Daily Archives: 6 Jun 2018

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6 Jun 2018

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Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Inequality, Persimmon

“Persimmon pay panel chief unable to tell MPs firm’s average pay”

“Persimmon’s executive pay row was reignited on Wednesday after the head of the housebuilder’s remuneration committee said she did not know how much the average worker was paid by the firm.

MPs on the business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) committee were stunned by the admission from Marion Sears, who was giving evidence after Persimmon angered shareholders earlier in the year by handing its chief executive Jeff Fairburn a £75m bonus.

“The average … I don’t have that figure to my finger tips,” Sears told MPs, when asked by the committee chair, Rachel Reeves, what average pay was.

“You’re chair of the remuneration committee at Persimmon aren’t you? And you don’t know what average pay is, as chair of the remuneration committee?” asked an incredulous Reeves.

After the meeting had concluded, the Labour MP tweeted that Sears’ lack of knowledge was a disgrace.

She added in a statement: “Executive pay at Persimmon is a tale of corporate greed and incompetent pay management, financed on the back of a tax-payer funded housing scheme [help to buy].

“Persimmon paid out huge bonuses to the men at the top of the firm and yet this morning we have heard that Persimmon are unable to tell us how much average workers at the company are paid.”

A spokesman for the firm later confirmed the average salary at the firm is £35,600.

During the bruising session, Sears also appeared confused about the sum Fairburn received last year, at first answering “£675,000”. Prompted by Reeves to give the total pay figure, she said it was “about £45m”. The total figure shown in the 2017 annual report and accounts was £47.1m.

When asked by Reeves whether or not Persimmon was a living wage employer, Sears said yes, but then went on to clarify that the FTSE 100 firm was not accredited by the living wage foundation. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2018/jun/06/persimmon-pay-panel-chief-unable-to-tell-mps-firms-average-pay

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6 Jun 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality, Rural communications, Rural communities

“Universal broadband speed plan ‘unambitious’, say Lords”

“The government has been told to “up its game” over plans to guarantee a minimum internet speed for all broadband users.

Peers said the current Universal Service Obligation (USO), which will entitle consumers to a minimum internet speed of 10Mbps, was “unambitious”.
But the government said the USO was a “safety net” and it had “much greater ambitions”.

“The USO has an important part to play in ensuring that no-one is left behind,” it added.

Labour spokesman Lord Stevenson of Balmacara opened the debate by sying the House had previously asked for the USO to specify a download speed of 30Mbps, but the general election halted work on the issue.
He said the current USO plans contradict other government initiatives.
“Surely the architecture of the USO has to be consistent with the government’s productivity plan, the industrial strategy and the national infrastructure plan.

“The argument is that without some ambition the USO itself may become a constraint on all these important challenges,” he said.

Liberal Democrat Lord Foster of Bath said the current plans would see a continuation of the “digital divide”.

A ‘smokescreen’

Conservative backbenchers also expressed frustration, with Earl Cathcart complaining about the “appalling” speeds he receives at his home in Norfolk.
He told of being unable to download a Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs report.

He added: “So I have to ring up my agent in Norwich, get him to print it out and send it to me in the post.

“That’s hardly 21st Century communications, but at least the post is reliable.”

In the same debate, crossbencher the Earl of Lytton called for a ban on using the term “up to” in advertised internet speeds, labelling them “a smokescreen of the first order” that allowed providers “to conceal poor performance”.

Digital minister Lord Ashton of Hyde said: “The USO has an important part to play in ensuring that no-one is left behind,” and the present minimum specification was being kept under review.”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-44378234

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6 Jun 2018

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Rural communities, Transport (local)

Local buses – one town’s successful fight

It’s a lovely story BUT people work up to 60 hours a week for nothing but Owl can’t help thinking that, because of that, this solution still makes it part of the problem – if you want it, pay for it and get volunteers to work for it for free to keep it going. Bet Chris Grayling, the (non)Transport Minister and Sajid David (Communities) adore it.

“… Witney’s town service had been run by Stagecoach for a fee of £95,804 per year, according to documents published in March 2015. Without that public money, the transport giant wouldn’t run it. (Like the council, Stagecoach refused to comment on subsidies but says: “Oxfordshire county council has made changes to its own contracted bus services.”)

Months before the service shut, Labour’s Price hoped to whip up some opposition. The reaction surprised even her. Public meetings were packed out, with passengers, shopkeepers and young people fretting about their grans. “I’ll always remember one lady – she was almost in tears every time she spoke.”

This made her wonder: why not take over the service? Sure, it was a bit of a left turn for her – the 38-year-old’s CV could be summed up as: worked in publishing, DJs northern soul records, raises a nine-year-old boy. No sign here of buses as a Mastermind subject. But “when your residents are crying because they’re going to be trapped in their homes, it’s not enough to say, ‘Aren’t the Tories evil?’ This felt like that one opportunity to do something practical while in opposition.”

Others soon got onboard, such as bus expert Miles, who now helps with timetabling and routes for free. Frantic tin-rattling raised the 18 grand that bought an old bus, and at the start of 2017 West Oxfordshire Community Transport (WOCT) was on the road. From the start Price wanted the venture to be a co-operative: “We need people to understand they’ve got a stake in making it work.” Anyone paying a quid can be a voting member, drivers get a proper living wage, and whatever profits might turn up are reinvested in the business.

The result is a mini-miracle, made of love and sweat. Price and a handful of others give their time for free. If a driver goes off sick, one of the directors gets behind the wheel. There’s no bus depot, just a corner of a yard rented cheap. Even though he’s paid only a part-time wage, the operations manager, Andrew Lyons, works 60 hours a week and will nip off on a Sunday to wash the buses. At 52, he supplements his earnings by driving a minicab; the day we meet, he’s booked to do a midnight run down to Gatwick. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/06/rural-town-austerity-buses-witney