Join the Ecosocialist Network

Following my posting of the Naomi Klein speech at the Labour Conference I thought that some readers may be interested in this initiative.

Ecosocialist Network on Facebook LINK

Local Democracy Week events in Brent

From Anne Kittappa, Brent Local Democracy Week

This year, Local Democracy Week begins on Monday 09 October. The events that I think you might be particularly interested in are:

All About Brent Question Time

Wednesday 11 October, 7-9pm, Brent Civic Centre

This annual event follows the BBC Question Time format. Jonathan Carr-West from the Local Government Information Unit will return to chair. The panel will be comprised of:

·         The Leader of the Council 

·         Leader of the opposition

·         Dean Simon, a social media personality known as Rants n Bants and local resident

·         Yasmin Hai – Author, producer, and former resident with a strong local connection

If you would like to submit a question for this event, please email Localdemocracyweek@brent.gov.uk, or call me on 020 8937 6060, or tweet @Brent_Council using #qtbrent

To book your place, either book online: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/all-about-brent-question-time-tickets-37653433433

 

Or contact me directly.

Scrutiny Cafés

We are holding three cafes, one for each committee, to talk about topics which the scrutiny committees are going to look at in detail this year. Come and join us for a cup of tea and a chat.

Housing

Topics: rent setting for council housing, housing associations quality of service, reviewing how housing complaints are handled, and applying new rules on tackling homelessness.

Date: Wednesday 11 October

When: 3-5pm

Where: Willesden Green Library

Who: Cllr Janice Long

Community Wellbeing:

Topics: adult social care, children’s services, public health, cultural services and the work of the NHS in Brent

Date: Tuesday 10 October

When: 11-1pm

Where: Costa Coffee, Wembley Central Square

Who: Cllr Ketan Sheth

Public Realm and Resources:

Topics: Regeneration in South Kilburn and Wembley, welfare and benefits, what it’s like to contact and deal with the council, the council budget, recycling rates in Brent, employment support and closure of job centres in Kilburn and Willesden, crime and antisocial behaviour, and how the council engages with residents.

Date: Monday 09 October

When: 10-12noon

Where: St Laurence Larder - Christ Church, Christchurch Avenue, NW6 7BG

Who: Cllr Matt Kelcher

If you would like to book a place, please contact me by email, Localdemocracyweek@brent.gov.uk, or call me on 020 8937 6060

Other events taking place throughout the week, include, Be a Councillor event, the Great Youth debate, Councillors visits to schools, video poetry, and Brent Youth Parliament radio station takeover. For more information about these events, please visit our website, https://www.brent.gov.uk/ldw or email or call me.

Be a Councillor

Saturday 14 October 2017, 10:00am Brent Civic Centre
Are you passionate about your local area? Are there local issues that you feel need to be raised and addressed by the council? Why not consider becoming a councillor?

Most councillors are put forward for election by their political parties, but independent candidates are also just as eligible to stand for election to represent their local area.

This session is for anyone who may consider standing in the May 2018 council elections to find out what you need to do to get your name on the ballot paper, what being a councillor involves and what support is in place to help you carry out your duties once elected.

Book your place today!

 

Why Labour should support electoral reform and how the environment could benefit

Make Votes Matter fringe at the Labour Party Conference this week

The Green Party came up against a solid brick wall at the General Election when it tried to get agreement with the Labour Party and Liberal Democrats for a 'Progressive' (Electoral) Alliance which involved a commitment to campaign for electoral reform in exchange for the other parties standing down in favour of the party best placed to defeat the Tory candidate. In the event neither the Lib Dems nor Labour made the commitment although Greens did stand down in a number of seats.

Some Labour MPs made individual commitments on PR and a number of them spoke at the Make Votes Matter/Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform fringe meeting at the Labour Party Conference. Locally Tulip Siddiq (Hampstead and Kilburn) has supported proportional representation.

Coinciding with Conference the two organisations published a well researched paper making the case for the Labour Party to adopt electoral reform as policy. The paper has the non-snappy title The Many Not the Few Proportional Representation and Labour in the 21st Century. On line copy here LINK.

This is an extract from the paper addressing the issue of environmental policy:

-->

The evidence

Studies have found that countries using proportional systems
 set stricter environmental policies and were faster to ratify the Kyoto protocol. On environmental performance, Lijphart and Orellana found
that countries with PR scored 
six points higher on the Yale Environmental Performance Index, which measures ten policy areas, including environmental health, air quality, resource management, biodiversity and habitat, forestry, fisheries, agriculture and climate change. 

Using data from the International Energy Agency, Orellana found that between 1990 and 2007, when carbon emissions were rising everywhere, the statistically predicted increase was significantly lower in countries with fully proportional systems, at 9.5 per cent, compared to 45.5 per cent in countries using winner-take-all systems. Orellana found use of renewable energy to be 117 percent higher in countries with fully proportional systems.

