Category Archives: Accountability

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7 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, Education (local), Local Enterprise Partnership

Tuition fees benefit University Vice-Chancellors not students

Owl says: two university vice-chancellor (Plymouth: £310,149 gross in 2015/16; Exeter: £400,000 (including £58,000 performance-related remuneration) and a college principal of a college (South Devon College) offering university-level courses (salary not found) are all amongst the 21 board members of our Local Enterprise Partnership.

“Tuition fees in England should be scrapped after becoming a “Frankenstein’s monster” that loads £50,000 or more in debt on to the backs of graduates, according to the architect of the last Labour government’s education reforms.

Andrew Adonis, the former adviser to Tony Blair who also served as an education minister, has used a column for the Guardian to attack the system of student finances, accusing the government of running a Ponzi scheme that leaves students in England with crippling debts.

“In my view, fees have now become so politically diseased, they should be abolished entirely,” Adonis writes in the Guardian.

Admitting that he was “largely responsible” for the structure of fees and loans, with repayments pegged to graduate incomes, Adonis complains that greedy university leaders have failed to improve teaching quality but still rewarded themselves handsomely.

“[Vice-chancellors] increased their own pay and perks as fast as they increased tuition fees, and are now ‘earning’ salaries of £275,000 on average and in some cases over £400,000.

“Debt levels for new graduates are now so high that the Institute for Fiscal Studies estimates that three-quarters of graduates will never pay it all back. The Treasury will soon realise it is sitting on a Ponzi scheme,” Adonis writes. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/jul/07/tuition-fees-should-be-scrapped-says-architect-of-fees-andrew-adonis

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7 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Police (local)

Hernandez survives – for now

Owl can find no reference to this other than BBC News. Might her survival owe itself to a majority of Conservative councillors on the Police and Crime Panel?

“A police chief who suggested gun owners might be able to act as armed civilians in a terror attack, has survived a vote of no confidence.

Devon and Cornwall Police warned armed civilians should not tackle terrorists after the comments made by Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Alison Hernandez on a BBC phone-in in June.

The vote, held by the Police and Crime Panel, the body which scrutinises her, was defeated by eight to two.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-40534150

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7 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, Health and Social Care (local), Martin Shaw (Seaton), NHS (local), Seaton/ Colyford / Colyton

Seaton County Councillor organises another demo on community hospital bed losses

PRESS RELEASE:

“Campaigners in the Seaton and Honiton areas are preparing for a crucial meeting of Devon County Council’s Health Scrutiny Committee on

Tuesday 25th July

Following a meeting in June when they postponed a decision, this committee will now decide whether to use its power to refer the decision of the NEW Devon Clinical Commission Group (CCG) to close all in-patient beds in Seaton, Honiton and Okehampton hospitals to the Secretary of State for Health.

In March, the Committee sent 14 questions, from a resolution proposed by County Councillor Claire Wright, about the proposals to replace 72 of East Devon’s 144 community hospital beds by care at home. The questions included the justification for the surprise last-minute switch of beds from Seaton to Sidmouth, which left no beds at all in the Axe Valley, since Axminster has already lost its beds. Cllr Wright and other committee members are expected to examine the 14 points in detail to see which of them the CCG has answered satisfactorily.

Among those who will be speaking against the plans are Seaton and Colyton County Councillor, Martin Shaw, Seaton Mayor, Jack Rowland, and the Chair of EDDC’s Scrutiny Committee, Councillor Roger Giles, with others from Axminster and Honiton. Cllr Shaw says, ”This is a crucial decision not only for the beds but also for the future of the hospitals. The CCG’s next step is its local estate strategy, which is likely to involve partial or even complete closures of hospitals. Seaton is more remote from acute hospitals than any other East Devon town and it is vital that we retain our hospital, which was built by the local community.’

As in June, protestors will gather outside County Hall from 1 pm, and will then observe the meeting which starts at 2.15. A bus is being organised to take people from Seaton to County Hall:

anyone who would like to book a seat should contact Cllr Shaw (cllrmartinshaw@gmail.com or 07972 760254).”

