Progress on Green Charter but much more needs to be done

Heat loss = money wasted=global warming

 The Green Charter Monitoring Report  LINK that goes before the Brent Executive on Monday reports good progress but admits 'There is, however room for improvement over the next year'. Cllr James Powney, lead member for the Environment on a recent posting on his blog says that 'it is important that as a major employer in Brent we (Brent Council)  show the way if we are to have any credibility in getting others to follow'. LINK.

Although a lot of work has gone into energy savings in Brent buildings and Report emphasises the Civic Centre's green credential, I think the council could have done far more in terms of the existing  housing stock.  They seem to have  gained little from the funds available through the Community Energy Saving Programme aimed at areas of deprivation which ended in December 2012 or the Green Deal.  A successful bid was made to the 'Warm Homes for Healthy People Fund' which gained £150,000 to reduce fuel poverty which can be used to provide advice and pay for new boilers, insulated and other energy saving equipment.

In Brent during 2011-12 the report states:

• 54 homes with single glazed windows received new double glaxed windows
• 45 homes benefitted from additional loft or flat roof insulation
• 116 homes had cavity wall insulation installed
• 232 homes were fitted with a new, efficient condensing buildings

Although welcome these figures seem small beer compared with the number of houses and flats in the borough. By contrast this has just been issued by Energise Barnet as social enterprise in the London Borough of Barnet:

LONDON UK. 27 November 2012. Energise Barnet CIC, a social enterprise, has submitted a plan to Barnet Council to create £200 million of social, economic and environmental benefit through the installation of energy saving measures and renewables in 40,000 homes and buildings.

Under the plan, the CIC proposes that it provides the operational hub, generating leads for Green Deal Providers and other delivery partners through it's referral network of community organisations, businesses and tradespeople.

Nigel Farren, local resident and the CIC's founder, said "most of the 140,000 homes and buildings in Barnet are uninsulated and hardly anyone generates their own energy. As a result, owners and tenants spend more on gas and electricity than they need do. Barnet also has the highest carbon emissions of any London borough, some of the UK's highest energy consumption areas and there could be 50,000 residents in fuel poverty with associated health problems that adversely impact NHS costs."

He continued: "Through the Big Society Innovation Bank, the Council asked us to develop an effective approach to solve these issues and draw up a plan for delivery of the Green Deal which will enable people to improve their homes with no upfront cost and save money in the process.

Our plan will help the Council and delivery partners minimise cost and risk. It is the first of it's kind drawn up by a social enterprise and by asking us to draw up the plan, the Council has demonstrated that it wants to encourage local leadership in delivering community services in accordance with it's (sic) motto of "Putting the Community First".

 Brent Council needs to work with the Brent Housing Partnership and local housing associations to maximise their take up of the available grant schemes as well as pressurise private landlords to take action to insulate their properties. Muhammed Butt's intention to find ways of reducing fuel bills by a community procurement is obviously worthwhile but it needs to be accompanied by a large scale and systematic programme of retrofitting housing stock with double glazing and insulation.  Otherwise money will still be disappearing through roofs, thin walls and draughty windows.

Solar panels on the Brentfield Estate

Solar panels as a way of reducing fuel bills alongside such measures should also be considered and BHP has a model available in their work on the Brentfield Estate LINK

The Report covers the work on ensuring that new developments are sustainable and work that is being done in schools to reduce energy costs but I would like to see more on using the vast expanses of school roofs for solar panels for micro-generation. The extension of recycling to cover plastics and collection from flats is welcome but more needs to be done on persuading  commercial premises and industry to play their part. I have seen for myself the positive impact on children of cycling projects in schools.

Some of the entries on the RAG report raise a wry smile. The Coucil has handed out 100 free bags to encourage owners to scoop their dogs' poop and has given award packs to 4 owners who were seen cleaning up their dog's mess! 'Presence detectors' for the Civic Centre urinals sound like they could be fun...

Getting the message about Climate Change across to residents is clearly a challenge and there is mich scepticism to overcome. The Climate Change Pledge ( I confess I couldn't remember if I had signed, so I did again whilst writing this) has been signed by only 400 residents and 50 businesses. Minuscule compared with the population of the borough. The Pledge can be signed online HERE

Brent Council, Brent Campaign Against Climate Change and the College of North West London are jointly holding a Brent Students Conference on Climate Change on March 20th and there is an accompaying Competition for young people aged 11-12. Details HERE

One of the areas the Conference will look at is career opportunities in the green economy.  Given the massive regeneration project around Wembley Stadium I do feel that the Council could look forward both in terms of its climate  employment strategies, and consider setting up a Green Enterprise Zone in the area, backed up by training opportunities at the CNWL.
 





 

Preview of decisions to be made at Brent Council Executive on Monday

Monday's Meeting of the Brent Council Executive will be making some important decisions. Here is a preview of some of the post important ones:

Delegation of awarding of 'Supporting People Contracts' to achieve 'savings'
Re-procurement of existing services which provides housing support workers, sheltered housing managers, women’s refuge workers, etc. support vulnerable adults to prevent hospital admissions, evictions, mental ill health, homelessness and anti-social behaviour. The budget is additionally utilised to provide a range of non-statutory welfare services including handyperson, accident prevention, and hospital discharge support.

