BERA Grant from the Council Approved

At a meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee of the Council on Monday evening 14 September, the Committee agreed a grant of £3000 to Broughty Ferry Education and Recreation Association (BERA) for 2015/16.

I was pleased to take the opportunity to address the Committee and make a short statement in support of the continuing work of BERA and their contribution to promoting adult learning in Broughty Ferry. I also reminded the Committee that, while most welcome, much if not all of this of grant would return to the Council in rental payments for school premises.

The following extracts from the Committee Report clarify the grant and the valued service that the BERA volunteers contribute to our community:

"This contribution towards the running costs of the organisation (BERA) will enable them to continue to provide a wide ranging evening learning provision in local community areas, which is very well attended.

3.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS 3.1 The grants can be met from the Department’s 2015/16 Revenue Grants Budget (Adult Learning Support Fund). 

4.1 Broughty Ferry Education and Recreation Association is a voluntary Adult Education Association. The volunteers work in partnership with Dundee City Council to provide evening education, recreation and leisure opportunities for the residents of Broughty Ferry and the wider environs. 2014/2015. .... The group are running three evening sessions across two venues, Grove and Forthill Schools, not only does this organisation provide learning opportunities it also promotes community access to Schools."

Commenting on the Dundee Community Learning and Development Strategy 2015-18

The three year strategy for Community Learning and Development in the city is a comprehensive and aspirational document. Unfortunately, it will be considered near the end of the agenda of the Policy and Resources Committee meeting on Monday night which follows three other Council committee meetings. The Community Learning and Development Strategy may not therefore receive the detailed attention it deserves.

What could be more important for our Council than ensuring that work with our young people, adult literacy and numeracy including computer literacy, and community engagement are all developed over the coming years? 

The Community Learning and Development staff should be congratulated on a series of external assessments that have rated their services as 'sector leading'. The question for me is whether we are investing enough to ensure that the existing services are sustained and the unmet needs listed in the strategy are likely to be met during the next three years.

If we are serious about making Dundee a fairer city, then Community Learning and Development practitioners are part of the answer working alongside other partners and services.

Applications for Funding Supported by The Ferry Local Community Planning Partnership

The Ferry Local Community Planning Partnership met early evening yesterday for our quarterly meeting in the Broughty Ferry Library.

Carole Jenkins, our Community Planning Officer, updated the partnership about applications for funding supported by the partnership.

This are as follows:

1. Broughty Ferry Traders Association. Application for help towards paying for the stage for the Christmas Lights Switch On event in December 2015
2. An application for the purchase of a laptop and projector plus the relevant software has been received on behalf of all community groups in the Ferry. This will enable local groups and organisations to be able to hold presentations at community events and meetings.
3. Grove Academy. Application for the continuation of funding for their programme jointly delivered in the school by Broughty Ferry Baptist Church, guidance teachers and the Community Learning and Development Youth Team.
4. Barnhill Play Group. Application for assistance with help with their rental costs which have increased significantly over the last year.
5. Grove Academy. Application for the installation of Wi-Fi hubs throughout the school which will aid the learning and teaching throughout the school and will allow Broughty Ferry Education and Recreation Association (BERA) and other community groups access to the internet in order to deliver adult learning.

Funding for these projects is awaiting final approval at the Council's Policy and Resources Committee on Monday 24th August 2015.

Welfare Rights and Wrongs for Older People in Dundee

At the Policy and Resources Committee last night we considered a report, "Hospital Fund and the Johnston Bequest",  which recommended that:
"..... a budget of £25,000 be provided from the Hospital Fund and Johnston Bequest to pilot a targeted welfare benefit advice service for older people in Dundee 2013/14."

What could be controversial about such a proposal at a time when, according the Department of Work and Pensions, 1 in 6 pensioners in Dundee are living on a low income? Additionally, that group of older people in our city will be finding their incomes severely squeezed by significant rises in their day to day living costs for essentials such as food and fuel. It is also widely recognised that as the benefit system is turned on its head, some of our older citizens will need help to navigate their way from one set of cash benefits to another and with submitting Internet only applications for government cash benefits. Furthermore, we know that our existing welfare rights advice agencies in the city are already under pressure.

While most Councillors were satisfied with reassurances that the new focus for some of the resources from these funds was legally acceptable, Liberal Democrat Councillor Fraser Macpherson, moved against this proposal with an amendment which read:
"I move as an amendment, that there should be no change to the current arrangements whereby from time to time, when funds allow, all 29 Councillors on the City Council are invited to nominate another deserving pensioner for addition to the list of beneficiaries and that the Chief Executive should be instructed to investigate the possibility of funding a pilot welfare advice service for older people in Dundee ass part of the process for setting the 3013/14 Revenue Budget."

