EDDC issues a press release on 21 July 2016 saying that on 13 July 2016 its Cabinet decided to press ahead with devolution plans:
THEN
the Overview Committee discusses it on 28 July:
Click to access 280616-overview-agenda-combined.pdf
And STILL we are not allowed our say!
Priceless.
Funds are so tightly squeezed in Police Scotland that officers have been sent to trawl charity shops for equipment, according to the leader of the Scottish Police Federation.
In an abrasively-worded article on the SPF website, general secretary Calum Steele also claims that police dog-handlers had been called off from following trails for fear of running into overtime. He says that service quality has become a postcode lottery where “cash is king” in determining operational priorities.
On one occasion, Steele says, officers were told to “scour charity shops” to buy car sun blinds in order to keep out of view a child that was being driven in a police car.
“At a time when so much emphasis is being placed on the cost of policing, it’s long overdue that we had a real conversation about its value,” Steele writes.
“Cash is king and woe betide anyone who isn’t playing their part in making cuts. Theorising on paper that the service will be improved by cutting is a fool’s errand and the public is being misled over the policing realities of today.” …
EDF raided by French authorities ahead of Hinkley greenlight
French finance authorities have raided the offices of EDF just days before the state-backed energy giant is expected to give the go-ahead to its controversial Hinkley Point new nuclear project.
The long-awaited final decision on the Hinkley project is scheduled to take place at a board meeting next Thursday, even as authorities in both the UK and France escalate concerns over the costs of the £18bn project.
French investigators from the Financial Markets Authority (AMF) swooped on EDF’s Paris headquarters on Thursday morning as part of a probe into EDF’s disclosure of information to the market. Investigators are said to be concerned about the reporting of its domestic nuclear maintenance costs as well as the plans to develop new nuclear reactors in Somerset.
Local media reports say the AMF recovered a series of documents from the EDF offices and requested a meeting with EDF general secretary Pierre Todorov.
Just hours after the raid the company said it would hold a board meeting on Thursday 28 July to agree a final decision on the project, feeding speculation that the company is preparing to push ahead with the 3.2GW project.
The company also has a scheduled extraordinary general meeting on Tuesday next week, seeking approval from shareholders for its proposed £3bn recapitalistion.
Meanwhile, the head of the UK’s National Audit Office has raised further concerns over the UK’s plans to subside EDF’s plans in the face of a “tidal wave” of pressures from an impending Brexit and a pipeline of existing infrastructure projects requiring a total of £405bn.
Sir Amyas Morse, comptroller and auditor general at the NAO, told the Guardian in an interview that projects such as the Hinkley Point C nuclear plant, a third runway at Heathrow and the ambitious HS2 rail project would have to be reassessed as the government decides which can be done without, according to a report in the Guardian.
“We need to ask ourselves, can the public sector deliver Hinkley Point C, a third runway, HS2, a Northern Powerhouse, nuclear decommissioning, Trident renewal and restoration and renewal of the Palace of Westminster all at the same time?” asked Sir Amyas.
“There is a policy at the moment to have lots of infrastructure projects. I say fine, but some of them will have very big consequences in terms of your ability to deliver your other goals,” he said.
In a recent report, the NAO heaped criticism on the Hinkley Point plans saying the spiralling costs will hit consumers in the pocket, even as other low carbon energy options offer an increasingly better deal.
The subsidy bill to be paid by households and businesses for Hinkley Point has more than quadrupled since the agreement for the new nuclear plant was signed in 2013.
At the time the deal was signed, power price projections had implied a lifetime cost to consumers of £6.1bn for the subsidies. But as of March this year, that had more than quadrupled to £29.7bn due to significant cuts to official power price forecasts.
EDF declined to comment on the raid, and the AMF was unavailable.
Is there any reason why the publishing of EDDC’s employee statistics is two months late?
The last year has seen a substantial rise in employee numbers, particularly senior officers, with growth of between twenty and thirty new staff, depending upon which measure you prefer.
With average wages for senior staff at EDDC at £30,000+, plus all additional costs such as pensions, expenses, etc., this brings the cost per employee to around £50,000 per annum, this mean that the wage bill may have climbed by between £1 and £1.5 million. This was presumably not budgeted for, so where is the money coming from? More debt, perhaps?
And, of course, the extra staff will have to be housed in the new HQ … so maybe that will have to expand, too.
