local authority part 5-Well being

Local Government provides a variety of services many of which contribute to the health and well being of people living in an area. The first service people think about is community care and if local authorities are unable to provide timely social care packages for those leaving hospital then bed blocking will occur. Also if Local Authorities do not intervene with home care provision soon enough then that will inevitably increase the risk of hospitalisation. As budgets become stretched then slowing down assessment and the production of a care package for hospital discharge could be the only way of staying within budget.

In order for some people to be discharged from hospital then adaptations to their homes are needed and the disability facilities grant (DFG) is managed and funded by local authorities and if there is insufficient funding available for the work to be done then the patient often cannot be released from hospital despite having no medical need to stay there.

Environmental health workers check food safety in premises where food is prepared but if there are less of them then obviously visits will take place less often and the chance of food poisoning such as salmonella will increase.

Of course all the above are statutory services but if they are fully protected then the discretionary services would be hit disproportionately hard and this could lead to substantial reductions in their budgets.

Councils can reduce expenditure on road maintenance and street lighting but doing so increases the chance of accidents occurring and will add to the pressure on accident and emergency departments.

In a country where lack of exercise and the associated lack of fitness and with growing obesity the last thing that the health of the nation needs is the closure of leisure facilities or a huge increase in their cost. Local authority run leisure centres and swimming pools provide an opportunity for people to engage in exercise for a reasonable cost. It will not improve health and fitness if they are either closed or prices are increased to such an extent that they exclude a large proportion of the public.

The Welsh Government funding for free swimming in Wales for children and young people aged 16 and under during all school holidays and at the weekends and for people aged 60 and over outside school holidays has been very well received and is an excellent means of increasing fitness but it will not work if swimming pools have to be closed in order to balance budgets.

There are of course efficiency savings and invest to save opportunities such as more 3g and 4g pitches to allow greater use of sports pitches. Local Authorities should be looking to use either the Welsh Government’s invest to save or their own reserves in order to reduce on going expenditure by investing to save. There are also efficiencies to be gained in local authority collaboration especially in back office functions such as payroll. Also whilst in many areas of local government collaboration is a good thing in terms of improved services it may not provide savings. I remain unconvinced that if budgets are cut substantially then discretionary leisure expenditure will not face a major cut-back.

Health is not only about treating the ill and injured but about prevention and Local Government provide a large number of preventative services. Large cuts in local government expenditure and a reduced provision of services could damage the overall health of the nation. We must remember that to keep Wales healthy Local Government has a major role to play.

Does size matter in Education

Below is a copy of a written answer to a question I asked regarding Council size and school performance as shown by school banding. Actually there is a small negative correlation against size if you do the analysis.

WRITTEN ASSEMBLY QUESTION

FOR ANSWER BY THE MINISTER FOR

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

ON 11 OCTOBER 2013

　

Mike Hedges (Swansea East):

What correlation is there between council size and the average secondary school band in the council area? (WAQ65616)

Huw Lewis:

　

There is no clear relationship between council size and secondary school bands for schools within the local authority area.

The secondary school banding data for 2012 shows that some smaller local authorities such as Denbighshire perform well (all eight schools are in Bands 1 to 3), while others such as Merthyr Tydfil don’t perform so well (all four schools are in Bands 3 to 5).

The same is true of larger local authorities. Swansea has eleven of its fourteen secondary schools in Bands 1 to 2, while Rhondda Cynon Taf has seventeen of its nineteen secondary schools in Bands 3 to 5.

Local Authority part 4- No to elected Mayors

When David Cameron suggesting at the last General Election that he

wants "every city to have its own Boris Johnson", was he really speaking for the vast majority of people? With most of the major cities throughout the world having directly elected Mayors in charge, you’d surely think it obvious that each major British city should follow suit and have its own Mayor in charge; but recent events and attitudes seem to tell a different story.

Currently, a number of English local authorities (sixteen in all including London) have had directly elected Mayors including, the local football club mascot, H'Angus the Monkey, in Hartlepool and Ray "Robocop" Mallon in Middlesbrough.

In May of this year, 10 English local authorities had referendums imposed on them by the UK Government to decide on creating the position of elected Mayor. Out of the 10, only one authority, Bristol, voted in favour of implementing the position and there was a very low voter turnout in all of the 10 authorities which further indicated a lack of enthusiasm from the electorate towards changing the current system. Hartlepools has now decided to scrap the elected mayor after a 10 year experiment and the mayor has been replaced with a traditional council system the result means Stuart Drummond, "H’Angus" who shot to fame in 2002 after surprisingly winning the position as an independent will be replaced.