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7 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, Police (local), Transparency

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Full audio and video of Police and Crime Panel meeting that refused Hernandez deputy

The full audio and video of the webcast where Hernandez is told that they don’t want her deputy is here but – unfortunately they can inly RECOMMEND that she does not appoint her pal but there is NOTHING they can do to stop her doing so:

http://www.devonlive.com/watch-the-moment-a-panel-rejects-devon-and-cornwall-crime-czar-s-deputy/story-30428868-detail/story.html

A few highlights with approximate timings (have to refer to some councillors by first names as this is what is used in video and labels not readable)

First – awful chairing! Meandering and did not keep councillors to agenda – at the middle point two rural councillors used the opportunity to talk about their wishes for rural policing, which had nothing at all to do with the agenda item – some 10 minutes wasted there with no intervention from chair.

Second: At around 46 minutes, the panel went into closed session and 10 minutes later reconvened to say they were not recommending her pal’s appointment and would send a letter to her on the next working day explaining why. This is totally undemocratic and non-transparent and to be deplored. She and they will almost certainly hide behind “personal information” not to reveal the contents of the letter.

Other highlights:

Hernandez wants a deputy because other areas, particularly Dorset has one and she needs to be at Westminster a lot.
9 min 50

Kingscote’s personal speech was embarrassing – any junior PR person could have written it and he stumbled over many parts of it. Hernandez takes good care of him, pouring him water and being very solicitous of him. Used the word “passion” an awful lot!

Tom Wright (East Devon) brings up am embarrassing tweet that Kingscote is said to have made on Twitter which, according to Express and Echo report, was about lesbians. Kingscote says it was wrong, apologises and says he will use “appropriate grammar” in future.
14mins approx

Cornwall councillor Chris ?Batters finally deals with the elephant in the room: says the appointment smacks of nepotism – power concentrated in one small corner of Torbay. Says Hernandez is there to “sell” Kingscote to them. Commissioner responds that they are not related, taking the word ‘nepotism’ literally.

Hernandez says she considered 2 other people, both councillors, one Tory, one Lib Dem but Kingscote was best.
Approx 38 min 20

After the break for private session, Croad (Chairman) says panel does not accept he is qualified for the job.

Next move: Hernandez – over to you – accept PCP recommendation or employ your pal.

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7 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Golden Triangle LEP, Local Enterprise Partnership

English devolved areas “too small” – wheel to be reinvented!

After the abolition of the South West Regional Development Agency which was considered too big, we got a Devon and Somerset Local Enterprise Partnership which is now considered too small!!!!! The solution: a South West regional development area!

And if our current LEP area is considered too small, imagine the even smaller mooted “Golden Triangle LEP” (Plymouth, Exeter Torbay)!

So many heads, so much banging together needed.

“… A simple comparison with other similar developed nations suggests that the average size of subnational regional government stands at around 5 million people. The average size of a German länder, for example, is 5.2 million; for French conseil regions it is 5.3 million; and for US states it is 6.1 million. Greater Manchester stands at little over 2.5 million. And are we seriously suggesting that English regional governance should be sub-divided into 39 or 40 separate units?

While clearly there is no right answer to the question of the optimal scale of a functional economic area within a competitive global economy, let alone the right-size for more functional democracy, in the case of the English LEP areas, it is clear that in global terms they are very much at the smaller end of the scale. With Brexit on the horizon and the challenges that might bring in terms of global connectivity, the case for a larger-scale approach to economic strategy and democratic decision-making could not be more clear.

Any new form of subnational governance needs to be developed at scale. While England is too big, our current city-regions and combined authorities are too small. This may well be the reason that ideas such as the Northern Powerhouse or Midlands Engine have in recent times gathered so much momentum. We are still a long way from such ideas taking more political or democratic forms, but to claim they lack public support would be to misread the signs of the times. …”

http://www.democraticaudit.com/2017/07/06/englands-devolved-regions-are-too-small-bigger-ones-would-have-more-clout/

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7 Jul 2017

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Accountability

Man with tiny fingers on nuclear button forgets to book hotel

“President Donald Trump apparently forgot to book a hotel room in Hamburg, Germany, for the annual Group of 20 summit of key global leaders, and was stuck scrambling to find somewhere to stay, BuzzFeed reported Thursday.

