Could Brent Labour follow Newcastle's lead on ethical procurement?

Brent Council during the apartheid era took action over severing links with companies that benefited from South African contracts.  More recently they declined to take similar action regarding the Public Realm contract with Veolia which at the time was providing infrastructure support to illegal settlements in Palestine.

Now the government is seeking to curtail the powers of local councils to have an ethical pesnions and procurement policy.

Newcastle City Labour Party has passed the following motion unanimously and expect to get it through Full Council.

I hope that Brent Labour group will take a similar stand.

Here is the motion which could easily be adapted for Brent:

Response to Government’s attack on a Councils’ right to follow an ethical policy in relation to procurement and Pensions Fund investments

Council notes with alarm the recent statement from the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) confirming that new guidelines will be introduced early in the New Year which will curb councils’ powers to divest from or stop trading with organisations or countries they regard as unethical.

Council further notes that the new guidelines, which will amend Pensions and Procurement law, follow on from the government’s announcement made at the beginning of October 2015 that it was planning to introduce new rules to stop “politically motivated boycott and divestment campaigns” (Greg Clarke, Secretary of State for the Department of Communities and Local Government).

Council recognises that the focus of these new measures may be on procurement and investment policies and that they may have profound implications for Councils’ ethical investment policies more generally.

Newcastle City Council is proud of its’ commitment to human rights and to putting this into practice through such measures as an ethical approach to its relationship with business as outlined under  Newcastle’s Social Value Commitment.

Council believes that the proposed measures now being outlined by the DCLG will seriously undermine the Council’s ability to implement its commitment to ethical procurement and pensions investments.

Council also notes that the new guidelines represent a further, serious attack on local democracy and decision-making through a further restriction on councils’ powers. This is directly contrary to the government’s own stated commitment to the principle of localism, given a statutory basis by the Localism Act of 2011, which holds that local authorities are best able to do their job when they have genuine freedom to respond to what local people want, not what they are told to do by government.

Newcastle City Council therefore resolves to take all legal measures possible to oppose these new measures, including:

·      Writing to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government to express Council’s unequivocal opposition to the proposed changes as part of the consultation

·      Working with any other local authority, the NECA, the LGA or other appropriate forums as well other partner organisations (such as local trade unions and community groups) who share these concerns to raise awareness of the implications of the proposed measures and to campaign against their introduction

Newcastle City Council reaffirms its commitment to an ethical basis to its procurement and pensions investment policy.

BBC - Don't Shut Out the Greens who give a voice to the voiceless

Shahrar Ali and Amelia Womack at the BBc today

 The Green Party’s Deputy Leaders today handed in an official appeal to the BBC Trust urging the BBC to re-consider its initial decision not to grant the Green Party of England and Wales a Party Political Broadcast in England.

The Green Party has also launched a petition this morning calling on the public broadcaster to include the Greens LINK .

Amelia Womack and Shahrar Ali, Deputy Leaders of the Green Party of England and Wales, handed in the appeal on behalf of Nick Martin, the Green Party's Chief Executive Officer.

Last week, Martin wrote to the Director General and Director of Editorial Policy and Standards of the BBC to argue that the current proposals, which shut out the Greens and allocate three broadcasts to the Liberal Democrats, fail to recognise the pattern and direction of political support in England. That appeal was rejected and the Green Party has today lodged a further appeal with the BBC Trust, to be heard by the Trust’s Editorial Standards Committee.

Speaking at the hand-in, Womack said:

This time last year it was the public that ensured our inclusion in the televised Leaders Debates. Now we need that support again.

The Green Party’s membership has grown and the Green Party’s vote has grown. It’s time our public broadcaster reflected the general public’s support for the Greens.

This petition represents an opportunity for us to make sure that the Greens’ unique voice gets heard so we can send more elected Greens to the Welsh and London Assemblies.

Ali said:

The BBC is a public service broadcaster and we feel they have an obligation to treat all parties on an even keel.