In a nutshell, Councillor Macpherson, supported by Conservative Baillie Scott, wanted to keep the status quo whereby periodically, all 29 City Councillors were asked to nominate a deserving pensioner in their ward for an annual lifetime 'pension' of £70.

I thought that, in the context of the Fairness Strategy for Dundee which the Council had previously adopted, this proposal was a creative and constructive way of using some of the resources from these bequests, to benefit a wider number of older people. Furthermore, this proposal has the prospect of adding a more significant sum to many, not just a few, pensioners' pockets. 

The amendment by Councillor Macpherson (West End), supported by Conservative Baillie Scott (The Ferry) was defeated by 26 votes to 2.

Visit to Dundee Foodbank

I was pleased to have the opportunity to visit the Dundee Foodbank on Monday morning along with MSPs Jenny Marra and Claire Baker. Based at the Full Gospel Church on Constitution Street, Dundee Foodbank is a registered Scottish charity committed to providing emergency food relief to individuals and families experiencing financial hardship. 

It was good to see at first hand the inspirational work they are doing to help folk in Dundee who are struggling to put food on the table. They provide a minimum of 3 days emergency food and support to local people in crisis who have been referred for help. 

It's an unfortunate fact of life that such a project should be necessary, but out of the misfortunes they address, there are many pockets of hope including the generosity of our fellow citizens donating food and many volunteers freely giving their time to collect, sort and distribute food parcels. For example, earlier this month generous customers at Tesco in Dundee donated 2.27 tonnes of food with an estimated value of £3800.

During the visit I was pleased to advise Foodbank Staff that the Council had approved a £25,000 grant for the Foodbank from the Common Good Fund. Labour Leader Kevin Keenan had brought this forward to the Policy and Resources Committee on Monday 12 December and this had been unanimously supported and approved without a vote. I hope this will mean that the Foodbank's planned development of a distribution point in the East of the city can come on stream a bit sooner than might otherwise have happened.

Contact the Dundee Foodbank

Telephone  01382 226372

Email info@dundee.foodbank.org.uk

Website http://dundee.foodbank.org.uk/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DundeeFoodbank

SNP Councillors Halved the Representation of Parents in the Planning of New City Schools

I was disappointed that at the Policy and Resources Committee on Monday night, SNP Councillors conspired to vote for a reduction in parental representation on the Project Boards that will be planning the new schools in Coldside, Menzieshill and Strathmartine. I think it is really important to have strong parental voices in these Planning Boards.

At the Policy and Resources Committee, I argued that we should retain having two members of the Parent Council of each school in the relevant Project Planning Board for the replacement schools and community facilities. This would have been in line with what has been the practice at the Project Planning Boards for the Balgarthno (Lochee-Charleston) and West End shared campus replacement primary schools. I was disappointed that what had been proposed in the report to the committee was a reduction to one Parent Council member per school. Despite my offering a constructive alternative to their proposal they would not budge.

I also pointed out to the Committee that when it comes to the appointment of head teachers, the law of Scotland provides that Parent Councils have a right to two members on an appointment committee selecting a new Head Teacher for their school. So if it is good enough for head teacher appointments it should also be the continuing standard of representation for the Project Boards planning our new schools in the city.

I was pleased that the Committee agreed with my proposal to involve pupil council members of the project boards but I remain puzzled why the non Labour members of the Committee should want to reduce the participation of parents.

While the Committee Convener said that the Project Boards can use their discretion to bring more people on, I have my doubts that they will do this if so many Councillors have expressed this level of resistance to my proposal.

Policing Matters - Two Police Committees in One Day

Police Service of
Scotland badge

In April 2013 the national Police Service of Scotland will come into effect. In the meanwhile, there is intense work is going on organizing a smooth transition from Tayside Joint Police Board (incorporating Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross) to the new Scotland wide service. 

In parallel the City Council in Dundee is a Pathfinder working with Tayside Police to develop new reporting procedures and channels of accountability to the City Council for policing in our city. This is to ensure that there is continuing local accountability for policing once the new national force comes into effect next year. 

Yesterday, I attended two meetings about Policing which focused on that twin track agenda of preparing for the end of Tayside Police and the beginning of the Single Police Force for Scotland. 

In the morning I was at Forfar for a meeting of the Tayside Joint Police Board and in the early evening I attended a special meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee in Dundee, where we examined a report from Chief Superintendent Hamish MacPherson about the next steps in developing Councillor engagement in planning and monitoring policing in Dundee.

Both committees received performance reports about crime levels and policing responses. At the Police Board in Forfar, I asked Chief Inspector Justine Curran about about Police Officers having to be removed from front line policing duties to undertake back office activities formerly undertaken by non uniformed Police staff. In the reports we had received it was clear that non uniformed Police staff in Tayside had been reduced by 23% since 2009. I pointed out that my constituents were concerned that a visible Police presence was maintained on the streets. The Chief pointed out that the reduction in non uninformed police staff had been partly achieved by merging three separate administrative teams into one. She did however admit that some back filling had been undertaken by Police Officers being switched to working in the police control centre. Significantly, I also noticed in the reports that a growing proportion of public calls to the 0300 111 2222 non-emergency police number had taken longer to answer than the target time of 40 seconds. This phenomenon of 'backroom bobbies' is a worrying development as is the failure to answer the phone quickly and efficiently.

At the Dundee meeting we had reports about levels of crime and detection rates as recorded in the first half of the 2012/13 year. I asked a question about the future comparative statistics that would be provided in these reports in Dundee. Comparative figures would help us ensure that investment and police performance in our city is up to scratch. I hoped that working within the new national Police Service of Scotland, it would be possible to compare the policing performance in Dundee with other cities in Scotland such as Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as Perth and Kinross and Angus. I was told that this sort of issue was yet to be decided by the emergent Police Service of Scotland but would be borne in mind.

Integration of Adult Health and Community Care - Council's Response to Scottish Government

At the meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee on Monday evening 10 September 2012, Councillors were asked to approve a draft response to the Scottish Government in relation to their consultation on The Integration of Adult Health and Community Care.

Here is what I said while asking a series of questions about gaps in the draft consultation responses from the Council.

"Convener, (Councillor Ken Guild also a Ferry Councillor) the problems of lack of integration of the planning and delivery of social care services have long been identified. From the point of view of many elderly constituents in Dundee, combining health and social work services currently funded and managed by local authorities and The National Health Service so that they provide a seamless service seems desirable. But the devil will be in the detail. 

Like the drafters of this report, I have concerns that democratic accountability to our council will be weakened without a wide range of elected member involvement in the new Health and Social Care Partnerships.  

Convener, we are both local Councillors with a high proportion of older people in our constituency whose services will be affected by this proposed integration. I think our position, as Councillors, to intervene and influence those responsible when one of our constituents has a dispute about their integrated care looks as though it would be weakened and diminished. In order that this is not another example of remote and distant authority, I would have preferred if we had followed the Policing example and had reporting of the planning and performance of the Integrated Health and Community Care direct to this Policy and Resources Committee. In addition I would urge that in our Council's response  question 6 (in the consultation) should be answered directly by saying that we are not in favour of a Dundee Health and Social Care Partnership combined with other local authority boundaries."

The Committee agreed to accept my proposal about responding to question 6 and senior Social Work officers agreed with my analysis about the potential negative effects of a lack of democratic accountability.

SNP Councillors on City Council Reject Appeal for Additional Funds for Welfare Rights Advice in the City

At the meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee on Monday evening 25 June, the Council agreed to endorse the For Fairness in Dundee Strategy and Action Plan. This focuses on combating multiple deprivation in the city. A key component of this is the provision of welfare rights advice and debt counselling. I was disappointed that in voting down my amendment, they turned down the opportunity to attract more money to help fund these advice services in the city. 
I think many people in Dundee will wonder what planet Councillor Guild and his colleagues live on. They will be puzzled why the possibility of £100,000 to boost the funding advice centres in the city was not worthy of the bother of writing a letter to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance John Swinney MSP. 
The Westminster government have boosted the funding for advice centres over two years (2012/13 and 2013/14) to deal with the anticipated increased demand  for advice as welfare reform changes are introduced. As a result the Scottish Government have received additional funding as this is a responsibility devolved to the Scottish Government. 
I think it is entirely reasonable to ask what arrangements the Scottish Government is putting in place to distribute this cash and can Dundee have its share to help extend the work of its Fairness Strategy. At time when money for new developments is tight, surely every £100,000 helps?

