Sir Alan Davies pleads guilty to six charges of false accounting but conspiracy to defraud charges dropped

Sir Alan outside Copland with David Cameron

Sir Alan Davies, the former headteacher of Copland Community School in Wembley, on trial at Southwark Crown Court today, pleaded guilty to six out of the eight charges against him.

He was on trial with others for allegedly misappropriating school funds from the school to a total of £2.7 million. The six charges were for false accounting.

He had originally pleaded not guilty. Observers suggest a plea bargain  might have been struck whereby the charges of conspiracy and money laundering were dropped for him to plead guilty to the lesser charges.

Hank Roberts, the original whistleblower, said:

He has admitted to six charges of false accounting after years of claiming his innocence. Why has it taken four years to bring this to trial? It's a school not a multinational. He wasted thousands and thousands of pounds of tax payers money by maintaining this façade of innocence causing a lengthy and expensive Brent Council and 'Fraud Squad' investigation”.

I was justified in my whistleblowing. Scrutiny and oversight of school finances has seriously been tightened up in Brent and to some extent around the country. The growth of academies and free schools, however, is only making the problem of adequate oversight worse.

Lesley Gouldbourne, Joint Brent Teachers Association Secretary, said:

It has taken four long years but at last the truth has come out. Now he should pay back Brent the cost of the investigation and lose his knighthood.

In its coverage of the story the Kilburn Times LINK states:

William Clegg QC, defending, said it was agreed with the prosecution ‘that all monies paid to Sir Alan were honestly paid to him and honestly received by him'.

Sir Alan will be sentenced tomorrow on the six false accounting charges to which he pleaded guilty.

Copland Community School recently failed its Ofsted inspection and an Interim Executive Board was appointed to replace the governing body. There have been two teachers' strikes over moves to force the school to become an academy.

Greens hail community victory over Pinkham Way waste plant

Euro-MP Jean Lambert has welcomed the decision to scrap plans for a massive rubbish treatment plant in north London, in the face of opposition from community, environmental and human rights groups.

The proposed site at Pinkham Way between would have handled about 300,000 tonnes of waste each year – more than 1% of the national total – from seven London boroughs: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Waltham Forest, despite being less than 80m from the nearest housing and

with 14 schools lying within 1.5km of the site.

Ms Lambert, the capital’s Green Party MEP, said:

I am delighted that the North London Waste Authority has decided to ditch the proposals for Pinkham Way treatment plant. It’s a massive victory for local campaigners.

Now the North London Waste Authority should think about using existing sites more effectively, working to reduce household waste levels, and building smaller sites, closer to where the waste is being produced, where these prove absolutely necessary rather than developing systems that rely on ongoing waste production.

Green Party leaders back striking teachers

Youngsters support striking teachers in West Yorkshire

Green Party Deputy leader, Cllr Will Duckworth, spoke to striking teachers in Stourbridge yesterday during their one day action over pensions, pay and conditions.

 Duckworth said: “I was a mathematics teacher for 30 years. Teachers care about children and only take strike action as a last resort.”

“Michael Gove’s continuing attacks on teachers pensions, pay and conditions of service are demoralising the profession on which we all rely for educating the next generation.”

“Forcing schools to become academies began under Labour. Academies set school against school, introducing competition instead of cooperation.”

“The pressure for heads to bully their staff has also meant increases in stress and anxiety amongst teachers.”

“We need to work with trade unionists and sympathetic groups and individuals to tell this government that we need to save our vital services and keep them in public ownership.”

Caroline Lucas, Green MP for Brighton Pavilion, will join striking teachers on a picket line in Brighton on 17 October.

Greens call for more regulation of tobacco industry that 'profits from death'

In the face of mass-lobbying by the tobacco industry Greens in the European Parliament are set to vote in favour of protecting people’s health by increasing the regulation of smoking.

Keith Taylor, the Green Party MEP for the South East, is backing Cancer Research UK in calling for strong regulation of tobacco products.