There were eleven district, borough or county council by-elections throughout the country yesterday. According to the Twitter account “Britain Elects”, Honiton was ninth out of the eleven to declare and, as of this moment, after ten declarations, the only result awaited is Exmouth Littleham.
Yet the ” Conservative Home” website is already showing it as a Conservative Hold:
Is our Electoral Returning Officer, EDDC CEO Mark Williams, resourcing the counts in East Devon appropriately?
Who was the Minister responsible for this part of the world until the recent government reshuffle? Hugo Swire.
The reason this is important is explained at the end of the quote: there are attempts to stop arms sales to Saudi Arabia and if it were shown that they are using British-made cluster bombs in Yemen, this would hugely increase the possibility of this happening.
Tobias Ellwood, a minister at the Foreign Office, last night issued ‘corrections’ to six statements to Parliament about the use of British-made cluster bombs by Saudi forces in Yemen. …
… Ministers have repeatedly misled Parliament about the use of British-made cluster bombs by Saudi Arabian forces in Yemen, the Foreign Office admitted last night.
In an unprecedented move, Tobias Ellwood, a minister at the department, issued ‘corrections’ to six statements on the Yemen crisis dating back almost six months.
MPs and campaigners have been pressing the Government over the use by Saudi Arabia of British weapons and expertise in its bloody incursion in neighbouring Yemen.
In statements dating back to February, ministers have said that ‘we have assessed that there has not been a breach of international humanitarian law by the coalition’.
But yesterday Mr Ellwood admitted that they should have said ‘we have been unable to assess that there has been a breach of international humanitarian law by the Saudi-led coalition’.
The written answer also said it was not for the UK Government to assess the Saudi bombing operation.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said it was an outrage that it had been slipped out on the final day of the parliamentary sitting along with a torrent of other bad news. …
…The Government is facing a court case that it should ban all arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The European Parliament has also voted overwhelmingly for an arms embargo on the Saudis while the conflict with Yemen continues.”
“The Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust (RCHT) and the Royal Devon and Exeter (RD&E) hospital are among the worst in the country for delays in discharging patients.
There were over 20,000 delayed discharges from the RD&E hospital last year, while the RCHT had more than 17,000 delays.
The report from the Commons Public Accounts Committee urges the government to address the scale and cost of bed-blocking across the country.”
Source- BBC Devon live news 08.11 am
Less space for urgent cases, more distress for patients
The results for the recent Honiton by-election were
Conservative 362
East Devon Alliance 211
Labour 197
UKIP 140
Whilst the Conservative candidate retained the seat, the results show a strong showing by East Devon Alliance and a particularly strong response for the Labour candidate.
Had all non-Tory parties entered into a Progressive Alliance where only one of the three candidates had stood, it is likely the chosen candidate would have won the seat.
East Devon District Council really is having problems with regeneration in Exmouth and Seaton.
In Exmouth, the relationship with preferred developer Moirai Capital Investments (see many East Devon Watch posts) has spectacularly bitten the dust. And what of the development at the old motel site in Seaton – grandly marketed as Seaton Heights:
which continues to deteriorate badly, despite promises made (many times) to either finish or start construction in June 2016 (it varies a lot depending just which press release you read) having been broken (though the company website STILL touts the off-plan £1,000 deposits it has been marketing for years).
EDDC Deputy CEO Richard Cohen was brought in specially for his regeneration expertise in London but, alas, he seems to have spent the vast majority of his time spearheading the relocation of council offices to Honiton and mopping up development issues in Cranbrook.
Now we have no less than THREE of our major towns with regeneration committees, as Axminster has joined Exmouth and Seaton as being in need of major new investment. Perhaps to be followed by Sidmouth when it is deserted by EDDC and has its replacement influx of more pensioners and Ottery as it struggles with more housing without accompanying infrastructure.
Not really a very good track record, is it?
Still, perhaps our LocalEnterprise Partnership will pump funds into these deprived areas.
Talks on the devolution of power from Westminster to East Devon will continue ‘in principle’ amid calls for a public consultation and more concrete facts.
If successful, the Heart of the South West (HOTSW) bid would see local authorities work with the Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to take on more responsibility for economic growth and infrastructure in the region.
East Devon District Council’s cabinet agreed to carry on the conversation in principle at a meeting last Wednesday (July 13) but there was a consensus that more ‘concrete facts’ are needed.
