Brent Right to Food - a discussion on Free Universal School Meals July 8th Newman College

 

Regarding the London Mayor's extension of free school meals to all primary pupils issues have arisen that have been discussed in Schools Forum. As initially it is only for a year and the Mayoral elections take place in May schools are faced with short-term decisions on recruitng extra staff to cook and serve meals and  possible expansion of the kitchens to cope with cooking extra meals. This would impact on school budgets that are already under strain of the grant does not cover all costs.  There are also issues around employment rights for extra staff employed.

Schools have been told they could supply cold lunches or vouchers instead of a hot meal that rather undermines the healthy eating aspect of the scheme as well as the benefit of a hot meal in the winter months when children's homes may be under-heated or not heated at all due to unaffordable energy bills.

Some are quite cynical about a policy in which schoools are required to badge the additionale meals scheme to the London Mayor to parents in a pre-election period (see 4.3 below)

The long-term sustainability if the scheme into the next Mayoral term is in question and a topic that should be discussed at the above meeting.

This is an extract from the officers' report to Schools Forum:

Background

3.1 In February 2023, the Mayor informed all London authorities that he will provide
funding at £440 per child for all children in Key Stage 2 to receive Free School
Meals for the academic year 2023/24. The Mayor’s ambition was that the
funding offers all primary aged children access to a hot meal at least once a
day.

3.2 In correspondence received from the Mayor’s office on 28 April 2023, a total
budget of £130 million to provide FSMs to children in KS2 who are not currently
eligible was confirmed. In line with government policy and guidance, this
funding is only for state-funded primary schools and with all other funding of
free school meals schemes, it will not extend to children in independent schools.

3.3 Brent’s indicative grant allocation is £5,212,059.00 which is based on an
assumed 90% uptake for the number of children who are not eligible for the
current Government’s FSM grant. The indicative figure is based on October
2022 census and will be finalised once May 2023 school census figures are
published in July. Payment will be at a rate of £2.65 per meal. This is above
the Government rate of £2.41 because it includes funding for costs associated
with delivering FSMs, such as administration and staffing costs in schools.

3.4 Payment will be made termly in advance to allow for upfront costs to be covered
- 50% of the funding will be paid in July 2023, with a further 20% in December
and a further 20% in March 2024. A balance of 10% will be held back for the
final payment and will be adjusted based on the census day returns in October
2023 and January 2024. A balancing payment or claw back determined by the
difference will be made before the end of the summer term 2024. Also, if take
up exceeds 90%, the final grant allocation will be a top-up allocation instead of
a clawback.

3.5 Payment will be made directly to Local Authorities for their maintained schools
and non-maintained schools, with payment to academies and multi-academy
trusts made via each Local Authority for MATs in their area. The expectation is
that local authorities pass on the exact amount to each MAT based on set
allocations.

4. Grant Conditions

4.1 As part the scheme, Local Authorities must participate in evaluation and data
submission exercises and ongoing reviews of the programme as required by
the Mayor’s office. Communication to London Chief Executives (5 June 2023)
sets out details on the grant and the monitoring process. All participating Local
Authorities will be required to register on the GLA OPS system and sign a
contract.

4.2 As the KS2 UFSM programme progresses, GLA will request regular and
comprehensive information from Local Authorities to understand the value of
the programme.

4.3 Schools and local authorities are expected to promote the Mayor’s investment
in school meals through branding and communication which will be provided by
the GLA. Participating boroughs will be required to support the distribution of
communication from the Mayor of London to all affected families, parents or
carers on a termly basis. The letter addressed to the Chief Executive (5 June)
is the first of these communications and is required to be sent out this term.

