Standard

Posted by

Posted on

28 Apr 2018

Posted under

Asset sweating, Austerity cuts, EDDC, Exmouth, Regeneration

Comments

3 Comments

“Concerns raised over plan for Exmouth seafront temporary car park”

Owl says: This is what happens when you run a council as a business and not as a public service.

“East Devon District Council (EDDC) is seeking to create 13 spaces on land behind the rowing club, in Queen’s Drive.

The plot, owned by the authority, has previously been used by Exmouth RNLI for storage.

Tony Crowhurst, vice-chairman of Exmouth Rowing Club, has questioned the financial viability of the car park, adding: “There is a lot of work that needs to be done to create a safe car parking space which I don’t think they will recoup.

“The fact that they are going to be using the duck pond for events – we’re going to have a double whammy of people parking to use that area and those parking behind us.”

Mr Crowhurst also questioned the impact the plan will have on the club’s ability to transport their boats across the road to the beach.

He said: “We’re a local club and have got around 80-odd members. We do a lot of things in the community but this will make our ability to transport boats across the sea even harder.

“Already, people will park in front on the club and go dog walking for one or two hours and we can’t get our boats out.

“I would say at least once a week we’re in a situation where we have to ask people to move their cars from the front of our gates.”

An EDDC spokesman said it is aware of the rowing club’s concerns and believes they can be resolved.

Exmouth Town Council’s planning committee is set to discuss the application on Monday (April 30).

EDDC’s cabinet is due to decide whether or not the proposed facility should be included on the authority’s parking places order.

According to agenda papers for the meeting to be held on Wednesday, May 2, at Knowle, Sidmouth, officers are recommending that councillors approve this.

EDDC say they have sought cabinet approval prior to planning permission as they intend to have the car park operational by this summer.

A spokesman for EDDC said: “We are hoping to be able to offer the car park for public use this summer so we are running both of these processes in parallel to save time.”

EDDC planners will make the final decision on the application.”

http://www.exmouthjournal.co.uk/news/exmouth-rowming-club-objects-to-new-seafront-car-park-1-5491480

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

28 Apr 2018

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Inequality

“Millennials don’t need living rooms, says leading architect”

“In a briefing paper, Patrik Schumacher, who worked on the London Aquatics Centre built for the Olympics, argued that centrally-located “hotel room-sized” studio flats are ideal for busy young people.

“Those who are now making the hard choice between paying 80 per cent of their income on a central flat versus commuting from afar, will in the liberalized future appreciate new options and perhaps choose to pay only 60 per cent for a smaller but more central flat.

“For many young professionals who are out and about networking 24/7, a small, clean, private hotel room-sized central patch serves their needs perfectly well,” he said.

The most central homes should be given to people “whose productive lives are most enhanced by being thus positioned, i.e. those who operate at the centre of our network society, attending early morning meetings, after work networking events,weekend conferences, and professional lectures”, he said.”

Mr Schumacher argues in the paper published by the Adam Smith Institute that the minimum size of 38 square metres on newbuild flats is “paternalistic” and stops poorer young people from getting on the housing ladder.

He said: “Units half that size, built at an earlier time, are rare and thus at the moment overpriced, hotly desired commodities, for rent or for sale.

“Lifting this prohibition would allow a whole new (lower) income group, which is now excluded, to enter the market. This move would both boost overall unit numbers and affordability.” …

He said planning regulations have been “unduly politicised and thereby paralysed”.

In 2016 the controversial architect told an audience at the World Architecture Festival in Berlin that public spaces such as streets and parks in London should be privatised and social housing should be abolished. …

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/04/25/millennials-dont-need-living-rooms-says-leading-architect-says/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Accountable Care Organisation, Austerity cuts, Consultation, Health and Social Care (local), NHS (local), Scrutiny, Transparency

THIS is how you hold a CCG to account!

“The NHS will face calls from leading county councillors to publish a comprehensive plan for public consultation on its controversial proposals for a major shakeup of health services in Lincolnshire.

Concerns have been raised by the county council over the lack of progress on the Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan since an initial draft was first published in December 2016.

At the time, the plans outlined a required £205 million investment to improve the facilities at Lincoln County Hospital, Boston Pilgrim Hospital and Grantham Hospital.

The proposals revealed that Grantham A&E could be downgraded to an urgent care centre and maternity services centralised to Lincoln.

Over 500 jobs are also set to be lost by 2021 under the plans.

Lincolnshire County Council unanimously voted against the STP at a Full Council meeting in December 2016, just over one week after the report was first leaked to the press.