By continuing to exclude the Greens from the PPBs it is our contention that the BBC is not fulfilling its duty to ensure balance by communicating the full range of political opinions to its audience.

We have been the only Party giving a voice to the voiceless and it is deeply ironic that the BBC thinks it is okay to exclude us from these important broadcasts.

PETITION HERE

Helen Carr speaks out against 'draconian' PSPO extension in Chichele Road

A proposal to extend the Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) in Chichele Road and the surrounding area in Mapesbury ward has drawn opposition from Brent's lone Liberal Democrat councillor,  Helen Carr.

The PSPO makes it an offence for any resident or small business to pick up casual labourers within the restricted area, and aims to remove the need for people to congregate outside B&Q and similar areas.

The Community Safety Team are looking to extend the PSPO which expires on March 20th to December 20th 'to allow us to continue enforcement'.

 A 6 week consultation began on January 28th. 

More information can be found HERE and the consultation can be found HERE 

  

Helen Carr wrote:

I oppose this extension on the following grounds: 

This is a draconian measure not originally intended as a response to the complaints of, what I understand it, are a handful of people, albeit they have clocked up more than 400 complaints in a year. This does not mean people should not complain - I myself continually alert the Transport police to Romanian beggars on the underground (a losing battle ..) who when challenged in Romanian, can become aggressive. 

The measure was not successful: at 7am, when I usually set out for work and pass through the Broadway, it did not take long for the small groups of men hoping to gain casual labour, had resumed unchallenged. The measure ensured they congregated elsewhere and in cafes etc. As I understand it, this is an historical issue and originates long before the arrival of Romanians, who are, as I understand it, the new Irish in terms of no skilled and low skilled casual labour. 

I appreciate and agree with residents who claim the police are unable to implement the measure - they have more serious issues to attend to. But this sets a very bad precedent. In the UK, policing is by consent. Servants not masters. In Romania, as in other new democracies of E&C Europe  I have lived and worked in which are only recently free of totalitarian rule, the police are a generally viewed as bodies to be feared. They operate by  a mixture of dazzle, bribery and intimidation: coercion not persuasion and consensus. We need to use these measures sparingly if the tolerance and co operation of our own police are not to be considered weaknesses and vulnerabilities to be exploited. 

Would we be quite so happy to introduce these measures if we called these men 'blacks' not 'migrants'? I think not. 
Many of these men are exploited physically and financially, and to be pitied, not despised.  
Cllr Dr Helen Carr

Contrary birds and squatting squirrels in the Big Garden Birdwatch

I settled down for the Big Garden Birdwatch yesterday with pen and paper and a cup of coffee and achieved meagre results on a wet and windy grey morning. When I tried again later in the day a grey squirrel decided it had squatter's rights on the feeder and kept most birds away,  apart from a brave pair of great spotted woodpeckers.

I have up.

But today, while writing at my computer,  in a short space of about 15 minutes (rather than yesterday's hour) I glimpsed  8 long-tailed tits, loads of great tits and blue, tits,  a pair of nuthatches, robin, dunnock, blackbird, magpie, great spotted woodpecker, wood pigeon and jay.

You can blame them for any typos on today's posts.

There's a lesson to be learnt here...

Big Garden Birdwatch

More of a jungle than a garden - but nature friendly

Where do Fryent councillors stand on Council Tax Support Scheme Review?

There's a Brent Connects meeting in Willesden tonight where there will be a 'consultation' on the Brent Council budget despite the fact that the budget proposals going to Cabinet have already been written and appear on its agenda.

We now know that this proposes a Council Tax increase increase of 3.99% year on year for 3 years.

Cllr Duffy appeared to be very much in the minority in wanting to raise Council Tax by 1.99%  in 2015 but I notice on the Fryent Councillors' blog that they now claim to have argued for an increase: LINK:

Brent Council tax has been frozen for the last 6 years - no increase since 2009.

Your Fryent Councillors have argued for an increase in previous years because our base budget is years out of date. The Government has given the Council 1% in the past to freeze Council tax but this has not kept pace with funding additional or even existing services.