In terms of a Welsh perspective, the only Welsh local authority to have a referendum for a directly elected Mayor was Ceredigion in May 2004, when the people of Ceredigion overwhelmingly rejected the proposal by almost three to one.

So despite the clear lack of enthusiasm from the majority of the electorate to see these directly elected Mayors rolled out nation-wide, what other reasons are there to be cautious of changing the status quo?

One of my main concerns about the Mayoral system relates to concentrating too much power in the hands of one individual, which effectively gives that individual ultimate say over the decision making process. This is also counter to the Welsh tradition of creating committees to decide issues and a strong aversion to giving power to one individual.

Isn’t giving one person total control over these key services for four years running a huge risk?

Surely concentrating power in one person is not as effective or democratic in comparison to a governance structure where power is more widely distributed? What’s to stop an individual from making populist, but problematic and undeliverable promises?

The fact is that under the current legislation, the only way a Mayor can be removed during his or her four year term in office is by being found guilty of behaving in a corrupt manner, sectioned under the mental health Act, or by committing a criminal offence. Apart from that, the people of an area are stuck with them for a four years term.

London is different in that there are thirty two London Boroughs carrying out most of the functions of Welsh Councils. The Mayor has responsibility for only four services namely fire, police, transport London and the London development agency plus setting the London Spatial plan.

Local Authorities in Wales have responsibility for Education, Social Services, Highways, Transportation, Housing, economic development and tourism, leisure, culture, trading standards, planning, licensing and environmental health. As can be seen Local authorities are major service providers in their areas and they provide many of the key services within their area.

　

When compared to the current "Leader and Cabinet" system, which is used by the majority of local authorities in Wales, it’s clear that the status quo is more fair and democratic. For instance, the Council Leader is considered as "first among equals" with their Cabinet colleagues, who are also democratically elected Councillors.

As I can testify from my own experiences as a former Council Leader, most Cabinet meetings lead to vigorous debates where a collective decision is taken by all members of the Cabinet, and not just the Leader. Distributing power among Cabinet colleagues ensures pluralistic decision making, vested interests are also kept in check and good arguments have to be made if one view is to prevail over another. On the whole, this makes the system a more rigorous and democratic decision making process.

Plus, a Council Leader doesn’t get the legal right to continuously hold the main position throughout the tenure of an administration. They can be voted out of the position by both their Party colleagues or by the full council under a vote of no confidence, which of course requires a majority of votes in full council. However, under the Mayoral system, legislation states that only a two thirds majority vote in full council can overturn a Mayoral decision, which I believe undermines the simple "majority rule" principle along with the function of all Councilors.

I also believe that this opens the system up to accusations of a "democratic deficit", as directly elected Mayors will be more likely to be influenced by unelected and unaccountable advisors and lobbyists , which further undermines the role and position of elected Councillors.

My other criticism of the Mayoral system is that it ignores the present strengths of the current "Leader and Cabinet" system, and promotes the culture of "personalities over policies" as we have seen in Mayoral elections in England.

For instance, under the present system a Councillor interested in one day becoming Council Leader will do their "apprenticeship" as a Ward councillor; will get to know their local authority’s services and officers; will advance through their Party group through the confidence of their colleagues, and is then chosen to lead their group, confident in the fact that they have a mandate from their Party colleagues who day in, day out, are responsible for helping to deliver the services on which people rely.

Whilst an elected Mayor can hire and fire Cabinet members at will, a Council Leader has to keep the confidence of his Cabinet colleagues if he or she is to continue as Leader.

My experience is typical; when I was elected to Swansea Council back in 1989, I became Vice-chair of the Finance Committee, then onto Chair of both the Finance and Highways Maintenance Committees and then eventually, with the support and confidence of my Labour council colleagues, Leader of the Council in 1997. Within my eight years as a local Councillor, I managed to gain first-hand experience of all the major Councils services and functions, which I believed benefitted me hugely in my role as Leader.

As any individual is able to stand for the position of Mayor, I have serious concerns over a person with no local government knowledge or experience occupying a four year position with direct control over vital services that affect thousands of people each and every day. Whilst some believe there is an advantage of electing a local "businessman" as Mayor but the size and level of complexity of a council is greater than all local businesses.

