RECLAIM OUR SCHOOLS! Hammersmith.Tonight.

Tonight's Education Question Time at St Paul's Church in Hammersmith could be the start of a significant fightback against neoliberal policies in education. It is a chance to bring together teacher unions, parent groups, community organisations and governors in a concerted campaign to defend progressive child-centred and democratically accountable schools with broad educational aims from privatisation and narrow aims centred on international commercial competition.

Nothing could illustrate the current battle more than the fate of Sulivan Primary School, a walk away from tonight's venue. Hammersmith and Fulham Council has voted to close the successful Sulivan Primary School (ostensibly a merger with a nearby primary academy) and handing over its unique site to a boys' free school.

Staff, parents and pupils have all campaigned for their school and their views have been ignored.

Here are some of the questions tweeted for tonight. Add your own: #edqtime @nec2014

Further funding cuts unsustainable London Councils tell Government

As Brent Council puts the finishing touches to its budget and Brighton moves towards a referendum on increasing Council Tax to preserve Adult Social Care, London Councils issued the following press release which highlights the unsustainability of further funding cuts.

London Councils has issued a stark warning in its submission to the government’s consultation on the Local Government Finance Settlement 2014/15 that year-on-year cuts to funding are unsustainable.

The response, submitted on Wednesday, raises significant concerns about the long-term sustainability of the local government finance system in London as well as the lack of transparency and coherence in the government’s proposals.

Chair of London Councils, Mayor Jules Pipe, said:

There is nothing to reassure Londoners in this settlement. London is facing the double whammy of disproportionately high cuts along with dramatic increases in demand and costs on multiple levels. By the end of 2015/16 we will have seen a reduction of 44 per cent in central government funding and we have worked flat out to protect and, where possible, improve local services.

London boroughs are now being required to shoulder a disproportionately large share of the overall reduction to local government compared to elsewhere in the country and the government must explain to Londoners why this is the case.

Without significant changes to the way cuts are applied many boroughs will quickly reach an unsustainable position, and that will affect local services.

The response highlights a number of specific concerns. Using the government’s concept of Spending Power per dwelling, it shows that London local government is shouldering a significant part of the government’s deficit reduction programme.

Between 2010/11 and 2015/16 the average reduction in spending power per dwelling in England is £300. In London, the reduction per dwelling was £544.00. This is 81 per cent higher than the national average. In 2014/15 and 2015/16 alone, London will face an overall reduction in spending power per dwelling of £294 compared to the England average of £117. (1)

In addition, unlike councils across the rest of England, London boroughs will lose a proportion of the New Homes Bonus, worth £70 million, which funds the additional costs that fall on local services when new homes are built in a borough.

Mayor Pipe added:

For the past two years the settlement has been announced extremely late. While there may be a number of reasons for this, and it may be helpful for central government, it does little to provide hard-pressed boroughs with the certainty and assurance needed to set budgets and council tax for the following financial year.

View the consultation response submission

Protesters take over Brent Civic Centre Grand Hall for impromptu People's Assembly

Demonstrators took over the Grand Hall at Brent Civic Centre tonight for an impromptu 'People's Assembly' after the Mayor, Bobby Thomas, adjourned the full Council meeting to another room.

The adjournment took place as a result of disruption when angry campaigners protested at the failure of the Council to allow discussion of the Council Tax Support scheme which this year resulted in more than 3,000 poor people being summonsed by the Council for non-payment of Council Tax bills. Many had to pay court costs on top of the tax they owed.

Campaigners from Brent Housing Action had asked to speak at the meeting about their concerns but were refused by Democratic Services on the grounds that there was 'no provision' for speakers in the Council Constitution, When they discovered that speaking rights could be granted if the three Council party leaders agreed, they wrote to all three, but the Conservative leader reported that Council, officers said that this could only be done well in advance as it had to appear on the meeting agenda.  A last ditch appeal to Muhammed Butt to move suspension of  Standing Orders so that a speaker could be heard was turned down.

When  the Council Tax Support Scheme was reached on the agenda, Liberal Democrat leader, Paul Lorber moved suspension of Standing Orders so that the item could be discussed fully. His request was refused by the Mayor, Bobby Thomas, but eventually he was forced to put it to the vote. The Labour group voted it down but the public gallery showed their view by voting, tongue in cheek, for the suspension.

