Fake News: “I have the support of my Cabinet”

This phrase is fake news at any level – let’s take it at national and local level as an example

1. As with the national government where May chose her Cabinet, so does the Leader of EDDC. They choose people closest to them and the ones most inclined to do their bidding – it would be foolish to do anything else.

2. Cabinets are not chosen for quality – they are chosen for obedience. It’s no use May saying she tolerates Boris for not being a “yes man” as it is precisely that which has endangered her. A foolish “strategy” to follow if, like her or any other Leader, you want to cling to power. See Trump and Kim Jong-Un. You upset Trump, he fires you; you upset Kim … let’s not go there.

3. It pays to choose weak and feeble Cabinet members if you are their Leader. It strengthens your position. The downside is that you then have to forge VERY close relationships with your civil servants and officers as they are the route to getting your agenda fulfilled (or, in the case of the current government, a very close relationship with the DUP forged with a £1 billion bribe).

4. As soon as anyone hits a Cabinet, they get a vastly increased taste for power – it’s like a drug. They spend days and nights thinking about how THEY could make a better job of things. There is no such thing as loyalty to a Leader in a Cabinet.

So, when any leader says they have the full support of their cabinet – FAKE NEWS!

DCC Tories torpedo Devon NHS

“PRESS RELEASE
Yesterday the Conservative Party machine defeated my final attempt to get Devon County Council to take action over the closure of community hospitals beds. My motion, seconded by Claire Wright, asked the Health Scrutiny Committee to look again at the issues it failed to scrutinise properly in July, and asked the Council to write to the Secretary of State for Health to alert him to our concern about hospital beds. I highlighted widespread NHS concern that there will be too few beds if there is a flu epidemic this winter. My speech is available here and you can watch it and the debate in the webcast (beginning at 2.18).

The Tory response was an amendment, moved by the leader, John Hart, which took the guts out of the motion. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, it said that Health Scrutiny had ‘extensively considered the issues and concerns from members of the public, elected members and others, including medical professionals, all matters relating to the closure of some community hospital beds in Honiton, Okehampton, Seaton and Whipton.’

Instead of my proposal to write to the Secretary about the beds closures, the amendment proposed to write ‘seeking reassurance that appropriate funding is provided by government to deliver the necessary health and social care services in Devon’. Not a dicky bird to the minister about community hospital beds, the whole point of the debate.

In reply I told the Council (at 3.10) that if they passed this amendment, they would be ignoring East Devon opinion just like Kensington & Chelsea Council ignored the residents of Grenfell Tower; and the Conservative Group as a whole would have made itself responsible for the failure to properly scrutinise the hospital bed closures.

The result

Although they were not formally whipped, 40 Tories fell dutifully in line to support the amendment. There were 16 votes against (these were Liberal Democrat, Labour, Independent and Green members, together with only one Conservative, Ian Hall of Axminster).

Claire made a valiant attempt to put some guts back into the motion, with another amendment – but the Tory machine squashed that too.

Martin Shaw
Independent East Devon Alliance County Councillor for Seaton & Colyton

Dense-area city dwellers happier and healthier than suburban counterparts

Seems counter-intuitive to us who choose to live in East Devon but more city development would certainly make a dent in coastal town/rural area calls for more development there:

“Contrary to popular belief, busy city centres beat suburban living when it comes to human wellbeing, as socialising and walking make for happier, healthier people, according to a new report.

Downtown residents – packed together in tight row houses or apartment blocks – are more active and socially engaged than people who live in the sprawl of suburbia, according to a report that aims to challenge popular beliefs about city life.

Its authors said their findings should encourage politicians to promote the benefits of built-up city living.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/06/inner-city-living-makes-for-healthier-happier-people-study-finds

Don’t punish the bully, punish the victim, says Tory donors

This is extraordinary. In any other walk of life a bully would be punished and his or her victim given support. In this increasingly mad party, it is the other way round. In this case the bully is being joined by other bullies to force the victim out of a job.

And as for raising more money from “ordinary” voters – do people not realise that these donors are now desperately squirreling away their cash to cushion them against Brexit problems. With lots of it probably going to those tax havens they love so much.

As an employer – for that is what Tory donors are – these rich donors who are calling the tune – it should be ashamed of themselves. But alas, shame is something rich Tory donors have never and will never experience.