County council leader Martin Hill wrote to NHS chiefs in March 2017 adding his criticisms, claiming that “making things better for most people, at the detriment of others, is not good enough”.

Since then, the county council said that there have been delays in publication of the STP plan, with further concerns raised about the lack of answers to the financial struggles of the NHS in Lincolnshire as well as fears about the changes themselves.

United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which covers the three main hospitals in the county, was put in special measures by the Care Quality Commission for performance failures and in financial special measures by NHS Improvement in 2017.

Even this month, ULHT has forecast an end of year deficit of £82.4 million, £5 million more than its deficit control target agreed with NHS Improvement.

In addition to asking the NHS to publish a plan for public consultation “without delay”, Lincolnshire County Council will also call for a review of governance arrangements for the STP to provide clarity over decision-making, accountability, democratic engagement and oversight of the process.

Glen Garrod, Executive Director of Adult Care and Community Wellbeing at Lincolnshire County Council, said in a report to councillors: “The county council has a long and successful track record of working with NHS partners in Lincolnshire. More recently and with the development of the STP programme the nature of the relationship has changed and, given the quality, performance and financial imperatives facing NHS services in Lincolnshire, more profiled.

“Disappointingly little progress has been made to address underlying budget deficits, performance continues to be poor at ULHT and successive inspections by the Care Quality Commission have reported on serious quality issues.

“This has been the picture for a number of years with little sign that ‘the tide has turned’ and these critical issues are getting better.

“Change is likely, indeed necessary and improvements critical if Lincolnshire residents are to receive NHS services that they deserve.”

In response, John Turner, Senior Responsible Officer for the Lincolnshire STP said that Lincolnshire County Council is a key partner for the NHS in the county but refused to be drawn on when it would publish its plans for public consultation.

He said: “We are fully committed to working together with Lincolnshire County Council in the best interests of patients and the people of Lincolnshire. The level of our integrated services between the NHS and Lincolnshire County Council already compares well nationally.

“There is much to be proud of in our local NHS, with our dedicated staff and partners working to provide the best care for our patients. At the same time, it is widely recognised that health and care services in Lincolnshire are very challenged – we struggle to provide consistent care and meet all quality standards, to recruit clinical staff in key areas, and we are currently overspending by £100 million a year.

“In recent months the STP has reported progress in areas such as mental health, GP services, integrated community services and operational efficiencies and improvements have been delivered for patients.

“In addition, the STP is also undertaking an acute services review which is examining what would be the future configuration of acute hospital services for the population of Lincolnshire.

“We look forward to discussing this openly across the county in due course.”

Councillors on the council’s Executive will consider the next steps to take at a meeting in Lincoln on Tuesday, May 1.”

https://lincolnshirereporter.co.uk/2018/04/nhs-under-fire-from-county-council-over-lack-of-progress-on-healthcare-shakeup/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Apr 2018

Posted under

Inequality

It costs twice as much to buy energy, water, council tax and insurance in Devon as it does in London

“It costs almost twice as much to live in Devon as it does to live in the heart of London – and the county has the country’s worst broadband speeds and highest water rates.

New research reveals the 10 most expensive places for home insurance, energy bills, water rates and council tax are in the county – and part of Devon has come out worst.

The study by price comparison site uSwitch found South Hams residents pay an average of £332 a month on utility bills and insurance compared with £185 for those in Westminster.

The county also has the slowest broadband speeds in the country and the highest water rates, reports The Mirror.

Devon and Cornwall pay the most for water with average monthly bills of £71.

South West Water, says the steep cost is because of thousands of miles of pipes are needed to reach a large area of land, with only a small number of households to cover the costs. …”

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/costs-twice-much-live-devon-1506192

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality

Deliberate government policies … NOT unintended consequences

“… Either the home secretary ignored the inevitable cruelty in chasing her targets – or she was too dumb to ask. True, Border Force staff told me that Rudd had had the wool pulled over her eyes about its state of dereliction. When she first visited Heathrow, managers bussed in apprentice tax-collectors from Newcastle to staff the passport kiosks, with passengers held back in another hall so that she saw no queues.