The European Parliament will vote next week on the Tobacco Products Directive. Proposals supported by Mr Taylor include increasing the size of health warnings on tobacco products and banning flavoured cigarettes.

Mr Taylor said:

Next week I’ll be joining my fellow Greens in the European Parliament in taking decisive action to protect people’s health.

I’ll be voting to protect young people from products aimed at enticing them to begin smoking.

The tobacco companies lobbying against this piece of legislation are shamelessly trying to protect their profits by blocking new rules that will prolong the lives of thousands of people.

In the UK 80% of smokers start by the age of 19 and more than 207,000 children, some as young as 11-years-old, start smoking.

We have a duty to protect the most vulnerable - our children in the UK and right across Europe - from the dangers of tobacco, which causes debilitating disease, costs economies millions in healthcare and lost labour, and continues to kill 100,000 people in the UK alone every year. 86% of lung cancers are a result of tobacco use.

Mr Taylor went on to say:

It’s no surprise that a quick look into the people behind pro-smoking campaigns shows that they are funded by the tobacco industry. ‘No, Thank EU’ for example is a front for the shadowy lobbying firm ‘Forest’ which is mostly funded by the tobacco industry.[2]

I hope that MEPs from the other political parties follow Greens in rejecting the desperate crowing of the tobacco lobby by voting for increased regulation of this industry that profits from death.

1)      http://www.forestonline.org/about/faq/

Brent recycling and library visit rates fail to meet target

The Brent Council Performance Review report for the first quarter of 2013-14 gives several areas a red rating using the RAG (Red, Amber, Green) traffic light system. Red indicates targets are not being met and Amber a danger that they will not be met.

The volume of residual waste per household is a key measure both environmentally and financially (landfill tax). Currently the year to date total  is 119.7kg per household against a target of 89.

The percentage of household waste being sent for recycling is 42% against a target of 55.6%

Tonnes of waste being sent to recycling is 16,313 against a target of 13,110

These figures contribute to a forecast overspend in recycling and waste of £226,000  Veolia currently hold the contract. Brent Executive on October 14th will choose between Veolia and Enterprise for the new Public Realm Contract to run from 2014.

It is in the area of inspections and investigations for fly-tipping that the discrepancy is most marked with 330 against a target of 1,000.

The figures for the number of streets falling below expected cleanliness measures are not yet available.

Elsewhere the number of library visits per 1,000 of population is 1.150 against a target of 1,215 and the percentage of Brent population who are active library users is 20% against a target of 22%.

Children and Families had a target of zero for secondary and primary schools judged Inadequate by Ofsted  but the figures are respectively 2 and 4.

The reports go to the One Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Wednesday 9th October LINK

Brent event to help young people in Rwanda

Event at College of North West London, Dudden Hill

Solidarity with striking teachers

Teachers are on strike today in many parts of the country and it will be our turn on October 17th. Support has been pouring in not only from other trade unionists but from parents and community activists who are seeing at first hand the damage Michael Gove is doing to the system. However, it gets more personal than that because they have also seen how it is affecting teachers and pupils in terms of their quality of life and the way that schools, once the beating heart of their communities, are being torn apart.

Solidarity.

Poetry for all, up and down the Preston Road, in and out of the library...

A message from Preston Community Library

If you have time please come, and encourage others to come, to Preston Community Library at 235 Preston Road,  this Thursday any time between 1 to 4 pm for what is probably a unique poetry event.   

It will take place not just at 235 Preston Road but at various shops and other premises  in  Preston Road.  

Geraldine had a brilliant  idea to bring poetry to the many people working in Preston  Road.  We have been gathering together not just poetry in English,  on this year's theme of water, but in  many Asian and European languages.  

We are taking  them to shops and other premises in Preston Road so they can be read first in the other language and then in English. There has been such an enthusiastic response.    Many have offered us poems in other languages.  Someone has even offered to write a poem for us.

We have nursery rhymes for the pre-school children as well as humorous poetry.  There really is something for everyone for all age groups and nationalities.  

Hope to see you there.