The council aims to make a reduction in costs (cut) of £900,000 through the new contracts. As they are due to run from February 1st there is no time for the Executive to make a decision so it is delegated to Head of Regeneration, Andy Donald and Director of Adult  Social Services, Alison Elliott in consultation with the lead members. LINK

Blue Badge Scheme for people with disabilities
Introduction of a £10 charge for Blue Badges usually payable every three years when badges are renewed plus tougher enforcement. LINK

Green Charter Monitoring
I will cover this in a separate posting. LINK 

Secondary School Expansion 2012-16
I have already blogged on these proposals which involve increasing the capacity of some secondary schools to cater for rising numbers. Kingsbury High will have 15 classes in each age group which will make it a very large school. My blog  HERE Executive Report LINK 

Capital funding for expansion of Vicar's Green Primary, Ealing
Vicar's Green is just over the border in Ealing and provides places for many Brent children. Brent will make a contribution to its expansion to provide more places subject to consultation LINK  

 London Living Wage 
Brent is aiming to becoming an accredited London Living Wage organisation itself and enouraging out-sourced suppliers to also pay it. It is not included as a requirement in the current Public Realm procurement.  My blog on it HERE Council Report: LINK 
 
 Working with Families
An integrated strategy to work with Brent's 810 'Troubled Families' aiming to save money by making it unnecessary for children to go into care and maximising Brent's income from the Government's 'Payment by Results' funding.(!)  It is worth reading the report in full LINK

Annual Audit Letter 2011-12
The letter from the Audiitor states:   
 Following the Audit Committee, on 28 September 2012 Ithe Auditor:
• issued unqualified opinions on the 2011/12 financial statements of the Council and the Pension Fund; and
• concluded that Brent Council made proper arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness in your use of resources in 2011/12.

London Housing Consortium
Proposes that the Brent Executive's responsibilities for the Consortium be discharged to the Lead Member for Housing and another non Executive member (TBC) who will be on the the newly formed Joint Committee of the London Housing Consortium LINK

 The meeting begins at 7pm at Committee Rooms 1-3 Brent Town Hall and is likely to be over by 7pm.

Natalie Bennett rounds on the 'real shirkers'

From the New  Statesman LINK

Natalie Bennett

Shirkers versus strivers – those have been the terms of this week’s biggest debate, over the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill.

Many important points have been made about the ridiculousness of the government’s various claims about the closed blinds or curtains of those who they identify as the “shirkers”, the unemployed – which will presumably include many of the employees of Jessops, who on the government’s account this week are strivers but will soon be “shirkers”. (Not to mention the fact that closed blinds in the morning might well indicate a night-shift worker…)

Many of the progressive side have, rightly, been rushing to say that people trapped in unemployment are not shirkers. It’s a term that, in the usual terms of the debate, rightly has a bad name.

But shirkers there are.

Group one of the shirkers are the employers who’ve shirked their responsibility to provide decently paid, secure, reliable jobs on which their staff can build a life, and that can be the foundation of the a secure, stable economy – which the future of their businesses must ultimately depend on. The CEOs and CFOs and their henchpeople have certainly shirked their responsibility to look beyond the next quarter’s profit-and-loss accounts, and their own annual bonuses.

We can offer excuses for some employers – the small retail businesses struggling to compete against the multinational giants who’ve been enjoying tax-dodging and monopolist benefits on a huge scale, the small wholesalers, farmers and manufacturers who’ve seen their profit margins squeezed by the same giant customers.

But there are no excuses for the profitable multinational giants, which have privileged the position of their shareholders and top managers at the expense of their staff – and their own long-term future, for ultimately they need customers who can afford their products, and staff on a minimum wage well below the level of a living wage, on part-time contracts and short shifts to maximise company convenience, and on the obscenity of zero-hours contract can’t do that. It’s the old Henry Ford story – he knew he needed to pay his production workers enough to buy their own Model Ts.

And there’s a second group of shirkers: the leaders of successive governments. The former Labour government has to bear a large share of the blame – how could it be after 13 years of their regime that the minimum wage was significantly, in the South East hugely, below a living wage, that people working in a full time job needed significant benefits – housing benefit and family tax credits – simply to survive?

Of course, the blame lies with more than just the single figure of an inadequate minimum wage. Labour did nothing against job insecurity, short-hours shifts and zero-hours contracts – indeed cut further the already Thatcher-slashed ability of the unions to fight for better conditions.

And it swallowed hook-line-and-sinker the neoliberal line about Britain being able to abandon food growing and manufacturing – importing essentials from developing nations, plundering their water and soils, exploiting their grossly underpaid workers – while relying on the “genius” of bankers and the luxury industries servicing them and their friends as a foundation for the British economy, a foundation that it turns out was built on shifting sands of fraud, incompetence and incomprehension of risk.

