Cllr Butt's alter ego takes to the Twittersphere

Let's face it Brent needs a bit of cheering up at the moment so Cllr Butt's new Twitter identity looks promising, even if it has confused a few people.

The parody account has only a few followers at present but that may change as the situation at Brent Council becomes more widely known.

Here are a few of the first tweets:

And for balance here are recent tweets from the real account:

Three Brent Central General Election candidates united in support of Stonebridge Adventure Playground

A child left this message for staff at Stonebridge Adventure Playground

 
The three candidates General Election candidates so far selected for Brent Central have all pledged support for Stonebridge Adventure Playground which is threatened with closure.

Dawn Butler,  the Labour candidate,  spoke to the local press soon after the plans were announced and has been photographed wearing the Save Stonebridge red t-shirt when she visited the site to give her support to parents and children fighting for the playground;s survival

On November 25th Green Party candidate Shahrar Ali made this statement:

The Stonebridge Adventure Playground is a shining example of what the Green Party means by the common good. For 42 years this facility has been serving three generations of residents in one of Brent's most disadvantaged areas. It is a safe place for children to play and for parents to socialise; encourages outdoor play and exercise rather than leaving children indoors hunched over a screen; and allows for creativity and risk-taking under experienced supervision. The playground is at the heart of the community and helps to keep it stable.

It appears that Brent Council is failing to acknowledge all these positives but instead is making decisions based on narrow short-termism based on accountancy rather than people.

We cannot risk the value of the Adventure Playground being recognised only when it is too late, as happened with the closure of half the borough's libraries. Brent Council must go back to the drawing board and find a way to keep the playground open and staffed, whilst also providing the extra school places and affordable housing that is needed. Any developer contributions should be earmarked for the benefit of existing Stonebridge residents and that includes the Adventure Playground.

Ibrahim Talguri wrote to the playground on December 5th:

Thank you for welcoming me to the Playground. While it was a cold, wet December night, the warmth inside the centre was immediate the moment I stepped inside.

I could instantly feel the sense of home and belonging that you have given to so many children over the last 40 years. For men and women who came here as youngsters to now bring their own children and grandchildren means that you have touched upon something truly special.

A home from home, that provides safety, kindness, and joy. I told you that I could feel the spirit of the place as being alive and vibrant with the happiness of several generations of children. 

To put it simply. Stonebridge Adventure Playground has soul. Real soul that money can’t buy or replace. That’s why I will give you my complete support in keeping this at the heart of the community for Stonebridge and for many years to come.

It is all to rare to find such treasures within London today. It is a city that change beyond recognition and at an unbelievable pace. It is so important to hold close and tight, the things that make our communities what they are.

Stonebridge Adventure Playground is a family home for a big family. Where the children play and the adults take comfort in their company together. This magic place must be protected for the generations to come.

A Conservative candidate has not yet been selected.

 During his budget speech at Full Council on Monday, Brent Council leader Muhammed Butt said:

I respect those for whom the adventure playground remains a key part of their community. I admire how people have stepped forward to say ‘this matters to me, this matters to my family.’ The reality is that we cannot continue to fund projects like this in the way we once did.

Over the last few months, we have asked those who run the adventure playground to work with us to see whether supervised play can continue on that site or be relocated. And so, we hope the adventure playground will respond to our call, to work with us for the good of the people of Stonebridge and Brent.

Cuts may have greatest impact on the most vulnerable says Brent Council budget report

Brent Council spending

There was a short Twitter exchange during last night's Council Meeting on the possibility of raising Council Tax with some arguing that by freezing Council Tax for five years the Council had undermined its own revenue base.  Others said that the amount raised beneath the 2% limit was so small as to hardly compensate for the loss of government grant made to Councils who freeze the tax. In terms of the amount raised as a proportion of the £54m cuts required it was piffling.

Former Labour councillor, and Brent Executive member, James Powney discusses this on his blog today. LINK

In Green Party circles the idea of a 'progressive' Council Tax has engaged people in debate LINK

Meanwhile here in Brent full reports have been published for each  potential area for cuts or revenue raising possibilities. In some cases there are soft and hard options given. The latter being ceasing service delivery.  The report to the cabinet makes clear that no decisions are required of the Cabinet at this stage except to go out for consultation on the proposals.

