Brent Council joins in GCSE judicial review call

Brent Council has  confirmed it will be joining other local authorities in an attempt to seek a judicial review into the altering of grade boundaries for GCSE examinations between January and June this year.

The council took the decision after conducting a thorough survey of predicted and actual GCSE pass grades among all of its secondary schools which found that as many as 100 students who sat exams in June were adversely affected by the grade boundaries being reset.

Brent's Lead Member for Children and Families, Cllr. Mary Arnold said:

"We believe that the AQA and Edexcel exam boards altered their grades between January and June of this year which resulted in a marked difference in students' predicted and actual grades. On behalf of the hundred or so students affected in Brent and the many thousands of other young people across England we are whole heartedly behind the legal challenge to Ofqual for a thorough investigation into this matter."

A formal joint letter of complaint, to which Brent is signatory, was issued to Ofqual on 20 September calling for a judicial review into the increase in grade boundaries.

Clive Heaphy spoke out on Brent school victims of IT scams

Yesterday I tweeted about Brent schools being featured on Panorama's 'Reading, Writing and Rip-offs' last night. This was based on a circular from the council to headteachers.

In fact Brent weren't mentioned as such but Brent schools have had similar experiences, although not as expensive as some reported.

Clive Heaphy  Brent Director of Finance (since suspended while allegations of gross misconduct are investigated) spoke to the Times Educational Supplement about it earlier this year and reported on this blog LINK

Furness Primary is being sued by a finance company for £301,083 plus interest calculated at £14,579 in April and still rising. But Brent Council said the equipment involved was worth just £9,150 when it was sold off by the finance company in February.

Kensal Rise Primary is being sued by the same company for £287,000. Both schools have made counterclaims for money they say they have already paid “in error” - £805,000 in the case of Kensal Rise. The same school has also received a more recent claim from a second finance company for £253,000.

Brent says schools have been tempted into such deals by offers of up to £15,000 “cash back” a quarter from equipment suppliers that make initial lease repayments appear more favourable than the real long-term cost. Clive Heaphy, the authority’s finance director, said that primary heads were not always “business savvy” and cannot always “see through” such offers.

Given the political disagreement about academies Heaphy was very clear with his warning:

 “Inevitably there is a recipe there for difficult times ahead and potentially for some mismanagement issues and possibly some fraud issues,” he told TES, adding that increased autonomy for local authority schools had already made it much harder for town halls to guard against them misusing public money.

“I still retain personal accountability for schools’ finances and yet I see less and less data and have fewer and fewer levers to be able to do anything about it,” Mr Heaphy said. “There is very little action in reality you can take.”

On academies he said: “The only watchdog over them is the Department for Education itself. We have no relationship with them, but who does?”

 

Brent LINk vote against Central Middlesex A&E Closure

After a debate between Dr Mark Spencer of NW London NHS and Graham Durham of the Brent Patients Campaign, Brent LINk members and any public attending, voted to oppose the closure of Central Middlesex A&E. There were two abstentions and no votes against.

In the course of the debate Dr Spencer repeatedly failed to answer Graham Durham's request for him to explain why he had stated in a BBC interview before the consultation began that four Accident and Emergency units would have to close in NW London.  Dr Spencer also admitted that despite the rise in the number of children in Brent schools and the importance of child health, that schools, headteachers and governing bodies had not been consulted.

There will be another chance for the public to make their views known when the 'Shaping a Healthier Future' roadshow comes to Harlesden Methodist Church on Saturday September 29th. The Q&A session will be from 11am until 12 noon.

Will Sarah Teather MP  come and hear what her constituents have to say about the proposals so that she can champion their views in the House of Commons?

Reading, Writing and Rip-offs and Brent Schools tonight

BBC Panorama tonight at 8.30pm, BBC1 apparently includes section on Brent schools exploited by IT companies: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01n2t2f

Debate NHS changes in Stonebridge tonight

Dr Mark Spencer, proponent of 'Shaping a Healthier Future' will be debating with Graham Durham, of the Brent Patients Association, an opponent of the plans,  at this meeting tonight.

Muhammed Butt Q&A with Brent TUC on Wednesday

A message from Pete Firm, chair of Brent Trades Union Council

Muhammed Butt, the Labour Leader of Brent Council is coming to the meeting of Brent Trades Union Council this Wednesday evening, 26th September.