Further, it ignored the fact that in the low-carbon world we need to be moving towards fast supply chains must be shortened – the distance from field to plate for food cut to a minimum (for reasons of cost as well as carbon emissions), that most goods need to be made much closer to where they are needed.

What a shirking of responsibility that was.

But beyond the blame, we can look to the positive green economic shoots, the small signs of the future, the small businesses, cooperatives, social enterprises and community groups - the true strivers, who against all of the odds, against the efforts of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition to intensify the neo-Thatcherite policies in Blair-Brownism, are trying to start to rebuild a sustainable British economy.

Whether it is the Transition groups up and down the country, promoting food growing, jam-making, baking and encouraging crafts, innovative small co-operatives like Who Made My Pants? or The People’s Supermarket who are building a new model of business, or groups setting up new community-owned generation schemes, there are strivers who are now trying, from the grassroots, working to build the new British economy.

And then there’s the countless other individual strivers – the parents struggling to give their children a decent life with inadequate funds, going without meals themselves so their children eat properly; the carers who for the measly sum of £58.45 labour huge hours, with inadequate chances for relief, for their loved ones; the unemployed who battle on for employment, completing courses, putting in applications, even in the face of multiple knockbacks and government insults.

So maybe we can rescue the terms shirkers and strivers. Let’s highlight the real shirkers – most of whom fit in the Occupy classification of the 1% - and celebrate the many strivers, the 99%. With those ratios, the future of Britain can only be bright.

Muhammed Butt promises to consult on Brent budget

Following my posting on the lack of consultation on the Brent Budget LINK, Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt has sent me this comment:

I can assure you that we will be consulting on the budget. I am formalising dates and times with the consultation team and will get back to you and we will let everyone know as soon as things have been set.

We have not been able to put the budget on the agenda due to the government giving us our funding settlement figures so late and they are still giving us the data in chunks which is making setting the budget process very difficult.

Everyone has the opportunity to use the soap box to highlight any issues and concerns to us at every forum and would encourage you to use that and you can always suggest topics of conversation for the forums.

We are always looking to find different formats and topics that will allow us to engage better with our residents.

Better data needed to monitor successful recycling

'Green' bin in Salmon Street, Kingsbury this week

Green groups in Brent expressed fears that the new co-mingled recycling (everything put into one bin and emptied into one truck) would produce more contamination than the green box system where different materials were sorted at the pavement stage and put into different compartments of a lorry. This would result in more material being rejected at the recycling plant and ending up in landfill.

Now that the scheme has been running for some time I put in an Freedom of Information request to see if the amount of recyclates collected, which have increased now that some plastics are collected, was affected by increased contamination.

Unfortunately some data is not recorded so it is hard to get a full picture but the recent rejection rate seems to vary between  4% and 12%. It is argued that the recycling rate has still increased taking this into account.

Here are the full answers. Thanks to Chris Whyte for another quick response (Answers in bold)

1. What proportion of material collected in the co-mingled 'blue top' bins has been rejected at the Material Recycling  Facility (MRF)  since the new system was introduced as:

  a. Contaminated. The most recent sampling shows the prohibited fraction can range from 4% to 12%

b. Not recycled under the present scheme: As above. This is the same waste. The overall recycling rate has increased from 31% to 45% and this accounts for the prohibited fraction.

 2. How does this proportion differ from the previous separated green box system? Not recorded. This was a different system that saw prohibited items removed at source. Thus there is no real comparison.

 3. Please provide a table to show whether the proportion rejectedhas declined over time as residents have become familiar with the system. Regular sampling is not undertaken and the prohibited can
fluctuate from period to period. Our records show an overall increase in the amount, and percentage of, waste recycled since the new service began.

 4. If data is available please provide the above information for recyclables collected from communal recycling bins from flats. Not separately recorded.

5. What has been the cost of sending these rejected materials to landfill? There is no additional cost to the council for landfilling prohibited waste that is rejected. The  cost is contained within the £22
per tonnage charge for accessing the Material Recycling Facility (MRF). This represents a £70 per tonne reduction on waste collected for landfill through the refuse service.

 

Was Brent Council's leafleting licensing a success?

Brent Council's revised regulations regarding the licensing of leaflet distribution designated areas  the borough caused considerable controversy last Spring. Initially said to be aimed at limiting litter during the Olympics it was later justified as merely tightening up existing regulations. LINK

There were concerns that voluntary organisations and campaigning groups may have had to request a licence months in  advance of any events and the impact this would make on free speech. The complex regulations seemed to be using a sledgehammer to break a nut and suspicions that it was a disguised money making venture that would impact on small business.

No one has come to me to say that 'political' leafleting has been affected but I made a Freedom of Information request top find out how much licensing had actually take place.

