Is caste an issue in the General Election in Brent and Harrow?

A consultation is currently going on regarding caste discrimination in Britain and possible inclusion in the Equalites Act. Operation Dharmic Vote LINK is operating behind the scenes to back candidates who are opposed to anti-caste discrimination legislation. This is what they say:

Please take a few minutes to understand some very serious consequences of the caste legislation and case law. For the GE17 election, the Dharmic community needs to vote in large numbers and strategically. Political Party alliances and affiliations need to be set aside. Labour, LibDems, Greens and all the nationalist parties have supported caste legislation bare the odd MP in these parties. As you will see ALL the Prospective Parliamentary Candidates who have signed up are Conservative. Please note Operation Dharmic Vote is not being an agent of the Conservative party, as our analysis and rational for supporting the independent Candidate in Leicester demonstrates.

A Government Equalities Office report gives some background to the issue LINK.  Uma Kumaran, formerly Labour candidate for Harrow East in 2015, recently called out Bob Blackman for the divide and rule tactics based on caste politics used in the 2015 campaign.  She felt she could not expose her family to the stress caused by such campaigning by standing again LINK.

Campaign materials are downloadable from the Operation Dharmic Vote site

Locally Conservative candidates Rahoul Bhansali (Brent Central), Ameet Jogia (Brent North) Bob Blackman (Harrow East), Hannah David (Harrow West), Matthew Offord (Hendon) and Mike Freer (Finchley and Golders Green) have backed Operation Dharmic Vote's campaign to withhold legislative protection for the UK's 250,000 Dalits (untouchables).

Brent resident Sujata Aurora said:  

Caste discrimination is endemic within parts of the Hindu and Sikh communities in the UK - there have been instances of doctors refusing to give medical treatment to Dalits and others where Dalit couples have been refused venues for weddings. It is a discrimination which remains largely hidden to wider society and its defence is usually cloaked as a way of preserving traditions. We have laws against discrimination on the basis of race, sex, sexuality and disability and it is frankly appalling that some candidates in this election are seeking to prevent the implementation of laws against caste discrimination. Voters should question their candidates about their stance on this issue and ask why, in 2017, it is legally acceptable to treat Dalits as inferior subhumans.

Green Party candidate for Harrow East, Emma Wallace recalled the 2015 election:

When I stood as Green candidate in Harrow East in 2015 I could not believe that Bob Blackman and his team had employed such a religiously divisive tactic as 'divide and rule' caste politics to ensure that he retained his seat.  It was especially shocking in light of the fact that Bob Blackman had been elected to represent all his constituents since 2010, in what is the most ethnically and religiously diverse constituency in the country.  It is beyond reprehensible that there are a number of candidates standing in this election backing a campaign to prevent legislation that protects caste members from discrimination. There is absolutely no place for caste discrimination in the UK. 

Liberal Democrat candidate for Brent Central, Anton Georgiou said:

My party's constitution is unequivocal, it says, we exist to build and safeguard a fair, free and open society in which no one shall be enslaved by ignorance or conformity. Caste discrimination does not belong in the UK's modern society. I am disturbed that some candidates in this election are supporting efforts to maintain it and prevent legislation that would ensure Dalits are treated as equals in our community. Brent's representatives should be leading the way to end this discrimination, not seeking to safeguard it.

Jaiya Shah (Chair Harrow Council for Justice) and Dr Pravin Shah (Coordinator Harrow Monitoring Group) have issued a joint statement on Bob Blackman's candidature  LINK

We can’t support Bob Blackman because we strongly believe that an MP should represent all constituents on equal footing without taking sides, stirring up religious emotions for votes and dividing the communities in the process.

College fraud a test case for mergers scrutiny

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The Guardian in its recent editorial LINK on the Government's newly introduced Apprentice Levy stated:

The biggest flaw is that, like so many other government initiatives, this latest attempt to boost the number of apprenticeships could have been designed to be gamed. Experience has surely shown by now that setting a target, generating the cash, and launching the scheme before systems of monitoring and assessment are up and running is an open invitation for employers to cheat.