These are the links to the various reports:

• Chief Finance Officer's report budget-report, item 4. PDF 214 KB
• Appendix 1 Savings budget-app1, item 4. HTM 1 KB
• Adult Social Care 1-asc, item 4. PDF 299 KB
• Children and  Young People 2-cyp, item 4. PDF 266 KB
• Environment 3-env, item 4. PDF 399 KB
• Regeneration and Growth 4-rg, item 4. PDF 462 KB
• Assistant Chief Executive 5-ace, item 4. PDF 238 KB
• Public Health 6-ph, item 4. PDF 118 KB
• Finance and IT 7-fin-it, item 4. PDF 124 KB
• Human Resources 8-hr, item 4. PDF 120 KB
• Budget Savings by theme budget-app1-pdf-format, item 4. PDF 214 KB

The main report states:

There is a risk that the collective savings will have a significant impact on those vulnerable people who are the greatest users of council services.

Overall, the groups most at risk of being impacted are older people, disabled people, children and people from black ethnic backgrounds.

There would also be a low impact on women, people who do not speak English and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. There is a risk that disabled people could be severely affected by experiencing a raft of changes from different service areas, even if each proposal may appear to have a limited impact in isolation.

Many proposals will have an impact on staff, especially in corporate services where the majority of the budgets are made up of staffing costs.

Given the scale of staffing reductions, there is potential for these proposals to have a significant impact on all levels of the workforce. The majority of the workforce is BAME and it is important that changes are not disproportionate in terms of their impact. Brent’s Managing Change Policy and Procedure provides a framework to be followed during times of organisational change to minimise the risk of a negative impact on any equality groups. The Managing Change Policy requires that staffing changes undergo equality analysis to ensure that the restructure process is conducted in a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner. The Equality Team will review the cumulative impact of restructures on the workforce diversity profile.

 Cllr Sam Stopp's commentary on the Full Council meeting should perhaps be read with the above comments in mind LINK

The death of Brent Council

Brent Live, the live transmission of Council meetings, failed last night, but in a broader sense Brent Council itself died.

The first reading of the 2015-17 budget included a limp defence of the 'dented shield' approach by Council Leader Muhammed Butt and his deputy, Michael Pavey, called on local people to help decide where the cuts should fall.

At times it appeared that there was a collective failure of imagination as councillors failed to grasp the enormity of what might unfold over the next few years, although Dan Filson acknowledged 'it is a nightmare, we have dreadful decisions to make'.

It is the death of a Council that serves the people.

It also died in a moral sense when Labour combined to defeat a Brondesbury Conservative motion calling for an independent inquiry into the Employment Tribunal case which found Brent Council guilty of racial discrimination, victimisation and constructive dismissal. In a cogent speech Cllr John Warren said that the same team responsible for that verdict were now undertaking the staff restructuring and would be managing the cuts in staffing resulting from budget decisions. He asked how staff could have confidence in that process and urged them to write to him with their concerns.

Labour councillors listened to him in silence and then in response Cllr Butt was reduced to making sweeping statements about valuing diversity and accused the three person Brondesbury group of not being diverse.

Cllr Wilhelmina Mitchell Murray appeared to be having difficulty in stomaching what was being said and got up and left the chamber as the vote was called. She returned after the vote.

The 'official' three person Kenton Conservative group failed to vote with their three person Brondesbury Park colleagues.

A number of councillors were absent including Cllr Zaffar Van Kalwala. He was the only one of the group for whom apologies were not read out.

Green Party support for firefighters' strike for fair pensions

Shahrar Ali, Green Party depuy leader and Brent Central candidate ,on FBU picket line at Willesden

Firefighters in England will be on 24 hour strike tomorrow from 9am LINK against an 'unfair, unaffordable and unworkable' pension scheme.

The Green Party Trade Union Group have issued the following statement of support:

  The Green Party Trade Union Group sends support to those FBU members who will be striking on Tuesday next. We know that firefighters are dedicated to ensuring public safety and saving lives, so they will not be taking this step lightly. It is absurd, but regrettably not surprising, that the government cannot reach or even approach a settlement to the pensions dispute with the FBU in England whilst settlements and negotiations which the FBU finds more acceptable can proceed elsewhere in the UK.

This is another sad example of the inept and dangerous handling of vital public services by the current government. We hope the firefighters will be able to win the just settlement that they deserve

Youth, children, carers, environment hit by Brent Council cut proposals

Brent Council has now published its draft proposals for cuts in services that will be considered by the Cabinet on Monday December 15th.  The document is available HERE 

I advise readers to read the whole document as it is impossible to prove the full detail here. Please post comments drawing attention to anything I have over-looked or to outline its impact on staff or service users.