This part of the meeting will be a question and answer session with Councillor Butt, in which people may wish to ask him about the Council’s budget strategy and cuts, its relationship (or not) with chief officers, its involvement in the campaign to defend the NHS among other issues.

The meeting is open to all interested people, though preference in discussion will be given to Trades Council delegates, and is at the discretion of the chair. You are also welcome to stay for the rest of the meeting after Muhammed Butt has left.

Please try and arrive on time to avoid disrupting the meeting.

The meeting is at 7.30 p.m. at the Trades Hall, 375 High Road, NW10 2JR, near Willesden bus garage.
Map is here: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?X=522053&Y=184734&A=Y&Z=110

FA to build World Football Museum at Wembley?

From thisismoney.co.uk

The Football Association is hatching plans  to build a ‘World Football Museum’ at  Wembley Stadium.
A planning application has been submitted  to Brent Council in north-west London for permission to construct a building to display exhibits including a crossbar from the  1966 World Cup Final.

‘The new World Football Museum will house a unique private collection of football memorabilia which has been assembled over many years,’ the FA’s planning application says.

The FA expects up to 1,200 visitors through the doors every match day. The stadium stages up to 30 games and other events each year.

The new museum will be in the pedestrianised Olympic Way – known to fans as Wembley Way – near the stadium’s entrance.

The plans envisage a space half the size of the National Football Museum in Manchester, which opened in July. 

FA sources said the plans were still in their ‘early days’. One said: ‘Like all potential  ideas there are lots of hurdles along the way.’

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-2207152/Football-Association-hatching-plans-build-World-Football-Museum-Wembley-Stadium.html#ixzz27J7WbZBX

Brighton Council sets out budget options

Further to the previous article I reproduce below the page on which the minority Green Council in Brighton and Hove is consulting on its budget.  Last year's consultation in Brent at the Area Consultative Forums consisted of  a presentation by Ann John and Muhammed Butt which was very broad sweep with few details or options. Audiences were rather frustrated as a result. Will the new leadership have a more detailed consultation in the new Brent Connects forums?

 Budget public event

The council is inviting anyone who lives in the city to come to a free event at Jubilee Library, Jubilee Square, Brighton on Wednesday, 26 September from 6.15pm to 8.30pm. Attendees will be able to have their say about how the council should plan for the future. 

Booking a place is essential, registration is free and only takes a few minutes. Please register using our budget public event booking form.

There are many ways you can get involved and have your say on the budget, find out more on our your money, your services, your say page and join the debate on twitter using #BHBudget.

Budget examples activity

During this event one of the activities will include looking at five broadly different ways the council could work.

You will be asked to consider 'what if the council used this way of working and how would it affect me?' As well as this it is worth considering how the different examples would affect others, such as:

• A single young professional, living in a shared flat in the city centre
• A single mother of a child aged 9, living on benefits
• A family of five - two working adults and three children aged 13, 7 and 3, living on the outskirts of Brighton
• An older couple living on their pensions

You can find out more about the examples by clicking on the links below. Each of these include suggestions of how the different ways of working may affect certain services and people.

• ’Just the basics’
  We provide only basic services and charge you for everything else you use
• ‘Prevention rather than Cure’
  We spend more now on tackling problems like anti-social behaviour before they cost more later on
• ‘Keeping services not cutting them’
  We deliver services tailored to individual needs, even if this means we will need to charge everyone more money
• ‘Partnership council’
  We deliver services through a partnership of the council, private sector & voluntary sector
• ‘Go for growth’ 
  We change policies and spend more to help grow the local economy

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’Just the basics’

Aside from some services that it must undertake, the council would provide only basic services (like social care, bin collection, council housing) and charge for everything else as and when you want it. 

This would reduce the amount of money the council would need to spend to fund services and mean that council tax might be lower or, at least, would not increase.

Here are examples of the changes this might lead to: 

• Collecting rubbish less frequently, say fortnightly. If you needed rubbish or recycling taking away any sooner you would pay an extra fee for the disposal of each bag of rubbish or recycling.
  - “I’m surrounded by students who make loads of rubbish compared to what I put out to be collected”(Single mother)
• Increasing charges for leisure, library or cultural facilities.
  - “It used to cost us £x to go swimming together on a Saturday morning. Now it costs £y. That’s a lot, but in truth we can afford it” (Mother in the family)
• Charging for the use of public toilets such as those in pavilion gardens, and not providing others at all.
  - “I do get caught short now and again. It seems wrong to ask me to empty out my purse each time.” (Pensioner)

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‘Prevention rather than cure’

The council focuses spending on services which work to stop behaviour or events that lead to higher costs for the council in the future. 