And every member of the Conservative Party shares in this – including our MPs Swire and Parish if they stay silent and join in bearing in mind Swire tweeted his support of bully-boy Johnson very recently, after his attack on May.

Tory party members – you are all complicit with the behaviour of these bullies. Pay your subs and be one of the rabble they will call up on their behalf – that’s your role. And take over paying for their share while they still pull your strings.

“Conservative donors have called for Theresa May to stand down because she is being “bullied” by colleagues including Boris Johnson.

Following an ill-fated conference speech and rumours of a backbench plot against the prime minister, two wealthy supporters said the party must act quickly and install another leader.

In a further development, the party is discussing plans to emulate Labour and widen its financial support away from large donations from a select group of wealthy donors to smaller donations from its ordinary members.

Charlie Mullins, the founder of London-based Pimlico Plumbers, said May must leave because she was being bullied and undermined by Johnson.

He said: “She has got to go for her own sake. It is getting embarrassing. If this was a boxing match, the fight would have been stopped. She has been put in a position where she is being bullied, she is being intimidated, they are making her life hell. These are Conservative people who are destroying this woman and it needs to stop.”

Mullins, who has donated £50,000 and spent £30,000 on a stall at this year’s conference, said the foreign secretary had been successfully undermining the prime minister.

“She is a broken woman. They are setting her up,” he said. “Boris is not a fool. He knows what he is doing. Boris is knocking her at every opportunity he gets because he wants to be prime minister. Boris has been a big part of destroying this woman. …

A second donor said May appeared to be too weak to fight the business community’s corner and should leave by Christmas if the party wants to retain financial support from entrepreneurs.

The businessman, who has given more than £300,000 in total, said: “[The party] is losing support in the City. People worry that the Tories are taking us over a Brexit cliff edge and May looks too weak to control her ministers.

“We need to act now. Whether she is replaced by an old guard member like Michael Fallon or new blood, I am not sure.”

The Conservatives have grown increasingly concerned about the party’s failing support from big donors in the business community.

While the Tories generated £1.5m in membership fees last year, Labour raised £14.4m, according to figures published in August by the Electoral Commission.

John Griffin, the founder of taxi firm Addison Lee who has given more than £4m to the Conservatives, told the Guardian that he has had preliminary talks with party officials about helping to widen financial support from a select few individuals to other less wealthy donors.

“I think the party has performed very poorly in that particular area, so I have a cunning plan and we will be having meetings about that this month. They have underperformed in the area of collecting money,” he said.

“We don’t really want donors to give large sums. We want lots of people to give smaller sums. That is the plan. The Labour party are making a better fist of it. We need to consider that and emulate them.”

Griffin declined to go into further details but said he raised the idea with May at a fundraising dinner at the Dorchester hotel in central London last month. “She supports the idea in principle,” he said.

Griffin, who gave £1m to the party before this year’s election, said he wantedMay to remain as prime minister and called for Johnson to be given a “smacked bum” for undermining her.

“Boris has been a naughty boy and needs a smacked bum. That’s where I stand. He is a nice bloke, but there is a time for everything and he needs a bit more dignity,” he said. “I have encouraged the prime minister to make sure that these people in the cabinet stand in line and she must exercise her power.”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/oct/05/conservative-donors-call-for-may-to-stand-down-over-bullying-by-johnson

Amsterdam bans new tourist shops to “prevent Disneyfication”

“Amsterdam has announced a ban on any new shops aimed at tourists – effectively limiting the abundance of places hiring bikes and selling souvenirs, tour tickets and ubiquitous waffles.

After mounting rage from locals – who wrote collectively to the mayor to protest against the “Disneyfication” of the city centre a year ago – the Dutch capital has decided that no more tourist shops will get licences in the central area.

“Nowhere else in the world has such a decision been made,” said Kajsa Ollongren, deputy mayor. “The balance is missing. We are only getting more of the same, and that is not good for our quality of life.”

It is estimated that there are 280 such shops in the centre, while tourist numbers have increased to 17 million visitors a year in the latest estimates – a tenth of them hosted by Airbnb, according to research by Colliers International.

But while some are making money, not everyone is happy. In May, chief executive of Amsterdam Marketing Frans van der Avert told a tourism conference that the city was aiming to ‘increase the quality of visitors’, rather than hosting tourists ‘with no respect for [its] character.