… Breaking this government’s stone heart has proved impossible over the years. As £30bn and then another £12bn were gouged from the social security budget, the devastating effects on families, on disabled people, on children, had no impact. Instead the government heaped abuse on victims, as Iain Duncan Smith vowed to end the “something-for-nothing culture”. Never admitting most people on benefits are in work, he liked warning them: “This is not an easy life any more, chum. I think you’re a slacker.” He denied his strict targets for knocking people off benefits: but jobcentre staff showed me what were called ”spinning plates” monthly targets, with one telling me: “You park your conscience when you work here.” Staff missing their quota were disciplined. The easiest hits were people with learning disabilities or mental illness, and benefits were stopped for tiny infractions. Did anyone in government break their heart over diabetic ex-soldier David Clapson, who starved to death when his benefits were stopped?

George Osborne relentlessly sneered at households sleeping on with “closed blinds while honest citizens set off to work”. Now his Evening Standard begs for charity for London’s hungry children, impoverished by him: the Institute for Fiscal Studies warns that another 1.2 million children are falling into poverty.

It never broke their hearts to punish families with more than two children, or cut rent support, or evict anyone with a spare room, sending them sometimes hundreds of miles from schools, jobs, friends and family. It didn’t break their hearts to see more than 50,000 Motability cars taken from disabled households. Would it break their hearts to see people with children using food banks?

Tory MPs know all this. I have sat in their surgeries to see how they react to the stream of human suffering they are inflicting. They look sorrowful, and promise to write (useless) letters to ministers. They get pleas for help from people being evicted and frail old people neglected at home for lack of care. They see children’s centres closing, and the soaring numbers of children taken into care because no one caught family problems early. They hear from patients in pain or danger through operations postponed. Maybe they complain about 600,000 lost young people, hanging around neither in education nor employment, with youth services having been abolished.

A “hostile environment” is what the government has deliberately created. Calculated cruelty has been policy, not accident. Writing about all this state-inflicted suffering can feel like banging your head against a brick wall: Guardian readers know it already, while government ministers don’t give a damn. Is Amber Rudd’s “heartbreak” a moment of great collective epiphany? Will a frozen dam of tears suddenly be unleashed? Theresa May’s “burning social injustices” burn brighter than ever, with no sign yet of an outbreak of howling repentance along the government benches.”

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/26/amber-rudd-heartbroken-windrush

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, East Devon Tories, Hugo Swire

Swire: asking those questions East Devon needs answers to …. no, his other interests

Recent parliamentary questions from Swire:

“Customs and Borders (26 Apr 2018)
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2018-04-26a.1053.0&s=speaker%3A11265#g1062.2
Hugo Swire: I am listening closely to what the right hon. Lady is saying, but there are already cameras for number plate recognition at all the ports on the UK mainland, recording traffic to and from the island of Ireland.

Customs and Borders (26 Apr 2018)
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2018-04-26a.1053.0&s=speaker%3A11265#g1077.1
Hugo Swire: Will the hon. Lady give way?

Customs and Borders (26 Apr 2018)
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2018-04-26a.1053.0&s=speaker%3A11265#g1089.0
Hugo Swire: As we head towards our departure from the European Union in just under a year, I believe that our future trading arrangements are more important than ever. As deputy chairman of the Commonwealth Enterprise and Investment Council, I was involved in last week’s Commonwealth business forum, before the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting, which was an important event for discussing…”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Asset sweating, Austerity cuts, Inequality

County council refuses to spend business profits on affordable housing

“Liberal Democrat councillors have criticised Surrey County Council for failing to spend profits from its £298m commercial property portfolio on council services.

In November, the council transferred £3.8m of rental income from the properties into its revolving infrastructure and investment fund.

However, Liberal Democrats complained that the original investment strategy, agreed by the council in July 2013, promised to use income to support the delivery of functions and services.

Cllr Hazel Watson, leader of the Liberal Democrats on Surrey County Council, said: “I am deeply concerned that none of the income derived from the county council’s extensive property investment portfolio so far has been used to support council services.

“This contradicts previous assurances from the Conservative administration that the purpose of their investment strategy was to support the county council’s budget.

“The county council is proposing millions of cuts to services this financial year and it is simply unacceptable for them to use precious resources to purchase more property, when that resource should be used instead to protect services for Surrey residents.”

Responding to the criticism, Tim Oliver, Surrey’s Conservative cabinet member for property and business services, said: “The investment portfolio created under the investment strategy consists of property investments which have been made by the council in order to deliver economic regeneration or to provide for long-term future service use, whilst delivering an investment return.

“These assets provide flexibility in the estate whilst producing a net revenue.”