This is the beginning of the budget making process.  See side panel for  the timetable.

The cuts are divided up into four categories:

• Stopping Services Completely
• Leverage in Resources and Income
• Building Independence and Community Resilience
• Driving Organisational Efficiency

The document needs careful study but the headlines are:

• Cessation of all Youth Services in the borough
• Close 10 of the 17 Children's Centres
• Close Welsh Harp Education Centre
• Cease all School Crossing Patrols
• Close Energy Solutions
• Cease funding for Stonebridge Adventure Playground
• Cease grant to Energy Solutions
• Close one Leisure Centre
• Gradually reduce grant to Tricycle Theatre to zero
• Reduce respite care by £450,000
• Reduce Day Care by up to 40%
• Reduce Connexions to the minimum
• End rough sleepers service
• No litter clearing in residential roads, no pavement mechanical sweepers, no weekend litter service in parks
• Reduce face to face customers service at Civic Centre to 2 days a week by appointment

One of the problems in reading this report is the avoidance of the word cuts and the selling of them in some cases as advantageous for service users. It would be much better to admit that they are severe cuts and are going to seriously affect service users. The pretence feeds into the Coalition's justification for cuts and claims of local government profligacy.

How many different ways can you avoid saying cuts?

Under the 'Organisational Efficiency' heading there are are a number strategies that could worsen services or undermine the working conditions of employees.

These include in Adult and Social Care The report's terminology):

• Negotiate with Residential and Nursing Care providers to ensure value for money
• Reduce service user and carer engagement to a minimum
• Close New Millennium and Kingsbury Resource Day Centres
• Change Tudor Garden Residential Home to Supported Living accommodation
• Increasing the number of Direct Payment personal care assistants
• 'Transforming' the Mental Health Social Care model to save £750k
• Reduce social work staff in Adult Social Care by 20% over two years
• Reduce Learning and Development to statutory minimum

In Children and Young People

• Early Years - review future resource requirements in general workforce budgets
• Reduce support and delivery costs of the Youth Offending Team
• Reduce cost of Special Educational Needs assessments by restructuring staff
• Integrate Children's Information Service with other customer services - reduction of 50%
• Children's placements - includes some Looked After children currently in residential placement moved to independent foster agencies
• Children with disabilities -end summer playscheme, more direct payments, reduce overall level of support
• Reduce managerial posts in Children's Social Care

Environment and Neighbourhood Services

• Transfer management of libraries to an established library trust resulting in business rates savings
• Reduce library book stock to CIPFA bench-marked average
• Delete Environment Projects and Policy Team
• Stop nearly all Sports Development work including school holiday programmes
• Brent Transport Services - end the employment of in-house drivers and attendants
• Reduce the Emergency Planning Team by one post - will require arrangement with another borough to maintain 24/7 coverage 
• Review regulatory services  and consider shared services with another borough

Regeneration and Growth

•  Reduce the number of Housing Options Officer posts by 4, over a two year period from 2016/17
•  Proposals will be developed for increased income from the Civic Centre. The additional income assumed from 16/17 onwards assumes that an additional floor being made available and a tenant found to occupy the space on a commercial basis from 2016.

Human Resources

• It is proposed  to carry out a major reconfiguration of the HR service in 2015/16 saving £1.4m by 2016/17. This will result in the merging of some areas in order to reduce the number of managers required in the new structure.  It is the intention to devolve responsibility for some existing activities undertaken by the Learning and Development team to HR Managers.  Other activities will be accommodated by a new performance team with a broader remit which will include resourcing, workforce development, policy and projects.
•  In addition it is proposed to cap the existing trade union facilities time allocation awarded to GMB and Unison to a maximum of 1 x PO1 post per trade union, to move the occupational health service inhouse saving £60k and reduce the learning and development budget by £67k. In year 2016/17 further reductions in staffing can be potentially achieved through shared service arrangements within payroll, pensions, HR management information and recruitment.

This marks the end of Brent Council as we know it. Surely this is the tipping point for local councils? It is no longer a 'dented shield' approach to the cuts but throwing down the shield and running into the enemies' swords.

Green Party campaigns to keep the East Coast Mainline public - public service not private profit!

London Green Party (and a stray Santa)  campaigning to keep the East Coast Mainline public today, Kings Cross, today

Open Letter to Christine Gilbert on the Employment Tribunal case

Local resident Philip Grant, who has been following the Employment Tribunal case closely and engaged with council officers on the issue, has written the following Open Letter to Christine Gilbert, Interim Chief Executive of Brent Council: