Unitary Democracy?

So after the announcement of cancelled elections earlier in March it now seems that there is no democratic component in the establishment of the West Northants and North Northants Unitary Council. Conservative government and Conservative Councils think it's OK for you not to have a voice.

Are you in or have children in Abbeyfield, Northampton Academy, Northampton International Academy, Northampton School for Girls, Duston School and Thomas Becket Catholic School

At the Northamptonshire County Council Cabinet meeting on 9^th April 2019 a decision is being taken to spend nearly £2 million on additional school places.

An additional 30 places will be in each of Abbeyfield, Lings Academy, Duston School and Thomas of Becket. There will be an additional 20 places in Northampton School for Girls and an additional 60 places will be hosted in Northampton International Academy.

The Council accepts that creating more school places in this way is not good value for money and will not create the best environment for all the places. Northampton International School will go from being a ten form entry (ten classes 28-30 of new students coming into the school every year) to an eyewatering 12 form entry school.

Of course, the need for additional places in Northampton has been predicted for over five years. It is generally accepted that the town requires an additional two secondary schools. However, because the decisions were not taken at the right time in the last few years, the Council is having to take this expensive and poor solution. This is all the more critical since the council has only just got it’s finances under control after effectively declaring itself bankrupt twice last year.

So who’s fault is it? What Education portfolio holder failed to ensure the very basic issue of enough school places in Northampton was addressed an action which is a statutory requirement for the Council?

Would it be a surprise to find out the Councillor who failed to act to ensure that there were enough places for every child to be educated in the town is the Councillor who is now leading the Council.

As Councillors are no longer allowed to speak in Cabinet meeting unless appointed by their group, I submitted a question about the failure to consult over the Equality Impact Assessment that is meant to inform the decision. You can find the question and response (which doesn’t seem to address the question) here.

It seems incredible that such a serious decision affecting so many schools all of which are independent of the council can be taken without any consultation on the impact of equality. Over the last few years there has been the promotion of the myth that the paucity of school places is as a result of immigration. This is a clear illustration that the paucity of school places is as a result of poor management of public services and poor policy making.

Openess and Transparency - Doing Democracy Well

It seems like Northamptonshire County Council has been facing stick forever. After the recent Judicial review victory by Library campaigners, it’s worth stating that the stick seems well justified. Most criticisms have focussed on the the deterioration in services but there have also been failures in the organisational culture, as anyone whose had any kind of engagement with the Council may have noticed. As an opposition councillor it is extremely hard to influence budget decisions and this is why my immediate focus will be on the organisational culture.

Here’s some statements made by others about this.

In the Local Government Authority (LGA) Peer Review;

“Decisions taken by the Cabinet need greater transparency. Council members and scrutiny chairs need access to more information. There was a desire expressed from some cabinet members for greater discussion and challenge across portfolios. However, where challenge has been provided, for example from the Audit Committee, that has not been welcomed.”

(Financial Peer Review - Northamptonshire County Council, Dates: 12th – 14th September 2017, Feedback Report)

Max Caller (the Government appointed Commissioner) in his report stated,

“the approach adopted made it very difficult for any backbench councillor to establish what was going on and the absence of effective controls made the job of budget management an exercise”. (2.12)

“Even if there was a concern about the publishing of confidential information, most authorities have protocols and practices which make it possible for key information to be shared and protect the authority. To refuse it outright is just wrong.” (3.82)

“challenge and criticism was to be discouraged as senior members and officers knew best.”

“The council did not respond well, or in many cases even react, to external and internal criticism. Individual councillors appear to have been denied answers to questions that were entirely legitimate to ask and scrutiny arrangements were constrained by what was felt the executive would allow. When external agencies reported adverse findings these were not reported with an analysis of the issues and either a justification or an action led response to a relevant decision taking body. At its most extreme, the two KPMG ISA 260 reports, stating an adverse opinion on Value For Money matters were just reported to the Audit Committee without comment and the unprecedented KPMG Advisory Notice issued under the 2014 Act was reported to full council without any officer covering report giving advice on what the response was recommended to be.”

Since my first Council meeting, on 1^st August, I’ve noticed a distinct shift in dealing with the public in County Council meetings. I’ve regularly attended Council meetings, as a member of the public, often registering to speak. Even when not registered to speak, as a member of the public I was able to sit in the public gallery and watch proceedings. But, since 1^st August, members of the public who haven’t registered to speak at least two days before the Council meeting, are ushered into a side room where they can only view one camera angle from the Council chamber and thus unable to see all the speakers. This additional resource comes without council papers (which were previously available) but with a security guard. 

The creation of this distance from the public shows the Council failing in it’s requirement for transparency at the very time that it is most needed. Without transparency, there is less likely to be confidence in the decisions taken by the administration. It also indicates the Council’s wish for distance between decision making and the community. The Chair of the Council has on at least two occasions stated that members of the public who heckle in public would not be given the right to speak at Council again.

At a time when communities, families and staff are promised swingeing cuts and massive job losses, the Council’s Chairman requires decorum to continue above all else. This approach denies the reality of the pain being felt in the County. It denies the passion that local people have about their public services and denies the life and death nature of some of the decisions being taken in the Council. Hearing the views of members of the public who often give a context to how decisions made or about to be made would impact on their communities, is an important element in local democracy. But we are now seeing an erosion to these rights. The three minute limit is often reduced to two, which makes it more difficult to make a point.

Prior to February of this year Council meetings were webcast, so anyone across the world could see what was happening and the decisions being taken. But the contract was allowed to run out and because most meetings happen during the day it’s now impossible for the majority of the public to view what goes on. More evidence that the Council wants decisions taken out of sight and out of mind of the public.

So, whilst the people of Northampton can still express their views directly to the Council it is no longer possible to sit in the public gallery unless you have registered to speak (remember to register two days in advance).  And for those who choose to speak they would like you be polite, stick to your two minutes and go away and don’t expect anyone not able to be present to hear what you have to say.  Yet another example of the dysfunctional organisational culture at the heart of this Conservative administration.

Race to the top - we're concerned - should you be?

It's over two weeks since I and the Chair of Weelingborough Black Consortium wrote to the Chief Executive of Northamptonshire County Council  about our concerns about the consultation on improving educational achievement, "Race to the Top". It's disappointing that there's been no response.

They appear to make statements comparing free school meal (FSM) with non-FSM kids (p. 3) and then leap to talking about specific groups within that – white ‘working class’ boys and looked after (p. 6).

There is no evidence that white FSM are the lowest achievers in the area. Nationally Gypsy/Roma are the lowest achievers, even if you only look at FSM kids. FSM is very misleading when described as ‘working class’. Most working class people do not qualify for free school meals.

Senior academics in this field, Professor David Gillborn, Dr Nicola Rollock, Dr Paul Warmington (University of
Birmingham) & Sean Demack (Sheffield Hallam University) present the following analysis:

"The best available data demonstrate clearly that working class pupils, in all ethnic groups, achieve less well on average than their middle class peers. However, the current debate is skewed by a focus on the smaller inequalities of achievement between working class children in different ethnic groups. The broad image of ‘White working class’ failure reported by many commentators is based on data that describe the low average
attainments of those in receipt of free school meals (FSM). This is a crude indicator of family poverty and does not capture the everyday meaning of ‘working class’: most people who think of themselves as ‘working class’ would not be placed within the FSM group in educational statistics."

The County Councils own Equality Duty Report for 2014 states: "Most ethnic groups results track just below national averages when compared to national results by ethnicity. Exceptions to this include ‘Pakistani’, ‘Indian’, ‘Other-Black’ and ‘Mixed: Black/ White African’ where results indicate these groups are achieving slightly above the national comparator" and graphs show that national trend that demonstrate lower acheivement for African caribbean, Somali, and Gypsy/Roma/Irish Traveller pupils, is clearly present in Northamptonshire.

When the County Council is publishing evidence which contradicts the proposals in the consultation document questions have to be asked as to why this approach has been taken. For freedom of information requests it is clear that no Equality Impact Assessment took place and this consultation was conspicuous by it's lack of engagement with Black communities in Northamptonshire where had these proposals had clear evidence this could be presented and the proposals justified.

If you feel strongly about this please sign the petition on the matter here

Bringing Human Rights home to Northampton

Today, Northamptonshire Rights and Equality Council were supporting partners to the British Institute of Human Rights countrywide tour with an event hosted in the Cheyne Walk Club in centre of Northampton.