One of the strongest arguments put forward in favour of elected Mayors is that they can be come focal points for their community as they become well known. I believe Leaders can be as well known as elected Mayors within their communities. Was Ken Livingstone better known when he was Mayor of London than he was as Leader of the GLC? , is the current Mayor of Liverpool better known than Derek Hatton? Is there a municipal mayor today better known than David Blunkett when he was leader of Sheffield?

It seems to me that, especially in recently years, the British political system has become more obsessed with the world of American politics, where the likes of directly elected Mayors are the norm and personality over policies takes focus in elections. Just because something works well in one county doesn’t mean that it would work well here in Wales, and from my experience, the politics of governments and local authorities is far too complex for us to put our entire faith in just one individual.

At a time when people throughout Wales are concerned about the quality, reliability and sustainability of local services delivered by local councils, I seriously doubt that local authority governance change is high on their list of priorities.

There are many problems and challenges facing local government and the creation of elected Mayors will not solve any of them and it seems to me that directly elected Mayors are nothing more than expensive "white elephants" that achieve little more than can already be achieved by the current structure, which is why I oppose them.

Local Authorities Part 3- Education

There are those who believe there is no role for Local education Authorities (LEAs) all that is needed is to directly pass all the money to the schools and then let the head-teacher and governing bodies allocate the budget.

 

I believe there are several roles that an LEA is needed for and without it the cost to the education would be higher.

 

The first is the organisation and funding of school transport which I believe is best dealt with centrally. This is not only for rural areas but it also is needed for both Welsh medium and denominational education as well ass those children with special educational needs.

Who is to decide which schools should be either rebuilt, remodelled or have extensions? How is the cost to be allocated if there is not a LEA to make these decisions on what should be the priorities.

 

Surely services such as ethnic minority language service, travellers service, Welsh language service, psychological service including SEN statementing and support and education other than at school are better dealt with by a LEA rather than being undertaken y individual schools.

We know that some schools are not performing as well as others so there is a need for support and intervention by local authorities. I am critical of the failure of LEAs to intervene when schools are underperforming but without an LEA who would be able to support teachers and help achieve the improvement that all our children deserve.

How would pupil referral units work without the LEA organising and running them or would they just disappear?

 

There are strong and compelling reasons to keep LEAs but I believe that is need for both greater collaboration and more importantly earlier intervention when schools are continually under performing and letting down their pupils.

 

We need LEAs driving up standards, ensuring that buildings are fit for purpose and most importantly that every child has the best possible chance to fulfil their potential during their time in education.

 

Most importantly on Education I think the improvement role of LEAs is the vital one.　 LEAs must use their intervention powers when schools are underperforming prior to ESTYN inspecting.

Welsh Government Budget 2014 - 2015: A budget of priorities

Set in the context of unprecedented cut to the Welsh block grant by the Tories and Lib Dems in Westminster, setting a Welsh budget was never going to be an easy task for Jane Hutt. The sad reality is that by 2015-16, Wales’ budget will be nearly £1.7billion lower in real terms than it was in 2010-11. 

After a first appraisal, there appears to be two major "winners", two major "losers", and everyone else taking their share of the pain.

Health has seen a substantial increase in expenditure, but the big question is will this stop the health boards from overspending?

The other big winner is schools and social justice, with an increase in the Pupil Deprivation Grant (PDG) and further support for (what I consider one of the great successes of the Welsh Government) the Flying Start initiative to help tackle inequalities and strengthen educational attainment.

Turning to the losers, and what they can do to ameliorate the situation.

Firstly further education; what I consider to be one of the great ironies is that colleges used to have a higher proportion of their budget from European social fund grants when all of Wales was under the “Objective 2” status in comparisons to the situation today, where funding is obtained for West Wales and the Valleys under the “Objective 1” status.

As a former FE lecturer myself, I would urge FE colleges to use any additional ESF money to meet the skills and training demands of  students living in the surrounding areas.

Then we have the next loser; local government. So what can local government Leaders do to make their budgets balance and what kind of options will they be considering?