I got a very quick response (thanks, Yogini Patel ) and here are answers to my questions (Answer in bold):

1. How many licences were issued after the introduction of the new regulations up to December 31st 2012?  20
   

2. How many were refused? 4

3. List the number of licences issued for each designated area? Wembley 18, Neasden 2

4. List the number of licences issued during the period of the Olympic Games 2012 compared with the normal period. 9 during Olympics, 11 outside Olympics 


5. How many unlicensed distributors were given warnings by council officers? 28

6. How many leaflets were confiscated from unlicensed operators and on how many occasions was this? Leaflets were confiscated on 15 occasions ranging from 150-300 on each occasion

6. How much increase was there in the amount of littering in designated areas during the Olympic Games 2012 compared with normal times? This information is not gathered but observations suggest that during the Olympics streets appeared to have less litter.

Bigging up Brent Connects, but what about the budget?

Some of Brent Council's sternest critics are featured in this new video from Brent Council extolling the virtues of the council-resident 'dialogue' that take place at the Brent Connects Forums (formerly Area Consultation Forums). I didn't attend Brent Connects Kilburn and Kensal featured in this video but that panel debate format here certainly seems to have produced a livelier meeting. The format hasn't been adopted for all the Brent Connects events. This notice  for Brent Connects Wembley to be held at the Patidar Centre, London Road on Tuesday Jan 15th, with due respect to the councillors concerned, failed to excite me:

 One half of the forum will be devoted to portfolio updates from two members of the council’s Executive

* Cllr Krupesh Hirani – Lead Member for Adults and Health

* Cllr George Crane – Lead Member for Regeneration and Major Projects.

 This is an excellent opportunity for residents, service users and stakeholder groups to put questions on specific council portfolio to key-decision makers to help foster greater understanding of council initiatives. A full agenda will be available at the forum. 

The most important decision the council will be making this year, the 2013-14 budget proposals, does not feature on any of the current  Brent Connect agenda and by the time the next round comes round the cuts and increased charges wil have been implemented.

I criticised the lack of substance in the consultation last year, with no detailed proposals available, but this year there is no consultation at all.

Brent housing crisis hits the headlines

Wembley and Willesden Observer 10.3.13

Brent School Wars Intensify

The locally well regarded Gladstone Park Primary School faces being forced to become an academy after an Ofsted inspection at the end of last year categorised it a Grade 4: 'Inadequate'. At the beginning of 2011 an interim inspection had given it a continuing Grade 2: 'Good' LINK with Christine Gilbert,  the head of Ofsted writing:

 I am pleased to inform you that our interim assessment shows that the school’s performance has been sustained and that we can defer its next full inspection.

As a result, the next full inspection will not take place any earlier than the summer term 2012 unless we receive information in the course of the coming year that causes us to inspect earlier. I wish everyone involved in the school continued success in the future.

 A  'desk top' grade of 4 in November 2012 has clearly left all concerned puzzled about what happened in the interim apart from the changes that took place in the Ofsted Inspection framework.

There was a meeting at the school for parents yesterday to report on the inspection. One parent told me:

For many, it was the first they'd heard of the push from the Department of Education for Academy status, and there were spontaneous exclamations of 'No!' 'and 'Why?!' on finding out this was the implication of the OFSTED inspection. I think it's fair to say most of those present are against forced academisation, and there was an almost unanimous sense that the term 'inadequate' bears no relation whatsoever to children's everyday experience at school.

In what someone has dubbed the 'Return of the Dragon' former Brent Director of Education Jacky Griffin has been given the task of managing the transition to academy status. It appears that some governors and parents are determined to challenge the Ofsted findings and the forced academy and I will keep you updated with events. At present there has been no statement from Brent Council or Brent councillors about the situation.

It is fair to say that Jacky Griffin was not universally popular in Brent. She moved on to Kensington and Chelsea where she got an early retirement deal after her job was restructured out of existence.She now has a role with the DfE in promoting academies and free schools.

So it was rather interesting to hear new Brent Interim Chief Executive Christine Gilbert fronting a report that was critical of some academies' covert selection of pupils to boost results. LINK  Gilbert, who is the former chief of Ofsted, inherits a situation in which most non-voluntary aided secondary schools in Brent  have become academies with  possible conflict at Preston Manor over academy conversion and a Gladstone Park resistance campaign possible.

To cap all this there are several free school applications in the offing in the borough with rumours circulating that the building identified by Katherine Birbalsingh's 'Michael Academy' may be Arena House, opposite Wembley Park Station, which is being sold off by the College of North West London to raise money. Teacher unions in Brent are campaigning against the Free School and seeking support from the Labour Council. Michaela Academy has been resisted by two other London boroughs. If true this means that there would be three schools in the same vicinity with Preston Manor down the road and Ark Academy opposite. There is also the possibility of a 1,500 pupil Lycee at Brent Town Hall.

See my earlier reports on the background to Birbalsingh.LINK1    LINK2

General Election campaign starts early in Brent Central

 With Sarah Teather pedalling furiously leftwards to distance herself from the Coalition the Labour Party has named Brent Central as one of its target seats with a claim that they would need only a 1.5% swing to Labour to win the seat. LINK

Dawn and friend

 Brent Central Labour Party will be starting the selection of their General Election candidate soon. As, unless the Coaliton falls apart, the next General Election is not until May 7th 2015,   we can look forward to a long-campaign of press releases and photo-calls over the next two years or so.