Amsterdam has put up tourist taxes, and on October 1, a new licencing system was imposed for anyone wanting to rent out their house short term – with fines of at least €6,000 for failure to comply, and a limit of 60 days annually.

The latest ban will apply immediately in the city centre and 40 shopping streets, meaning no new licences will be granted for things like ticket shops, bike rental companies, cheese, doughnut and ice-cream sellers.

“By not allowing new tourist shops to open we make sure our city centre remains attractive and liveable for Amsterdammers and our visitors,” said Ollongren, who heads economic affairs.

“Tourists are very welcome, but we want to avoid mass tourism taking over entire streets and neighbourhoods.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/05/amsterdam-bans-new-tourist-shopsto-combatdisneyfication-city/

How much do PFI contracts cost DCC?

“A Labour pledge to bring “wasteful” PFI contracts back in the public sector would cost a massive £671m in Devon, it has been revealed.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell told the annual party conference last month the contracts were set to cost the taxpayer £200bn over coming decades and private companies were making “huge profits”.

The cost to the county for all the buildings, such as schools, hospitals armed forces’ accommodation, funded by private finance initiatives was estimated to be around £2.4bn just four years ago.

Newly released figures by the county council show that Exeter Schools would cost £210m to buy out with £322m for an energy for waste (EFW) plant and £139m for a Devonport EFW scheme. …

… Private companies carry out the construction work and maintenance, in exchange for regular payments from the taxpayer.

It has proved controversial with criticisms that it is overly generous to the private contractors.

Some schools, including in Exeter, have said the quality of parts of their new buildings have been poor.

Other public bodies, such as hospitals, have complained that large debt repayments, over long periods of time, make it difficult for them to balance their books.

However, defenders of PFI said it provided new infrastructure which would otherwise be unaffordable.

The biggest margin on a project in Devon came with a deal for new accommodation for services’ personnel at Devonport Naval Base in Plymouth.

Its estimated cost of £554m, which will also include service and maintenance charges, is more than 12 times the initial building price. …

… Devon County Council said it could not “accurately” estimate the cost of terminating contracts without going into negotiations.

Cabinet member for finance John Clatworthy said the schools PFI contract in 2005/6 was £348m.

He wrote: “Set against this was a grant of £248m that would be received from central government – of the balance, £75m would be met from the delegated schools budget and the remainder (£75m) would be met by the council.”

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/cost-labour-pledge-cancel-pfi-583063

DCC Tories fail, yet again, to do the right thing on our NHS

“Martin Shaw and Claire Wright were voted down… [at today’s health scrutiny committee, see below] shame on Devon County Council! Every single Tory Councillor with the exception of one voted against Martin’s motion – they put party politics above their communities interests once again.
People need to know what they did.”

Patients discharged in dressing gowns and with no home care plans

Patients are being discharged from hospitals in dressing gowns to empty homes and without medication or support, according to a new report.

Healthwatch England also expressed concerns over the level of bed-blocking in the NHS, with patients fit to go home but staying in hospital.

The watchdog talked to more than 2,000 people about their experiences in the past two years. In a report in 2015 it had criticised “shocking” cases and “common basic failings” leading to emergency readmissions and deaths.

While hospitals are doing better overall, Healthwatch said that people “still don’t feel involved in decisions or that they have been given the information they need” and that they continue to experience delays and a lack of co-ordination between services.

In July an average of 5,861 beds a day were occupied by patients fit to go home, up 23.4 per cent on the same month in 2015, although down slightly year on year. The majority of delays were caused by the NHS, but the number attributed to social care services rose to 37 per cent from 30 per cent two years ago. The watchdog said that patients sometimes had to stay in hospital because non-emergency transport was not available to take them home.

Healthwatch warned that people felt they did not have access to the services and support they needed after being discharged. A patient who spoke to a Healthwatch branch in Berkshire said: “Discharged without support, with low blood pressure, very weak and unsteady on my feet, and diarrhoea.”

A patient in Richmond upon Thames, southwest London, said: “I was discharged in a dressing gown and had to get my own taxi home as transport was not available.”

Imelda Redmond, national director of Healthwatch England, said: “Getting people out of hospital and safely home is . . . an ongoing process that requires thought, planning and support before, during and after the moment someone is actually discharged. Things work best when all services work together.”