4.4 The funding should be used for schemes that:
 continue to maximise registration by eligible families for pupil premium,
which may otherwise be impacted by the move to a universal approach
through the Mayor’s Emergency Free School Meals funding

 pay London Living Wage (LLW) to catering staff and include LLW in
any future tenders

 meet school food standards and ensure school food is culturally
appropriate. Brent recognises, however, that the available funding may
not meet the full cost of providing culturally appropriate food, such as
Kosher meals.

 take a whole school approach to healthy eating, participation in Healthy
Schools London and adoption of water only policies.

 meet sustainable catering guidelines and support environmental aims.
5. Grant Implementation

5.1 The Mayor’s office established a Partnership Advisory Group consisting of
senior London borough officers to provide guidance and expert input into the
development and implementation of the programme. The Partnership Advisory
Group were supported by four task and finish groups that focus on the approach
to delivery, including grant management, monitoring and evaluation,
sustainability, and policy implementation.

5.2 Initial discussions with Brent school leaders raised several practical concerns
about providing hot meals to all Key Stage 2 children, with views gathered via
a meeting with headteachers and a survey issued to headteachers of all primary
schools (community schools, voluntary aided and academies). While some
schools responded that it would be relatively easy for them to provide additional
school meals, others raised concerns about the implications for staffing and
kitchen infrastructure, the impact on Pupil Premium Grant applications in Key
Stage 2 and impact on the school timetable, as previously reported to PCG.
These were discussed at the Partnership Advisory Groups’ most recent briefing
on 24 April 2023.

5.3 A key shift in the GLA strategy in response to implementation concerns is that
schools can choose to provide a cold lunch service where it is not feasible to
provide a hot meal. Furthermore, where LA and/or school leaders identify that
the only way that they can implement the programme is by providing school
meal vouchers, they will be able to seek the agreement of the Mayor’s office.
This will be agreed on a case-by-case basis where there are exceptional
circumstances.

5.4 The Mayor’s office is rolling out a series of workshops to support school leaders
and address practical concerns by sharing good practice models. At the first
two sessions, officers from London Boroughs that already provide KS2 UFSM
shared case studies of best practice. These workshops have been well
attended by school leaders across London and headteachers can also now
access resources from the GLA website to help their planning.

5.5 The Brent FSM Project Group chaired by the Director of Education,
Partnerships and Strategy, is meeting regularly to plan and implement Brent’s
approach in line with GLA guidance as it is issued. Key completed activity
includes the development of timeline to ensure the dissemination of funds and
a communication strategy. Brent schools were notified of the details of the
programme in May. Schools will be provided with indicative allocations this
month, which will be confirmed when the Mayor of London’s office confirm
details of the autumn grant funding in July (based on June census) and once
confirmed, the local authority will allocate the funds accordingly.

5.6 The local authority will work with schools on a campaign to encourage Key
Stage 2 parents during 2023/24 to formally sign-up to FSMs to ensure that they
can access pupil premium funding. The first wave of communication on this will
be rolled out in June 2023. The local authority has also placed an advertisement
in the local resident’s magazine Your Brent and will continue to provide further
information about the programme for local residents on a termly basis

TEACHERS ON PICKET LINES AT TWENTY BRENT SCHOOLS AS STRIKES HIT SCHOOLS ACROSS ENGLAND - BRENT TEACHERS SAY ENOUGH! ON REDUNDANCIES

 From Brent National Education Union

 

NEU members across Brent are striking this week in the fight for a fully funded pay rise in education. This follows multiple “restructures” in Brent primary schools which have led to redundancies.

 

Teachers across Brent will be on picket lines this Wednesday and Friday as part of a national strike campaign across England. Cuts to funding in schools and non-funded pay awards have led to redundancies in several Brent schools this term.

 

Teachers and supporters will be on picket lines at 20 Brent schools this week and many more will attend a demonstration in Westminster this Wednesday.

 

Jenny Cooper of Brent NEU and the NEU national executive said:

 

This government does not care about the dire state of our schools- our staffing shortages, our increased class sizes and our lack of money for basic resources. They do not care that those who were key workers in the pandemic are now being made redundant and our SEND kids are being left without adequate support. Well we say “Enough!”- we will not accept this for education- we believe another world is possible.

 

1 Morland Gardens – an Open Letter to Brent’s Chief Executive – it is time to pause and reflect

 Guest post by Philip Grant in a personal capacity

 

1 Morland Gardens behind a corner of the community garden, 26 June 2023.

 

It is nearly three months since my last guest post about 1 Morland Gardens [“Brent’s latest NON-development (and a planning complaint)”], but that doesn’t mean that nothing has been happening.

