Monthly Archives: May 2018

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, KPMG, Privatisation

Privatisation and outsourcing: beware ‘delusional’ directors, blind auditors and absent regulators

“Frank Field, chairman of the Work and Pensions Committee, said: “A board of directors too busy stuffing their mouths with gold to show any concern for the welfare of their workforce or their pensioners.”

For a longer and even more critical report published after this article, see:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-44129678

“The directors of Carillion should be formally investigated after overseeing a “rotten corporate culture” and may warrant disqualification from holding boardoom roles in the future, a House of Commons inquiry has concluded.

A damning 101-page report into the collapse of the public services contractor, undertaken by the joint business and work and pensions select committees, has identified failings by regulators, the accountancy firms KMPG and Deloitte and the government, as well as the company’s directors.

The government called the Official Receiver into Carillion four months ago after banks and investors refused to support the group, which had annual turnover of £5 billion and 43,000 employees. It collapsed with £2.6 billion of pension liabilities and about £2 billion of debts with suppliers and lenders. Its demise left serious issues over the delivery of maintenance, catering and cleaning contracts in schools, hospitals and military bases.

The company blamed its financial crisis on failing construction contracts, including those to build hospitals in the West Midlands and on Merseyside, a new motorway in Scotland and developments in Doha ahead of the 2022 World Cup finals in Qatar.

The MPs’ report recommends that:

•The Insolvency Service investigate “potential breaches of duties under the Companies Act” and claims of “wrongful trading” that could lead to “action for disqualification as a director”;

•The intervention powers of the Financial Reporting Council should be beefed up and its remit be extended to company directors that are not accountants;

•The Competition and Markets Authority should investigate the Big Four accountancy firms and consider that they be broken up;

•The Prompt Payment Code for suppliers should be reviewed after Carillion’s flagrant abuse of it;

•The “Crown representative” system used to oversee large public services contractors should be reviewed after it appeared to pick up no warning signals about Carillion’s financial crisis;

•The leadership of The Pensions Regulator should be is shaken up to make sure that it takes “harsher sanctions” against companies such as Carillion that fail to properly fund their retirement schemes.

The damning report will cast a shadow on the careers of the grandees on the Carillion board: Philip Green, the former United Utilities and P&O boss who was chairman; and Keith Cochrane, the former chief executive of Weir Group who was Carillion’s senior independent director.

There were criticisms, too, of Alison Horner, Tesco’s head of personnel, over her role as chairwoman of Carillion’s executive pay committee. Senior executives Richard Howson, Richard Adam and Zafar Khan were all sharply criticised.

Mr Green, who is called “delusional” in the report, criticised the MPs’ inquiry. “The report fails to understand and accurately reflect the true, more complex picture of events,” he said.”

Source: The Times (pay wall)

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Housing (local)

“Don’t make developers pay for social housing” … says BIG developer!

“One of the country’s top property developers has described the UK’s system of funding social housing as “nuts” and called for higher taxes to speed up building.

Roger Madelin, a member of the executive committee at British Land, told the Guardian the decades-old system of getting private developers to pay for affordable homes was “a stupid way of meeting this social need” and that the government should directly fund them.

“All companies should pay higher corporation tax,” he said. “This country needs to have more tax paid. If we did it like that we could get on and do it. It can’t work in the long term, you can’t expect developers to continue to produce for the population’s social needs at this level. It should come from general taxation.”

Madelin’s suggestion will raise eyebrows in the notoriously profit-driven property industry as it implies increased taxes on its profits. But he is a respected figure who led the regeneration of King’s Cross in London as well as Brindley place in Birmingham and his remarks reflect growing frustration that the system is not only failing to deliver enough cheap housing, it is also a drag on development.

He made his proposal as British Land submitted one of the UK’s largest planning applications for a £3bn regeneration of Surrey Quays in east London, with 3,000 homes, up to six skyscrapers and several new corporate headquarters on a site stretching across 53 acres – similar in size to the regeneration of King’s Cross. It is located about a 20 minutes’ tube journey from the City of London, between Shoreditch and Peckham, two rapidly gentrifying areas, on the London overground line. Some 35,000 people already live in the Rotherhithe peninsula, where the development will take place. …

Madelin believes that by avoiding the current haggling between council officers and developers about how much they should contribute to affordable homes, the government could regain control of how much and when much-needed affordable housing could be built.

“I find it nonsensical that we go through these viability assessments,” he said. ‘If you have a shortage of cars then you wouldn’t get motor manufacturers to subsidise people who can’t afford a decent car.” …”

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/may/14/social-housing-funding-system-is-nuts-says-top-property-developer

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

16 May 2018

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Inequality, National Planning Policy Framework, Planning System

Civic Voice submission on new planning rules

PRESS RELEASE

“Civic Voice – the authoritative voice of the civic movement – has submitted its final response to the draft National Planning Policy Framework consultation. The response is available here:

Click to access Civic_Voice_NPPF_response_FINAL.pdf

Ian Harvey, Executive Director said: “If the report in Planning Magazine over the weekend is true and the Government’s Chief Planner did confirm that the Government has received over 27,000 responses to the draft consultation, we believe that this shows the breadth of feeling across the country about the importance of our planning system.”

