Butt's bleak Brent budget forecast for 2014/15 and beyond

In a presentation to the Labour Party's Brent Forum at the weekend, current leader Council leader Muhammed Butt, warned members of a looming budgetary crisis in 2014/15. There was an expected 11.8% cut (£19.3m).

Even worse, there would be 7% annual cuts until 2020 threatening the future of local government as we know it.

In 2014 the Council would have to bring forward difficult decisions that they had not expected to have to make until 2015/16. He promised 'more and better consultations' and put forward the idea of a 'community budget - giving residents the choice of which servces to protect' over a 6-9 month consultation period 'using innovative methods to reach more residents'.

This of course falls far short of a 'needs budget' that would be used as a campaigning tool against the Coalition cuts and benefit changes, uniting the Council with voluntary organisations, community groups, trades unions and residents.

The Brent Fightback slogan 'Enough is Enough' seems justified by Butt's bleak view of the future in the sldie entitled 'What Future for Local Government?'

• •Growing demand for social care services
• •By 2020 – ‘non statutory’ spend will be reduced from 2/3rd to 10% of total budget
• •This means: no youth centres, no parks maintenance, no street cleaning, no employment support, no arts funding & no voluntary sector support

The options he then gives, in the absence of any widespread national campaign against the cuts and in defence of local government,  do not measure up to the enormity of the challenge.

•National 

• •Increased funding from central government
• •Allow us more freedom over tax and revenue
• •Remove Statutory Obligations 

•Local

• •Integration with partners – voluntary sector, businesses, NHS, police
• •Greater involvement of local residents in the design & implementation of services

•

20p for 20 minutes reduced parking charge on the cards

Brent Council Executive has agreed in principle to a reduced charge of 20p for the first 20 minutes of parking following vociferous protests from motorists and complaints from small businesses that their trade on local high streets was being affected. Opposition councillors had claimed that the present policy favoured large supermarkets,  which offer free parking,  at the expense of small shops.

Cllr Jim Moher, lead member for Highways and Transportation, had already announced at full Council that Brent was to go over to a 'linear' charging system where motorists get charged by the minute rather than in blocks. The block system meant that there was a steep increase between blocks (£1.50 for 40 minutes and £2.40 for one hour), Moher hopes that the linear system will  be fairer and also  increase revenue.

Officers are now at work to find ways of meeting the £0.8m cost of the reduced first 20 minutes charge.

Northwick Park A&E falls well below national targets

The North West London Hospital Trust is failing to meet targets for A&E according to figures submitted to the Brent Health Partnership Overview and Scrutiny Committee LINK.  The national target is that patients should spend no more that four hours in the department from entry to exit. The annual average for Northwick Park (Type one) is 90.55% and in the week leading up to the report was only 73.71%. One quarter of patients were there for more than four hours.

Central Middlesex A&E figures, on a much lower total of patients, were 97.05% and 95.45% respectively.

Commenting on Northwick Park, Tina Benson, Deputy Director of Operations at the Trust, states:

Gladstone Park gains window of opportunity on forced academy conversion

Gladstone Park Primary Reception Class  December 2012
The Department for Education has told the governing body of Gladstone Park Primary that they will delay making a decision on the proposed sponsor until February 11th. The DfE had been expected to name a sponsor last week.

The letter, which appears on the school's website LINK broadens the grounds for forced academisation:

Where schools are underperforming (my emphasis) or in an Ofsted category, Ministers have been very clear that the Department should lead on brokering sponsored Academy solutions. This is because the Department's sponsor assessment process and regular contact officials  have with sponsors means that the Department is best placed to provide a complete view on an individual sponsor's current capacity and capability to deliver.

The designation of 'underperforming' clearly widens the scope for forced academisation and confirms that this is a strategy designed to escalate the conversion of local authority primary schools to academy status.

 Offering  the governing body the opportunity to give its views and ideas 'before the proposed sponsor is decided' (Note - not whether academisation is the the best solution for the school and one favoured by the governing body, staff and parents) the DfE Brokerage and School Underperformance Division delay the decision until February 11th.

However, having offered that limited opportunity, the DfE makes it clear that 'formal consultation' only takes place AFTER the governing body has agreed that the school should have a particular sponsor:

...The Department believes it is most appropriate to meet with the governing body to discuss Academy status as it is the body responsible and accountable for the school's performance and strategic direction, and can make the decision to apply for an Academy Order. We recognise the importance of consulting locally and this is a requirement before any school can open as an Academy.The formal consultation is usually started when the proposed sponsor has been identified by the Department, the governing body has met with, and agreed to be sponsored by the sponsor, and the proposal has been given Ministerial approval to be taken forward. As the key stakeholder groups (parents, staff, the local authority and the wider community) are represented on the governing body in elected and non-elected roles, it is well-placed to take this decision.

There is a tacit recognition of the potentially conflicting claims of the DfE and ministers and the local democratic role and responsibilities of the governing body. 

Reading between the lines it appears that the Department wants to avoid appearing to ride rough-shod over current democratic arrangements (as it did at Downhills) by recognising the role of the governing body, but at the same time seeks to have the deal signed, sealed and delivered in advance of the consultation.