For Fairness in Dundee and Broughty Ferry

I welcome the draft For Fairness in Dundee Strategy and Action Plan on the Agenda of the Policy and Resources Committee on Monday 25 June 2012.  At a time when many household incomes are depressed by wage freezes or reductions, benefits are being cut back and household bills are rising, we need a strategy and action plan that will address poverty and deprivation throughout our city. While the statistics in the report show that inequalities are most concentrated in certain areas of the city, they also show that a smaller but significant minority of households in Broughty Ferry are affected by many of the indicators of poverty.

At the meeting, I will be asking whether the planned responses by the Council and agencies in the Dundee Partnership will really be fair if they exclude people living in parts of the city like Broughty Ferry. While The Ferry is generally more affluent, this is not universally true. This was illustrated by the statistics produced by the Dundee Citizens' Advice Bureau. Their annual report for 2011/12 shows that while the inquiry rate from people with Broughty Ferry addresses was lower than folk from other areas in the city, the problems that folk brought forward were the same across the city: benefit advice, debt and consumer issues.

I note in the report that we will be considering at the Policy and Resources Committee that advance consultation did not include the Broughty Ferry Local Community Planning Partnership. That and references to focusing responses on areas of multiple deprivation suggest that For Fairness in Dundee will be exactly that and will not extend to folk in Broughty Ferry. My job is to try to ensure that the benefits from the new strategy and action plan are widespread. Fairness needs to be seen to be fair not excluding people from participating in programmes and initiatives just because of their DD5 address.

Council Meetings Monday 11 June 2012 - My Contributions

Last night we had a series of Council Committee meetings. There were fairly full agendas following the lengthy gap in meetings because of the elections. 


These are the questions and contributions I made.  


Environment Committee
Item 4 Dawson Park Environmental Improvements
"Convener, I welcome the important improvements to Dawson Park detailed in this report. By erecting a fence to curb indiscriminate parking and vehicle turning at the Dunottar Place entrance, the grass will be protected. The extension of the existing network of paths to connect to the play area should help adults and children by improving the underfoot conditions.
It is also positive to see the recycling of building materials. I think this is the second example of fencing being recycled and reused in Dawson Park."


Policy and Resources Committee
Item 8 Supply of IT Equipment
"Convener this is an interesting report in that it details the spend on a range of IT equipment clarifying the types of equipment in which we have invested. It is remarkable in three ways: 

• £696,000, has been spent over a fifteen week period on computers, net books, whiteboards and the majority of the expenditure has been in our schools;
• I am reassured that a national portal for procurement has been used. 
• What however is remarkable in a negative way is the absence of any data on output and outcome measures. How many computers have been purchased for example? What are the anticipated outcomes of their deployment and installation in our schools and other services?

I think that we need and deserve a more detailed report in future when we are investing such a considerable amount of money year on year."


Policy and Resources Committee 
Item 11 Dundee Strategy for the Safe Use of Electronic Communications
"Convener, I welcome this report and the care it demonstrates in promoting the safe use of electronic communications, especially though not exclusively with children in our schools. 
There are many potential dangers which have arisen with the new media which the report refers to. For example, providing new opportunities to bully, swindle, embarrass, steal identities and groom victims. I do think it is right that that we should warn parents, carers, children and young people and vulnerable adults and the staff that work with them about the potential dangers. I do however think we need more emphasis in our schools and and homes on developing discriminating users of electronic media. I think this is potentially embraced in the four capacities at the heart of the Curriculum for Excellence - our aspiration that all our young people should become:

• successful learners,
• confident individuals,
• responsible individuals and
• responsible individuals."

Call to Put Dundee First at the Policy & Resources Committee Tonight

I am pleased that after my prompting last week, our Council will now be responding to the two consultations on the future of post 16 Education in Scotland. 


I notice that the draft response from our Education Director for consideration tonight refers to the many organisations that potentially contribute to developing and delivering vital educational opportunities in our city. These are vital for the potential students and vital for supporting the economic recovery of Dundee. 

I do however think that our Council's response should have a preface note about the disastrous consequences stemming from the huge reductions in the budget of our Further Education College in Dundee. 


Dundee College is the ninth largest employer in the city. If this were a private sector organisation of this scale anticipating shedding staff and reducing services in our City, I think our SNP Council would have been jumping up and down expressing their disappointment and calling for government action from Holyrood and Westminster. In this instance the axe is being swung by the SNP government in Edinburgh which has turned our SNP led Council into silent witnesses. 

Make no mistake, the scale of cuts announced will hold back the economic recovery in Dundee by reducing the capacity of one of the key organisations which can make a real difference to employers and learners. So tonight, let's hope all our Councillors stand up for Dundee first and foremost.