An audience of over forty people gave up a whole day of their time to debate, discuss and engage with the concept of human rights in twenty first century britain and aboard. The Human Rights tour has been taking place since 2011 and for the first time it had arrived in Northamptonshire.

With a wide range of information about human rights including detailed description of the background to the establishment of the human rights and the framework of rights, the sessions covered case law, the balance of absolute and non absolute rights. There was a wealth of information delivered in an approach that could only be described as extremely user friendly.

It was really positive talking with others in the break at the event at a time where human rights has been hitting the headlines with both the media and the breadth of the political classes having their say.


The trouble is that we are all too comfortable to accept human rights as an idea that should be upheld in a far off foreign land. For right here and right now, human rights doesn't have a poster boy or poster girl that we can all relate to as it is about all humans many of which we will never really share a similar experience with. Much of the time arguments of social justice promote the concept of "that could be you ... so support their cause". All too often human rights battlefields require supporters to support causes that they will never experience, so the support has to be there with the argument that "this is the right thing to do"and the human rights cause, particular in these times desparately need you and many others to do the right thing.

What are they afraid of?

Its County Council Budget time. Although you may not know this as a couple of years back Northamptonshire County Council stopped running consultation meetings. Nowadays, the only published meetings are budget scrutiny meetings.  Here Councillors listen to any member of the public with any particular feedback on the budget and perhaps may question them. It's ironic that the only built in mechanism for engaging with councillors on something as significant as the budget is an area where Councillors hold you to account rather than you challenging them to justify their proposals.

If you take the time and trouble to attend the scrutiny meetings, your statements are listened to by the sagely, sedentary councillors present and after they've heard it, perhaps asked you questions. You are then asked to leave while they discuss behind closed doors without you. So is it worth turning up to these scrutiny meetings? Jane Carr, the recently appointed Chief Executive of Northampton Volunteering Centre attended the scrutiny meeting that considered amongst other things the proposals to reduce the small grants fund to voluntary and community groups. She suggested that instead of introducing the cut immediately, that the funding reductions should be phased in. A very moderate line that recognised the Council's difficult position but sensibly trying to mitigate the impact of the plan. Despite this, her evidence is not mentioned in the Budget Scrutiny report.

At this stage I'd like to post a link to the Cabinet papers which includes the Budget Scrutiny Report. However. It does seem that all the links to the relevant  Council  system are non-functioning so members of the public aren't able to see any reports. When trying to access the Cabinet papers on the Council website you can only get this:

Yesterday (Friday 7th February), I managed to see the papers after trying about three different routes to them. I called the County Council to let them know that there were problems with their system. They profusely apologised but now it seems that there is no access to the documents. Is this Northamptonshire County Council progress?

So regrettably, I cant show you, that in the budget scrutiny report  did the County Council not even acknowledge the representations made by Jane Carr. What was also more surprising about the report was the consideration that they have made about cutting the ACES service again. I say again as this is the third year running that the service has faced a cut. It's also surprising because the proposed cuts to the service didn't feature on any of the equality impact assessments despite the service being primarily serving  Northampton's African Caribbean community.

The budget has 22 Equality Impact Assessments. Here are some highlights:

Voluntary and community Sector Infrastructure Support Equality Impact Assessment has no functioning links on data sources (pity since the rest of the document is relatively well written).

Fire and Rescue Service Equality Impact Assessment was particularly poor given that there was no data analysis. It's  abysmal as the policy change majorly affects both services and staffing quite radically. It's also poor because although no human resource data is presented, it's fairly clear from previous documents produced by the Police Force and the County Council, that this data is available.

There are four decisions being taken with no Equality Impact Assessment as they are just technical adjustments even though there have been other policy areas that are stated as technical adjustments where equality impact assessments have been carried out.

A proposal termed "Employment models" has no Equality Impact Assessment as it states they are "Unable to undertake the EqIA at present" and that it will be undertaken in April 2014. Funny that. It seems that they are going to undertake the Equality Impact Assessment after the policy has been decided on. You have to ask yourself then how they are demonstrating due regard to equality as they are legally obliged to?