An exchange then took place between former Labour Councillor Graham Durham and the Mayor in which Durham accused Thomas of reneging on a promise made at a Trades Council Meeting to give campaigners against cuts a voice.

Thomas ordered the self-employed security guards to remove Graham Durham and during the confusion Robin Sivapalan stood in front of the councillors and made a speech about how having to pay Council Tax was causing suffering for Brent's poorest residents already hit by benefit cuts and the hosing benefit cap.

Sivalapan was then man-handled out of the room by the security guards with Graham Durham remaining in his seat. The live feed had been turned off by this point and after hurried consultation Mayor Thomas announced that the meeting was going to reassemble in another room and that the public would not be admitted.

Demonstrators tried to gain entry, expressing the view that the public had a right in the interests of democratic transparency to see Council business being done. Security would not let them enter although at least one of the press was allowed through.

As councillors left the Grand Hall, a red faced Executive member, Cllr Jim Moher, in front of shocked public, launched a tirade against a burly security guard telling him 'it's your fault' for not removing Graham Durham when instructed.

The evening had begun with a peaceful demonstration outside the Civic Centre and if the Labour Group had sensibly allowed the public a chance to speak for 5 minutes all the disruption could have been avoided.

Ironically the Conservative group had tabled a motion which pointed out that unemployed and disabled people in Brent were being asked to pay £5 a week in Council Tax from their JSA/ESA of £71.70 a week and that the figure is the second highest in London. Their motion called on Brent council to 'reduce these charges on its poorest residents' but went on to say that this should be done by eliminating waste and identifying 'alternative financial savings'.

After a discussion in the Grand Hall, which continued even when officers turned off microphones and lights, the campaigners left peacefully escorted by security.

'Let us speak' campaigners urge Brent party leaders

Campaigners opposed to the proposed Council Tax Support scheme being voted on at tonight's full meeting of Brent Council, have written to all three group party leaders urging them to allow a resident to speak at the meeting.

Earlier Brent Housing Action had been told there was 'no provision' for the public to speak at full Council meetings. However campaigners are citing Clause 40a of the Standing Orders which states:

(a) With agreement of all Group Leaders a speaker shall be invited to attend and speak on an issue pertinent to the London Borough of Brent. The speech shall not exceed 10 minutes. 

The three leaders are Cllr Muhammed Butt (Labour), Cllr Paul Lorber (Liberal Democrat) and Cllr Suresh Kansagra (Conservative).

BHA say that it is particularly important that they be given the chance to speak because the consultation over the continuance of the scheme, with only minor tweaks, was poorly handled and the response rate was low.

They point to the Council's own commentary on the Consitution which states:

Purpose of the Constitution (LINK)

1.4 The purpose of the Constitution is to:

• support the active involvement of citizens in the process of local authority decision-making; 

•   enable decisions to be taken efficiently and effectively; 

• create a powerful and effective means of holding decision-makers to public account; 

• ensure that no one will review or scrutinise a decision in which they were directly involved; 

• ensure that those responsible for decision making are clearly identifiable to local people and that they explain the reasons for decisions; and 

• provide a means of improving the delivery of services to the community.  

  
I agree with the campaigners who argue that:

This clearly indicates that the Constitution is there to facilitate public debate and citizen involvement.
 

Greens should support national campaign for education

I have long argued on this blog that because of the broad and fundamental attack on education by Michael Gove and the Coalition that we need a national campaign which both exposes that policy and proposes an alternative.

I hope that the Green Party will be part of the campaign given that we have progressive policies on education which I hope will be strengthened at Spring Conference.

Towards a National Campaign for Education has been formed to promote such a campaign and they have organised a meeting on January 22nd to which they invited the London Green Party. I will be attending and I hope other Greens will come too.

You can order free tickets for this event and a similar one due to take place in Brixton on February 27th HERE

You can Tweet questions with #eqtime @NCE2014

The Campaign has its aims on its blog: LINK:

This blog is aimed at anyone who uses, works or is just interested in our education system. It has two main purposes.

The first is to expose the faultlines in the 'neo-liberal' education reform movement and in particular to target the weaknesses, errors and political ideology in Gove's education policies.

