with that of 15 years’ ago. Their spending power is far lower, at a time the ageing population and growing awareness of the scale of need in children’s safeguarding leads to a far greater demand for services.

The Local Government Association this week revealed a projection stating that adult and children’s care would take up over 60% of councils’ tax revenue in 2019-20, leaving far less available for other services. Environmental services, libraries, roads, regulatory services and culture, in particular, face a very rough ride.

Little wonder then that the sector has been making its case for a sea change in both the government and the public’s attitude to the sector. Shortly before the pre-election purdah begins, this week saw the LGA launch its Future Funding campaign to raise awareness of the 40% budget cuts councils have experienced in the past five years and warn that we face “difficult decisions about which services continue”. Both it and the Special Interest Group of Metropolitan Authorities have produced slick but powerful videos explaining councils’ financial predicament.

Some may note the irony of a sector spending money on publicising the fact that it has little money. However, this expenditure really is a drop in the ocean. It is vital that everything possible is done to make the public – the voters – aware of the impact of councils’ financial hardship. This is not to make a party political point; it is equally entirely right that the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats point out the impact of the state running a massive deficit.

As Rob Whiteman points out, election debate too often takes the form of a lightweight and unbelievable soap opera. Discussion has focused on Ed Miliband’s two kitchens, with too little debate on the housing crisis which means that far too many people have no kitchen of their own at all. Sector leaders need to make their case loudly and clearly in an election crucial to local government’s destiny.

Gardiner: Councils must be allowed to build new schools

I wrote to Barry Gardiner, Labour MP for Brent North, recently, asking him to support the campaign for local authorities to be restored the right to build new schools to deal with the school places shortage.

This is his response:

Thank you for contacting me recently regarding school places and the related campaign by the NUT.

I share your concern and that of many parents, teachers and headteachers about the growing crisis in school places. Indeed, the number of primary schools with more than 800 places (so-called 'titan; schools) has trebled since 2010 and the number of infants in classes of 30 or more has doubled in the past year.

Recent figures from the National Audit Office (NAO) has also found that 256,000 new school places need to be provided by 2014/15 to meet increased demand and the Local Government Association (LGA) has also warned that 1,000 of the 2,277 local school planning districts will be  over capacity by 2015/16. Here in Brent there are currently 3.2% more children than school places which could rise to a 10.3% shortfall in 2016/17.

Providing a proper, high quality place for every child is one of the foremost duties for any Government and it is clear that responsibility for this growing crisis in school places rests squarely with the current Government.

Firstly, the Government has prioritised its Free School programme, which has often delivered new places in areas where there is not shortages. I firmly believe that in the current economic climate funding for new school places should be prioritised for areas where there is a genuine need and it cannot be right that millions of pounds have been spent opening free schools with a surplus of places.

The Government have also failed to provide a fair deal for capital spending in education, with the cut to education capital being greater than that of all other Government departments.

The Government have also refused to give Local Authorities the power to set up schools to respond to shortages. I believe that allowing local authorities this power could be a practical solution to ease the pressure on places and I know that many parents and organisations, including the NUT, are calling for urgent action to address this. I also believe it is important to look at how local communities could be given a bigger say when new schools are being created and how a local accountability framework for schools could be strengthened.



The Government should also ensure that there is a qualified teacher in every classroom.

I can assure you that I will continue to press the Government to address this growing crisis in school places and ensure that new schools are created in areas where they are most needed.