This is not an easy decision, we realise that it will impact some residents adversely. The Council will have to review its Council Tax support scheme to protect the most vulnerable residents. The Council will still have to make cuts and make huge savings because of continued Government austerity measures.

So why should Council Tax increase? Any public service has to be paid for - if the Government reduces the grant it previously gave to the Council the money has to come from somewhere. Brent has cut £145 million from its budget - this is money the government has taken away from Brent residents over the last 4/5 years. Brent has made efficiencies, transformed services, shared services with other boroughs, cut jobs and some services and increased and added new charges, the payment for collecting Green waste , is an example. The cuts are so severe that the Council is now faced with cutting services which will adversely affect people lives, particularly the elderly housebound, residents with a disability, and environmental services such as street cleaning and repairing pot holes.

I didn't notice them arguing for an increase last year and seem to remember a passionate speech by Cllr Tatler on the impact an increase would make on the poorest pupils in her school.  

In the second paragraph they imply that the Council will have to review the Council Tax Support Scheme if they put up Council Tax but their leader Muhammed Butt told me at the Civic Centre Consultation that this would not be possible for the 2016-17 financial year.

Scrutiny Committee had argued both for an Council tax increase and for a review of the Council Tax Support Scheme to protect those on lowest incomes.

There are no proposals for a review in the Cabinet papers although improvements in the scheme would address the issues Cllr Tatler raised last year.

Where do the Fryent councillors stand on this?

House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee hearing on Housing tomorrow

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee will tomorrow take evidence from the leaders of major housing associations and the Chief Executive of the National Housing Federation as it continues its inquiry into the UK housing market.

On Tuesday 2 February at 4:35pm in Committee Room 1 of the House of Lords the Committee will take evidence from:

 David Orr, Chief Executive, National Housing Federation

 David Montague, Chair, L&Q, G15

 Ian McDermott, Chief Operating Officer, Sanctuary Housing Association

Areas the Committee will explore with the witnesses include:

 How ‘affordable housing’ should be defined?

 The potential impact of Government’s plan to reduce social rents paid to housing associations and other landlords.

 How many homes can housing associations realistically contribute to the Government’s target of one million new homes by 2020?

 Are the housing associations confident that their properties sold under the extended Right to Buy scheme will be replaced on a one for one basis?

 Are housing associations making changes to their housing stocks to reflect the increase in the number of elderly households?


1. The evidence session is open to the public. If you wish to attend you should go to Parliament’s Cromwell Green Entrance and allow time for security screening.

2. You can watch the session live on the internet at www.parliamentlive.tv

3. You can follow the Economic Affairs Committee on Twitter @LordsEconCom

4. The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee is Chaired by Lord Hollick.

Brent Council to share procurement with Harrow and Buckinghamshire

A proposal is being put to Brent Cabinet to share procurement of services with the London Borough of Harrow and Buckinghamshire County Council.

Harrow will be the lead borough and in the first phase Brent staff will transfer to them. The report is pretty opaque but it looks likely there will redundancies in the second phase. Brent argues that the proposals will enable them to cut the procurement budget by £272,000 in 2016-17.

The proposal aims to 'deliver in five key areas':

·      contribute to the Council’s savings target, in particular enabling the delivery of savings to the procurement service; 

·      enable the Council to take a strategic view of procurement activity 

·      provide new approaches to the delivery of Social Value benefits in Brent contracts 

·      enable the potential generation of additional income by selling procurement services, as opportunities to do this currently have been limited due to the size of the current team; 

·      ensure that there is resilience built into Procurement activities; and 

·      maximise the opportunities for collaboration. 


Creating a Procurement Shared Service (PSS) from the three councils will help assuage cuts to budgets and bring together best practice, knowledge, skills and resources. LB Brent has a savings target of £272k in 2016/17 and without a form of transformation LB Brent will only be able to provide a largely transactional procurement service. By joining this initiative LB Brent will be in a good position to deliver the savings target whilst also guaranteeing a level of resilience in its procurement activities. 


