Academies in North Somerset

Wyvern Community School is due to become the Hans Price Academy on 1st May, under the old Academy Rules. But now there seems to be a rush of schools wanting to convert to Academies by 1st September. These so far include: Backwell, Priory, Churchill and Gordano.

If a community school decides to become an academy it means big changes – with no way back and huge implications for school staff:

• Academies though state funded are in the independent sector – the tax payer pays but academies are unaccountable to the local community.
• Academies are divorced from the local authority – they undermine an integrated approach to schooling
• Academies can determine pay and conditions – they can change, for example, your pay, holiday and the length of the school day
• Academies can set their own curriculum – this could mean that they reflect commercial interests
• Academy sponsors can be governors – there could be a conflict of interest, especially if the sponsor comes from a private company

Find out more at www.unison.org.uk/education/defendyourschool/index.asp

Branch Secretary's speech to the Executive of North Somerset Council

Below is the text of my speech today to the Executive of North Somerset Council who went on to recommend their budget to the Full Council meeting on 22nd February.

You may be surprised to hear that we are very sympathetic towards councillors as they make the difficult decisions over cuts to this year’s budget. BUT we also think that there are choices to be made and ways, which you can mitigate the impact of the cuts if you choose to do so. It is also our view that choices you have made previously have made your position even more difficult. I am particularly referring to your decision to keep council tax increases under the rate of inflation for the last 3 years, and your strategy of privatisation, which has effectively put large parts of your budget outside your control, and has resulted in greater cuts to frontline services. It is also the case that the majority party in this administration are also the majority party in the Coalition government – your party campaigned nationally on massive public spending cuts, and now you need to tell your leaders how the cuts are impacting on the people of North Somerset and get them to change their minds.

It was very disappointing that despite my letter to all councillors regarding the council’s legal duty to complete equality impact assessments, written at a time when I knew you would be scrutinising the budget proposals, did not result in equality impact assessments being part of the scrutiny process, as they should be. A progress report on equalities is attached as an appendix to the document you are considering today. We have been provided with initial equalities screenings for a handful of the proposals but in our view they are lacking in any equalities data and evidence of consultation.  I also understand from the council’s Equality Officer that the assessments for all the budget proposals will not be ready until 15^th February. Councillors should be aware that it is a legal requirement for every service in the council to have an equality impact assessment and to make adjustments to that assessment as changes to services are proposed – the Council’s own Equality scheme also makes this clear. In addition Section 4.3 of the Council’s Equality scheme states that “All new and proposed strategies, services and policies from across the Council are required to undergo an equality impact assessment before they are presented to the Executive, as stipulated in our policy development framework.” This supports our view that it is not possible, or even legal, for the Executive to approve this budget today, as equality impact assessments are not available for all of the proposals.

The council publishes each directorate’s equality action plans on the website. I want to briefly mention a few of them now. The Development & Environment equality action plan 2010 identified an equalities issue in the number of books and other materials available for Black and Minority Ethnic groups and as a result planned to invest more money – but library material funding is being cut by £30,000 in the 2011 budget proposals, and library staff numbers are also being reduced – what will be the equalities impact?

The Adult Social Services & Housing equality action plan 2010 identified equalities issues in the lack of availability of support services for older and disabled people in rural areas as well as lack of domiciliary care in rural areas – how will this be affected by the reduction to Home Care and Supporting People funding?

In addition to equalities issues, we are still concerned that money, which could be in the revenue budget is being diverted to capital or put in reserves. We were pleased that our suggestion to review earmarked reserves has resulted in almost £1 million being released for revenue, but at the same time saddened because most of it will be used for over £600,000 of unbudgeted severance costs. We are very disappointed that you continue to refuse to use your non-earmarked reserves, even to mitigate the impact of cuts to services to children and young people, people with physical and learning disabilities and older people.

We are also disappointed that although the council has under-spent on staff salaries in 2010 to the tune of almost £790,000, it still wants to cut the unsocial hours payments it makes to some of its lowest paid workers, such as Home Care Assistants – and this is on top of the 3 year pay freeze. Not only are there equalities issues in the proposals to cut our terms and conditions, but in our view it will impact on service delivery and will cost the council more in the long run as individual employees take out legal cases against the council.

If the Executive approves the budget proposals today without having seen the equality impact assessments for all of the proposals, not only will they be acting in contravention of their legally required equality duties but they will also be acting in contravention of their own Equality Scheme. In addition the report contains some cuts the details of which are yet to be announced and which also have not been assessed for equalities impacts – these cannot possibly be approved. That is why again we ask you to delay setting your budget until you have all the relevant information, otherwise you may leave yourselves open to legal challenge, which ultimately will be more costly both in terms of money and your reputation.