Former  Brent South MP Dawn Butler has made sure she is seen at high profile events in the constituency and told the Evening Standard in October that she would stand to 'exonerate herself' over the expenses row she was invoved in when  an MP. LINK

Zaffar Kalwala

There have been rumours that thrusting young councillor Zaffar Kalwala is interested. He has certainly concentrated his fire on  Sarah Teather consistently over the last two years from his Stonebridge base as well as the council chamber LINK

It is generally thought that Teather's campaign last time was to the left of Butler's and some Labour Party members are opposed to her reselection, not least because of issues over her expenses when she was an MP and even the controversy over an endorsement of her by Barack Obama on House of Commons notepaper LINK although at the time she was stoutly defended by James Powney LINK  Her current website leaves a lot to be desired.LINK  However others dismiss Kalwala as a light-weight and rumours that James Powney is interested, having proved his mettle in making cuts, have been discounted.


It  looks as if the net will be cast wider and there is always a possibility that Labour nationally will sponsor a 'big name' candidate from outside of Brent.

Meanwhile locally it is unclear whether the twin strategies of Teather's rebellion and the local Lib Dems posing as anti-cuts activists and avoiding being tainted by the Coalition cuts will keep Labour at bay. There was some recent press coverage that suggested the Lib Dem vote in local by-elections was holding up despite the Coalition and that voters were separating local from national issues in their voting intentions.

Perhaps it is time for Brent Lib Dems to put that to the test in the two council seats where their councillors no longer live in Brent.

Butt confirms no 2% council tax rise this year

Mike Bowden, Assistant Director of Brent Finance gave a presentation to the Budget and Finance Overview and Scrutiny Committee in November 2012  that assumed a council tax rise of 3.5% for the 2013-14 council budget LINK. Shortly afterwards Eric Pickles established a requirement for a local referendum if increases were above a 2% threshold. Last year a number of councils of various political hues increased council tax below the 3.5% threshold that existed then.

I understand that there has been discussion in the Brent Executive as to whether to raise Council Tax with the benefit marginal after grant losses and  a reduced collection rate are taken into account. A rise above 2% would have incurred the cost of a local referendum.  It would of course have been another additional cost for people already suffering from benefit cuts and low or frozen wages. An alternative view is that calling the Coalition's bluff and triggering a referendum could result in a proper political debate about the need to adequately fund  local services and the iniquities of the Coalition's grant reduction to local authorities. Only a very small percentage of local government revenue comes from council taxes and charges.

Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt has confirmed via a Facebook interchange with me that there will not be a 2% rise this year. Asked about a possible lower rise he said that the Council was looking at the settlement figures as part of the budgetary process and considering the offer of the freeze grant.

Council consults on new travel policy for children with SEN

Readers will remember that Brent Council was forced to apologise when the West London Alliance transport system for children with Special Educational Needs left some abandoned in September last year LINK.  The Council is now consulting on a new travel policy. The notice is published below:

Parents, carers and schools are being asked for their views on a new travel policy being proposed for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

We have a legal duty to make sure suitable travel arrangements are in place for eligible children and young people to attend schools and colleges. The West London Alliance (WLA), which includes Brent, Hounslow, Ealing and Harrow councils, agreed jointly to ensure the most consistent, efficient and effective service is achieved with the resources available.

Consultation is taking place in the boroughs simultaneously until 10 February 2013.

• View the school travel consultation here

The proposals are also being presented at two meetings taking place at Brent Town Hall on:

• 22 January 3pm - 5pm in Committee Rooms 1, 2 and 3
• 24 January 7pm - 9pm in the Council Chamber.

Light refreshments will be available.

Comments and views from the meetings will be included in the WLA's final SEN travel policy report, which will be presented to the council's Executive for a decision in April.

If adopted, the new policy will continue to provide transport support for those pupils who need it and have no other reasonable alternative, but will also offer assistance to those pupils who want to travel independently and are potentially capable of doing so.  

This support will be through an accredited travel training scheme to enable pupils to safely develop the necessary skills needed for them to travel independently.

A full-time travel trainer, based at Woodfield Special School, currently trains over 20 pupils from the school to travel on their own every year.

In Brent, over 700 parents and carers as well as special schools and voluntary organisations have been contacted and invited to have their say on the new travel policy.

Butt under pressure but sticks to strategy of acquiescence to cuts

There was a lively discussion yesterday evening when Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt met with members of the Brent LRC (Labour Representation Committee) which is a group of left-wing Labour supporters. Cllr Butt was accompanied by his political adviser.

Butt reiterated his commitment to setting a 'legal' budget although observers pointed out that it was not illegal to set a needs based budget and no surcharge is involved under current legislation. All that would happen is that council officers would implement the Coalition imposed cuts.

He said that there would be an additional 2% of cuts on top of those in the three year budget plan but that in 2013-14 the overall cuts are  likely to be less than in the last 2 years. Although figures must have been drawn up by now he gave no details to the audience. More cuts are in the Coalition pipeline for 2014-15 and onwards.