By becoming one of the founder organisations LB Brent will avoid having to reduce the current procurement service from a team of 11 to a team of 6, with 5 staff being forced to take redundancy. This reduction would mean that LB Brent’s ability to provide procurement services would be significantly impacted. However by entering into the Shared Service arrangement, the impact of the reductions will be mitigated allowing LB Brent to continue to receive a good level of procurement support
 
The second paragraph is particular is confusing. After several readings I think it means  that Brent itself won't have to make people redundant but redundancies will happen in the new shared service - but I am open to corrections or alternative explanations.

The proposal has further consequences in terms of Brent residents' ability to lobby over ethical procurement (eg Veolia). Councils’ability to make decisions based on ethical standards is already under attack from the Conservative government.  It is also unclear what powers Brent councillors will have in the new situation.

Details HERE

UPDATE: Brent Visitor Parking Debacle - Duffy does it again!

I understand that Cllr John Duffy, who last year claimed he stepped in to stop a flawed policy that would let Veolia pocket large sums in the multi million Public Realm contract, LINK, has now intervened on the Visitor Car Parking  consultation which at the very least would have left Brent Council with egg all over its face.

He was not popular with the Council leadership over the Veolia affair, claiming that they snubbed him for acting on behalf of residents, but this time his colleagues are admitting that he has a point. 

Sources in the Labour Group say  Duffy appealed to Carolyn Downes, Chief Executive, over a report that according to him had flaws that 'are devastating and have damaged our case of proving our competency. The costing variations were all over the place and the report itself quotes the obvious and often contradicts itself.'

The flaws had not been picked up by the Cabinet, other Labour councillors or the Opposition., although Scrutiny Committeee submitted comments. Cllr Duffy told the Labour Group, 'We should be concerned about is how such a bad report was given wings by the Cabinet and was only stopped at the last minute.'

The Cabinet Minutes November 16th 2015 Item 11 can be found HERE
 
Apparently Cllr Southwood, lead member for the Environment, defended the report up to the last minute before being forced to withdraw it.

Making the best of a bad job she wrote to all Labour Councillors:

Dear Colleagues

Over the past few weeks I have been reflecting on the proposals in front of Cabinet to increase visitor parking charges to address pressures on parking spaces across the borough. 

As with any proposed increase in charges this has been a contested and hotly debated subject. 
I have listened to many views, spoken to many residents, consulted with officers, looked at best practice elsewhere and of course heard from Labour Group colleagues.

I have been struck by the complexity of the issues and the many differing needs and requirements that we are trying to balance. We are fortunate in having two strategies which are a good foundation for our discussions: the Parking Strategy and the recently agreed Long Term Transport Strategy and aligning our actions with these will help to deliver our vision for a better borough for residents. 

I have come to the view that the visitor parking charges proposal needs to be set in the context of a wider review of our parking offer. Current arrangements have been developed over time in response to circumstances and events and whilst our policies are sound, they are also complex and not easily understood. I believe that we will get a better, and fairer outcome for local people, their visitors and local businesses if we look at the wider parking offer at the same time as the visitor parking permits. 

Our parking offer was already planned for review. I am now proposing to accelerate this work so that we can take a more holistic decision and have a really meaningful dialogue with residents about the best solutions. I will therefore delay the consultation on visitor permit parking charges until this wider work has been completed and intend to bring a report to March's cabinet.  

I'm sure you will agree that it is important that we get the strategy and policies right. I will, of course, arrange a session for Labour Group members to shape the proposals and I hope that you will be able to participate.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their views so far. Your continued support and involvement will ensure we get the right outcomes for residents, visitors and businesses.

I am, of course, very happy to meet with any of you to discuss this further.

 It is to be hoped that the 'wider work' will be thoroughly researched and costed and that this time it won't be left to Cllr Duffy to blow the whistle. Meanwhile perhaps he is owed some dulia by his colleagues.

Since publication I have been sent this comment  (Feb 4th)  which was  longer than the word limit in the usual comment box.