He said that the total net income delivered to date by the strategy will be used to support spending on council services in the future and was expected to have reached £5.3m by March 2018.”

http://www.room151.co.uk/treasury/lib-dems-slam-use-of-property-profits-at-surrey-cc/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

27 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Business Rates, Inequality, Small and Medium businesses

“Staircase tax” WILL apply to business rates despite government promise to drop it

Owl says: so nos small businesses will get their own version of the council house “bedtoom tax” …

“Housing minister Dominic Raab has confirmed a government u-turn on a budget promise to compensate councils for the new “staircase tax” resulting from a 2015 Supreme Court ruling on business rates.

In last year’s budget, chancellor Philip Hammond announced that businesses would be able to claim a rebate on bills based on the way they were calculated before the ruling – backdated to 2010.

However, speaking in the House of Commons this week, Raab said that the government no longer intended to honour this promise.

“I do not think it would be right to compensate local authorities for what would effectively be an inadvertent windfall resulting from a judicial determination,” said Raab. “From the point of view of government policy, that was not something we wanted to see, and we have moved as swiftly and reasonably as we can to correct this.”

The Supreme Court ruling reversed more than 50 years of practice that businesses operating in separate units, or rooms, accessed from a connecting staircase received a single rates bill.

Following the judgement, the Valuation Office Agency has changed its practice to issue separate bills for each floor — with businesses able to claim a rebate back to 2010.

This means that some rates payers previously eligible for small business rates relief have lost some, or all, of their relief.

In addition, rateable value per square metre is sometimes lower for large properties due to landlords offering discounts to fill space.

Raab said that only a small number of businesses — fewer than 1,000 — are affected adversely by the change.

Raab made his announcement on Monday, during a debate on the tax, held during the second reading of the Rating (Property in Common Occupation) and Council Tax (Empty Dwellings) Bill.

Also speaking in the debate, Clive Betts, chairman of the housing, communities and local government select committee, said: “We accept that the legislation takes the position back to what people thought it was before the court decision.

“In the meantime, however, we have had the court decision and local authorities will have done their estimates based on that decision, so the government are effectively changing local authorities’ financial positions from what they thought they would be a few months ago.”

Raab said that local authorities had been informed of the change of direction “as soon as was reasonably possible”.

In a briefing criticising the u-turn, the Local Government Association said: “It is disappointing that the government has reversed their autumn budget decision on the financial implications of this measure, and has indicated that no compensation will be payable to local government.

“We support the housing, communities and local government committee’s recommendation that the government needs to reassure councils that they are not going to be worse off financially because of this legislation, and that the government should bear the associated costs as a result of the reforms.”

http://www.room151.co.uk/funding/government-u-turns-on-staircase-tax/

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Apr 2018

Posted under

Economy, EDDC, Greater Exeter

“18 month delay on the draft Greater Exeter Strategic Plan (GESP)”

Owl says: Seems those traffic jams into and out of Exeter are not going to get better any time soon.

“… The preparation of the GESP has been held up by a number of factors. These include a significant and ongoing review of national planning and housing policies, a very high response to the “call for sites” with over 700 sites made available, and the need to resolve complex transport issues associated with the plan, particularly in the Exeter area, including extensive modelling, roadside interviews and scheme assessment.

“This work is still ongoing and will inform a key element of the GESP strategy. It is not expected that the transport work will be ready before the end of 2018, given the complexities and in particular the need to ensure that Highways England are content with the work.

“The NPPF review is expected to be complete in the summer of 2018. These factors mean that the draft plan is not likely to be ready before spring 2019.

“In order to avoid issues of Purdah associated with the local elections in May 2019 it is therefore now proposed that the draft plan should be published in June 2019.”

The purpose of preparing the Greater Exeter Strategic Plan is to have a joined-up vision and aspirations for the area.

The local authorities are working together, engaging with stakeholders and communities, to prepare a new joint plan.

The GESP will sit above District-level Local and community Neighbourhood Plans, taking a long-term strategic view to ensure important decisions about development and investment are coordinated. …”

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/18-month-delay-draft-greater-1505396

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Business Rates, Hugo Swire, Sidmouth/ Sidford/ Sidbury

Comments

1 Comment

Swire too busy with Brexit to meet with worried Sidmouth businesses

“A meeting to discuss worries about rising business rates and other issues facing Sidmouth’s high street has been cancelled.

Businessman Steve Clark, of Rendevous, told the Herald that today’s (Thursday) event is called off as Sir Hugo Swire was not able to attend due to his Parliamentary commitments. …

Sir Hugo said he was unable to attend due to discussions on future trading post Brexit. …”

http://www.sidmouthherald.co.uk/news/business-meeting-on-issues-in-sidmouth-high-street-cancelled-1-5493005

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

26 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, EDDC

Comments

1 Comment

Austerity cuts – what austerity cuts?