·        To generate more income, the obvious option is to increase Council Tax and charges;

·        In terms of efficiencies, there could be a greater focus on maximising ICT services (including email and websites), along with neighbouring local authorities sharing back office admin functions and costs;

·        A rationalisation programme for public buildings? After all, if the authority isn’t using a building, there’s surely an argument for selling it off. Councils might also want to look at whether current public buildings are being used to their maximum potential and whether some could be used for multi-use purposes with other departments or third sector partners;      

·        Reduce debt using capital receipts to repay loans?

·       The big questions will be how to allocate their reduced budgets; do councils share out the reduction evenly between departments or do they vary the cuts and protect budgets, which means larger cuts in some areas?

·       Follow the example of English local authorities? In England, the mains causalities in balancing the books have been cuts or closures to libraries and leisure facilities;

·       Finally, will councils want to re-evaluate the number of functions and departments they presently have? Is there a need to duplicate some Welsh Government functions, such as tourism and economic development?

On a personal note, I wish all councillors the best of luck when deciding how to deal with their budgets over the next few years. What I will not do is publicly criticise the difficult decisions they will have to make as a result of Wales being dramatically short changed.  

The Welsh Government cannot shield all of our services from the effects of Cameron and Clegg’s austerity policies along with the implications it has on Wales; I will however commend Finance Minister Jane Hutt on putting forward a budget of priorities designed to make Wales a more prosperous, fairer and healthier place to live and work.

Local Government part 2- Social Services

Whilst searching through the attic recently I came across a Swansea Borough Council Diary for 1963/4. The Borough Council was the equivalent of unitary authorities today. In the diary was a list of committees which included a children’s service committee dealing with adoption and children in care but not one dealing with services for the elderly.

How times have changed today elderly care services are the major component of Social Services in all Welsh Councils.

We have had an ageing population for several years with a huge increase in the number of over 80s and 90s and with many more people reaching the age of 100.What we need to see is not only people living longer but also having a good quality of life which is something social services alone cannot achieve.

Probably the one initiative that has improved the lives of people above pensionable age is free bus travel which has allowed many people the freedom to travel that they would not otherwise have.

So whilst social services need transforming we must not forget the positive impact that a whole range of other services can have a positive affect on peoples lives.

Also two key facts need to be remembered

Over a third of the population are over 50 and the percentage will continue to increase


Whilst many people do not want to grow old they prefer it to the alternative

The strategy for older people 2013-2023 identifies some key issues.

The importance of social participation. When people retire they often lose contact with their former work colleagues and there becomes the risk of social isolation. Social isolation and loneliness can lead to deterioration in mental and physical health and also to a huge increase in alcohol consumption.

Lack of public toilets or seating or their being situated in unsuitable areas can lead to many elderly being unwilling to venture away from their home

　

In my view, the Social Services and Wellbeing (Wales) Bill is a very welcome and progressive piece of legislation, particularly as it represents a major step forward in the process of changing the way people in Wales receive social care and support.

It’s no secret that over the years, social services in Wales has been faced with a number of fundamental challenges, especially as we have an aging population leading to an increase in service demand.

I’m pleased that the Welsh Government recognises this in the form of this ambitious Bill, which aims to transform the current system to better meet the needs of service users as well as deliver a sustainable, high quality social care system for the future.

I’ve had the chance to reflect r on the Bill and come up with some potential suggestions and ideas that I believe would strengthen this legislation to further benefit both those that receive and those that deliver social care services in Wales.

One of the major themes of this Bill relates to prevention and early intervention. The Bill introduces a duty on local authorities, facilitated by Local Health Boards, to provide information, advice and assistance to help people understand what is available locally, how they access help and, where necessary, to be assisted to access care and support.

Firstly, I believe that there needs to be more clarity on what is meant in terms of prevention; this will be essential in getting the Bill right in terms of achieving individual outcomes and objectives. In particular, more clarification is needed around preventative services, along with how they will interact with assessment, eligibility and charging for services.

Although I strongly welcome the inclusion of preventative services in the Bill, I do believe there is concern among some organisations and bodies that it is not currently clear enough as to who would have access to preventative services. For instance, at what point a person will be deemed to have ‘care and support’ needs, and how this will promote real prevention and early intervention.

I feel that the legislation needs to identify more clearly the steps that are envisaged to provide proportionate support to people, and the relationship between preventative services, assessment and the eligibility framework. Once this is clear, I believe that it will be possible to identify when eligibility and charging can be applied, as well as ensuring there are no unfortunate unintended consequences. After all, the proposals for preventative services will not bring benefits to service users if the threshold for accessing them is set too high.