Responding to the draft NPPF, Civic Voice is calling for:

1. Given our membership and reach nationwide, we are concerned by the London and South East-centric nature of the NPPF; a greater level of ambition for economic development to is vital to address the viability challenges in some parts of the country.

2. The draft NPPF says much about the importance of design, however, it is our fear that as drafted, high quality design could be seen as a ‘nice to have’ but ‘easy to ignore’ rather than as an essential dimension of good planning.

3. Civic Voice supports the emphasis on early and meaningful engagement with communities within the draft NPPF and we would welcome working with MCHLG to develop the accompanying Planning Practice Guidance on this.

Harvey added: “We agree with the Government that finding a solution to the housing crisis is essential and we really hope that this was not a tokenistic consultation. We must ask, if the Government intends to publish the final document before the end of July, can it realistically be expected to review the thousands of responses comprehensively within a matter of weeks? We look forward to seeing the final document when it is released as it is important that the Government gets this right, because the consequences of getting it wrong will be felt for many years to come.”

Civic Voice President, Griff Rhys Jones finished by saying: “Whilst the Government wants to see the ‘right homes in the right places’, if it doesn’t get this right, it is very likely to end up with the ‘wrong homes in the wrong places. We hope they listen to the voices of communities across England.”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

15 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Developers/ Development, Honiton/ Gittisham, Neighbourhood Plans, Phil Twiss

Comments

2 Comments

Unbelievable! “Creation of Honiton’s Neighbourhood Plan could be shelved until 2020”

Gobsmacking! Villages such as Feniton and Beer manage to have a quorate Neighbourhood Plan group, so have smaller towns such as Budleigh but Honiton can’t manage it:

http://eastdevon.gov.uk/planning/planning-policy/plans-of-other-organisations/made-neighbourhood-plans/

Some really serious questions need to be asked and answered here otherwise Honiton will be descended on by vulture developers for years.

Didn’t Councillor Twiss intimate that he is Honiton’s problem solver …?

“Town councillors were asked to consider a recommendation to shelve the document at a meeting last night because its current steering group is ‘inquorate’ – meaning it is not made up of enough members.

A report submitted to the council by deputy clerk Heloise Marlow said: “A steering group made up of about nine to ten members with one-third councillors and two-thirds community members is essential.

“In view of the lack of past and current interest from the community of Honiton, the officers recommendation is that a neighbourhood plan cannot currently be delivered.

“As such the recommendation would be to put the process on hold for a period of two years.”

As part of the proposal, the town council’s annual budget of £10,000 would be put into earmarked reserves for a maximum of three years, including the financial year 2020-2021.

Research into average costings for a Neighbourhood Plan indicate that funding from the town council in the region of £30,000 would be needed, and there is limited grant funding available.

The deputy clerk’s report added: “Currently there is £1,022 being brought into earmarked reserves which is the balance of the East Devon District Council start up grant.

“In May 2020 when the matter is reviewed, there would be earmarked reserves available of £31,022 and therefore should the drafting of a Neighbourhood Plan over the next two years gather public support, and the decision is taken to revive the process, this would allow funding to be made available immediately.”

Councillor Caroline Kolek said: “I think we all understand the recommendation and I feel we have no option but to go with it.

“Having been involved with the Neighbourhood Plan right from the start, I think it’s really sad that we are at this point.”

Councillors opted to vote on the recommendation at next month’s meeting after Cllr Roy Coombs voice his concerns over the recommendation.

He said: “There’s no deadline but if we had got our Neighbourhood Plan in place now, possibly things could have been done differently over the Halse of Honiton site or the Ottery Moor Lane business park.

“There could be other missed opportunities – if we have not got a Neighbourhood Plan in place it could, I feel, become a developers’ free-for-all.”

Cllr Coombs proposed to defer the item to the council’s June meeting.

His motion was unanimously approved.”

http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/creation-of-honiton-s-neighbourhood-plan-could-be-shelved-until-2020-1-5518228

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

15 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Accountable Care Organisation, Austerity cuts, Inequality, Integrated Care Systems, NHS (local)

Comments

1 Comment

“NHS has lost 1,000 GPs since Jeremy Hunt set workforce target”

Pulse is the newsletter for GPs:

“The GP workforce in England is continuing to decline, as official statistics reveal that 316 full-time equivalent GPs have left the profession in the last three months.