It was unclear what, if any, public discussion or consultation would take place about the budget despite requests (including mine at the Budget and Finance Scrutiny Committee in December)  that the period be used to build support for a needs led budget. This would be used as campaigning tool backed by  the Brent  public so that pressure, alongside that of other councils could be put on the Coalition to reduce or reverse cuts in local government funding.

LRC members were disappointed by  what they see as the council's acquiescence in Coalition cuts. One commented, 'They lack any concept of, or confidence in, a class fightback. At best they can see the need for modestly ameliorative policy measures. Even that takes a struggle with the right wing. That's how bad things are.'

Further disappointment came when Cllr Claudia Hector, who has previously been critical of cuts, said according to one source that the public were not in the mood for a fightback so that the Butt programme was all that could be done. Another source, who attended the meeting,  felt this wasn't an entirely fair summary of her comment stating,.  'When someone compared the situation to that of fighting the Poll Tax at the end of the 1980s, Claudia  said that there wasn't the same level of public awareness on the issues'.

Asked if paying employees the London Living Wage, which is Council policy LINK,  had been written into the multi-million Public Realm contract covering waste, recycling and parks maintenance that is currently being procured, Cllr Butt said it had not - leaving his audience somewhat puzzled.

On a slightly more optimistic note Muhammed Butt  made it clear that he opposes academies and free schools and would issue a statement on the issue if there was any local action.

Greens call on MPs to vote against 'mean and miserable' Welfare Bill

Together we shout (We are Spartacus)

As the Commons debate welfare benefits and ex Coalition Sarah Teather wields her new found conscience the Green Party has called upon all MPs to reject the coalition’s Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill. 

The Bill, which has its Second Reading in Parliament today, would raise benefits by 1% per year until April 2015. The current policy sees benefits rise in line with inflation, and so welfare recipients will have a real-terms cut. 

In the debate Caroline Lucas said that this was 'mean and miserable legislation' by a 'mean and miserable' government.

Natalie Bennett, leader of the Green Party, said::

MPs are being asked whether they are prepared to deliberately, with all of the facts before them, choose to significantly reduce the living standards of millions of their voters.

 

We can start with the one in five UK workers paid less than a living wage – who either as parents, or as householders, will have been receiving state support to enable them to continue to live. The responsibility should being lying with their employers - if they all paid a living wage the net benefit to the government would be about  £7.5 billion - but the government is showing no inclination to lift the minimum wage to a liveable level, ending the past decades of corporate welfare payments. 

We can also add in the hundreds of thousands of people surviving – not living, but surviving - on the measly sum of £71/week or less in job seekers’ allowance.

And we can add in millions of children. As the Child Poverty Action group says, the Bill can “only increase absolute child poverty, relative child poverty and material deprivation for children”.  Its figures show that having slowly got the rate of child poverty below 20%, the rate is set under this regime to leap back to 25% in a decade.

Not only is the cut immoral, but it is economically illiterate - facing the clear risk of a triple-dip recession, the government is planning to pull millions of pounds out of the pockets of people who, had they received it, would certainly have fed the money back into the economy in buying food, buying energy, and buying services.

The Green Party argues that the only ethical and effective way of reducing social security costs is to create jobs - not slash budgets. 

Natalie said: 

What we need to do in the longer term is change the direction of the British economy – bring manufacturing and food production back to Britain, restore strong, diverse local economies built around small businesses and co-operatives paying decent wages on which their staff can build lives and communities.

That’s a longterm project – but today we can think about the British people – the nurses, the soldiers, the teaching staff, the local government workers, and yes, the unemployed – and say no to the Welfare Benefits Up-rating Bill.

That’s what Green MP Caroline Lucas will be doing in Westminster today. What’s your MP doing?

Birbalsingh Free School not welcome in Brent say teacher unions

Following my story just before Christmas on Michael Gove's controversial friend Katherine Birbalsingh's announcement  that  she has acquired a secondary  free school site in Wembley Park LINK, Brent teacher unions have issued the following joint statement:

Katherine Birbalsingh

The joint teachers' unions in Brent are very concerned that Katharine Birbalsingh, having failed to get premises first in Lambeth and then in Wandsworth due to parents, teachers and the community campaigning against, is aiming to open her 'free school' the 'Michaela community school' in the Wembley Park area.

It is uncertain where the proposed site is and there is little information on her website as to consultation with the community with the promised meetings for parents not advertised. Birbalsingh has said that ICT would not be taught at her school because the emphasis would be on maths, English and foreign languages, not skills. Birbalsingh has already been accused of wasting taxpayers' money by parents and teachers in Lambeth and Wandsworth. Each time money has been spent on PR, consultants, website design, leaflets and letters, hire of halls for public meetings, etc. The Department for Education have refused to give the information on how much has been spent saying that this information will be given when the school opens in September 2013! She has even appointed herself as the 'headmistress' according to the website – appointed by whom?