It’s my view that an indicative definition of preventative services on the face of the Bill would help to ensure provision of both general universal prevention and more targeted individual-level prevention.

Despite positive intentions, I do think that the wording of the Bill could be strengthened on the need for a person centred approach; this could, for example, be done through provisions that require the active involvement of people throughout their experience of care and support services, co-production of care plans and outcomes, and promotion of options that are available to exercise voice and control.

A further comment I have relates to the provisions in the Bill that allows local authorities to charge for information, advice, assistance and preventative services. There is some concern about these powers, particularly as there is a strong belief that information and advice should be free, independent and accessible. This is a basic principle that I would wholeheartedly agree with. I therefore hope that the Welsh Government will be providing local authorities in Wales with guidance and advice over charging for such services.

On a final note, there is some concern that the role of service partners (such as Local Health Boards) remains unclear, and there is uncertainty over whether the Bill extends the role of partners beyond that already in place.

It’s my belief that without a meaningful relationship between local authorities and the health service, there could be potential conflicts about charging. Although the Bill provides for local authorities to be able to charge, LHBs will be unable to charge. This could possibly cause conflict in terms of joint working between health and social care rather than encouraging cooperation. It’s therefore advisable for the Welsh Government to consider implementing guidelines, or developing a strategy, towards resolving any potential issues that may arise as a result.

Despite my suggestions, I’ve no doubt that this Bill will make a significant and positive difference to the lives and well-being of people who need care and support, as well as carers who equally need support. It’s likely that all of us, at some stage in our lives, will come into contact with social care services, whether it be for our own needs or for the needs of loved ones and friends; that’s why it’s reasonable to want this ground-breaking Bill to be the best it can possibly be in order to meet our needs and desires as a civilised society.

Local Authorities Part 1 - Planning

 

One of the great forgotten achievements of the greatest government we ever had, the Attlee Government 1945-51) was the Town and Country Planning act 1947 which came into effect in 1948 that still forms the basis of planning law in Britain.This Act has been substantially amended and added to but its basic principals remain

The most fundamental requirement of the legislation was to establish that

planning permission was required for land development; ownership alone no longer conferred the right to develop the land. To control this, the Act reorganised the planning system from the 1,400 existing planning authorities to 145 (formed from county and borough councils), and required them all to prepare a comprehensive development plan.

These local authorities were given wide-ranging powers in addition to approval of planning proposals; they could carry out redevelopment of land themselves, or use

compulsory purchase orders to buy land and lease it to private developers. They were also given powers to control outdoor advertising, and to preserve woodland or buildings of architectural or historic interest - the latter the beginning of the modern listed building system.

Planning must be used as a means of protecting the environment, achieving social sustainability and economic prosperity. It is about putting the right things in the right places for the benefit of everyone

Planners and the planning system get this wrong occasionally and some planners have their own petty obsessions but I would argue that Local authority planning committees get it right more often that the unelected but appointed planning inspectors who sometimes overturn their decision.

There is need, especially in urban areas for local authorities to work together to achieve the best for the larger community in both the Cardiff and Swansea City regions. Both housing and commercial development and the necessary infrastructure including meeting transportation needs must be planned on a regional basis. We want no more estates being built with no public transport links or commercial and industrial areas which are not able to be reached by public transport or where there is no public transport available at the times people start and finish work.

Planning should work for the people of an area and for their benefit not be used to just maximize the return of the land owner no matter what effect it has on the locality.

I would prefer the Local Development Plans better reflect the housing needs of the wider area because whilst I agree with the sentiment it could be said the area is the village or suburb rather than the county or city region. It is also important that villages and hamlets are not swamped by new developments which can put a serious strain on infrastructure ranging from the sewerage system to the local school.

The failure to protect the language with planning developments was brought home to me by my daughter who believes that she must move to the constituency of Dafyfdd Ellis Thomas if she wants to live her life using the Welsh language as her main means of communication.

I would for in designated areas where the Welsh speaking population still exceeds 70%of the population that the protection of the language should be the primary planning consideration.

The Welsh Labour Government has made substantial progress and with the planning bill it gives the chance to bring in both regional plans and the perhaps last chance to save Welsh as a community language as opposed to the language of work and school.