The figures released by NHS Digital today also reveal that the number of FTE GPs in the workforce has decreased more than 1,000 since September 2015 – when health secretary Jeremy Hunt announced he would increase the number of FTE GPs in England by 5,000.

NHS England is recruiting from overseas in a bid to boost GP numbers, but Pulse revealed last month that they had only managed to recruit 85 by April – despite originally touting the figure of 600.

The latest statistics show that in the last three months, the workforce has fallen from 33,890 FTE GPs in December 2017 to 33,574 as of 31 March 2018.

Meanwhile, the workforce is 1,018 GPs worse off than it was in September 2015.

This is despite the success of NHS England’s induction and refresher scheme, which has tempted 546 GPs back into the workforce since its launch in 2015.

The news comes as a Pulse investigation, published earlier this month, showed a steep rise in the number of GPs claiming their pension early. Since 2013, almost 3,000 GPs have claimed their pension before the age of 60.

The BMA has previously warned the Government that continued sub-inflation uplifts to GP pay is going to further exacerbate GP workforce shortages, having asked the independent review body on doctor’s pay to recommend a 2% uplift for 2018/19.

Dr Richard Vautrey, chair of the BMA’s GP Committee, said the latest workforce statistics are ‘extremely concerning’.

He said: ‘It’s more than two and a half years since the health secretary promised to recruit 5,000 more GPs before 2020, and these figures are a damning progress report. With less than two years until this target date, the trend is clearly going the other way and it’s a sign that a step change in action needs to be taken.

‘As GPs struggle with rising demand, increasing workloads and burdensome admin, and are expected to do so with insufficient resources, it’s no surprise that talented doctors are leaving the profession and although the number of GP training places have increased, this is not enough to address the dire recruitment and retention crisis.’

RCGP chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said: ‘These figures are yet another hammer blow for family doctors, for whom going the extra mile is now the norm, and for our patients. The stark truth is that we are losing GPs at an alarming rate at a time when we need thousands more to deliver the care our patients need, and keep our profession, and the wider NHS, sustainable.

‘It is clear that substantial efforts to increase the GP workforce in England are falling short – and we need urgent action to address this. We have made great strides over the past couple of years encouraging more medical students and foundation doctors to choose general practice, but these efforts will be futile, if more GPs are leaving the profession than entering it.’

She said this comes as ‘GP workload is escalating, both in volume and complexity, and the hardworking GPs we do have are burning out as we try to cope without the resources and support we need’.

‘Longer and longer days in clinic is what our members are telling us they face when they come to work in the morning, exacerbated by a mountain of bureaucracy and paperwork. This isn’t safe for GPs, our teams, or our patients, and if it isn’t tackled GPs will continue to leave the profession early, and new GPs will be put off from joining,’ she added.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the data marked ‘yet another broken promise on NHS staffing from ministers’.

‘It’s an embarrassing failure for the secretary of state that far from delivering the extra GPs primary care desperately need, there are now 1,000 fewer family doctors than in 2015.

‘The truth is that the Tories have failed to bring forward a sustainable long term plan for the NHS. The consequence is the biggest financial squeeze in its 70-year history and a failure to recruit the frontline doctors and nurses we need to care for patients.’

A department of health and social care spokesperson said: ‘We are committed to meeting our objective of recruiting an extra 5,000 GPs by 2020. This is an ambitious target and shows our commitment to growing a strong and sustainable general practice for the future.

‘More than 3,000 GPs have entered training this year, 1,500 new medical school places are being made available by 2019 and NHS England plans to recruit an extra 2,000 overseas doctors in the next three years.’

http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/news/gp-topics/employment/nhs-has-lost-1000-gps-since-hunt-set-workforce-target/20036703.article

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

15 May 2018

Posted under

Sleaze

“Cambridge councillor claims he can do his job over Skype after moving 400 miles away to Scotland ‘because of Brexit’ “

“A county councillor has faced heavy criticism after moving 400 miles away from his constituency and claiming he “can do his job over Skype”.

Donald Adey, a Cambridge councillor living in Fife, Scotland, also blamed Brexit for the move, saying English people were “too right wing” and not as friendly as the Scottish.

Mr Adey recently resigned from the Liberal Democrats to stand as an independent on both Cambridge city council and Cambridgeshire county council.

His position on each council allows Mr Adey to claim expenses of £14,500 in taxpayer money.

He told the Courier: “I am quite confident that I can well cover the needs of the constituents there by using the internet, phone, Skype and such things.”

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/cambridge-councillor-claims-he-can-do-his-job-over-skype-after-moving-400-miles-away-to-scotland-a3839291.html

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

15 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Accountable Care Organisation, Austerity cuts, Claire Wright, Health and Social Care (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, Inequality, NHS (local), Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

Claire Wright responds on threat to close Honiton and Seaton hospital day services

“Seaton and Honiton Hospitals may be at risk, local GP and chair of the NEW Devon CCG’s Eastern Locality, Dr Simon Kerr reportedly revealed at a meeting with health campaigners last month.