Oops.

The White House apparently waited too long before making a reservation for Trump and his traveling staff for the summit, which begins on Friday. All the luxury hotels in the city were completely booked by other world leaders, leaving the US president — who made his name in business building, uh, luxury hotels — without a place to stay.

A local German news outlet, Hamburger Abendblatt, reported on Wednesday that the US government wanted to stay at the Four Seasons, but they were turned away because it was already booked.

The delegation from Saudi Arabia had actually already claimed the Four Seasons, as well as rooms in several other nearby hotels. Saudi King Salman won’t be at the summit — a former finance minister is representing the country instead, according to Financial Times. But the king usually travels with a huge entourage, camels for fresh camel milk, and a golden escalator, according to Stern, a Hamburg-based weekly news magazine.

Weeks before the summit, there were reports that Trump and his team would have to stay in Berlin and fly to Hamburg by helicopter, according to BuzzFeed.

It’s unclear where Trump will be sleeping, but the Associated Press is reporting that he’ll be staying at the official Senate guest house in Hamburg. His staff will stay at the US Consulate General in the city.

This isn’t the first time that the Trump administration has run into problems finding accommodation. When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson attended a G20 meeting in Germany earlier this year, he had to stay at a sanitarium in a small village known for its hot springs, according to Bloomberg.

All the hotels in Bonn, the city hosting the conference, were booked by the time Tillerson confirmed he would be attending.

So why does this keep happening? It might have to do with the fact that the State Department is currently understaffed and unorganized. Only nine key positions out of 124 have been confirmed at the State Department.

No one has even been nominated as the director in the Office of Foreign Missions, which is responsible for planning and providing security for US missions when diplomats and other top officials travel abroad.

As the G20 summit ramps up on Friday and into the weekend, there’s a good chance that Trump will continue to face potentially embarrassing situations as he comes face to face with world leaders who have mocked him in the past.”

https://www.vox.com/world/2017/7/6/15929498/trump-hotel-g20

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6 Jul 2017

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Accountability, EDDC, Exeter City Council, Golden Quadrangle LEP, Greater Exeter, Transparency

“Golden Triangle” and “Greater Exeter Strategic Partnership” – anyone had an update?

The “Golden Triangle LEP” comprising of Exeter, Plymouth and Torbay appears to have disappeared into a Bermuda Triangle – see here for some not-so-encouraging old information on it:

Politics South West: pigs ears, economy with the truth and foxes

However, word reaches Owl that someone, somewhere, has dredged it up from the deep again and it might be resurfacing some time later this month. Watch this very empty space.

As for the “Greater Exeter Strategic Plan”, in which East Devon is a partner, now that the initial “consultation” has ended, that seems to have returned to the bowels of the basement of Exeter City Council until “early 2018” (maybe):

https://www.gesp.org.uk/consultations/stage-2-draft-greater-exeter-strategic-plan-pending/

The initial consultation was on “Issues”. There is now an issue on if/when the issues feedback turns up.

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6 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Local Enterprise Partnership

LEP and value for money

Further to the two posts below, the National Audit Office report on combined authorities can be found here:

Click to access Progress-in-setting-up-combined-authorities.pdf

and its summary is here:

Click to access Progress-in-setting-up-combined-authorities-Summary.pdf

Perhaps the most significant paragraph for us is this one:

“5. However, evidence that investment, decision-making and oversight at this level is linked to improved local economic outcomes is mixed and inconclusive. Combined authorities themselves often assume in their plans that there is a strong link between investment in transport and economic growth, for example. Despite this, evidence on the additional value that governance at this level can bring to economic growth is mixed, and combined authorities’ administrative boundaries do not necessarily match functional economic areas, or the existing boundaries of local enterprise partnerships. We assessed combined authorities’ draft monitoring and evaluation plans, and found that while they are working to link spending with outcomes and impact, they vary in quality, and measures tend to vary depending on data already available.”