The second is to develop a discussion that hopefully leads towards building a National Campaign for Education. There are many excellent education campaigns in the UK (see our Links page). There are also several different unions representing teachers and support staff. There are governor and parent organisations and a raft of specialist organisations dealing with subjects or specific areas such as SEN. This creates a complex network of organisations and individuals. The danger is that their work is duplicated and their impact is dissipated.

For some time now, people have been arguing that we need a National Campaign for Education (NCE). The NUT and UNISON unions have conference policy calling for the creation of such a campaign. At its last National Steering Committee the Anti Academies Alliance agreed to work towards creating an NCE by engaging in wider discussion and debate, hence this blog.

The argument is fairly simple. Gove's attacks on education cover almost every aspect of education. It is not just about academies and free schools. It reaches in to the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. It also affects the provision of school places and teacher education. It is about when and why our children are educated. On all these issues, the Coalition government have launched an all out attack. The breadth of their attacks require a coordinated and sustained response.

The idea for an NCE is modelled on the 1963 National Campaign for Education. This was an unprecedented education campaign that helped change the education landscape in the early 1960's. More on the history of the 1963 NCE will follow. But we want to make 2014 a year for education, a year of a National Campaign for Education.

For now this blog, will carry articles on a range of education issues with a view to engaging in a debate about how to defend education but, more importantly, about what sort of education system we want, about what sort of system is in the best interests of all our children.

This blog is not about replacing other campaigns. But it will argue more 'synchronicity' between different campaigns. Together we can build a campaign that halts the attacks and outlines the sort of education system that provides a good local school for every child.

Council Tax demonstration at Brent Civic Centre tomorrow

Brent Fightback is supporting Brent Housing Action's demonstration against Brent Council renewing (with a few minor tweaks) the present Council Tax Support scheme which saw many poor Brent residents summonsed for non-payment.

The demonstration will run from  6.30pm Monday 20th January 2014 at Brent Civic Centre. The full Council Meeting which will make the decision on the scheme starts at 7pm. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed over the internet. LINK

The BHA have been denied the opportunity to speak to the full Council meeting, although Cllr James Denselow, Labour's communications chief,  has said he will take this up. With livestreaming local residents will be able to view local residents being denied the opportunity to speak!

The BHA  is seeking a councillor/s to move an amendment protecting the least well off.

The  BHA blog gives further information HERE

Beautiful Brent this morning

After yesterday's not very pleasant picture from Cricklewood I thought readers could rest their eyes on something more beautiful

Snowdrops on grave at Old St Andrew's Churchyard Kingsbury, this morning

Hazel catkins, Fryent Country Park, this morning

Brent unites against Islamophobic mob

Around 27 members of Britain First were confronted by three times as many local activists and residents when they turned up in Cricklewood Broadway today. Ostensibly they were demonstrating against the Muslim Brotherhood office above a shop but their agenda was really anti-Muslim, anti-Mosque and anti- immigrant, using the MB office as a pretext.

(Update: It was never a 'Muslim Brotherhood office' but a small newsagency sympathetic to them)

In fact they had no placards or leaflets to explain to the local community why they were there. Brent people were present, not to demonstrate in favour of the Muslim Brotherhood, but to say that they did not want Britain First to come into the area and disrupt and divide their diverse local community.

Britain First were penned in a small enclosure and made no attempt to string their banners across Cricklewood Broadway and stop traffic as they had intended.

The 'Brent United' demonstration was supported by Brent Trades Council and Brent Fightback and Labour Executive member Cllr Margaret McLennan attended as did Liberal Democrat, Cllr Sami Hashmi.

Britain First

Brent and Harrow Unite Against Fascism gave out a leaflet to passers by, many of home joined them,  explaining the origin of Britain First in evangelical Protestantism and anti-abortion campaigns, and its associations with Loyalist paramilitaries. The BNP had found them too extreme and their leader James Dowson is on bail for violence.

Brent united against Islamophonia

Local campaigners and residents told Britain First they were not wanted in Cricklewood and a 9 year old boy used his megaphone to passionately tell them that his best friend was a Muslim.

The numbers of Britain First supporters gradually reduced during the afternoon and eventually the dozen or so remaining were escorted by police to Cricklewood Broadway accompanied by cries of derision from local residents and the chant of 'Brent united will never be defeated'.