Dr Kerr was apparently speaking of the long-awaited Estates Strategy, which will list all the assets held by the local NHS and what it plans to do with them.

NEW Devon CCG is in considerable financial difficulty. Devon is one of three most financially challenged health trusts in the country.

The background is that 12 community hospitals across Eastern Devon were acquired by the private company (wholly owned by the Secretary of State for Health) NHS Property Services, last year.

As yet, we haven’t heard about the fate of the remaining 10 community hospitals now in the ownership of NHS Property Services. This of course, includes our beloved Ottery Hospital, as well as Exmouth, Sidmouth, Whipton, Okehampton and Crediton.

Many of these hospitals, including Seaton, Honiton, Ottery St Mary and Okehampton and Whipton, have sadly now been stripped of their beds in cost cutting measures. But they still are home to a range of services and clinics that are very much needed locally.

Up until now, NHS England has been picking up the tab for the extortionate rents charged by NHS PS, of well over £3m a year, across the area.

A stupid stupid system, set up to fail. All over the country health trusts are being forced to sell off estate because it can’t afford the ridiculous rents charged by NHS PS for a building that used to be in NHS ownership.

Honiton Hospital has a treatment centre and is home to East Devon’s out of hours GP service.

The idea that the building could be lost and with it the treatment centre and out of hours service is totally ludicrous and appalling. The RD&E’s A&E department is full to capacity much of the time and staff are struggling to manage the volume of patients.

It means someone unwell living in the far east of the area – Axminster, for example, would have to travel around an hour to Exeter, to be seen by a GP if they were unwell out of working hours. It is quite unacceptable.

The amazing maternity unit which has been ‘temporarily’ closed for the best part of a year, was also based at Honiton Hospital.

There are so many cuts to the health service now it is difficult to keep up with them, let alone fight them.

Cllr Shaw has written to the CCG chair, Dr Tim Burke demanding assurances that the buildings remain open.

I have asked for an urgent item on the next Health and Adult Scrutiny Committee agenda, which is held on Thursday 7 June.

I will keep you posted.

Here’s Cllr Shaw’s blog – https://seatonmatters.org/2018/05/14/ccg-chair-says-seaton-and-honiton-hospitals-at-risk-of-closure-in-local-estates-strategy/

http://www.claire-wright.org/index.php/post/seaton_and_honiton_hospitals_at_risk

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

15 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Accountable Care Organisation, Austerity cuts, Honiton/ Gittisham, Inequality, Integrated Care Systems, NHS (local)

“Suspension of birth services at Honiton Hospital extended”

“The suspension of birth services at Honiton maternity unit has been extended.

The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust (RDE) has today delayed its reintroduction until mid-September 2018.

The Trust took the decision last year to temporarily suspend births and subsequent in-patient stays at Honiton Hospital.

It said the step was taken to maintain patient safety due to a combination of factors affecting the stability of the services at this site and the other units it operates in Tiverton and Exeter.

Zita Martinez, head of midwifery at the RDE, said: “We are sorry for this continued suspension in services. Although we have successfully recruited to a number of our midwifery vacancies, we are still managing a high level of staff absence, including maternity leave.

At the same time, the positively received implementation of national policy in the Better Births and Saving Babies’ Lives guidance has meant that the complexity and acuity of women and babies we are caring for has significantly increased.

“This means that our main maternity unit in Exeter is experiencing greater levels of demand on the specialist care that we provide.

“In the context of increasing complexity, re-opening Honiton maternity unit for births and in-patient stays would result in the Trust stretching our workforce too far and potentially compromising safety in our other delivery units.”

The Trust has agreed with NEW Devon Clinical Commissioning Group to extend the suspension of births and subsequent in-patient stays at both Honiton and Okehampton until mid-September 2018 in order to ensure the safety of services across a wider geographical footprint and therefore, for more women and babies.

All antenatal and post-natal appointments, support clinics and home births will continue as normal in both communities.”

http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/suspension-of-birth-services-at-honiton-hospital-extended-1-5517432

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 May 2018

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Section 106

Yet another loophole cuts affordable housing

Turning offices into flats does not require planning permission so no Section 106 payments towards affordable housing:

“Lack of investment and deregulation of planning were the main reasons given for hampering councils’ ability to help provide the number of homes needed in the UK, the report published by the not-for-profit Association for Public Service Excellence found.

Of 141 UK councils surveyed, 63% described the need for affordable housing as ‘severe’ while 35% describe their need as ‘moderate’.

Seventy per cent of 124 councils in England noted an increase in statutory homelessness in the last year, the survey revealed. It was researched and written by the campaigning organisation the Town and Country Planning Association on behalf of APSE and released last week.