Elsewhere, they also note:
“Also not much coincidence in boundaries between combined authorities and LEPs. EG Bristol combined authority and “West of England LEP”.

They might well have added the lack of symmetry between Somerset ( where most LEP money is going to Hinkley C) and Devon. Of the 48 “projects” listed on their website:

21 projects are transport-related
8 are related to Hinkley C
Only 3 projects might benefit the Exeter area specifically (the “Growth Hub” and its extension, Science Park completed in 2016, Met Office campus which as yet has no funding)

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6 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Economy, Hinkley C, Local Enterprise Partnership

LEP – who will be to blame if things go pear-shaped?

Following on from the article below (which basically says metro-mayors/combined authorities/LEPs don’t work), Owl has a question:

If, as it appears, our LEP wants to take credit for any and all good that arises in Devon and Somerset for whatever reason (eg economic growth, Hinkley C) will it be taking the blame if it all goes horribly wrong – and would our local authorities accept their share of blame for going along with a dangerously flawed model where, not only does the Emperor have no clothes, the local authorities bought the clothes the Emperor doesn’t have?

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6 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Devolution, Economy, Local Enterprise Partnership, Sustainability, Transparency

Final big nail in Heart of the Southwest Local Enterprise Partnership coffin?

The type of organisation detailed here is exactly how our LEP is structured. Surely, now someone, somewhere will pull the plug on it?

“The six mayor-led combined authorities risk becoming “a curiosity of history” as there is little evidence to back their assumption that devolution will improve local economies.

That is among findings by the National Audit Office in a report Progress in Setting Up Combined Authorities.

Parliament’s spending watchdog said the six – Liverpool City Region, Tees Valley, West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and West of England – could have been joined by other areas but these had “been unable to bring local authorities together to establish combined authorities”.

The NAO said there was “a logic to establishing strategic bodies designed to function across conurbations and sub-regional areas, and there is a clear purpose to establishing combined authorities especially in metropolitan areas, as economies and transport networks operate at a scale greater than individual local authority areas”.

Most combined authority proposals were put to the government on the basis that they would deliver more rapid economic growth by spending money and exercising powers locally.

But the NAO noted the combined authorities were “inherently complex structures” and evidence that investment, decision-making and oversight at this level was linked to improved local economic results was “mixed and inconclusive”.

It said combined authorities “often assume in their plans that there is a strong link between investment in transport and economic growth, for example”, but evidence on the additional value that governance at this level can bring to economic growth is mixed, the NAO said.

It was also concerned that combined authorities’ administrative boundaries do not necessarily match functional economic areas, or the existing boundaries of local enterprise partnerships.

“We assessed combined authorities’ draft monitoring and evaluation plans, and found that while they are working to link spending with outcomes and impact, they vary in quality, and measures tend to vary depending on data already available,” the report said.

Despite this, the combined authorities’ economic regeneration role “would become more pressing” if Brexit leads to reductions in regional funding at present received from the European Union.

Combined authorities “are generally in areas which receive the most EU funding”, it noted.

NAO head Amyas Morse said: “For combined authorities to deliver real progress and not just be another ‘curiosity of history’ like other regional structures before them, they will need to demonstrate that they can both drive economic growth and also contribute to public sector reform.”

The County Councils Network strongly opposed the government’s requirement for elected mayors to lead combined authorities – and only Cambridgeshire and Peterborough involves a county council.

CCN director Simon Edwards, said: “This report from the NAO highlights many of the concerns the majority of CCN members raised over the prospect of mayoral combined authorities in county areas: an added layer of bureaucracy in an already complex landscape, a lack of co-terminosity with key public sector partners, and questions over whether this format would lead to economic growth in rural areas.”

http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2017/07/combined-authorities-risk-becoming-curiosity-history

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6 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Scrutiny, Transparency

Council employs lawyers to investigate who leaked report – when councillor already said he leaked it!