Michael Gove

 Jean Roberts, BTA Secretary said,:

Planning for school places has to be done in collaboration with the local community. Putting this school in the Wembley Park area will directly compete with our existing local schools, including the ARK academy, Preston Manor, Copland, Wembley High and the Crest academies (who are currently building new schools with increased capacity) and it is not where the shortage of school place are.
Evidence from ‘free’ schools has shown that they lead to increased social segregation, lower attainment and the Breckland Free school in Suffolk is the first being run for profit with more to come. These are not the kind of schools that will improve the attainment of any pupils except those she decides to 'select'. The free school movement is part of the plan to privatise our services and will worsen education. We will campaign strongly against such a school.

Shane Johnschwager, NASUWT Branch Secretary and National Executive Member said:

Brent schools are in the top 10 per cent in the country. This was achieved through the collaborative community approach to state education that Free School’s seek to undermine. All those who live in and send their kids to school in Brent because of traditional Brent Values should oppose this school..

Hank Roberts, ATL Branch Secretary and National President said:

We should pay serious attention to the fact that Birbalsingh and her proposals have been rejected by two communities in South London. Now she is trying it in North West London. We in Brent need to send her packing too.

Greens give 'shambolic' Coalition a fail for mid-term review

The Green Party has criticised the government’s mid-term review today for failing to acknowledge the coalition’s mistakes after two years of shambolic policy making - or to offer a coherent vision for a better future.

Caroline Lucas, MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:

 The unsightly spectacle of Cameron and Clegg renewing their political vows for the cameras today can't mask the reality that this is a government dangerously bereft of ideas.

With its reckless austerity programme having failed miserably to get the economy moving or reduce the deficit, and the harsh consequences of unfair and incoherent cuts to welfare and services being felt in communities across the UK, the only grade possible for this mid-term report is 'fail'.

Serious measures to address climate change and the environmental crisis remain conspicuous by their absence. The government is ignoring the huge opportunities for job creation and economic security that a nationwide investment in new green infrastructure would create.

Green Party leader Natalie Bennett said :

With many pensioners living in poverty, what we need to do is institute a ‘citizen’s pension’ of £164 for single pensioners and £289 for couples, which would immediately lift all pensioners above the government’s poverty line.

We have sufficient resources, if multinational companies and rich individuals pay their fair share of tax, to ensure all of our older residents have a decent quality of life. We owe it to the people who’ve contributed throughout their lives through paid and unpaid work.

On the childcare funding proposal, Natalie said:

The cost of childcare is a huge problem for parents, with the cost burden weighing far more heavily in Britain than it does across the rest of Europe.

An acknowledgement of the problem this presents is welcome; we’re going to have to wait to understand the detail of how this system will work to see if it will fairly help parents without undue paperwork and complications.

However, there’s cause for concern in proposals to reduce the quality of childcare by reducing caring ratios and loosening quality regulations – children need good quality care for their health and development, and parents need to be confident that their children are being well looked after.

Invisible killer in our sights this year

We have several spots in Brent where air pollution is often above recommended safety  levels such as Neasden Lane, Ikea on the North Circular and near John Keble School in Harlesden. LINK

It is good then to welcome renewed focus on the issue with the launch of the European Year of Clear Air.

Keith Taylor the Green  MEP  for South East England joined campaigners and other politicians in launching the Year. With key European legislation up for review this year, and an estimated half a million premature deaths in Europe caused by air pollution, Mr Taylor is calling for the UK government to halt its efforts to weaken existing EU air quality standards..

EU air quality safe levels were set in the 90´s and there have been mixed results since then. While air quality has generally improved the levels of some dangerous pollutants has increased. Currently 95% of city residents in the European Union breathe ozone at levels exceeding World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended levels.

In the UK air pollution causes 29,000 deaths and contributes to over 200,000 premature deaths per year. In Mr Taylor’s constituency, the South East of England, the problem of air pollution particularly affects both city dwellers and the thousands of people who commute into London.

Mr Taylor said:

With children and the elderly being hit hardest by poor air quality, and the levels of some noxious pollutants on the rise, we badly need to see strong legislation from the European Union in 2013.”

The UK government has been accused by campaigners of attempting to weaken air pollution legislation. The UK department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs proposed “Working in partnership with other Member States, we will … amendments to the Air Quality Directive which reduce the infraction risk faced by most Member States, especially in relation to nitrogen dioxide provisions’.

 Responding to this Mr Taylor said

It beggars belief that the UK Government is trying to water down European Legislation that will protect the lives of British citizens. I urge them to back strong laws on air pollution and to improve people’s health.”

 Keith recently published a public information leaflet, ‘Air Pollution: The Invisible Killer’, to raise awareness of air pollution and its damaging health impacts. The leaflet explains how air pollution is created, how widespread the problem is, how it affects our health and how pollution can be reduced.