A Children's Services Investment change and a Children Services Improvement  change are also not Equality Impact Assessed. This in concerning purely because of the poor manner in which the County Councils children's services have operated over the last few years. I have written about this in the past.

Contact me to find out more about my views on the budget Equality impact assessments.

At the first scrutiny meeting of this budget that I attended, the committee were advised that some of the Equality Impact Assessments were work in progress and would be published in due course. It now seems that what that really means is that it will be published on the morning of the cabinet meeting (that is if they decide to get their web pages for this working). It just leads you to question, how Cabinet members can feel that they have really paid due regard to equality with just a few hours to look at these. Have they had enough time to ask officers any questions about them? Additionally can this really be seen as an open and transparent process when publication is at such an eleventh hour. Equality Impact Assessments are not only meant to be published, but also meant to be consulted on. Is a few hours consultation enough?

I keep asking myself, what have they got to be afraid of?  The bar to make your voice heard in the budget is exceptionally high. First, as previously mentioned , no consultation meetings. Second, the scrutiny meetings that are held are very early in the process (straight after Christmas) and all held on weekday daytimes and if you can attend they don't really seem to consider what you say. There was a link on the budget consultation pages which encouraged the setting up of a petition. When I tried to do this on the 22nd of January, it took till the 30th of January for the County Council to approve the petition (yes they have to approve the petition!) even when their website said that it would take three days. Since I wanted the petition to go to the cabinet meeting, this allowed just three days to collect signatures. We collected 136 signatures. At 4.03pm on Friday (7th February four days after the petition had been submitted), I was told that the response to this petition would be published on the morning of the 12th after the Cabinet on the 11th. So the notification of the timeline on the response to the petition was given four hours after the deadline to register to speak at cabinet which the petition  sought to influence. Something that you might decide to do after sight of cabinet papers that are invisible on the County Council Website.

Really what are they afraid of?

Members of the community, concerned about the Northamptonshire County Council budget are holding demonstration outside County Hall on the day of the full council when then Budget is voted on, Thursday 20th February morning. Please come to this event if you share our concerns. All welcome.

We will be collecting petition signatures for this campaign at weekly street stalls in Northampton town centre by the Cobblers Last on Saturdays at 11am to 12 noon on saturday 15th Feb.

We are also have placard making sessions Tuesday 11th and Tuesday & 18th February at the Dostiyo centre at 53 Dunster Street, Northampton NN1 3JY between 6.45 and 7.45pm

You can also continue to sign the petition here.

Spiking Section 3 of the Equality Act

The Government has had its eyes on the Equality Act for quite some time. Last year, I attended a consultation at the Government Equalities Office in Victoria about the future of discrimination advice. By the time I had left the building the Governments Red Tape Challenge had been launched with a plan to scrap the general duty. For the longest while they seemed to talk about launching a consultation without actually launching one when they did actually launch it is came with a raft of other proposals relating to the Equality Act. 

The consultation responses to keep the General Duty outnumbered those to scrap it by six to one.  However still like a thief in the night the proposal is not only here, but voted through parliament on a vote of 310 – 244 in that 66 vote difference 41 Liberal Democrat MP’s voted. In the 2010 election, the Guardian was urging many to vote Lib Dem to keep a Tory Government out to protect a core set of values about civil liberties. Here those same Lib Dems were vote en mass to remove the General Duty. Jo Swinson argued that it was unimportant. The governments briefing on the reasoning to remove it was it argued creating unrealistic expectations.

A significant proportion of Lib Dems at their own conference expressed concern over the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill and there seemed to be some concerted lobbying to try and get Lib Dem MP’s to at least abstain. It therefore comes as a surprise that the Conservative Peter Bottomley felt able to rebel on this issue whilst only David Ward was the only Lib Dem to do so. If you are still unconvinced about the need to oppose the changes watch the video. If you want to do something about it write to your MP using this site here. If Peter Bottomley can be on the forces protecting Equality perhaps there's still hope.

As local elections draw closer, the Lib Dems are trailing behind UKIP on many polls. In the Borough elections two years ago, they suffered heavy losses in Northampton. Some of the greatest of those were in student areas such as Trinity and St. Georges. With overwhelming more Conservative County Councils being defended in this election, and UKIP polling to get up to 20% of the Conservative vote, the May elections are expected to bring significant change.  It need not have been so for the Lib Dems. They sold their souls for a Proportional Representation referendum and still feel the need to pay for it.            