I can reveal that a KMPG report into the College fraud has exposed serious deficiencies in the so called tightened monitoring system LINK in place, and in my view, provided sufficient evidence backing up the Guardian Opinion of 17 April April 2017 

The KPMG report which focused on the apprenticeship training provided (or rather, it appears, not provided) by Keyrail LINK was limited in scope and provided 'for information purposes only', however, beneath the bland account's language, KPMG reveal some pretty devastating deficiencies: 

•   Despite assurances that due diligence had been performed and a contract given to Keyrail Training Solutions for signing KPMG had been unable to find the majority of due diligence paper work or a signed contract

•   An increase in approved apprentice numbers from 20 to 90  was not underpinned by documentation or risk assessment

•   Learner evidence was requested from Keyrail but was delayed or not completed meaning the the College failed to comply with Skills Funding Agency's funding rules regarding ongoing monitoring

•   The College did not have a formal policy regarding monitoring of subcontractors prior to July 2015.

•   Out of a total of learner 40 files reviewed KPMG considered all were ineligible for funding as there were multiple compliance issues, including no achievement evidence

•   Of the 79 apprentices for whom funding was claimed, only 7 were recognised by the employer with whom they were supposed to be placed, Specialised Engineering Services Limited (SES)

KPMG summarise by stating they did not see sufficient evidence to demonstrate that valid learning took place in relation to the Keyrail apprentices
 
The Report went on to observe the following risks:

The College’s current subcontractor procedures are insufficient to demonstrate            compliance with the SFA overall subcontracting requirements.

The College is unable to demonstrate compliance with the SFA overall subcontracting requirements.

The College is unable to demonstrate it complies with the SFA Selection and Procurement and Entering into a subcontract rules and requirements

The College has reduced assurance over the completeness and accuracy of enrolment documentation relating to subcontracted provision. This increases the potential for errors within the subcontracted population on the ILR not being identified. In turn, this could detrimentally affect the College’s funding claim should enrolment issues be identified by any external audit of the College’s ILR

The College is unable to demonstrate sufficient controls over the monitoring of apprenticeship subcontracted provision. The inability to determine the level of outstanding review/contact evidence for all apprenticeship subcontracted learners increases the risk of ‘gaps’ in a learners on-programme activity and therefore the risk of an incomplete and inaccurate ILR, resulting in a misstatement of the College’s funding claim. This will directly impact on the College’s decision making process over the determination of monthly payments to its subcontractors. 

 If a learner is not registered or incorrect registered, then the College is at risk of not being able to substantiate a learner achievement. This will impact on any achievement funding claimed, as well as success rates.

The College is unable to demonstrate it complies with the SFA Monitoring of Subcontractors rules and requirements, and has increased risk of data completeness and accuracy issues relating to subcontracted provision

The College is unable to demonstrate it complies with the SFA Fees and Charges rules and requirements

The College is unable to demonstrate it complies with the SFA Monitoring of Subcontractors rules and requirements.

In addition, as KMPG only had available documentation going back to March 2015, it made further comments as to the implication of what it found having looked at the available documentation. However, because of the lack of documentation it was unable make recommendations:

During the course of the substantive testing, a number of observations have been identified which are recorded below. No recommendations are made to the College as Keyrail ceased trading in May 2016. The documentation retained by the College in relation to Keyrail is considered as final as there is no scope for additional evidence to be provided.

1.     Where learners are enrolled onto apprenticeship programmes that do not meet the funding eligible rules and criteria, all funding claimed is deemed ineligible

2.     There is a risk that funding claimed and/or data held in the ILR cannot be substantiated to underlying records

3.    There is a risk that where no underlying records are retained, funding claimed is deemed ineligible

4.    Where underlying records are incomplete or potentially contradictory, there is a risk that the learners English and maths enrolments on the ILR cannot be substantiated

5.    There is a risk that the funding claimed is not supported by documentation signed by the learner.

6.    There is a risk that the funding claimed is not supported by underlying records

CNWL made total payments to Keyrail for what appears to be non existent apprenticeship training of £214,572. The College discovered in early summer 2016 that the company had been dissolved.

One learner in a College telephone interview in April 2016 put it succinctly:

The course no longer going on and this was all a scam. The staff forced to go in and do the course; if not they were sacked (sic). 

In a further twist, highlighting the growing concern over apprenticeship, UCU at its annual congress adopted a resolution calling for an apprenticeship charter LINK

The TES quoted Peter Monaghan, regional secretary of the UCU Eastern and Home Counties Committee:

Certainly I would support the fact that apprenticeships shouldn’t be at the expense of a wider, broader curriculum, most definitely...and also I would say the key to the success of apprenticeships in the future is our involvement, not employers’ involvement, our involvement as unionists and educators. 