“South Ribble Borough Council has held an external investigation into a leak even though an opposition councillor admitted to being the culprit.

It appointed law firm Weightmans to investigate how a confidential report into a long running scandal around its taxi licensing service and child safeguarding ended up in the now-defunct New Day newspaper.

The report had been written by another law firm Wilkin Chapman, and had a limited circulation in the council.

After it was published the council called in the police, who concluded that no criminality had occurred. …”

http://localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=31737%3Acouncil-publishes-outcome-of-investigation-into-leaked-report&catid=59&Itemid=27

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6 Jul 2017

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Accountability, DUP, General Election, Lobbying, Post-Brexit Adjustments, Scrutiny, Sleaze, Transparency, Voting

DUP funding secrecy to be stopped – but not for massive Brexit loan

Owl says: Two parties working together, both using dirty money to buy votes and manipulate power – are East Devon Tory voters happy with this?

“When the law over political donations was overhauled (or rather, introduced – as it had previously been pretty much a secret free-for-all), an exception was made for Northern Ireland. The requirements for transparency of donations in the rest of the UK* was not applied to Northern Ireland as, still fresh from its years of bloody violence, it was felt by many that forcing political donors to be named was not yet appropriate.

That secrecy has, however, come under recent sustained criticism as it has opened up a loophole for secret donations to impact not only elections in Northern Ireland but also UK-wide contests. In particular, a secret £435,000 donation to the DUP went on campaigning in favour of Brexit across the whole UK.

Now, however, the government has announced that donations in Northern Ireland will be subject to the same transparency rules as in the rest of the UK.

One catch – up until now, the source of large secret donations has still had to be recorded even if not published. The government’s plan is for those records to remain secret despite the Electoral Commission’s calls for transparency over donations made in recent years too. So the full story of that £435,000 for the Brexit referendum may never be known.

* This transparency is not perfect, as continuing disputes over unincorporated associations in particular demonstrates, but it is pretty widespread.”

https://www.markpack.org.uk/150676/northern-ireland-political-donations-transparency/

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6 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Lobbying, Voting

Company Chairman stumps up cash when shareholders object to political donation

“After a shareholder revolt, the chairman of a City firm which made £25,000 worth of donations to Conservative candidates has agreed to reimburse the firm for the money given:

The chairman of City trading outfit NEX is paying back the £25,000 of shareholders funds the company donated to Tory election candidates in an attempt to keep out Remain backing Liberal Democrat MPs, including Sir Vince Cable.

Charles Gregson said he would refund the money from his own pocket following consultations with investors and governance groups…

NEX, run by former Tory Party Treasurer Michael Spencer, targeted seats where sitting Tories enjoyed narrow majorities over Liberal Democrat challengers, including Twickenham, which Sir Vince ultimately won back from the sitting Conservative MP Tania Mathias…

Pirc, which advises investors with billions of pounds under management, said it believed this to be an inappropriate use of shareholders cash in a critical report issued ahead of the company’s AGM.

[The Independent]

https://www.markpack.org.uk/150680/nex-conservative-party-donations/

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5 Jul 2017

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Accountability, DCC, Democracy, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Scrutiny, Sustainability, Transparency

Councillors turn on head of NHS: claim too much top-down cost-cutting and secrecy

“Councils have turned on the NHS over “secretive, opaque and top-down” reforms that they say will fail patients.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, has staked his tenure on co-ordinating care more effectively and has said that local authorities are crucial to the process because they oversee public health and social care for the elderly.

However, only a fifth of councils think the plans will succeed amid widespread complaints that they have been shut out of the process by the NHS, according to a survey by the Local Government Association.

Not one councillor who responded said they had been very involved in drawing up plans and nine out of ten said the process had been driven from Whitehall rather than locally. Cultural clashes with a “command and control” NHS that did not trust elected councillors meant that more local authorities believed the process was harming social care than helping it.

Mr Stevens has created 44 “sustainability and transformation partnerships” (STPs) where hospitals and GPs are meant to plan with councils on how to improve care and help close a £22 billion black hole in the NHS budget. However, four out of five councillors said the system was not fit for purpose and criticised the NHS for prioritising cost-cutting and closing hospital units over preventing illness.