A key word is the 'usually' in the passage in bold. Perhaps there is space here for the governing body to insist that the consultation includes alternatives to academy conversion including the school managing its own improvement in collaboration with Brent's School Improvement Service or some other agency, or forming a soft or hard federation with another school.

It is important that Brent Council steps in to offer Gladstone Park support in such an approach.

Brent Council to be lobbied on cuts

Excellent editorial on forced academies in Kilburn Times

For those of my readers beyond Brent here is the Editorial from our main local newspaper, the Kilburn and Brent Times LINK

DECISIONS MUST BE MADE AT LOCAL LEVEL

When taking a look at the recent education news you could be forgiven for thinking that Brent was fast becoming education secretary Michael Gove's dream borough.

It seems more and more schools are adopting Academy status.

Last week's front page on the (now cancelled) strike at Preston Manor in Wembley over the (still happening) conversion to the Academy model showed this.

But while we respect a decision that is made by the school alone, there are sadly those that are having this controversial ideology forced upon them.

Gladstone Park Primary School is well regarded and fared well in the recent primary league tables.

But a new and stricter Ofsted system has meant the school will be forced to convert by the Department for Education (DfE) due to 'serious weaknesses'.

What this actually amount to was a slight decline in pupils' achievement  in the middle years, despite the majority actually leaving the school in better shape academically than when they started.

From what parents and governors have conveyed to us, there is a real belief that they can continue to offer ample education and solve the issue.

Why the need to hand responsibility to a private 'sponsor'?

Surely it should be left to locally-elected governors and established and committed teachers to decide what is right for their school?

Meanwhile directors at the controversial Michaela Community School, set-up by free school supporter, Katharine Birbalsingh, have confirmed they will be parachuting into Wembley Park.

We should all watch very closely as consultation nears and hope that local education with a local say is not a thing of the past.

The contradiction at the heart of Gove's school policy

This is the full version of my letter to the Guardian which was published on Tuesday. The last paragraph was omitted:

The decision to send Ofsted into 'under-performing' local authorities is another step in the transformation of Ofsted into the political agent of Michael Gove. The main  contradiction of Tory education policy is that it preaches autonomy for schools but at the same time seizes centralised control of them via converting them into academies, answerable only to Michael Gove. 

The DfEs official directions say that Michael Gove's powers to force schools to become academies should only be used after a school has been under performing for some time and if the problems are not being tackled. The DfE is currently acting beyond that direction..

Roke Primary School in Croydon and Gladstone Park Primary in Brent, the former previously graded Outstanding and the latter Good, have recently been downgraded by Ofsted and immediately forced to become academies. Roke's Outstanding was given only 7 months before the Inadequate grade. Gladstone Park got a Good assessment in January 2011. Gladstone Park, an inner city school, has SAT results above the national average and twice the national average at Level.6.

The DfE sends in someone who can only be described as a kind of Commissar, unyielding and not interested in dialogue, just intent on imposing a private sponsor on the school. Deadlines are tight and governors, staff and parents find themselves faced with a fait accompli. In both schools parents are organising in defence of their children's education and against becoming a forced academy.

Ofsted inspectors now know that if they grade just one area of a school 'Inadequate' the DfE will move in and turn it into an academy. With the jury out on whether academies actually improve the quality of education we are faced with a hugely risky strategy that threatens to massively destabilise our schools.  The outcome is in direct  contraction to the Government's supposed support for localisation and  will move more power to the centre.

Gove's policy on academies and free schools, the curriculum, the examination system, and even the exclusion of Mary Seacole from the National Curriculum, exposes a Secretary of State who is committed to seizing control of schools, not liberating them.

Gladstone Park Primary School Governors in order to be open and transparent with parents have published their e-mail communications with Jack Griffin, the DfE's academisation officer, on the school website LINK

Vodafone deal to make Brent Council workers mobile

Vodafone's press release - does this make the Civic Centre redundant?

Brent Council has signed a deal with Vodafone for the operator to use its One Net solution for a new communications infrastructure.

The council said the operator will help them to create a mobile workforce, allowing employees across 30 different departments to work remotely and use smartphones as often as landlines. The systems will help the council reduce desk space, allow employees secure access to information remotely, reduce staff travel and cut their use of paper.

Brent Council said the deal will increase productivity but reduce its operating costs. The infrastructure is being provided as the council moves from 14 separate buildings into one civic centre.

Vodafone will provide the council with a bundle of texts, minutes and data in one bill. Staff will be able to be reached on any device through one phone number and will have access to one central voicemail. Councillor Ruth Moher, deputy leader for London Borough of Brent Council and lead member for finance and corporate resources, said: ‘This was a very complex project so we knew there was a need to keep things as simple as possible, which is one of the reasons why we chose Vodafone.

‘Vodafone had the most coherent presentation of a unified system and we felt they would be the best choice to implement and host the system, allowing our employees to focus on their core functions rather than dealing with IT issues.

‘The future is all about mobile working. Our employees are currently using as many mobile applications as possible and we want to see how far we can push the concept of working through apps.’

Ian Cunningham,  head of public sector at Vodafone, said: ‘Brent Council’s facility is state of the art and we’re delighted to be involved in such a cutting edge project. The council is setting a fantastic example for government organisations, showing how they can find better ways of working by making improvements in four key areas – people, processes, technology and property.’