Paul O’Brien, chief executive of APSE, said: “Investment in high quality social housing can also save public funds, such as through reducing poor physical and mental health outcomes that are currently experienced by those living in an unstable private rented sector or those in temporary accommodation.”

Kate Henderson, TCPA chief executive added: “We are not providing anywhere near enough genuinely affordable homes and homelessness is rising.

“Our latest research highlights that councils want to provide more affordable housing for their local communities, but their ability to do so is being undermined by planning deregulation.”

The report noted that while relaxing planning regulations allowing developers to convert offices into homes without the need for full planning permission had created more accommodation it had made it more difficult for councils to secure ‘affordable properties’. If development plans go through the full planning process local authorities can secure ‘affordable homes’ through section 106.

“Relaxing permitted development has led to tens of thousands of new homes being created without having to get full planning permission and this means that councils are unable to secure a contribution to affordable housing from the developer”, Henderson said.

The research by the TCPA showed that one in three councils in England believed these changes to permitted development had a negative impact on the delivery of affordable homes.

The report called on the change to be reversed and for planning powers to be given back to local authorities allowing them to make decisions to “reflect local circumstances”.

O’Brien said the report showed that insecure private rented sector tenancies had contributed to the rise in homelessness.

He said local authorities needed to bring “stability and capacity to the social rented sector, which in turn will help to stem these almost unprecedented rises in both statutory homelessness and rough sleeping”.

The government must be “bold and ambitious in challenging the shortfall of housing for hose in the most need in society,” O’Brien added.

It must also help councils return to their historic role as a provider of homes, he urged.

APSE is a non-profit membership organisation for local government officers.”

https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2018/05/local-authorities-warn-severe-need-more-affordable-homes

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Privatisation, Transport (local)

Tories to nationalise rail line!

Owl says: well, this will take some explaining!!!

“Chris Grayling is expected to make a decision “within days” to end the existing East Coast rail franchise operated by Stagecoach and Virgin Trains.

The transport secretary was said to be preparing to either renationalise the London to Edinburgh line or negotiate a “not-for-profit” arrangement with Stagecoach and Virgin Trains before the end of the week. …

Ministers have denied that the companies are being bailed out, saying they will lose a £165m performance bond and face other penalties. Beyond 2020, the government is expected to introduce a new public-private partnership model on the line.

Virgin Trains East Coast said it had “met or exceeded” all of its contractual commitments on the East Coast line. The DfT declined to comment.”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/14/east-coast-rail-franchise-to-be-scrapped-chris-grayling

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Accountable Care Organisation, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, Integrated Care Systems, Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local)

Comments

1 Comment

East Devon Alliance DCC Martin Shaw responds to threat of full closure of Seaton Hospital

“Martin​ Shaw
County Councillor for Seaton and Colyton​

LETTER TO THE CHAIR OF NEW DEVON CCG

Dear Dr Burke,

We have seen draft notes prepared by 38 Degrees of your meeting with them on April 5th. According to these, Simon Kerr said (before your own arrival) that Seaton and Honiton hospitals were ‘at risk’ in the coming Estates Strategy. These remarks, written down at the time, have been confirmed to us by several participants. While we appreciate that no formal decision may have been taken, there seems little reason not to take them as a clear indication of CCG thinking.

As the two elected local politicians on the organising group of Seaton Health Matters, the community conversation launched together together with the CCG and RD&E, we hosted Dr Kerr at the launch meeting on 23rd March, which also heard Em Wilkinson-Bryce (copied in) appeal to the audience to trust in the ‘good intentions’ of the speakers from the NHS organisations. We have no reason at all to doubt her sincerity, but it is difficult for us to believe in the good faith of Dr Kerr and the CCG, as (unless he had only just picked up the names of the ‘at risk’ hospitals) it seems to us that you may have helped launched us into a discussion of local health needs knowing that you may be moving to deprive us of our major health resource, Seaton Hospital.

Our initial Health Matters discussion broached many areas of constructive cooperation between the local community and the NHS, which we are keen to pursue. However it also left no doubt of the need to maintain the 50+ outpatient services currently based in the Hospital, the desirability of bringing in additional services if place-based care is to be meaningful, and the needs of an elderly community (with significant pockets of deprivation and poor public transport) for as many clinics, etc., as possible on the doorstep rather than in other towns. We are ready to explore the possibility of a combined health hub for the Axe Valley, but on the basis that services would be more or less equally shared across the two hospitals and there would be no reduction in the overall level of services in each. The other thing that was clear from our discussion was that the community considers the Hospital a community resource since its building was half-funded by local donations and it has been maintained by local contributions ever since. I am sure that people in Axminster and Honiton feel the same about theirs.

