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.