In my view, the UCU Congress motion on Apprentice charter as well as Guardian leader comment, lends strong support to the UCU branch at the College who are calling for an independent public enquiry into the admitted subcontractor fraud LINK

Backing the unanimous decision of his branch members for an independent inquiry, Indro Sen, suspended Branch Secretary at CNWL, said.
 

When students are 10 minutes late, managers instruct the class teachers to monitor their attendance. When teachers do not cross the "t) and  dot the"i" in their marked work, they are monitored by their managers and some end up under capability procedures, but when a fraud as large as £356K can take place under the very nose of SFA auditors, borough police chief, Governors and senior management teams, who monitors their performance?

Only an independent public enquiry can get to the bottom of this. Can any students' life chances be said to be in safe hands unless each and every sub-contractor is thoroughly checked out on the Government declared Sub contractor list and those checks are made public for students to see what they are getting into. Until such time, Mr. Boles should consider putting the levy scheme into abeyance.

It is not known how SFA and the college have reacted  to this call for an independent public inquiry, however, it is clear the KMPG report itself is not such an inquiry.  It is to be hoped that CWC undertook due diligence prior to the merger decision.

Greening would be wise to delve a little deeper into the merger between College of North West London and City of Westminster, before rubber stamping it. LINK   If she did so, she would only be carrying out her boss, May's manifesto promise of greater scrutiny over mergers, a bit earlier and proactively. This related to commercial mergers but should also apply to corporations as they move closer to commercial models.

Plans for First Way – where has our love of beauty gone?

The Indian Pavilion and the  Lake

 Guest blog by Philip Grant. I wonder if any recent planning application has contained the word 'beauty'!
 

Martin’s recent blog LINK  about possible plans for another hotel, on the Latif House site in First Way, just to the east of Wembley Stadium, reminded me how beautiful this location has been in the past.

Two hundred years ago it was part of the landscaped grounds of the Wembley Park mansion, which from the 1890’s became pleasure grounds for days out from the crowded streets of London. After the First World War it provided a home for the British Empire Exhibition in 1924, and the Latif House site (in red on the 1924 plan below) was part of the India Pavilion. This was an exotic edifice, in white painted re-inforced concrete  and fibrous plaster on a steel frame, in the 17^th century Moghul style.

The India Pavilion was divided into 27 sections, each for a separate Indian state, around a courtyard with a large expanse of water, surrounded by an open colonnade. The pavilion buildings took up three of the 4.9 acres allocated to the country, and the rest was laid out as gardens with palm trees and tropical flowers, and open spaces for visitors to enjoy.  

Each individual state’s “Court” had a display showcasing its particular skills and products, including (by coincidence, given the most recent use of the site) carpets from Bengal and Agra, which had a craftsman showing how these were made. Carvings in wood and ivory, jewellery, textiles and metalwork were all made in the pavilion and available to buy, and its restaurant introduced Indian dishes to the British public.

After the Exhibition ended, most of the building was demolished, although the concrete base it had been built on and some of the steel framework were re-used for commercial premises (see the address on the 1950’s advert!),  becoming the industrial estate we know today. The postcard view of the India Pavilion, at the eastern end of the BEE’s artificial lake, would today have a car park in the foreground, and ugly warehouses behind. Now there are proposals for a 16-storey hotel and 11-storey “apart-hotel”, more tall soulless boxes, rather than family homes, gardens and public green space, where once there was beauty. I’m not asking for a return to the mock-minarets and fantasy buildings of the British Empire Exhibition, but surely the planners and developers can do better than what they are delivering on the former exhibition grounds at Wembley Park!

Will property deals follow CNWL and CWC merger?

The CNWL Wembley Campus

The 'Fulton Quarter' site with CNWL just outside (bottom left)

The College of North West London (CNWL) and City of Westminster College (CWC) have announced that their respective corporations have agreed to a merger, subject to the approval of the Education Secretary, Justine Greening LINK.

Andy Cole, Principal of CNWL, who previously was Vice Principal of CWC, had emphasised the independence of CNWL when taking up the post after the retirement of Vicki Fagg in August 2013 LINK

Plans to merge the two colleges had been abandoned earlier in March 2013.

Cole said 

I believe the college is well placed to secure for itself a distinctive and independent future; a future that will see us delivering the very best opportunities for our students, business partners and communities; a future that will see the College as the destination of choice for vocational education and training.