You should not underestimate the local anger, only just subsiding, over the removal of beds from Seaton Hospital. It bears repeating that this was widely regarded, including outside Seaton, as an unjust choice based on a misuse of the JSNA data and misleading assumptions about the relative agedness of the populations of Seaton and Sidmouth (their age structure is in fact almost identical and the comparison did not justify a choice of Sidmouth over Seaton). It was also based on false claims that the Sidmouth option would involve a better geographical spread: a glance at the map would have shown that, on the contrary, it left the remaining community beds concentrated in the southwestern corner of East Devon with none in the Axe Valley. There is similar feeling in Honiton because the Your Future Care consultation did not even include an option which would have retained their hospital’s beds.

We mention this history not to try to reverse the beds decisions (although the shortage of beds in the recent winter should lead to it being looked at again) but because the treatment of Seaton and Honiton in those decisions should be a reason for generosity in the distribution of outpatient services and in the Estates Strategy. It is adding insult to injury to place Seaton and Honiton on a shortlist of potential closures. Having switched your decision last time against Seaton, you should now reconsider again in Seaton’s favour. This is not, of course, to suggest that any other hospital should be closed instead. On the contrary, all East Devon towns have community hospitals which reflect real local needs and you should be devising a system of health hubs which enables all communities to have a solid base for place-based care.

The next meeting of Seaton Health Matters is scheduled for 24th May. We do not wish it to be dominated by the fallout from Dr Kerr’s remarks but without an unequivocal assurance that Seaton Hospital will remain open, it is unavoidable that this will be the main topic of discussion.

We look forward to hearing from you at the earliest opportunity. We have also copied this to Sonja Manton since we discussed the Health Matters process with Em and her before it began. We should like to meet with you about this, but before the 24th any meeting would have to be late that afternoon or on the 23rd, as one of us is away until the morning of the 22nd.

Regards,

Martin Shaw
County Councillor for Seaton & Colyton

Jack Rowland
Seaton Town Council”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Accountable Care Organisation, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), Honiton/ Gittisham, Integrated Care Systems, Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

Seaton and Honiton hospitals “at risk ” of full closure says CCG

“CCG chair says Seaton and Honiton hospitals ‘at risk’ of closure in Local Estates Strategy”

POSTED ON MAY 14, 2018 by Councillor Martin Shaw

It has been revealed that Dr Simon Kerr, Chair of NEW Devon CCG’s Eastern Locality, told a meeting with representatives of 38 Degrees on 5th April that Seaton and Honiton hospitals were ‘at risk’ in the CCG’s Local Estates Strategy due in July. His remarks were taken down by the 38 Degrees member who produced draft notes of the meeting, and have been confirmed by other participants, but have not yet been confirmed by the CCG.

Although the hospitals both lost their inpatient beds last summer, Seaton Hospital currently hosts over 50 outpatient services (and there are probably at least as many in Honiton). Both are vital community health resources, created with decades of financial and practical support from people all around the Seaton and Honiton areas.

As part of a move to promote ‘place-based care’, the CCG and RD&E are currently taking part in two ‘community health conversations’, Honiton’s Health Matters and Seaton and Area’s Health Matters, which local voluntary groups, town and parish councils etc. are involved in. However if place-based care means anything, it should mean that communities should keep their local hospitals as health hubs, with more rather than fewer services.

Together with Cllr Jack Rowland, who stood down as mayor of Seaton last week but remains the town council’s representative on the Health Matters organising group, have written to Dr Tim Burke, Chair of the CCG, to ask for an unequivocal assurance that the hospitals will remain open.

I am hoping to shortly announce a meeting of the hospital campaign group.”

https://seatonmatters.org/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 May 2018

Posted under

AONB, Fords of Sidmouth, Rural communities, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury, Sustainability, Transport (local)

Sidford: industrial site resubmitted to planning

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/new-plan-for-employment-site-at-sidford-is-submitted-1-5517102

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 May 2018

Posted under

Economy, NHS (local)

At least one business is profiting from those extra 20,000 deaths (so far) since winter!

“A surge in the number of deaths helped funeral provider Dignity get its financial year off to a strong start as it battles to get back on a positive footing after warning it was struggling against fierce competition.

Britain’s only listed funeral operator revealed a 2pc increase in revenues for the 13 weeks to March 30 on the back of an 8pc increase in deaths, holding its underlying operating profits steady at £37.5m. …”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2018/05/14/dignity-turnaround-efforts-lifted-higher-death-rate/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Accountable Care Organisation, Austerity cuts, Health and Social Care (local), Inequality, NHS (local)

“Patients trapped by care closures: Elderly face being STRANDED in hospital wards” [or just stranded if there are no hospital wards]

“In the past financial year, 148 care home businesses entered insolvency – an 83 per cent rise on the 81 failing in 2016-17.