 

My blog on 4 April said that Brent Council had lost its £6.5m GLA grant funding because no “start on site” had taken place at Morland Gardens. I’ve since found out, from the GLA, that Brent Council claimed it had achieved a “start on site” in January 2023, as part of applying (successfully) for an increased grant for the affordable homes it was building there!

 

Following several Freedom of Information Act requests to the GLA and Brent Council, I can now say categorically that Brent’s Morland Gardens redevelopment DID NOT “start on site” (as defined in its funding agreement with the GLA) in January. Nor was the Victorian villa demolished in March 2023 (you can see it in the photo from last week above!) as Brent claimed in January that it would be.

 

There is still no Stopping-up Order for the highway land in front of 1 Morland Gardens, so with a continuing delay before Brent could actually start their development, and the serious risk that Brent could lose its GLA funding for the housing element of the scheme, I sent an open letter to Brent’s new Chief Executive, Kim Wright, on 26 June. I will ask Martin to attach a copy of my letter at the end of this article, so that is “in the public domain” for anyone to read should they want to.

 

As Ms Wright will not know the full story of this flawed project, I have set out the main points from its history. I have asked her ‘to cast fresh eyes over the project, with a view to initiating a “whole case review” of whether the Council should still press ahead with it.’ 

 

It is a long letter, so I will set out some “highlights” in this article. I will deal with the detail over why Brent have not achieved a “start on site” when I share a second open letter, to the Mayor of London, with you.

 

In the Affordable Housing Update Report to Brent’s Cabinet last November, Officers admitted that the Morland Gardens project was not viable. I wrote a guest post then, with an open email I’d sent to the Council Leader. My suggestion for an alternative way forward was ignored.

 

In January, Brent asked the GLA for increased funds (there was still spare money “in the kitty”, as some other schemes, e.g. Kilburn Square, would not be able to “start on site” before the deadline of 31 March 2023). The GLA asked (in black) for some information, and Brent added their answer (in red) in an email of 23 January – this is an extract from it:

 

The amount of Brent’s £43m budget for Morland Gardens already spent is redacted, but I would guess at between £3m and £4m (including at least £1.5m on moving the Brent Start college to a temporary home, which has blocked any work on the Council’s 67-home Twybridge Way housing scheme).

 

The GLA’s Affordable Housing Programme Review Board considered Brent’s application at the end of January, and agreed to replace the original funding of £6.5m (£100k for each of 65 proposed homes) with a larger new grant (amount unknown, because it was redacted) under a Project-by-Project agreement. But as this grant was also from the AHP 2016-2023 scheme, the Morland Gardens 2 project still needed to Start on Site (“SOS”) by 31 March 2023.

 

Brent had already claimed to have achieved that “milestone”, based on details set out (again in red) in an email response to GLA questions on 20 January:

 

 

The claims that work had already begun on the site, that demolition would take place in March and that the “main build” construction works would begin by the end of April were vital for showing that the project had not only started but would continue ‘without a fallow period’, which was another requirement for the funding. Those claims were confirmed when Brent Council Officers held their quarterly meeting with the GLA’s area housing team on 7 February. Here is the Morland Gardens entry from Brent’s minutes of that meeting:

 

And it was not just minor Brent Council officials supporting these (what turned out to be false) claims to the GLA. This is the list of attendees from that minutes document (with names redacted to protect their identities, though most could be named from their job titles!):

 

Although an answer in the 20 January email said the stopping-up order (still with GLA planners) ‘won’t delay the progression of SOS’, the 7 February minutes acknowledged that there were still ‘challenges with the stopping-up order objections’. Those challenges were about to increase, as although Brent had told the GLA planners that all of the objection points raised by the objectors had already been dealt with during the planning application process in 2020, the GLA planners, that same day, had asked for copies of the original objections, not just Brent’s summary of what they were!