[Independent, East Devon Alliance] Councillor Cathy Gardner said: “One thing that has concerned me since the beginning of this process is the complete absence of a public consultation. It could have a huge impact. It would be remiss of us to take this forward without seeing what people want.” EDDC’s full council will need to give the final go-ahead to continue talks.”
“Dickensian housing conditions reminiscent of the Victorian era have returned to Britain amid a rise in private renters living in squalid lodgings and rogue landlords demanding sex in return for delayed rent.
According to local authorities and housing activists the lack of housing stock, affordable homes and regulation is forcing more and more people, especially vulnerable and low-income workers into deceitful contracts and precarious rents.
A Sky News investigation spoke to dancer Sandrine Anterrion, who found herself in a homelessness cycle after being evicted for refusing to perform sexual favors on her landlord in exchange for rent. She now lives in a “flea-infested London flat with no hot water or working toilet.” …
Not too well if you read this story, where a large company preferred to go to the Hill Barton Business Park, further away from the M5 and a few miles extra driving on the A3052 road towards Sidmouth:
What is it about EDDC-owned Skypark that made Hill Barton more attractive, Owl wonders? Especially as developer St Modwen has gone to (expensive?) lengths to pretty it up, sacrificing 5 acres of rental opportunity land to do so:
Swire pinched the first part of Claire Wright’s election slogan (“free to speak, free to act”) in recent press coverage about his recent demotion to the back benches but, tellingly, he did not pinch the second part.
Swire is NOT, of course, free to act. He is bound by the devices and desires of his national party policies and subject to a very firm whip to ensure that he behaves himself now and in the future.
It rather circumscribes his ” freedom”.
“The government lacks a “coherent, enduring framework” for planning and managing policy implementation, according to the National Audit Office.
In two reports published today, the NAO assessed the means by which the government plans and manages its business through Single Department Plans, and the execution of the 2015 Spending Review.
Almost £2tn was allocated to departments in last year’s Spending Review and another £2tn was budgeted for welfare and benefits payments over five years. This involved complex cooperation between the centre of government and departments to set overall strategy.
Despite improvements in this area, auditors found that the government was lacking an overall management framework. Adopting such a system would allow the government to plan into the medium term, set achievable goals, know whether it is on track, adjusting its approach where necessary, and provide Parliament with clear accountability.
The NAO refuted the government’s claims that it already operates such an arrangement in the form of processes and guidelines. The auditors said this did not add up to a framework, and said the outcome of this lack of structure could be seen in projects that were not value for money and blighted by an absence of long-term, joined-up thinking.
Making the change to a more effective system would not be easy, however, due to the scale of government and the significant challenges facing the country, which have been compounded by the recent vote to leave the EU.
Some progress had been made following previous NAO and Public Accounts Committee probes, but improvements had not been as significant as expected. Although the government is working with departments more effectively, it is not making the most of in-house expertise. Also, the report noted that a heightened focus on the spending period up to 2020 had drawn attention away from longer-term funding decisions and their impact.
NAO head Amyas Morse said: “Time and again, we find that problems in the delivery of public services can be traced back to the way government goes about planning and managing business in pursuit of an administration’s policy objectives.” …
http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2016/07/government-has-no-coherent-framework-implementing-policy
From eight very highly paid senior managers to five – well, it’s a start.
Whereas, in East Devon, after managing perfectly well on half a CEO when we shared him with South Somerset, we had to take him back full-time when they decided they could do without him.
Don’t get your hopes up – East Devon District Council has already stamped on it saying it would be just awful as they would lose control of planning!
“CREATING a national park across part of Dorset and east Devon could help ensure affordable housing goes to local people, according to campaigners.
The Dorset and East Devon National Park Team gave a presentation to Lyme Regis Town Council last week – pointing out the benefits the proposals could bring to the town and west Dorset.
Richard Brown, speaking on behalf of the national park team, said the proposals could “help affordable homes stay affordable”.
He added: “I think so many communities across Dorset are passing motions recognising that this is a great opportunity for Dorset.
National parks have a good track record in promoting the provision of affordable homes and keeping such homes affordable and available for local people.”
He added: “It would help develop affordable homes and a coherent Dorset tourism strategy.”
Speaking about a national park established in the South Downs, Mr Brown said that “people now stay longer and spend more”.