North Somerset Council Executive to approve £17.5 million of cuts

At 2 pm on 1st February North Somerset Council's Executive will meet to approve £17.5 million of cuts for 2011/12. The cuts involve the loss of at least 135 jobs and include cuts to services for some of the most vulnerable people in North Somerset, including children and young people, people with physical and learning disabilities, older people, people with mental health issues, refugees, people fleeing domestic abuse and homeless people.

Despite numerous requests from North Somerset UNISON the council have failed to complete equality impact assessments on their budget proposals before the Executive meet tomorrow - these won't be ready until the council votes on the budget on 22nd February. In our view this is too late.

North Somerset UNISON's Branch Secretary will be speaking at the Executive meeting tomorrow - the full version of the speech will be posted on this blog tomorrow evening.

Branch Secretary's speech to North Somerset Council's Health Overview and Scrutiny Panel against Proposal for NHS North Somerset Community Services to become a Social Enterprise

Below is my speech to North Somerset Council regarding a report on NHS North Somerset Community Services becoming a Social Enterprise. Councillors were asked to consider whether it constitutes a substantial change to healthcare provision. Councillors requested more information on monitoring and as a result the minutes should read along the lines of that as the report stood at the moment it did not constitute a substantial change. Anyway here's my speech:

Thanks for letting me speak. You might be surprised that I asked to address you today, but North Somerset UNISON not only represents council workers but also has members in the PCT and Weston Area Health Trust.

The government is pushing the health service toward a market-style system where a range of health providers will compete with each other for business. UNISON has serious concerns that the increase in social enterprises will lead to increased fragmentation of the NHS and to a situation where smaller organisations are taken over by profit-driven private companies, leading to a poorer service for patients.

Department of Health guidance states that:

“In developing the vision, values and mission for a social enterprise, it is important to involve staff, service users and other stakeholders. This should also involve the unions that represent staff and the Local Involvement Networks. Their buy in to this process and support will be key to success. Proposals for Social Enterprises will therefore need to test the extent to which staff involved in the social enterprise are supportive of the proposals going forward.”

It is interesting that the document you will be considering talks about a “staff led” social enterprise. It is my understanding that this is management led, and that staff themselves would prefer to remain working for the NHS. Although management were initially resistant to UNISON requests for all staff to be balloted on creating a Social Enterprise, a survey has now or is about to be sent out and it will be interesting to see the results.

You are being asked to consider whether the proposal constitutes a substantial variation or development, that is - does it constitute a proposed major change in healthcare provision? We think the question should actually be does this constitute an improvement in healthcare provision for North Somerset? Particularly given the fact that North Somerset has the widest social inequalities gap in the South West, and the 10^th widest in England – gaps in health inequalities and life expectancy being linked to this.

We would argue that the neutral impacts listed for patients, carers, health inequalities and the local health community are not a good enough reason for it to become a Social Enterprise. In fact, in our view, in order for there to be good case for the move to Social Enterprise there should be a clear demonstration of the improvements that will be achieved.

The report argues there will be no services changes as a result of the move to Social Enterprise, but provides you with no evidence for this. The report goes on to set out the benefits of moving to a Social Enterprise – we would question whether (with one exception) these benefits are any different from the current service or from Community Services staying within the NHS.

The one benefit that seems to be different is the ability to bid for external funding to enable them to develop in other areas such as Home Care, services historically provided by Social Care, services currently provided by the Acute Trust, Out of hours services, and Services in other Geographical areas. But will a local social enterprise be strong enough to compete with other private sector organisations bidding for these contracts?

It is being argued in the report that the creation of a Social Enterprise does not constitute a major change, but in our opinion it begins the dismantling of the National Health Service, opening the health service up to the market, where after the initial 4 year contract award to the Social Enterprise, massive global healthcare providers will be bidding for contracts in North Somerset – a local Social Enterprise simply won’t be able to compete with them.

There remain unanswered questions about what happens when a social enterprise fails financially in mid-contract or fails to have its contract renewed. In terms of the bigger picture, there is no guaranteed sustainability for new types of organisations, particularly during the recession. Indeed, a 2008 report by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor found that social enterprise companies are twice as likely to fail as conventional ones. This then also raises the lurking threat of takeover by other companies with no social ethos. I am therefore urging you to consider this proposal over the long term.

We also question the rationale for creating a Social Enterprise. It is unclear to us why the preferred option to merge with Weston Area Health Trust cannot be completed before 1^st April, and yet what is being described as a shadow organisation will be created on 1^st April, because there won’t be time for a Social Enterprise to be created by then either.

Finally, Councillors should ask to see the Integrated Business Plan, along with the risks and how these will be managed. Councillors should also ask if an equality impact assessment been completed on these proposals and if so what was the result. If not, when will this be completed? As councillors are aware from my correspondence with them, as a local authority they have a legal duty to consider the impact on the 6 different equalities groups.

Thank you

Protest at Budget Cuts - Weston Mercury article

Video of Protest at Budget Cuts Meeting

Crowds of protestors gather at council meeting

 


PROTESTORS clutching placards heckled North Somerset Councillors as they arrived at Weston Town Hall on Tuesday night.