Izzi Seccombe of the Local Government Association said: “Many councillors have been disappointed by the unilateral top-down approach of the NHS in some of the STP areas. As our survey results show, the majority of local politicians who responded feel excluded from the planning process. If local politicians and communities are not engaged then we have serious doubt over whether STPs will deliver.”

Half the 152 councils with social care responsibilities responded to the survey and 81 councillors with responsibility for health contributed. “The way in which the STP has been handled (top down, secretive, lack of engagement) has harmed relationships between the council and some NHS colleagues,” one said.

The NHS simply does not understand the decision-making of local government
Another said: “It is entirely driven from the top, via budget pressures. The process has been overly secretive and opaque. It has got in the way of closer working between councils and health.”

Councillors criticised STPs as “complex and full of jargon”, saying “the NHS simply does not understand the decision-making of local government”.

Ms Seccombe said that in a centralised NHS, managers often did not want to share information with party political councils accountable to local voters, saying that the process was “trying to mix oil and water”.

Chris Ham, chief executive of the King’s Fund think tank, said: “This survey suggests worrying numbers of council leaders are still frustrated by the process and lacking in confidence in their local plan. A huge effort is now needed to make up lost ground.”

A spokesman for NHS England said: “By creating STPs we have issued a massive open invitation to those parts of local government willing to join forces, while recognising that local politics can sometimes make this harder. The fact that public satisfaction is more than twice as high for the NHS as it is for social care underlines the real pressure on councils. It should serve as a wake-up call to every part of the country about the importance of joint working.”

Source: The Times (paywall)

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5 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, DUP, East Devon Tories, Hugo Swire

Swire defends Tory/DUP deal – calls May and Foster a ‘feminist coalition’ and says Foster ‘a good woman’ who even drinks alcohol

Owl says: there is loads more of this twaddle on his website if you can bear to read it. If you voted for him, really you need to work out why.

“Sir Hugo Swire has defended the controversial Tory deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and called party leader Arlene Foster a “thoroughly decent woman”.

… Swire, the MP for East Devon and a junior minister in Northern Ireland under the first Cameron Government, says the DUP will “lie low” on issues such as same sex marriage.

He has hailed the parliamentary arithmetic of the minority government for allowing the emergence a new “feminist coalition” on women’s rights.

… He said he “knows and likes” First Minister Arlene Foster well and has urged people to give the deal a chance.

“I would count her as a friend as I do many of her colleagues,” Mr Swire added.

“The DUP under her is now much more socially progressive. It no longer represents the bigoted and sectarian Anti-Catholic sentiments of the Rev Ian Paisley. Arlene is not even a member of the Orange Order.

“In Belfast the DUP is increasingly reflective of the population that votes for it, which includes thousands of non-churchgoing Protestants. Arlene is an Anglican like Theresa May and a Lawyer, she has Catholic and gay friends and drinks alcohol. I have shared a glass or two with her myself over the years. She is patriotic and pro-monarchy like most Conservatives. She sees her place within the United Kingdom as her key to survival. She is a thoroughly decent woman.”

http://www.devonlive.com/mp-hugo-swire-says-dup-deal-could-allow-feminist-coalition-on-reproductive-freedoms/story-30425308-detail/story.html

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5 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, EDDC, Scrutiny, Spin, Transparency

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Local authorities must submit to robust scrutiny says Communities Secretary

… conveniently forgetting that it has always been his job to ensure that this happens!

“Local government needs to open up and raise its game, Sajid Javid has told the Local Government Association’s annual conference.

Delivering a keynote address to the gathering in Birmingham yesterday, Javid highlighted the “serious failings” that emerged in the aftermath of the Grenfell tower fire in west London and said he wanted to reflect on what had gone wrong in local government.

“If the events of the past few weeks have taught us anything, it’s that we have to raise our game,” he said. “The ties that bind local government to local communities have not snapped. But if we don’t act now, such a time may one day be upon us.”