Patriotism

Growing up I can remember that this was important to me. My ideas were really influenced by living in India in the nineties. Here our ears are often attacked by statements such as “this country is going to the dogs” and reminiscence of a bygone age when summers we long and people kept their front doors unlocked. Outside of the UK it does seem that patriotism is much more in vogue than over here. In India and indeed on mainland Europe it seems that it’s far easier to love your country. I think part of the reason for this is that is seems owned by the political right and far right that makes those of us with a social conscience uncomfortable with sharing this space. However I really think that the time has come to take back this ground from the right.
Last year, my presence at a remembrance day parade in Wellingborough was commented on in a fascist blog locally. The writer intonated that I must have felt ill and sickened by participating in the very moving ceremony. They also I think you must be inhumane to not feel for the men and women who are the operational arm of British foreign policy whether you agree with the policy or not. Those that are killed and injured maimed and slaughtered in the service of their country deserve our respect and support. If it is Britishness that they are fighting for, I believe that the Britishness that we should be promoting is one of respect of humanity and respect for fairness.

The Community Prosecutor

The real heroine of today for me was Grace Ononiwu of the Crown Prosecution Service (however she always is ... just love her smart dressed lady look ... just wish that I was able to pull it off). Having been invited to the Northamptonshire CPS staff development day, it was a real eye opener to see the drive to embrace the role of community prosecutor. Despite my dislike of much that has come out of Louise Casey, this is a real revolutionary step forward in transforming the organisation responsible for ensuring that justice is delivered for victims into something that is a public service in the real sense of the word (focussed on communities, delivering to communities and being held to account by communities).

Over the last few months there has been a growth in hate incidents without identified victims. These include aggressive racially and religiously motivated graffiti in public places. All the evidence shows that the increase in this kind of offence increases offences of violence against people and property in addition to having a significant impact on relationships within communities.

The concept of the community prosecutor, encourages the gathering of a different kind of evidence ... evidence that relates to impact on the community. To date impact evidence has generally focused on impact on individuals and sometimes even that is not consistently presented. The concept of the community prosecutor will also provide opportunities for other criminal justice agencies to raise their game by putting the focus on the community. Can't be a bad thing.

Councillors ambition to be lady bountiful

The current to and fro about local councillors pay increases seems to be a story that will run the distance. What is really shocking is the lack of political foresight by so many of the players.

Clearly, offering the people who are employed by the council a 2% pay increase, and offering Borough councillors substanstially more, is a circle that can never be squared. Labour Councillor, Cllr. Joy Capstick was the first Councillor to suggest the only plausible alternative which was to spend it in her own ward.

Strangely, two of the political groups on the Borough (Lib dems and Conservatives) then suggested that they would set up trust funds to distribute the resource. Quite rightly both have been admonished by the effective and efficient Northamptonshire Community Foundation Chief Executive, Victoria Miles here. Given the very work of the Community Foundation which has made real and genuine differences to Northamptonshire communities, particularly in the way that they use funding they receive for leverage (making your pound, two pounds or even three) it's crazy to think about setting something up, unless it was simply to get political leverage. Not what Northampton communities need, not what Northampton communities want.

Some of the good things in life are still important

While phone canvassing last night and talking to people about the County Council proposals for residents and on the street parking, the strength of feeling coming through really hit me. Some of the people I talked to did not have a car and always used public transport, however they still felt really strongly about what was happening to our town.

With yesterdays headline about some USA citizens trying to sell their votes on ebay, it would be easy to assume that people weren't interested in how things could improve. However, talking to people about the Conservative County Councils consideration of effectively allowing restrictions on visitors permits (no pay, no visit if it's more than 50 per year - not even one a week) the people I spoke to automatically thought about the impact the policy change would have on the most vulnerable in the community. Those needing district nurse or other health professionals attention.

However the Council is legally required to do an equalities impact assessment on the change in policy, and surely would have considered this in advance of publishing the policy change. For the people I spoke to last night the key issue was about fairness. Not about being politically correct. Just about being fair.

I can't speak for the rest of the world but I live in a place where the value of fairness still means something.