NHS England said: “This report provides further support for the intensive focus the NHS is giving to safe and speedy hospital discharge, and the related importance of local councils’ actions to ensure proper home care and care home places for frail older people.”

Source: Times, pay wall

Ind. East Devon Alliance Councillor Martin Shaw’s speech to DCC committee today

“Speech by County Councillor Martin Shaw (Independent East Devon Alliance, Seaton and Colyton), moving to send the issue back to Health Scrutiny, at Devon County Council, 5 October 2017:

“I represent a large division in East Devon. 2 years ago Seaton, Axminster and Honiton hospitals had in-patient beds, universally appreciated by patients & doctors, and supported by local communities. Today large parts of each hospital lie empty – nurses and other staff are dispersed – volunteers have been told they are no longer needed. We don’t even know whether the buildings will survive as centres of health services or be sold off.

This is the biggest crisis East Devon & Okehampton have faced in many years. Local communities have been united in their opposition; councillors of all parties have opposed the decisions.

After a biased consultation and flawed, unjust decisions, we looked to the Health Scrutiny Committee to hold NEW Devon CCG to account, and they have failed us. My proposal today is not a motion of NO confidence in any councillor or party. It is a motion to RESTORE confidence in this Council’s ability to represent Devon communities and stand up for their interests.

The tragedy is that Health Scrutiny started sensibly by asking the CCG 14 questions, in order to decide whether it should use its legal power to refer their decision. This proposal had cross-party backing, with the support of more Conservatives than members of any other party. A minority of the committee were, however, determined from the beginning to disregard public concern and voted not even to ask the questions.

The CCG replied to the questions but the Committee found their answers inadequate and wrote back detailing areas of concern. So far so good – a model of scrutiny. But things started to go wrong when the issue came to the new Health & Adult Care committee in June. The new Chair argued that members were insufficiently experienced to decide the issue and recommended delaying a decision until September 21st. It escaped no one’s notice that this was after the date given for permanent closure of the beds. It was seen as an attempt to prevent effective scrutiny.

Fortunately, the Committee agreed instead to a special meeting in July. For this meeting, the County Solicitor prepared a guidance paper outlining 6 issues outstanding with the CCG. Councillor Ian Hall, Councillor Mike Allen who is a Conservative District councillor, and others joined me in pressed the local communities’ case.

However the CCG gave a long powerpoint presentation which simply did not address most of the 6 issues, and before any debate could take place, Councillor Gilbert proposed there be no referral. In case anyone believed that he still wanted to scrutinise the issues, he made a point of emphasising that not referring would ‘save the committee a huge amount of work ’.

Councillor Diviani then told the committee that referral would be a waste of time, because ‘attempting to browbeat the Secretary of State to overturn his own policies is counter-intuitive’.

The Committee never discussed most of the remaining issues that the guidance paper had identified. By my reckoning, only 1 out of 6 was more or less satisfactorily addressed. Let me mention just one that wasn’t, the surprise decision to close Seaton’s beds, removing all provision from the Axe Valley. Neither the CCG nor any member gave any reason for believing this decision was justified – yet the committee voted for it anyway and the empty wards of Seaton hospital are the consequence.

There was no broad support for the anti-scrutiny motion: it was supported only by 7-6 ; 4 members abstained or were absent. The meeting was widely seen as an abdication of scrutiny. The Standards Committee says it ‘may not reflect well on the Council as a whole’. I would go further: it did not reflect well on this Council.

Since then, new evidence has shown that cutting beds to the bone brings great risks. The Head of the NHS, Simon Stevens, has called for more beds to be urgently made available this winter in face of a possible flu epidemic. Expert bodies like the Kings Fund, the College of Emergency Medicine and NHS Providers have backed the judgement that the NHS is cutting too far, too fast. These are new reasons to question the CCG’s plans.

This motion therefore proposes that

The Scrutiny Committee should look again at the issues which were not satisfactorily addressed.
The Council should tell the Secretary of State that the CCG’s decisions and the wider STP process have aroused great feeling in Devon, that people are not happy with either the decisions or the way they were made , and we are worried that we simply won’t have enough beds for the coming winter.
Finally, following a more constructive Health Scrutiny meeting on 21st September, this motion welcomes the Committee’s help in securing community hospital buildings.
Some of you may still wonder if Cllr Diviani was right, and all these proposals will be a waste of time. The answer to this is given in a recent letter from the Secretary’s own office: ‘As you may know,’ it says, ‘contested service changes can be referred to the Secretary of State, who then takes advice from the Independent Reconfiguration Panel.’ So a referral is not something the minister deals with personally; it is a legally defined procedure.