 

Anyone who read my guest post, “1 Morland Gardens – is proposed Stopping-Up Order another mistake?”, on 28 April 2022 will know that the harmful effects of the proposed development on air quality for pedestrians was not considered as part of the planning process, and there was a whole section on that in the objection comments I submitted in May 2022. That failure to consider the increased exposure to air pollution which the stopping-up would cause was the main reason why the (Deputy) Mayor of London’s decision letter to Brent Council on 20 March said that an Inquiry was not unnecessary:

 

 

More than three months after that decision, I have still heard nothing about when an Inquiry will be held, or who will be conducting it. Council Officers have not replied to requests for information on this, so I’ve had to submit an FoI request just to find out those details. Ridiculous!

 

Brent’s long delays over the Stopping-up Order they would need for their proposed Morland Gardens development to go ahead, and attempts to mislead the GLA over “progress” on the project, have put their plans at serious risk of failure. My open letter to Kim Wright spells that out, but also suggests some alternatives. One of these could be to leave the Brent Start college, permanently, at the Twybridge Way site.

 

That site was supposed to be Phase 2 of Brent’s Stonebridge new homes scheme, and could have been nearing completion by now if Brent’s Cabinet, on the advice of Officers, had not agreed in January 2020 to use it as a temporary home (from August 2020 to August 2022!) for Brent Start while the Morland Gardens redevelopment took place.

 

The opening paragraph from “Your Brent News”, 5 May 2023.

 

There was no mention of Stonebridge Phase 2 when the Council Leader publicised his visit to some of the Phase 1 homes (recently completed by Higgins) with the Mayor of London two months ago. But perhaps there was a hint that Cllr. Butt might be ready to accept that his plans for Morland Gardens need to be reconsidered in this paragraph, further down in the same report:

 

‘While I was in Stonebridge, I also stopped by the new Brent Start Adult Education Centre on Hillside to see its new home, say hello to the Team and meet some of the students. New homes may be the foundation for families to build their lives upon, but skills and learning are the bricks that will make that foundation stronger and open up a wave of new opportunities for local people so I’m thrilled that Stonebridge residents have this new and improved centre right on their doorstep.’

 

Brent Council certainly needs to pause and reflect on its proposals for 1 Morland Gardens, and I hope they will take the opportunity to do that, and choose a more sensible path.

Philip Grant.

 

 

Fun, stalls and activities at Open Day at St Andrew’s Church, Kingsbury, on Saturday 8th July 11am - 4pm

Guest post by local historian Philip Grant 

 

 

As part of its Rekindling St Andrew’s project, the whole community is invited to come and enjoy an Open Day at St Andrew’s Church, Kingsbury, next Saturday 8 July. 

 

There will be lots of activities for adults and children, music and a barbeque. There will also be community tables, where you can talk to people who know about things like the environment and local history, and discover more about these and other subjects.

 

 

Best of all is the chance to explore the inside of this beautiful Grade II* listed heritage building and find out more about how it started life in the 1840s in Central London, and was moved to Kingsbury in the 1930s. The work of some of the best artists and craftsmen of Victorian times is on show as you walk around the inside of the church, something that anyone can appreciate, whatever their faith, or of none. You may even hear the bells!

 

St Andrew’s Church, Church Lane, Kingsbury. (Photo by Des Blenkinsopp)

 

It’s free to come along to this Open Day, between 11am and 4pm, so I hope to see you there. I will be at the Wembley History Society table for much of the day (probably in the hall behind the main church building) if you have any local history questions you would like to ask.

Philip Grant.

 

Editor's note: And I will be on the Brent Friends of the Earth stall come and say hello.

LETTER: Does Brent Council realise its councillors and CEO may be heading to prison for non-compliance?

LINK TO ARTICLE

 

Dear Editor,

After reading the agenda for the next council meeting it seems that no one is aware of this issue.

Brent Council has three months left to collect all the data to meet the requirements of The Building Safety Act by the 30th September 2023.

Failure to comply could see the council being fined, or officers and councillors being imprisoned for up to  2 years.