Explanation

The UK has historically lagged behind its European peers when it comes to action on climate change and uptake of renewable energy. Depressingly, this is despite having by far the best off shore wind and marine energy potential in Europe. Successive governments have at best taken relatively limited action to move away from fossil fuels and reduce emissions, or at worst have actively resisted such progress (with the current government determined to begin shale gas production despite strong opposition from both local communities and the general public). 

Using data from the International Energy Agency, in his 1990 book, Electing for Democracy, Richard Kuper offers an explanation for this which remains true to this 
day. “Were the Greens”, he writes, “in a position to obtain representation in proportion to their vote, it is inconceivable that Labour would not already have in place a coherent and much strengthened range of environmental policies in order to head o the challenge.” 

Because a vote for the Green Party remains a wasted vote in almost every constituency, we in the Labour Party have little electoral incentive to worry about winning those voters back by competing with the Greens with our environmental credentials. On the contrary, since the swing voters in marginal seats may not be keen on the idea of a wind turbine at the bottom of their garden, an electoral agent may well advise us not to make too much of a fuss about climate change. 

Twitter links @MakeVotesMatter  @Labour4PR

Rebirth of Riddim Up - Harlesden Thursday 28th September

Naomi Klein's speech should strengthen the hand of Labour Party ecosocialists

Naomi Klein's speech at the Labour Party Conference was well received yesterday and should strengthen the hand of those members who want to see the party take a stronger line on challenging climate change.

Her praise of Corbyn's Labour Party was a little OTT at times but it also contained ecosocialist themes that reflect the position of Green Left (the ecosocialist current in the Green Party) and could build links between the two parties.

Information Commissioner's Office calls on Brent Council to take measures to avoid future data protection breaches

Following the data breach by Brent Council when e-mail addresses of residents were sent to recipients of a message about a meeting acomplaint was made to the Information Commissioner's Office.

This is their response:

-->

You have contacted us to complain that Brent Council appears to have inappropriately disclosed your personal data.

Summary of case

In this case, your email address was cc’d into an email and disclosed to other individuals.

It would therefore appear that Brent Council has breached the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).

Role of the ICO

Our role is to ensure that organisations follow the Data Protection Act 1998 properly. If things go wrong we will provide advice and ask the organisation to try to put things right. Our overall aim is to improve the way organisations handle personal information.

Next steps

Although it appears that Brent Council has breached the DPA, it would seem that this is down to human error, and the ICO does not consider it necessary to take any further regulatory action at this stage.

However, we have contacted the council to advise them of our view. We have also asked that they take the following measures to ensure that similar breaches do not occur in the future:

• To remind all staff to take extra due care and attention when sending emails by double checking addresses and only sending out relevant and appropriate information in future.
• To use the bcc feature when sending emails to numerous individuals with external email domains, to ensure that email addresses are not disclosed to other parties.
• To check that all staff have undertaken data protection training within the last 12 months.
• Inform any other parties whose data may have been inappropriately disclosed in this case.

Although we do not intend to take any further regulatory action on this case, this will remain on our systems to help us build a picture of Brent Council’s information rights handling.

We will continue to monitor the council’s data protection practices, and should any regulatory action be taken against them in the future, your case may form a part of our intelligence against them. You can view any regulatory action we do take on our website, using the following link: https://ico.org.uk/action-weve-taken/

Brent CEO's advice to Mayor over John Duffy Special Council Meeting request published

A supplementary report has been published for Thursday's Standards Committee meeting which contains the correspondence between the Mayor and Carolyn Downs (Brent CEO) about John Duffy's request for a Special Council Meeting about fire risk in Brent buildings post Grenfell:

223 bus route link to Harrow likely to terminate at Northwick Park in future

A Wembley Matters reader has been in contact over proposals to stop the 223 bus at Northwick Park rather than Harrow Bus Station. The consultation has now closed.

She wrote:

I had sent them (TfL) a long message detailing the effects the cut would have on older residents, on children travelling to school in Harrow and all sorts of people who have difficulty getting their shopping on and off the bus or who would feel intimidated standing around Northwick Park in the dark or cold weather.  Apparently none of  this is of any interest to TFL.

The consultation was a sham because they didn't tell anyone about it.  There is no information on buses or in the bus station, so most people are completely ignorant of the proposals.

TfL replied:

Thanks for the contacting us on 31 August, about the route change proposal to the 223 buses.
I’m sorry that you are unhappy with our proposal to terminate the buses at Northwick Park Hospital instead of Harrow Bus Station. It’s understandable that many of the customers rely on the direct service for Harrow, and this would result in journeys being disrupted. 

Harrow bus station and Northwick Park Hospital will continue to be linked by routes 182, 483, 186, H9, H10 and H14 (where the Hopper Fare can be applied). Curtailing the 223 at Northwick Park Hospital will also create the free space for new route X140 to stop and stand at Harrow bus station. 

These changes are in keeping with the opening of the Elizabeth line next year, which will change how customers travel around the capital.