EDDC:

Headcount = 526 as at 1st April 2010
Headcount = 598.5 as at 31st March 2018

http://eastdevon.gov.uk/access-to-information/freedom-of-information/freedom-of-information-published-requests/

Doing more with less? Looks like doing less with more!

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

25 Apr 2018

Posted under

Education (local), Inequality, Privatisation

Comments

1 Comment

“Free” schools – anything but free!

“The government’s free schools policy has come under renewed fire after it emerged that another of its studio schools, set up using millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money, is to close this summer after a brief, troubled existence.

Plymouth studio school will be the 19th of its kind to shut its doors to pupils since the policy was introduced in 2010, at

an estimated collective cost of £48.3m

according to the National Education Union (NEU).

This week it also emerged that Isle of Wight studio school, which opened four years ago, will close in the summer of 2019 due to lack of demand.

The NEU says the latest closures bring the total to 66 new schools launched under the government’s flagship free schools policy that have either closed, partially closed or failed to open at all, at an estimated cost of almost

£150m

in startup costs and capital funding. …”

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2018/apr/25/free-schools-policy-under-fire-as-yet-another-closure-announced-plymouth

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

25 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Affordable and Social Housing, Climate crisis, Environment (local)

Rental properties can be very cold – but not icy, icy cold!

Rented properties energy rated F or G (properties are rated A = best, G = worst) have been told to bring their properties “up” to at least an E rating. This could cost landlords up to £1,400 per property.

Surely we should be looking for rented properties to be AT LEAST a Grade C!!!

However, of course the unintended (or is it intended?) consequence is that, landlords will raise rents to cover (or even over-cover) the costs involved.

Renters 1 – Landlords 101!

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/300000-rented-homes-cheaper-bills-12302246

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

25 Apr 2018

Posted under

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

Asset-rich pensioners should fund NHS says its chief

“The head of the NHS has suggested that pensioners’ housing wealth should be used to fund social care as he warned that the equivalent of 36 hospitals were “out of action” because of bed blocking.

Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England, said that given pensioners’ “relatively advantaged position” in terms of housing wealth, it was difficult to argue that working-age adults should fund the estimated £1 billion extra per year needed by social care services in increased taxes.

He was appearing in front of an inquiry by several Commons committees on the long-term funding of adult social care. …”

Source: Times, pay wall

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

25 Apr 2018

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Developers/ Development, Honiton/ Gittisham

Jobs before houses or houses before jobs on Honiton brownfield site?

“Plans to demolish the former Halse of Honiton site and convert it into a 32-home development are set to be rejected.

The Homes and Communities Agency submitted plans last year to build the new homes at Foundry Yard on a brownfield site that was recently vacated by Halse of Honiton, who have moved to a new site in Ottery St Mary. …

But East Devon District Council’s development management committee are being recommended to refuse the application when they meet on Tuesday, May 1.

The report says: “The site is considered to be an employment site and in assessing the proposal, it has not been demonstrated that a continued use employment use would significantly harm the quality of a locality whether through traffic, amenity, environmental or other associated problems.

“Furthermore, options for retention of the site or premises for its current or similar use have not been robustly explored, the site having been subject of a flawed marketing exercise that ruled out any such uses before marketing began.

Evidence from the Economic Development also indicates a strong demand for employment generating sites in Honiton coupled with a shortage in the supply of such sites. The release of the site for housing would therefore not comply with Strategy 32 of the Local Plan and the development would not be sustainable development as it would contribute to imbalances in the provision of housing and jobs in Honiton.”

The application submitted by the HCA had said: “The proposed development of the site creates an opportunity to provide a high quality residential development that integrates well with adjacent areas of Honiton.

“The development will be sustainable, providing much needed open market and affordable homes in a town centre location, with good connectivity.” …

The developer is also proposing ten of the proposed homes – or 30 per cent – to be affordable, five per cent more than the required provision of 25 per cent. …”

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/plans-former-halse-honiton-site-1495246

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

25 Apr 2018

Posted under

Affordable and Social Housing, Health and Social Care (local), Inequality, Spin

Comments

1 Comment

“Sleeping rough more comfortable than army exercises – Tory MP”

Where to start? Of course, sleeping rough for a TV programme is easy! A nice warm bed to return to (not to mention a nice MPs salary) AND a film crew to keep you safe! AND he forgets to say he did his TV programme in 1991!