The letter continues, ‘However, as you are aware, Devon’s Health Scrutiny Committee … passed a motion … in favour of not referring the CCG’s decision to the Secretary of State.’ Cllr Diviani suggested that referral was pointless because of the minister’s opinions: the minister’s office implies it WOULD be meaningful, if only Devon would take action.

I ask you to restore this Council’s reputation and take the action which it is within your power to take, even at this late date, to save our community hospital beds.”

May’s housing announcement “tinkering at the edges”

“Responding to the Prime Minister’s conference announcement on housing, Radical Housing Network said:

“May is pumping £10bn into a housing policy that worsens the housing crisis: Help to Buy has kept house prices high, provides subsidies to a small number of people, and does nothing to address the chronic shortage of low-cost housing.

“And her announcement of £2bn for affordable housing alongside permitting some councils to build more social rent homes is simply tinkering at the edges of a failed system. May’s announcement was proclaimed a ‘revolutionary’ shift in policy – but in fact would only provide homes for just 5% of the 1.2 million people who have languished on waiting lists for years.

“Over decades we have lost 1.5 million council homes while powerful property owners dominate the market. In London, millions of people are stuck in poor housing on extortionate rents while developers game the system, while only a fraction – 13% – of new houses announced last year met even the low standard for ‘affordability’ set by the Conservatives.”

“If May wants to prove she’s ‘listened and learned’ on housing, she needs to get serious about providing the safe, decent and affordable homes which we desperately need. It’s estimated that we need national public investment of £10bn to provide enough council homes to meet demand, and it’s essential that tenants and communities are involved in the planning of those homes.

“Corbyn’s commitment to put tenants back at the heart of housing policy could be the start of real change, yet change is yet to be seen from London’s Labour run councils – including Lewisham, Haringey and Holloway – who continue to sell off public land and housing for profit in flawed ‘regeneration’ schemes, despite community opposition.

“The tragedy at Grenfell starkly revealed what happens when residents’ concerns and voices are ignored. Grenfell should mark a turning point for all parties, who must commit to real action on our broken housing system.”

Radical Housing Network, Facebook page

Care Quality Commission considering transferring control of its Clinical Commissioning Group to Cornwall Council

AND

“On the same day as the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust has been placed in special measures, the CQC has also highlighted problems with the wider health and social care system in Cornwall.

It said too many patients were stuck in hospital waiting for the support they needed to live at home, or be placed in residential care, and managers had lost sight of the needs of people using services.

Its review calls for “urgent and significant change to improve” to ensure people move through the system more effectively.

NHS England said it was considering transferring the management of the county’s Clinical Commissioning Group to the council. A director of adult social services and health integration could also be appointed.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-devon-41434125

Another south-west hospital buckles under the strain

Which pushes the falling domino to Plymouth … which pushes it to Exeter … which pushes it to … us.

“The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust has been placed in special measures following a damning report from health watchdog the Care Quality Commission.

Inspectors visited the trust in July and raised concerns about patient safety in surgery, the maternity unit and the paediatric emergency department, as well as long delays in cardiology and ophthalmology.

Chief Inspector of Hospitals Professor Ted Baker said patients had been “let down” with some “placed at risk” and the people of Cornwall “deserved better”.

Speaking on BBC Radio Cornwall, the trust’s chief executive Kathy Byrne (pictured) apologised unreservedly for the trust’s failings.

She said patients should “not be worried” and the trust had taken action on all the areas of concerns raised by the CQC’s warning notice.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-devon-41434125

Exmouth water sports centre plans revealed

First thoughts?

Owl’s – well, it doesn’t look like it will win any design awards! Personally, Owl preferred the boating lake and swan pedallos.

http://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/watersports-centre-plans-exmouth-seafront-575281

DCC Ind. East Devon Alliance Councillor Martin Shaw will try again to get DCC to see sense on bed closures

“PRESS RELEASE
Tomorrow (Thursday) Devon County Council will discuss a new call to review the controversial closure of beds in community hospitals in Honiton, Okehampton, Seaton and Whipton.