Councils would not be able to rebuild and reinforce trust with local communities if they hid away from public scrutiny.

“If people are going to trust their elected representatives, they have to see them working in the harsh light of the public eye, not in comforting shadows behind closed doors.

“Not only must democracy exist, it must be seen to exist. It can’t be about decisions made in private meeting rooms… local government must show it is for the people – not just of the people.” …”

Words – so much easier than action, as we well know in East Devon.

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5 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Democracy, Hugo Swire

If only Swire stood up for East Devon in Parliament the way he does for Northern Ireland

Question in Parliament 3 July 2017:

“Is it not the simple truth that, whereas the Democratic Unionist party has managed to obtain £1 billion from the Treasury to spend on the people of Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin—Gerry Adams and those at Connolly House who are refusing to re-form the Executive—will be in no position to ensure that their constituents receive an equal share of that money, because there will be no Sinn Féin Minister in the Executive, and the money will be spent either by Ministers in this place or by civil servants in Northern Ireland?”

3 July
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2017-07-03a.898.7&s=speaker%3A11265#g905.5

Perhaps if he substituted “Local Enterprise Partnership” for DUP, Hinkley C for Northern Ireland and ” people of East Devon” for ” people of East Devon” for “their constituents” we might feel we had value for money from our MP – an MP who doesn’t think his post is even a full time job:

https://www.hugoswire.org.uk/news/blog-greed-george-osborne

Less time hitting back at the woman who fired him and more of his – one of his many jobs – time on us, perhaps.

Has he forgotten that he is no longer a Minister – when he said he couldn’t talk about East Devon constituency in Parliament – and isn’t it time he remembered he is just an ordinary constituency MP?

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4 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Austerity cuts, DCC, Education (local), Inequality, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Sidmouth mum exposes the reality of education cuts at primary academy school

Received by Owl:

“I wonder whether you’re aware/ could draw attention to the fallout from the budget cuts in our local school.

Parents discovered today that at Sidmouth Primary School funding cuts are having a direct impact on the children and structure of the school. They have had to reduce the number of classes in the school so children are being taught in mixed Year classes: Years 3&4; 5&6. This cost-cutting exercise means that teachers will be teaching an incredibly broad spread of abilities within the same class: they will have to differentiate hugely to cater for the weakest Year 5 and strongest Year 6 pupil for instance. Classes are heading towards 30 so it’s not as if these mixed groups are resulting in smaller groups.

When the school became an academy parents were told that this would mean more autonomy and access to more funds. This clearly has not materialised yet the former headteacher now seems to be sporting the title of ‘Executive Headteacher’. I imagine that his salary could cover the cost of a couple of those disbanded classes…”

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4 Jul 2017

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

Clinical Commissioning Group – a sinking ship taking us with it

“THE Northern, Eastern and Western Devon Clinical Commissioning Group and the Success Regime are both set to lose high ranking members of their teams.

Chief Executive of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan Angela Pedder and Chief Officer of the CCG Janet Fitzgerald are both set to leave later this year, while Chairman of the Eastern and Mid Devon Locality Dr David Jenner has already left his position after announcing his plans in January.

The CCG stress that the three resignations are unrelated and entirely separate cases.

Janet Fitzgerald asked to be released from her contract early due to ill health and will officially be leaving her role on August 4th. She was on a year long fix term contract and decided to end it early.

Angela Pedder resigned from her role as chief executive for the Devon STP on May 31st. Ms Pedder has worked for the NHS for 42 years and spent the last 18 months as chair of the Success Regime. She was at times labelled ‘Public Enemy No 1’ by angry protesters in relation to the closing of hospital beds across East Devon.

Following her resignation, Ms Pedder said: “I had always planned to rebalance working life during 2017, on reaching 60. The STP is a key element of the NHS Five-Year Forward View, which will see big changes to the health and care system in the years to come.

“Our plan is now sufficiently developed, with strong clinical and managerial leadership in place to take it forward.

“I feel privileged and proud to have worked for the NHS for more than 40 years. I have been pleased to have led the improvements the Devon system has achieved within the success regime and STP.”