“A Conservative MP and former army officer has said that sleeping rough is “a lot more comfortable” than military exercises, in a debate he led on tackling street homelessness.

Adam Holloway, the MP for Gravesham in Kent, told parliamentary colleagues in the Westminster Hall debate on Tuesday that if a person is “able-bodied and sound of mind” there are resources that make it possible to sleep rough.

He said begging was also part of the problem, allowing homeless people to make “quite a lot of money”.

Holloway, a supporter of the pro-Brexit campaign group Leave Means Leave, also said that a rise in street homelessness was driven by eastern European immigration, claiming that many migrants from that region preferred to sleep rough than pay for accommodation.

He said mental illness and drug addiction were “real ingrained problems” behind homelessness that needed to be tackled to solve the crisis.

Holloway, who told MPs he had spent a number of nights during the parliamentary recess in February sleeping on the streets as part of a television programme on street homelessness, said: “One observation I do have, if you are able-bodied and of sound mind there are all sorts of services – not quite 24 hours a day – that make it possible to sleep out.

“I’m 52, I was in the army; to be honest for me sleeping rough in central London is a lot more comfortable than going on exercise in the army.

“But if you’re mentally ill or you are old or you are personality disordered then it is a very different thing. Or if you’re drug addicted it is very difficult. We have to accept that some people are able to sleep rough because there are resources to do so.”

Holloway’s comments come after research revealed at least 78 homeless people died on the streets and in temporary accommodation this winter, bringing the number of recorded homeless deaths to more than 300 since 2013.”

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

24 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Austerity cuts, Inequality, Privatisation, Scrutiny

“Scrutiny in public sector ‘struggling’ “

“Public sector scrutiny “struggles to keep up” with the “increased complexity of modern government”, according to a think-tank.

The collapse of construction contractor Carillion showed the government’s failure to effectively evaluate the use of private providers in the public sector, the discussion paper released by the Institute for Government yesterday also said.

Five million public sector workers were responsible for delivering services, the IFG noted, but still “there are weaknesses in the UK’s system of accountability, which often struggles to keep up with the realities of modern government both nationally and locally”.

Because government has failed to keep pace with the “increased complexity of modern government”, it has not properly scrutinised public-private partnerships’ value for money, Accountability in modern government added.

The think-tank suggested often in government accountability is replaced by a “pervading culture of blame”.

This culture, the think-tank argued, has been evident in the roll out of Universal Credit – which combines six working-age benefits in one – and more recently in the Windrush immigration cases.

IfG said: “While accountability certainly involves apportioning blame when something goes wrong, it should also foster an environment that lead to improvement.

“This is what the public cares most about- preventing failures recurring, rather than simple retribution.”

Benoit Guerin, a senior researcher at the Institute for Government, said: “Accountability helps people know how the government is doing and where to go when things go wrong.

“A lack of accountability is worrying because it increases the risk of failure and decreases legitimacy of the state in the eyes of the public.”

He said the IFG hoped to start a debate on how accountability in the public sector could be strengthened with the aim of making recommendations for reform.”

https://www.publicfinance.co.uk/news/2018/04/scrutiny-public-sector-struggling

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

24 Apr 2018

Posted under

East Devon economy, East Devon Growth Point, Exeter City Council, Growth Strategy, Inequality

Bad news for East Devon commuters: “Exeter rated one of the worst places to make a living in the UK”

So growth doesn’t equal wealth – who would have guessed!!!

“… TotallyMoney’s research into the best places to make a living ranked Exeter ninth from the bottom of 59 towns and cities in the UK.

Featuring 59 UK towns and cities, the company analysed median take-home salary, average monthly mortgage repayment, cost of living, employment rates and business closures.”

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/exeter-rated-one-worst-places-1494891

Standard

Posted by

Posted on

24 Apr 2018

Posted under

Accountability, Claire Wright, Democracy, East Devon Alliance, Independent Councillors, Martin Shaw

East Devon Alliance “Time for a Change” public conference 26 May 2018

Venue: Beehive, Honiton

Free places can be booked at:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/east-devons-time-for-a-change-peoples-conference-tickets-45482525458

Attendance needs to be monitored as the hall has a maximum capacity.

DETAILS:

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. In two sessions you will be able to hear and then CONTRIBUTE on:

a) how did we get where we are now?
b) what can we do about it through democracy in our parishes, towns and district.

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 the face of how where you live is run.

We are making no fixed charge for the event but a donation on the day would be much appreciated to cover the cost of venue hire. Thank you. See you there.”