Long term, the prevention of these issues would reduce the overall financial burden on the council and public services in the city, but in the short term more expenditure might be needed. This may only be achievable by cutting back on less critical services until long term costs reduce. 

Here are examples of the changes this might lead to: 

• Spending more now on tackling anti-social behaviour, alcohol and substance misuse before these become expensive problems further down the line. For example, Community Support Officers could patrol parks to prevent and deal with anti-social behaviour. Similar to the government’s stop smoking campaigns, more resources could be put into helping people reduce drug and alcohol use.
  - “I spend a lot of time in the parks. I feel a lot safer seeing people on patrol.” (Pensioner)
• Talking with families and communities early to prevent or seek early resolution of cases of domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, substance misuse, anti-social behaviour, school exclusion, etc.
  - “This is a waste of money. Even if every resident’s problems were sorted out, there would always be more people turning up. People should sort out their own problems.” (Young professional)
• Working with health services and other partners to find ways to maintain people in their homes and communities for longer, avoiding the need for more expensive care.
  - “This has made a great difference to the quality of life of my parents, and, to be honest, a great difference to us in terms of not having to pay fees to nursing home.” (Wife in the family)

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‘Keeping services not cutting them’

The council delivers all services on the basis of need without any extra charges. This means people paying for services they may not use but which are vital to others. 

To deliver all services for free would require an increase in overall revenue, including revenue from council tax. 

Here are examples of the changes this might lead to: 

• Children’s Centres that deliver more services free of charge.
  - “I don’t see why rich families with lots of children should be able to use Children’s Centres for free when they have the money to pay. It was their choice to have so many kids.” (Single mother)
• Health related gym passes.
  - “Why should I have to pay for other peoples gym passes, their health is nothing to do with me. (Young professional)
• Garden waste collection for all properties.
  - "I live in a flat and don't have a garden, why should my money go towards this service." (Pensioner)

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‘Partnership council’

Services are still provided to businesses and residents but not necessarily delivered directly by the council. 

This could reduce the cost of those services to the council and council taxpayers.

The council would play a supportive role in making sure that services were delivered in a way that best suits the community and the city. 

Here are examples of the changes this might lead to: 

• Adult social care could be delivered through a combination of reduced council provision but increased private and voluntary sector organisation provision.
  - “I’m worried about ending up in a private care home after some of the things I’ve read.” (Pensioner)
• Neighbourhood councils could involve communities more in local decisions. Community organisations might then be invited to deliver services, for example, parks or street cleansing.
  - “I’d love to be involved in some of the decisions that affect me, but no-one listens to me at present.” (Single mother)
• Youth services could be provided by community/voluntary or private organisations working in partnership with the council.
  - “I’m involved in a youth club. I’m sure we could run some of these services better than what the council does.” (Teenager in family)

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‘Go for growth’

The council re-directs more funding to help build the local economy. Spending on the transport system would ease congestion, for example. More new homes would be built to attract new investment. Loosening of planning regulations would enable swifter building of housing and business developments. Targeted business rate discounts could be introduced to make the city more attractive to investors. 

In the short term council income would be reduced which could endanger some basic city services like bin collection and libraries. 

In the longer term people should have more money to spend as the economy should thrive which in turn will create more jobs as businesses can take on more staff, which in turn leads to more growth. There would also be revenue from an increased number of council tax payers and extra business rates from more companies. 

Here are examples of the changes this might lead to: 

• Spend more money on better infrastructure to improve how people can travel around the city, which could help businesses develop.
  - "It takes a long time to get around the city in rush hours because of the congestion.” (Young professional)
• Invest more in affordable housing to attract people and businesses to the city.
  - “I just can’t find any decent jobs in Brighton, which is why I’m stuck in this one bedroom flat." (Single mother)
• A reduction in business rates to encourage big businesses to set up in the city.
  - “We have a pretty good life, but the worst thing about it is commuting up to London. I wish there were more better paid jobs in Brighton & Hove so I could spend more time with my kids.” (Husband in family)

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