The figures sparked a call for urgent action from the Government to tackle a growing crisis in social care which could impact badly on the NHS.

And experts warn of a “care home crash” as closures cause a shortage. Although the Government announced a £2billion package for social care over three years last year, local authorities are spending £6billion less than in 2010. …

Mike Padgham, chairman of the Independent Care Group which advises care providers in north Yorkshire, said: “We have been warning for years that the £6billion cut from social care would eventually mean more and more care homes closing.

“For every home closure there are older and vulnerable people either forced to find somewhere else to live or unable to have a place.

“About 1.2 million people are now going without the care they need and unless action is taken this will very soon be us. We now face a further £2.3billion funding shortfall and that is going to mean more and more people not getting care. …

Local authorities in England and Wales had planned to make savings of £824million in their social care budgets in 2017-18 according to the Associate Directors of Adult Social Services, despite demand increasing as the population ages.

A Competition and Markets Authority report highlighted a £1billion shortfall in public sector funding of care homes in 2017 and the Local Government Association says that the sector faces a £2.3billion gap by 2020.

Accountancy firm Moore Stephens, which released the insolvency figures, found the cost of providing a high standard of care has increased over the years. The National Living Wage rose again last month to £7.83.

It stood at £6.70 just three years ago. The annual rise places increased strain on care home margins. The average home now spends 52 per cent of its turnover on wages. …

A report by the Public Accounts Committee in September said that an “intolerable” number of older patients were waiting too long to be discharged from hospital, costing the NHS £170million a year.

The MPs said that every day, 3,500 older people remain in hospital in England after being declared fi t to leave because arrangements had not been made for them to move. In 2011, operator Southern Cross shut down and as many as 31,000 elderly and vulnerable residents had to find somewhere else to live. …”

https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/959234/care-home-crisis-uk-government-elderly-care-bankruptcy

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Privatisation

How privatisation and outsourcing of public services fails

And, at the time, directors changed rules so they would get more protection from the losses.

“Carillion used suppliers to “prop up a failing business model” and conceal true levels of debt, say MPs investigating the failed government contractor.

The parliamentary inquiry into the collapse of a company that provided a host of vital public services, including catering in schools, prison maintenance and construction of new NHS hospitals will conclude on Wednesday with the publication of the MPs’ final report. It is expected to name and shame those responsible for the failure of the listed company, which had a UK staff of nearly 20,000 when it crashed into administration in January.

Carillion bosses displayed ‘greed on stilts’, MPs claim

In a taste of what is to come, the work and pensions committee chairman, Frank Field, said: “Carillion displayed utter contempt for its suppliers, many of them the small businesses that are the lifeblood of the UK’s economy.

“The company used its suppliers as a line of credit to shore up its fragile balance sheet, then in another of its accounting tricks ‘reclassified’ this borrowing to hide the true extent of its massive debt.”

Field’s comments came as the joint inquiry with the business, energy and industrial strategy committee, published evidence from Santander, the bank that operated the company’s early payment facility. Its loss was one of the events Carillion’s directors attempted to blame for its eventual failure.

However, in the letter the Santander chief risk officer, Patricia Halliday, sets out why the bank pulled the plug on the facility in December 2017. In the wake of a profit warning that summer, Halliday said Santander had worked with other banks on a refinancing plan contingent on the company making disposals.

“Despite the provision of these new money commitments and continued close engagement with Carillion into December, the envisaged disposals did not take place and the detailed business and restructuring plans originally expected to be received by 8 December were further delayed,” Halliday writes. “This series of events … further undermined Santander’s confidence in Carillion’s financial position.

“In light of the lack of progress with the restructuring plan, Santander took the decision to terminate the … facility,” she adds. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/may/14/carillion-displayed-utter-contempt-for-suppliers-frank-field

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

14 May 2018

Posted under

Austerity cuts, East Devon economy

“Unions slam Devon companies after rising number of temporary jobs leave thousands without job security”

“… Across the UK, the percentage of workers on a non-permanent contract has stayed relatively stable at around 5% over the last decade – although that still leaves 1.6 million people affected nationally.

Meanwhile, Exeter also has a particularly high proportion of temporary workers, with nearly 8% of working adults in this position – an estimated 5,400 people.

Elsewhere in Devon, the figure was also higher than average – in both Torridge and Plymouth, for example, 7% of workers are temporary, while in Torbay 6% are.

A further 5% of workers in South Hams are non-permanent, while east and north Devon both have the lowest proportion in our area, with 4% in this position. …”

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/unions-slam-devon-companies-after-1563512

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

13 May 2018

Posted under

Council tax, Inequality

The super-rich turn out to be mean – imagine that!

“Just 350 of the 15,600 wealthiest households in Westminster, one of the country’s richest boroughs, have answered the local authority’s call to voluntarily pay extra council tax to help tackle the homelessness crisis in the heart of London.