Ms Pedder, who was previously chief executive at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, also paid tribute to the ‘dedicated’ staff and group leaders across the health and social care system.

Mrs Fitzgerald, who will leave her role in August, said: “It has been a privilege to work with a strong , skilled and committed executive team, who have not only been unfaltering in their support of me, but who will confidently lead the CCG through out next phase of development.”

Dr Tim Burke, NEW Devon CCG chairman, said Janet had had an ‘enormous impact on the organisation’.

Dr David Jenner tendered his resignation at the end of March, after announcing his plans earlier in the year, saying: “Life, it seems, has entered a different phase.

“This has caused me to pause; to consider how I can best use my time in future to benefit my patients, my local population and, I am not ashamed to say, myself and family too.”

Dr Jenner added: “My decision is unconnected with any dissatisfaction regarding my role or the direction of the CCG.

“Indeed, I have already offered to remain a ‘friend of the CCG’ over the coming months and you will probably still see me on the TV or hear me on the radio in my GP role.”

Pulman’s View from approached the CCG regarding rumours that Angela Pedder, Janet Fitzgerald and Dr David Jenner were all leaving the organisation following a passing comment from a regular contributor.

There was no information on the CCG’s website or social media regarding the three high profile members leaving their posts.”

https://www.viewnews.co.uk/new-devon-ccg-success-regime-set-lose-prominent-members-teams/

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4 Jul 2017

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Accountability, Police (local)

“Who is Alison Hernandez? The ex-cannabis smoker and gangsta rap fan who became police commissioner?”

When your local newspaper runs articles like this, you know that there is a serious problem. It really is time for this incompetent and rather witless person to be replaced.

“Devon and Cornwall Police Commissioner Alison Hernandez has been embroiled in controversy ever since her appointment to the post last year.

She caused consternation yesterday when she said members of the public with guns could form ‘some of our solution’ to terrorism in isolated rural areas.

The post of Police Commissioner is in itself controversial, but current incumbent Ms Hernandez has increased scrutiny of the role after a string of controversies.

She has been the subject of an investigation by the police, admitted to smoking cannabis and has a penchant for gangsta rappers N.W.A – who sang ‘F*** da police’ on their debut album, which launched the careers of Dr Dre and Eazy-E and Ice Cube.

The police investigation into allegations she failed to properly declare expenses was referred to criminal investigators and the CPS.

She was accused of failing to properly declare election expenses when employed as the election agent for Conservative MP Kevin Foster during the 2015 General Election.

However, the CPS decided to take no further action against Ms Hernandez, or former Plymouth Tory MP Oliver Colvile, or Cornwall Conservatives George Eustice and Scott Mann

The Tory police and crime commissioner (PCC) has also revealed she was a one-time “fly girl” and a fan of California rap outfit NWA (Niggaz Wit Attitudes) – who were branded “the world’s most dangerous group”.

The group’s debut album in 1988, Straight Outta Compton, began with the track “F**k tha Police”, a protest against police brutality and racial profiling.

Ms Hernandez, who grew up in Torbay – one of the most deprived areas in the South West – told twitter followers she used to listen to Public Enemy, famous for the track Fight the Power, made famous in the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing.

Ms Hernandez also raised eyebrows when she admitted smoking cannabis, but said she doesn’t want to see the drug legalised.

The police and crime commissioner’s statement came in response to questions about legalising the drug.

She also faced fierce critcism for apparently taking selfies at the scene of a devastating fire in Exeter city centre.

Alison Hernandez did not post, the images on social media – but an MP has called for her to apologise.

Exeter Labour MP Ben Bradshaw said: “I’m not sure this is appropriate behaviour for our Police and Crime Commissioner.

And, in April of this year, it was revealed she was considering appointing a deputy – at cost to the taxpayer estimated to be around £50,000.”

http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/who-is-alison-hernandez-the-ex-cannabis-smoker-and-gangsta-rap-fan-who-became-police-commissioner/story-30387275-detail/story.html