Although the project could be “five or six years away”, Mr Brown pointed out that “the proposed national park for Dorset remains unfinished business”.
The team say Natural England has already undertaken a positive first assessment of the proposal submitted to them in 2013.
The team’s current proposal for a national park includes the Dorset AONB land from Lyme Regis to Blandford Forum, excluding the Dorchester area, as well as much of Purbeck and east Devon, excluding Seaton and Sidmouth. But the national park boundary has yet to be finalised.
Mr Brown added: “The environment and the economy are two halves of the same coin.
“All of Dorset would benefit from the economic stimulus a national park brings. They are not against development. They work hard through local partnerships to deliver what local people want.”
The concept of creating a national park gained the backing of some town councillors.
Cllr Derek Hallett remained cautious, urging members to “look at it very carefully”, while Cllr Jeff Scowen described the proposals as “a marvellous idea”. …”
“… Supposedly the costliest power station on Earth lies like a beached whale on the shores of the Bristol Channel. Whitehall’s department of energy hated it from the start, seeing it not as sensible investment but diplomatic fantasy. The French government, which owns the contractor EDF, is happy to proceed, but only if the soaring cost, now put at £37bn, is guaranteed by future British governments and energy consumers. Accountants working for EDF have run screaming for the hills.
The world of nuclear energy has moved on from these giant 20th-century plants, not one of which has yet been made to work. But the lobbyists have been hard at work: from Weber Shandwick, Bell Pottinger and Finsbury, to the pro-nuclear former minister, John (Lord) Hutton. The cry is always: stop arguing the cost and get building. We don’t want the lights to go out, do we? Someone else will pay.” …
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jul/21/theresa-may-lobbyists-trident-heathrow-business
This comment is re-posted here, beginning this time with its final sentence:
…. my biggest overall impression is that there was nothing, NOTHING [during the years that Swire felt free to speak in Parliament] requiring any substantial expertise that a new Independent MP like Claire Wright couldn’t have done just as well if not better.
Hugo Swire became a minister in 2010, so we should get some indication of how he behaves as a back bencher from his time as an MP prior to 2010 – though in opposition at this point of course. I guess we should expect that, as an opposition MP charged with holding the Labour government to account, we should be seeing a far more questioning approach. Fortunately, his contributions are available online as part of the Hansard archive for us to review, as follows:
In 2006/2007 session, Hugo spoke in the commons on only 15 occasions – that’s 15 occasions out of several hundred sitting days and several thousand hours of debate, though of course not all of these 15 occasions actually contained anything of any significance. For example on one of these occasions he only said “Will the right hon. Lady give way?” to Tessa Jowell – not exactly earth shattering. He did speak about the lottery funding of the 2012 Olympics, the BBC and drugs in prisons on several occasions.
He started rehearsing his role as a Foreign Office minister by asking asking about Gaza, but did manage to mention East Devon a couple of times – on one occasion pleading for better protection against wrecks like the Napoli at Branscombe, and on another occasion to congratulate Devon Air Ambulance on backfilling for shortcomings of the NHS. However he did not secure a single debate on issues of serious import to East Devon.
So that is two mentions of East Devon in 2006-2007 but without securing any specific debates about issues affecting East Devon. Not IMO exactly good value for money – several hundred thousand pounds in salary and expenses for one short plea for support for the coastline after a shipwreck.
In 2007/2008 session, he spoke on 27 occasions. He rehearsed further for his ministerial role with questions about Zimbabwe, Afghanistan & Serbia, Muslim law, bank support for South American exports, and relationships between Harriet Harman and foreign oligarchs (perhaps he felt this was something he should research in case he needed to know about it in his future role). He also spoke about art collectors (presumably based on his expertise as a fine art auctioneer), female genital mutilation (not sure about his expertise on this subject), the sale of Shackleton barracks, casinos / gambling (again), election funding (oh, the irony considering the current scandals), called for hard evidence in support of government arguments about foetal abnormalities (oh, irony again given the lack of hard facts during the referendum), farmers growing eco-fuel, and against the EU Lisbon Treaty.