Changes to Tax Credits and Council Staff

At the Policy & Resources Committee on Monday 8 November 2010 I made the following speech in support of my motion on Changes to Tax Credits and Council Staff:

"Convener, I have placed this item on the agenda tonight because it is anticipated that a significant proportion of our staff will be effected by changes in Tax Credits introduced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, in his budget in June 2010 and the subsequent Comprehensive Spending Review last month.

While the post Spending Review public debate has focused predominately on changes to Housing Benefit, especially in high rental areas of the UK, especially London, the effects of changes to Tax Credits has hitherto received less attention. This is surprising because the accumulated cuts in Tax Credits are much larger in cash value than the reductions in Housing Benefit. Perhaps this is because many of the Tax Credit changes are complex measures which the think tank, The Resolution Trust has referred to recently as “stealthy changes”.

Now I think we all know that Tax Credits, introduced in 1999 are a form of means tested cash benefit that is paid through the payroll by employers to their employees in households living on low to modest incomes – defined as between £12,000 and £30,000 per year. The award in calculated by Her Majesty's Revenues and Customs on an annual basis. For single parents and couples with children there are childcare allowances,currently up to 80% of allowable costs.

Changes in Tax Credits include:

• uprating tax credits in line with the consumer price index rather than the retail price index, which has been historically higher;
• reducing the opportunity to backdate claims from three months to one month;
• reducing tax credits faster as incomes rise and
• increasing the minimum working hours for couples with children from 16 to 24 and the minimum number of hours worked by one partner in the couple from 16 to 18.
  

So this group of our staff like other citizens in a similar position face a quadruple whammy:

• living with job insecurity;
• stagnation in the their earnings;
• significant price inflation, especially on food and heating and
• reduction and withdrawal of key benefits such as tax credits introduced over a period of time.
  

Most starkly, some of our part time and job sharing staff may find they no longer work the necessary hours to continue receiving tax credits in their pay packets. As soon as they lose entitlement to tax credits their entitlement to a proportion of their child care costs will also go. It is for this reason that I have brought forward this item to request that the Council explore what we can practically, do as a major employer, for members of our workforce who may be effected by these changes."

The motion (see below) was adopted by the Committee unanimously.

Motion for Policy & Resources Committee Meeting

Changes to Tax Credit and Council Staff

This Committee instructs the chief Executive to undertake a review to ascertain the number of Council employees potentially affected by changes in Tax Credits, as announced by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in his June 2010 Budget and the October 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review. This review should focus particularly, but not exclusively, on the increase in the minimum hours threshold for qualifying for Working Families Tax Credits. Furthermore, the Council, explores ways it might mitigate the negative effect of these changes on its employees to be disqualified from Tax Credits when the qualifying conditions change. Finally, that the Chief Executive reports back to the Policy & Resources Committee.

Call for Action to Protect Council Employees Caught by Changes to Tax Credits

In George Osborne's Comprehensive Spending Review last week, there were a number of complex changes to Tax Credits. Tax Credits are paid by the government through the payroll, to workers on low incomes.

Under the new qualifying conditions, from April 2012, couple households with children will need to be engaged in 24 hours or more hours of work per week (compared to the current 16) and one of the couple will need to work at least 18 of the 24 hours. As claimants of Tax Credits with children (single parent or couple) can also receive 80% of their child care costs (to be reduced to 70% in April 2011) the length of working hours of employees in fractional or part time posts may mean that many Council employees are disqualified from access to these benefits. That is why Councillor Richard McCready and I are calling on the Council's Policy and Resources Committee to adopt our resolution to review the position of part time post holders working for the council who may be affected in these changes. Their resolution also call for working hours to be considered as the Council restructures in the light of the Con-Dem cuts.

Councillor Laurie Bidwell said:
A significant number of Council staff job share or undertake part time work. It will make a significant difference to couples with children if their working hours prevent them from continuing to claim Tax Credits and the related child care costs. While this change is more than a year ahead, it is not too soon for the Council to investigate the impact of these changes on its own staff and what maybe done to help staff retain their entitlement to Tax Credits. I think this is the least that the Council can do as a major employer. Maximising the income of staff from wages and benefits is not only good for our staff and their families abut also good for the economy of the city.

Councillor Richard McCready said,
The Council has a duty to ensure that employees are rewarded for their efforts and that parents are able to work to support their families. I am very concerned about these changes to tax credits. I also think that the council should be considering moving towards providing a Living Wage, set at around £7 an hour.