In February, the Westminster council leader, Nickie Aiken, wrote to all residents in the most expensive band H properties to ask them to consider paying an extra £833-a-year “community contribution” to help fund youth clubs, homelessness services and visits to lonely people.

But only 2% of the households have stepped forward to help their poorer neighbours, the Guardian can reveal. Those asked to consider making an extra contribution include the residents of the Candy brothers’ luxurious One Hyde Park apartment complex in Knightsbridge and those living in hundreds of multimillion-pound mansions in Mayfair, Belgravia and Maida Vale.

AdvertisementHide
Residents in Westminster pay the lowest council tax in the country, with band H payments of £832 a year plus another £588 to the Greater London Authority. In Poole, Dorset, the band H charge is £3,358.

While very few of Westminster’s wealthiest residents have answered the council’s plea for help in maintaining essential services, they are paying tens of thousands of pounds a year in service charges to maintain their luxury buildings. The service charge on a £6m one-bedroom apartment in One Hyde Park comes in at more than £22,000 a year. The most expensive flat in the development was sold to the Ukrainian billionaire Rinat Akhmetov for £135m in 2011.

Aiken said she introduced the voluntary contribution scheme following “a growing number of requests from some residents who live in the highest valued homes that they wanted to voluntarily contribute more than their existing council tax”.

The council said that in a pilot consultation more than 400 people responded positively to the survey saying they would support the scheme. But it appears that many may have failed to follow through on their initial enthusiasm. “The outcome of our consultation reflects the kind and generous spirit of Westminster residents,” Aiken said in February. “It also confirmed what I had heard from people I had met on the doorstep that those in the more expensive homes are willing to contribute more to community projects. The scheme is most popular among residents of the most expensive homes.”

However, four months down the line, Aiken said just 350 households had contributed a total of £342,000. The biggest single donation was £2,500. “This scheme had its cynics, but the number of contributions we have had are proof that an innovative idea like this one can make a difference,” she said. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2018/may/13/westminster-wealthiest-households-failing-pay-extra-tax-community-contribution

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

13 May 2018

Posted under

EDDC, Rural communities

“East Devon villages urged to apply for buildings grants”

“East Devon District Council is urging rural communities who are planning capital building projects or refurbishments to apply for financial help.

Grants of up to £5,000 are available from its Community Buildings Fund for projects involving halls, public buildings and community shops in villages and rural areas.

The scheme provides cash for schemes such as new or improved toilet facilities, kitchen facilities, roof repairs, heating and new door fixtures.

Closing dates for applications is Friday, June 29, at 5pm and Friday, January 11, at 5pm. There is only limited funding available so if all is granted in June there will be no funding available in January.

Examples of some previously funded projects included Peek Hall, at Combpyne Rousdon, which received £1,675 towards repairing the floor in the main hall.

Interested applicants can find all the information they need, including application forms, on the East Devon website: http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/grants-and-funding/community-buildings-fund

Cllr Ian Thomas, chairman of the Community Buildings Fund, said: “We have helped to fund some urgently needed projects in the past, so I’m proud that we can continue to offer this funding to support a vital services, venues and meeting places in our more rural communities. I urge East Devon’s community buildings, village halls and community shops to apply if this funding would be of help.”

http://www.midweekherald.co.uk/news/east-devon-villages-urged-to-apply-for-buildings-grants-1-5512656

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

12 May 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Democracy, East Devon Alliance, Inequality, Voting

Still time to register for the free East Devon Alliance conference in Honiton next week

“All across East Devon people are worried about their HEALTH, their HOMES and their JOBS. Never has it been more important to involve yourself with local democracy in your district..

YOU CAN MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

The EAST DEVON ALLIANCE is trying to help with all of this, an umbrella group of Independent people, who since 2015 have won 7 district council seats and 1 county seat. The EDA is free from the negative influence of national parties who – at East Devon District Council – have acquired the arrogant habits of a Conservative one-party state.

This conference is for YOU. Speakers will include County Councillors CLAIRE WRIGHT and MARTIN SHAW, and PAM BARRETT, Chair of the Independent Buckfastleigh Town Council and regional expert on transforming democracy from the bottom up.

In two sessions you will be able to hear our experience and then CONTRIBUTE your own personal views:

a) how did the democratic deficit in East Devon happen? Or – the problem.
b) what can we do about it through democracy in our parishes, towns and district. Or – the solution.

Please come. We are all volunteers but if we band together now to fight for hospitals, homes and jobs we have a chance to change how our local area is run.

Parking: nearest is Lace Walk. 2 minute walk. If full, New Street, 5 mins”

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/east-devons-time-for-a-change-peoples-conference-tickets-45482525458?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=esfb&utm-source=fb&utm-term=listing