I have been told my motion will be discussed, rather than referred to Cabinet as is normal with most motions.

The motion proposes to redress the widely perceived failure of the Health Scrutiny Committee to properly scrutinise NEW Devon CCG’s decisions, which has allowed the CCG to go ahead with the closures.

The motion asks Health Scrutiny, which alone has legal power to refer the decision, to look again the outstanding issues, while at the same time committing the Council to alerting the Secretary of State to the disquiet in the County over the issue.

The motion also highlights the urgent call by Simon Stevens, Head of the NHS in England, to free up more hospital beds in view of the danger of an extreme flu season this winter.

I will issue the text of my speech tomorrow morning.

Martin Shaw
Independent East Devon Alliance County Councillor for Seaton & Colyton”

Conservatives talking of building council houses is an example of “cognitive dissonance”

If you want to see cognitive dissonance in action, watch the Conservative party try to develop popular housing policies without contravening its loyalty to developers, landlords or free market fundamentalism.

For years, experts from across the housing sector have called for investment in social housing and proper regulation of the private rented sector, so it was entirely predictable that Theresa May’s flagship policy at this year’s conference was a £10bn boost for the housing bubble in the form of the Help to Buy scheme. There may now be some move towards investment in housebuilding – albeit in partnership with large corporations – but the problem remains that the Conservatives are unwilling to confront the origins of the UK’s “great housing disaster”.

This apparent inability to understand root causes is a tendency that has afflicted successive governments. In 1989, as Margaret Thatcher’s government finalised the deregulation of the private rented sector, it was put to the then housing minister, Sir George Young, that some tenants might struggle with rents that would inevitably rise once rent controls were lifted. “If people cannot afford to pay that market rent,” Young assured, “housing benefit will take the strain.”

Fast forward to 2010 and the coalition government’s decision to cap housing benefit because its expenditure in the private rented sector was “out of control”. No one in David Cameron’s government mentioned deregulation, but to anyone who knew the history, the connection was clear: private sector tenants were now to be punished for the consequences of Thatcher’s reforms.

Jeremy Corbyn’s recent announcement that Labour would reintroduce some form of rent control has prompted landlords to warn that such a move would be a “disaster” for tenants. Landlords often claim to be acting in the best interests of tenants, yet cases in which tenants themselves laud the merits of uncontrolled rents are rather more difficult to find.

… It is clear that the UK needs investment in social housing, but regardless of what May announces today it will take time to build the number of homes needed to have a knock-on effect on prices. In the meantime, there are various models of rent control that have been proven to create more secure, affordable and sustainable rented sectors in other countries. Adopting a model such as that proposed by Generation Rent above would improve the lives of millions of renters in the here and now.

The truth is that the UK’s housing crisis is not merely a problem of supply and demand, but of class inequality being reproduced through property relations. Perhaps it is the prospect of the present system being curtailed that some find so terrifying.

• Matt Wilde is a research fellow in anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/04/theresa-may-wont-fix-housing-disaster-rent-controls

Devon to be one of worst-hit areas for inability to cope with ageing population

Devon will have largest shortage in number of beds, with a projected 1,921 short by 2022

“… Izzi Seccombe, from the Local Government Association, said: ‘These findings reinforce our warning about the urgent need to reform adult social care and deliver a long-term sustainable solution that delivers a range of high-quality care and support for the growing numbers of people who will need it.

‘It is absolutely critical that the Government uses the Autumn Budget to bring forward its consultation for social care announced in the Queen’s Speech, and that it works with local government leaders in delivering a long-term sustainable solution for social care.

‘To tackle the problems we face tomorrow, we must start planning today.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4946632/Nine-10-areas-run-care-home-places.html

A Tory council leader pleads for cross-party initiatives and unitisation to cut costs

Owl sats: One has to wonder if he would be putting out the same message if his party had a majority.

Austerity means careful, selective investment is needed in core services, says Martin Tett, the Conservative leader of Buckinghamshire council

“… Less than a fortnight ago, the LGA sent chancellor Philip Hammond a 40-page submission ahead of the autumn budget which warned that services in England were at “tipping point” as a result of significant funding gaps, pointing to children’s services, adult social care and homelessness. By the end of this decade, English town halls will have seen £16bn of reductions to government grant funding – and from April 2019, 168 councils will not receive any funding for day-to-day expenditure.