But to his credit he did speak very briefly about Job Centre closures in Sidmouth, Exmouth and Axminster, about cut-backs in care for the elderly, about the Waterloo-Exeter rail link, about funding for community power and heat generation in Cranbrook, pensions funding for Devon & Somerset Fire Service. More notably he secured two debates about the closure of Post Office Counters in small communities, and about the sell off “to the highest bidder” of Rolle College, Exmouth and more generally about education funding in East Devon cf. UK averages. (Of course, the Conservative government of which he was a minister made education funding in East Devon even lower cf. UK average, but surely that should not detract from his stance when in opposition, should it?)
For 2007/8, having secured two debates for East Devon issues I would mark Hugo as delivering better value-for-money than the previous year, though undoubtedly there were many more occasions where he could have spoken about issues of importance to East Devon and 27 occasions in several thousand hours of debate is not exactly a major contribution to political thinking. So, still poor value-for-money.
IN 2008/9 Hugo spoke on about 40 occasions. He continued his rehearsals for a ministerial role for a 3rd year running with comments on Afghanistan, Iran and Gaza, and drew on his expertise of army life (a very short experience indeed – a bit like his university experience) to ask questions about reductions in the strength of the TA, equipment shortages, and armoured vehicles held up in Israeli customs. He also spoke about transparency for MPs expenses (whilst his position on transparency was unclear on this occasion, we know from his outburst re his families use of tax havens that he is not that keen on transparency), on reducing the number of MPs (but funny how the government he was a minister in failed to make this happen), on getting more people registered to vote, on Labour economic disaster, Swine Flu, funding for local councils for heritage archives (of course later made made MUCH, MUCH worse under his own government), banks privatised after the financial crisis, Lyme disease, that we should join the Euro (yes – really!), and the perception of MPs having their “noses in the trough at a time of an economic recession if not a depression” (irony again). But he also spoke very briefly about tourism and taxes on furnished holiday lettings, road links to Exeter Airport and funds for mitigating its environmental impact, marine conservation cf. MV Napoli, Samurai Sword crime in East Devon, SW educational funding (again), fuel poverty (particularly in Exmouth), the EDDC judicial review into boundary changes, and secured debates on much higher than average sewerage charges in the SW, and about the MSC Napoli shipwreck.
So again, Hugo secured debates on two areas of interest to East Devon, by 40 comments in several thousand hours of debate is hardly stunning. Still terrible value-for-money.
Hugo spoke 28 times this year. He spoke on Gaza/Hamas/Israel, Afghanistan, Pakistan, USA/Argentina/Falklands, EU regulations, on restricting freedom of protest (in Parliament Square), on Lyme disease (again), on treatment for wounded armed servicemen, TA funding (again), bovine tuberculosis, pensioners cold weather payments, dementia, lottery funding, and unitary government in Devon, educational funding for Devon, upper gastro-intestinal surgery (based on a complaint by a constituent), water charges in the SW (though this time for drinking water rather than sewerage), Met Office redundancies, raising a 69 signature petition about home education (but of course later being a minister in a government that ignored petitions with several thousand times as many signatures) and securing a debate on Seaside Town Regeneration to discuss tax changes for furnished holiday letting.
Whilst this was perhaps a shortened parliamentary year (because of the election), 28 comments including securing one debate is still a pitiful result. Conclusion: Still poor VFM.
I should add that with the exception of the debates he secured which he introduced with a substantial speech, most of these were short comments or questions rather than making any serious points.
Swire has sprung to life in Parliament!
And what aspect of life in East Devon did he see fit to talk about?
Students in Exeter!!! Bet Ben Bradshaw is miffed!
Here is the extract:
Higher Education and Research Bill (19 Jul 2016)
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2016-07-19a.702.0&s=speaker%3A11265#g749.0
Hugo Swire: Has my hon. Friend made any study of the outrageous
discrimination suffered by English students studying at Scottish
universities after we come out of the European Union?
Higher Education and Research Bill (19 Jul 2016)
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2016-07-19a.702.0&s=speaker%3A11265#g750.1
Hugo Swire: The right hon. Gentleman will have heard what my hon. Friend
the Member for Cannock Chase (Amanda Milling) said, citing Sir Steve
Smith, the vice-chancellor of Exeter University. He will also be aware
of the huge number of overseas students at Exeter University, which make
it one of the leading universities in the country, if not in the world.
I know that the Minister shares my view about…
Etc, etc.
Perhaps he might next focus on the closure of Tipton St John Primary School – Owl is sure they would appreciate his help – although Claire Wright is doing as much as she can, an extra pair of hands would surely help!