Teather says why she will vote against the Government on welfare tomorrow

Sarah Teather, Lib Dem MP for Brent Central who was sacked by David Cameron from her government position, explained on the World at One today why she will rebel on the Welfare Benefit vote in the House of Commons tomorrow.

listen to ‘Sarah Teather explains on The World at One why she will rebel on government benefits vote’ on Audioboo

The human cost of out-sourcing: Justice for the 33

Some of the 33 sacked workers outside Wembley Central today

A demonstration was held today outside Wembley Central station for 33 agency workers employed by Railpeople who were given notice of the termination of their contracts just before Christmas. The agency deployed them in the Wembley Central Group on various duties for London Underground.  The workers had achieved  7 100% consecutive Customer Service marks during the Olympics and now their Olympic 'legacy' is loss of their jobs.

They were turned down for alternative permanent jobs with London Underground (doing the same kind of thing they were doing on short-term, zero hours, no pension contracts). Instead they employed people who hadn't doen the jobs before.  HT apparently told them that although they were good enough to do the jobs as agency staff they weren't good enough to work directly for London Underground.

When London Underground took control of the stations north of Queens Park in 2008 that the casualisation of the job, particularly the use of agency workers, lead to a dispute as a result of which LU assured the RMT that the use of agency staff would be temporary, lasting a maximum of six months. Some of the workers have been with Trainpeople agency for five years!

The RMT has taken up their case and are demanding that all LU trained station staff working for Trainpeople agency should be transferred over to LU without having to apply for the job,

Bob Crow of the RMT made an impassioned speech putting the sackings in the context of privatisation and austerity, Navin Shah AM  cited equality (all the 33 are members of ethnic minorities) as the big issue and promised to take the case up with London Underground, TfL and the Major, and Councillor Nana Asante from Harrow pledged her support.

However the speech that stayed with me was from one of the workers who spoke movingly about the real impact on her and the sense of bewilderment she felt.

Brent Council to act on London Living Wage

London Citizens as well as the Green Party have supported a London Living Wage

 A report going before the next Brent Executive recommends the following actions:

That the Executive agrees to the Council seeking Accreditation as a London Living Wage Employer.

That the Executive agrees to the take positive steps to review its existing contracts over a three year period on a case by case basis to wherever possible apply LLW criteria.

That Social Care  contracts are examined with the London Living Wage Foundation and other LLW Boroughs to explore the application of LLW.

That the Executive agrees that Officers should act to promote the application of the LLW to schools, businesses and other organisations within Brent.

The Executive agrees that subject to Finance, Procurement and Legal advice officers seek to apply the LLW consideration when tendering

A further recommendation states:

That Members note the comments of the Deputy Director of Finance regarding the potential cost of applying LLW.

A dispute between Muhammed Butt and Gareth Daniel over the affordability of  paying the London Living Wage is widely believed to have contributed to the latter's demise.   Directly employed Brent staff and agency workers employed by the Council will all be on the London Living Wage by October this year. Problems arise over out-sourced staff such as social carers and those employed by schools.

Governing bodies, rather than the council, make school employment decisions so the council will seek to influence schools rather than direct them. Potential legal difficulties are also likely in terms of the council's duty to seek 'best value' in terms of procurement and they would need to demonstrate that paying the London Living Wage would enhance the service. This might be an issue in the huge public realm contract that was advertised before Christmas covering waste collection recycling  street cleaning and parks maintenance. The sole award criteria is 'the most economic tender' which suggests low wages LINK

The report makes a persuasive case for paying the London Living Wage which has been a campaigning aim of the Green Party since its inception in 2005 but which in 2011 was only paid by a handful of London Councils. The Green Party also supports a national living wage.

Income is one of the key determinants of building in individual and community resilience to these unprecedented economic circumstances. Brent is described as a ‘low income’ Borough and its’ patterns of occupations have been in sectors where pay is lower than average. By signing up to the London Living Wage the Council can by its actions show commitment and Leadership to lift the incomes of both its residents and people who work for it.

The main benefits which have been so far experienced by both Public and Private Sectors in applying the London Living Wage have been:

• lower staff turnover

• improved productivity

• lower sickness absence

In addition by applying and extending London Living Wage the Council would be in a position to help encourage employers who pay low wages to set a minimum pay rate that enables employees to provide the essentials of life. It will also fit squarely with the Councils vision and values and promote the recruitment and retention of a high quality workforce to deliver for the Council and its Communities.

I welcome the Council's move but regret that this is in the context of  the overall cuts in council jobs (with more to come) and the imposition of flexible working on council staff.

For doubters about the efficacy of the policy this report from the BBC may help change your mind. It is argued that paying the Living Wage could actually save £2bn: LINK

Demonstration at Wembley Central Station Monday on behalf of sacked agency workers

RMT members will be demonstrating outside Wembley Central Station on Monday January 7th at 1pm. The demonstration is on behalf of 33 agency workers who were sacked just before Christmas. Tomorrow morning at 0650 the LBC breakfast show on 97.3 FM will be highlighting the campaign.

The 33  Trainspeople Agency workers had been employed on LUL contracts for the past 5 years According to the RMT they were denied applying for jobs that were available on LUL despite the agency workers regulations expressly forbidding this.

The RMT forecast a noisy and vibrant demonstration.

Information about the Trainspeople agency HERE