Among its many appeals, the umbrella body urged the government to meet a £5.8bn funding gap facing existing local services by 2019/2020, of which £2.3bn is identified in adult social care. This figure includes £1.3bn that the LGA says is needed immediately to stabilise the adult social care market. This is despite an additional £2bn announced by Hammond in his spring budget to help councils cope over the next three years.

It also reiterated its call for greater financial flexibility and powers to allow town halls to build new homes in large numbers once more. …

… Alongside its urgent plea for cash for adult social care, the LGA has called for cross-party talks at national level to find a long-term solution to the social care funding crisis. The move echoes a call made by the Commons select committee for communities and local government in March that concluded that inadequate funding was having a serious impact on both the quality and level of care, and said a long-term fix was urgently necessary. Earlier this year, former Lib Dem social care minister Norman Lamb and a small group of cross-party MPs urged the prime minister to set up an NHS and Care convention to work on a sustainable settlement. A recent poll by the charity Independent Age showed that 86% of MPs believe a cross-party consensus is needed. The LGA has even offered to host the first round of discussions. …

… One way to save significant money would be to replace the two-tier system of one county and four district councils with one unitary authority. Having responsibilities split across two tiers of local government is crazy, says Tett. Districts, for example, are responsible for housing, counties for infrastructure – yet they are “two bits of the same jigsaw”. It would speed up decision-making, end the confusion about who is responsible for which services and allow a more holistic approach, such as joint commissioning across housing, health and care, he says.

The business case for unitary authority status has been in communities secretary Sajid Javid’s in-tray since last September. Tett is waiting to see if the reasoned argument will be heard.”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/oct/03/martin-tett-social-care-decent-housing-austerity-neglect-investment

The destruction of trust in the NHS? Hunt has an app for that

“Jeremy Hunt spoke to the Tory conference in Manchester today about the NHS. It was a bizarre spectacle.

Hunt gave the Tories the credit for the fact that we have an NHS. He said he would increase the number of nurse training places – ignoring the fact that there aren’t enough student nurses filling courses now, thanks to the Tories’ decision to scrap bursaries for nursing students. And he tried to claim patient satisfaction levels are at an all-time high in an NHS that’s falling down around our ears amid ever-lengthening waiting times and hospitals running at record deficits.

But his nonsense entered the realm of the surreal when, after calling for a hypocritical round of applause for heroic medical staff who risked their lives to save others in the Manchester and London terror attacks, he said he planned to show nurses how valued they were and to help them manage their family commitments.

With an app.

And he screwed up and let slip that the ‘flexible working app’ he plans to make available is actually for NHS Trusts to be able to get their staff to work extra hours at short notice.

It’s the equivalent of a selfish, idiot husband buying his wife a new iron or vacuum cleaner so she can do ‘her’ chores more efficiently – and expecting her to be pleased at the ‘romantic’ gesture.

Except this is an idiot Health Secretary insulting well over a million NHS workers, If he hadn’t already been the most despised in the history of the NHS, he would be now.”

Video: Hunt – “I’ll give nurses an app to work longer at short notice”

The education magic money tree needs more manure and less bull****

“Schools in Devon will still be among the poorest in the country, despite the government’s new funding formula, according to figures seen by the BBC.

Last month the Conservatives, who run the county council, welcomed extra funding which they said meant Devon’s schools budget would get another £7.5m a year.

But emails obtained by the BBC said this would only improve funding by £22 per pupil, still leaving each school child with £268 a year less than the national average.”

http://www.bbc.com/news/live/uk-england-devon-41433439

Tories to build council houses, lots of council houses, beautiful council houses, the best council houses …

“Councils are expected to be given new freedoms to build their own homes, while also being forced to assess local need and set targets to construct more housing in their area.”

You see where this is going again?

Developers get a “council house target”, start building, council houses “unviable”

or

Council has to find money to build council houses from their own “profits” on other services such as refuse collection, planning fees, council tax

Magic money trees.

And from a government that deliberately stopped building them.

Yet some will think this is wonderful, and vote for them.

Remember, this is a desperate minority government – the NHS was “safe in their hands” … education was safe in their hands …