There are three issues that the council have to comply with:

1) Registering all their high-rises

2) Within 28 days of registration, applying for a safety certificate, including Resident Profiles.

3) Publishing a safety case,.including Resident Engagement Strategies.

FIRNTEC consultants have reported that it will take 2 months per building to collect all the data to prepare  a 'safety case' and a further month to draft a safety case.

So as Brent has around 40 buildings in scope (18metres or higher) they need to start collecting all the information to be compliant by the deadline.

FIRNTEC also say that after the safety case has been published, there needs to be 'an action plan' published for each building but they have not given any timeline for this issue.

 

Letter composed by a concerned Brent resident (details supplied)

Good Law Project takes sewage scandal to High Court next week

 From Good Law Project

On Wednesday 5 to Thursday 6 July, the High Court will hear a legal challenge that aims to force the Government to toughen up its plan for reducing sewage dumped in England’s rivers and seas. Good Law Project is supporting the Marine Conservation Society, Richard Haward’s Oysters and surfer and activist Hugo Tagholm as they argue that the Government’s strategy is inadequate, allowing water companies to pollute waters and beaches for another 27 years.

England’s sewers were designed with 14,500 storm overflows to stop them becoming overwhelmed, allowing a mixture of surface water and sewage to be discharged during heavy rainfall. But according to the Environment Agency, these overflows are now used on a routine basis. Water companies discharged untreated sewage through storm overflows more than 300,000 times in 2022 for a total of 1.7 million hours.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published the Storm Overflows Discharge Reduction Plan to tackle this in August last year. It imposed a deadline of 2035 for reducing the sewage flowing into bathing waters and areas of ecological importance, but gave companies until 2050 to stop discharges elsewhere.

This legal challenge, which has been backed by cross-party MPs, aims to force the Government to bring forward these deadlines and introduce tougher targets. 

Facing pressure from this case, DEFRA has already announced a consultation on expanding its storm overflows plan to include protections for coastal and estuarine waters. This initial win for the claimants, which the Marine Conservation Society hailed as “a huge victory for our seas”, means that one of the legal grounds has already been settled before even being heard in the courtroom.

Success in this case could set a landmark precedent, which would allow others to use an ancient English legal principle called the Public Trust Doctrine to compel those in power to protect the natural environment.

Legal Director of Good Law Project, Emma Dearnaley, said:

The public is - rightly - angry and upset and calling for urgent action on sewage pollution.

This hearing is a huge moment for the future of our rivers and seas. This is our chance to force the Government to put in place a robust plan to put an end to the sewage scandal blighting our country.
 

Success in this case could also set a significant legal precedent by reviving an ancient legal principle that would require the Government to take positive steps to protect our shared natural resources. This is a potential game changer for future environmental challenges.

CEO of the Marine Conservation Society, Sandy Luk, said:

This is a momentous court case to hold the UK Government to account for our right to a clean and healthy ocean. 

This is achievable, but we need urgent and decisive action from the Government to make it happen. For the sake of people and planet, we need sewage-free seas.

8th generation oysterman, and Director of Operations at Richard Haward’s Oysters, Tom Haward, said:

For eight generations the Haward family have grown oysters in Essex and sold them throughout the UK and beyond. Our livelihood balances completely on water quality. 

We work hard to protect and nurture the environment we rely on to produce our oysters, and the relentless dumping of sewage into our seas risks destroying something so precious. 

Just as we invest in our business so that my daughter and future generations can be proud of and continue our legacy, so too should water companies be held accountable and invest in ensuring British waterways are flourishing and safe ecosystems that future generations can enjoy.

Thames Water - great video from Led by Donkeys

 Thanks to Led by Donkeys for this video:

July 4th London Renters Union Day of Action to end Rent Hike Evictions

 

 

From Brent Renters Union

 

END RENT HIKE EVICTIONS ACTION  

Too many of us have been made to face the trauma and upheaval of eviction. On July 4th, LRU members are taking action to resist the government's failure to protect us from huge rent increases. Too many of us have been forced out of our homes by landlords hiking up our rent. The more members joining the action, the bigger impact we'll have! 

 

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