Something has obviously happened to make him change his mind.

The CNWL has already sold off some of its property in Kilburn and Wembley and before the announcement of the merger was in talks with developers over its remaining Wembley Park building (the other is now occupied by Michaela Free School). 

The Wembley Park site is next door to the proposed development of the adjacent Wembley Retail Park and Fountain Studios renamed by Quintain as 'the Fulton Quarter' LINK.   Given the Quintain developments around the stadium the college site is prime land. It has been suggested that there could be a higher education facility on the site.  

CNWL plans for the Wembley site included a housing component but at the meeting of the CNWL  Finance and Resources Committee on January 18th members discussed an approach made by Brent Council:

The college has been approached by Brent Council with a view to purchase the Wembley site, and they have intimated that they would not look favourably on planning permission for the required housing provision if the college proceeds with an alternative developer. 

The meeting minutes record that members went on to discuss when CWC should be told of Brent Council's interest and discussed whether the proposed developer should be made aware of Brent Council's approach. They discussed what influence Brent Council would have on the college's future and noted that under devolution Brent Council would in future be the funder for the Adult Skills Budget.

As readers of this blog have been reminded all too frequently the Brent Planning Committee is statutorily independent of the Council and charged with making decisions only on planning grounds so the message from Brent Council is particularly interesting.

Responding to the statutory consultation on the merger Brent Council said LINK:

SUPPORT; It enhances the breadth and relevance of learning opportunities for residents in Central and West London and will help to secure financial stability.

Public sector organisations are under presure to cash in on the value of their properties under the One Public Estate Strategy. Rationalisation of sites, letting surplus property at market rents, selling of sites for housing and redevelopment of sites retaining pubic sector facilities but also providing housing or commercial facilities have all formed part of the strategy.

The merger of CNWL and  CWC will doubtless lead to a review of their respective properties.

Yes, yet another Wembley hotel this time with industrial site neighbours

Let's face it, First Way, Wembley is not the most prepossessing place for yet another hotel. Flanked by an industrial estate with waste lorries and construction trucks rumbling by and this (below) just down the road, guests would not exactly be in a healthy environment.

However the site of rug outlet Latif House  (below) may eventually become a hotel and 'apart-hotel' according to a pre-application presentation at last week's Brent Planning Committee. A hotel of approximately 16 storeys containing 274 hotel hotel rooms and an 11 storey 'apart hotel' containing 186 apart-hotel rooms is planned.

Planning Officers have a number of reservations about the proposal including the fact that it will reduce the number of residential units scheduled for the area. They are also concerned about the height. This is clearly important as it will set a precedent for an as yet undeveloped part of the Quintain empire on the eastern side of the stadium. The planners point out that the planned height would 'appear incongruous with the wider street scene' and would not (planners speak) 'respectfully appear subservient to the building occupying the visually prominent site at Ketaly House.' They add that the building would need to respect the transition between high density residential development to the west and established low rise industrial development to the east.

Planning officers are clear that there are vital environmental issues to be taken into account including noise insulation due to the  proximity of commercial premises, air quality, construction noise and dust, asbestos, kitchen odour, light pollution and potential for land to be contaminated.

It is interesting to note that the annexe of Latif House was withdrawn from sale at a price of just £30,000 LINK . Given the above I wonder what the value of the site is now?

Flash Rally tomorrow to put Environment on the GE2017 Agenda

The environment has been ignored in the General Election campaign so far. 

With 2016 the hottest year on record and Britain facing an air pollution crisis, the Green Party has decided enough it enough. 

We want to know: 'Where is the environment?'

Caroline Lucas, Green Party co-leader, will stage an emergency intervention into the General Election campaign to highlight how the environment has been ignored in the national debate - with no mention in the debates and glossed over in the other parties' manifestos.

The Green Party wants to put the environment back on the political agenda. 

Lucas and Green Party campaigners will visit Labour HQ and 10 Downing Street with a giant Green question mark, asking Jeremy Corbyn and Theresa May: “Where is the environment?”. 

The question mark will then be taken to Parliament Square where Lucas will give a speech about the importance of the environment.
Join us to make our message heard!

Tuesday 30 May 2017, at 10.30am (please arrive by 10.25) at Labour Headquarters: Southside, 105 Victoria Street, SW1E 6QT.