Members of the Weston and North Somerset Anti-cuts Alliance attended the full council meeting, which had budget items listed on the agenda, and gathered around the entrance giving out leaflets of support while chanting.

The demonstration was in reaction to the news that North Somerset Council must make more than £45million worth of cuts over four years, with 17.4million of these reductions earmarked for this financial year.

Before the protest the ‘fuming’ and ‘worried’ residents gathered in Weston to discuss concerns and possible strike action in relation to the current public spending cuts.

Last week more than 50 people from the town and villages such as Congresbury, Wrington and Banwell attended the meeting organised by the alliance at the Salvation Army Hall.

Teachers, nurses, social workers, small business owners and parents all spoke vehemently about their concerns over the impending cuts that will see a lower level of services across the region.
Despite formerly being against strike action, many speakers said they could now be swayed if it would help raise awareness about fighting the cash-cuts.

Theatre nurse, Judy Massa, said: “It’s the vulnerable people that are most at risk here. “My big concern is patient care and patient dignity. As a theatre nurse I would never leave a patient on the table as that would not be ethical, but if strike action is what we need to make a stand then we should look at this.”

Speaking on behalf of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Anne Lemon, criticised the idea of North Somerset schools, such as Wyvern Community School, changing into academies and said it was a ‘myth’ that this would benefit students.

Worle Community School teacher, Nancy Powell-Brace, said: “They are coming for your children and in education we are becoming barren and going back 20 years. We are going back to the dark ages.
“I never ever thought I would live to hear the day when I would take action but if it is going to make a difference then I would chain myself to railings.”

Yatton parent, Lesley Byron, said she would start a campaign to prevent her child’s school in Backwell from changing into an academy. The Rectory Way resident said: “I am absolutely fuming about it and astounded that this could happen.”

Weston library worker, John McLorinan, said it was a stressful time for staff due to job uncertainty and said money is driving policy as opposed to people. He said morale was low and ‘worried’ staff believe they will be replaced by self-service machines or will have to take a downgrading.

NUT member, Andy Prior, said that attendees had more than doubled since the first meeting and as confidence was growing a 24-hour public sector strike and a general strike could be the way forward.

The next alliance meeting will take place in Weston at the Blakehay Theatre in Wadham Street at 7.30pm on February 17.

Blog on UK wide Library Cuts

Follow this blog on cuts to library services throughout the UK

http://publiclibrariesnews.blogspot.com/

Protest at Budget Cuts - Evening Post article

Unions demonstrate outside Weston Town Hall at the start of yesterday's meeting. Protesters waving placards gathered outside the Town Hall in Weston-super-Mare to lobby against North Somerset Council’s budget cuts, which they say will impact on some of society’s most vulnerable people.

Dozens of people turned up at a council meeting on Tuesday evening to have their say on the authority’s draft budget.

The council faces making savings of £42.4 million over the next four years – with up to £15.8 million of cuts proposed in the first year.

The cutbacks follow a reduction in the funding the authority receives from central Government because of the austerity cuts.

So far millions of pounds worth of savings have already been identified, and although the council says it does not have to a choice but to make savings, protesters said they disagreed with the cuts.

National Union of Teachers representative Ann Lemon said: “Cuts to Children and Young People’s Services will have a huge effect on education, but one of the biggest hits will be to early years, which affects some of the most vulnerable children. “There will be no more School Improvement Teams, who go into schools and provide huge support in a number of roles, including supporting new teachers, new initiatives and who are experts in the community. “We are also very concerned that if these cuts continue, that more schools will be become academies.”

Eve Wilson has worked in social care and child care for the past 20 years. She said: “I am concerned about how services to the local community through social services will suffer, and the care impact on the elderly and disabled. “The cuts will prove costly to service users, and give them less choice. “It will impact on the community as a whole.”

Helen Thornton is the spokesperson for Weston and North Somerset Trades Union Council, which was lobbying outside the Town Hall.

Ms Thornton said: “We believe the council has a legal duty to ensure it has assessed the impact of its budget proposals on particular groups of people, including people of different ethnic origins. If a detrimental impact on a particular group is identified then revisions can be made in order to remove, lessen or mitigate that impact.

“We have seen little evidence that the council has undertaken equality impact assessments for its budget proposals, and we have also seen little evidence that it has consulted with service users. There are a number of proposals in the budget document which should be of particular concern to councillors, and the people of North Somerset, as they will impact on the most vulnerable groups in our society.

“These include many of the proposals for reducing services to children and young people, to people with physical and learning disabilities, to older people, and reductions to library services.”

The union is holding another meeting on February 17 at 7.30pm at the Blakehay Theatre in Weston- super-Mare ahead of the council’s budget setting on February 22, when members will also be lobbying.

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Protest-North-Somerset-Budget-cuts/article-3118302-detail/article.html