"All credit to Cllr John Duffy for his part in causing a rethink on the planned increase in visitor parking charges and to Cllr Ellie Southwood for being big enough to respond to reasoned concerns from affected residents. However Queen's Park Area Residents Association also held a session with Cllr Southwood and officials on these proposals and on 24 January wrote:

Dear Councillors and Officers,

QPARA discussed the Cabinet report on proposed increase in visitor parking charges at its January meeting, and this prompted a wider review of local parking congestion. The association would like following perspectives to be considered before final consultation on increased charges.

QPARA supports a general policy direction of increasing reliance on public transport, cycling and walking rather than on private cars, for environmental and public health reasons. Nevertheless there needs to be a balance between this and the very large proposed increases in daily charges for visitor parking. While there may be a case for a modest increase QPARA is concerned at the scale of this from £1.50 to £4.50. Charges are almost invariably paid by residents not visitors and the percentage increase is well beyond inflation. As an example a resident with 30 daily visitors a year will in future pay £135 for visitors rather than the current £45. This will be a particular pressure on residents on lower incomes.

The Council's case for the increase centres on high demand for parking in Controlled Parking Zones which leads to overcrowding, and that 'evidence also suggests that some households are using daily visitor permits to book parking on behalf of commuters'. However, we note that there is no general study of why parking overcrowding occurs in particular zones, and no attempt is made in the Cabinet report to form proposals for a wider range of solutions which could address this, nor its more general environmental impact. In the absence of this the Council identifies only one solution which will have at best a modest impact on overcrowding and is associated with an assumed increase in income of £795,000 in 2016/17 (para 6.1 of the report). It is hard to avoid a conclusion that this increase is driven more by the Council's need to increase income substantially rather than resolve overall parking congestion issues.

Accordingly QPARA proposes that Brent conducts a wider study of the impact of a range of factors leading to overcrowding within the ward before proceeding with such large increases. This study should include parking related to schools, business parking permits, under-used car club bays, bays used for builders' materials, and patchy parking enforcement (better enforcement alone could increase the Council's income substantially). For example the teacher permit regime is full of anomalies, with permits given to schools as a prize for having gold travel plans, without regard to pressure points in the overall parking system nor the impact on residents. Notwithstanding, if permits are awarded, these could at least be restricted to a nominated street only, such as by the Park away from streets which are 'parking congested.' Members have also commented that even small businesses can have three permits, and it would be straightforward to limit these to perhaps one to help address overcrowding, yet the Report does not explore this.

In a summary document the Council advises that 'for many visitors who need to park for only a short time, the availability of pay and display bays may better meet their needs than pre-booking a visitor permit' and refers to charges of £1 for 30 minutes or £2 for up to an hour when booked by mobile phone. This suggestion does not take account of the lack of availability of pay and display bays in large parts of QPARA's area, which is mainly residential, so this is not a solution for many (or most) residents. Moreover, where such bays do exist near to busy shopping areas they are often fully occupied and cannot be relied on. So while a partial solution may lie in creating more P & D or mixed use bays, and could be pursued, this is clearly only possible in streets where there is spare capacity.

The summary document refers also to the option of purchasing an annual visitor household permit for £110 (to increase to £165 during 2016). It does not make clear that the Council's Cabinet decided in 2012 to withdraw these permits, and while this is on hold because the Adult Social Care department has yet to find capacity to determine a resident's eligibility for a proposed 'cared-for' permit, it remains policy. While this annual permit may be an option for the present it does not provide a solution in the longer term.

Considering the range of proposed daily visitor charges from £3 to £4.50, many residents have commented that there needs to be a lower charge than £3 for shorter stays than 3 hours (a frequent requirement). Where meters are available (and if unoccupied) then these provide some solution, but as above these simply do not exist in large parts of QPARA's area. We propose therefore that a charge of £1.50 for visitor parking in residents' bays be retained for short stays of up to an hour, to provide equity for QPARA residents with parts of the borough where meters are more generally available.