49: Parliamo Politico VI

Posted on March 17, 2011 by davidsberry

Let’s Talk Pencil-Pusher: Lesson VI—Scrutiny (Sixth of a series, translating bureaucrat-speak into what it means for folk in East Lothian on St Paddy’s Day)

Our council operates what is called a ‘scrutiny’ or self-evaluation mechanism. This consists of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that tracks service of its 100,000 customers, a series of statistics tracked by officials called ‘Statutory Performance Indicators’ (SPIs) and two committees (Audit & Governance and Policy & Performance Review) that meet regularly to track performance. For fairness, both committees are chaired by members of the opposition and meet in public.

The CRM now includes a feedback mechanism that tracks stage 1 complaints (dealt with immediately), stage 2 complaints (formal complaint investigated by an officer) and stage 3 complaints (handled by the Chief Executive). Anything beyond that goes to the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman. ELC is receiving around 1,000 complaints each year, about 42% involving property maintenance, 21% transportation and just under 10% housing management. Of these only 8 went to the third stage and two to the SPSO (both partly upheld and ELC complied).

That may seem a lot but this period covers the atrocious weather. Against that, 96% of complaints were acknowledged within five days and 83% resolved within 20 days and compliments have been running at 300 per year, actually increasing during the bad weather. Social Work received over 25% of them, possibly because home helps were trudging through snow to make sure that no-one was missed. Bottom line is that it is definitely worth complaining about poor service.

However, on SPIs, the jury is still out. Most of these were determined years ago and not all make sense. For example, one SPI is the number of children in council care. No-one knows whether a higher count is good (we’re finding more children needing care) or bad (more and more children need care). ELC is good at collecting refuse (£74 per house vs £92 for Scotland) but bad at repairing our houses promptly (84% vs 91% for Scotland).

Bottom line: ELC has no illusions about its imperfections and is genuinely trying to use management systems to iron them out while keeping its customers informed

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50 Days to Go

Posted on March 16, 2011 by davidsberry

At the halfway point to May’s election, ELC’s Education Committee has tabled a paper on destinations for its school leavers. It highlighted a 2% year-on-year improvement in positive destinations (F.E. colleges, universities, training and jobs), despite a huge 40% ‘bulge’ in numbers leaving last year (2009/10). That said, too many leavers still find themselves unemployed and variations among the six high schools are still too great.

Variations in the share going to university (between 28% and 55%) is not necessarily bad if an uptake in vocational makes up the difference. But that’s not the case. Although more Ross High leavers went for training and jobs, those added up to only half the shortfall of academic leavers. Also, Musselburgh Grammar and Ross High had both been poor at steering leavers into training prior to this year’s improvement from 1% to over 5%.

Confusing the issue is the number of leavers taking  ‘gap year’, especially prevalent at NBHS, which skews the East Lothian figures to look worse than national statistics when they are, in fact, rather better. Perhaps most frustrating of all is that academic standards are rising faster in lower-performing schools (a hard thing to achieve) while training and job destinations stay stubbornly low. Is this due to education or the sheer paucity of business in East Lothian to offer such destinations—including the council?

Dave discussing youth destinations with Alex Salmond

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51: Tornado…Tsunami…Tomorrow?

Posted on March 14, 2011 by davidsberry

It was pure coincidence but perhaps symbolic. The day I was invited to visit EDF’s Torness power station was when the 8.9 magnitude earthquake struck Japan. Since we had no news of its impact, the only discussion at the time was to express sympathy.

But safety was high on our agenda. Plant manager Paul Winkel was at pains to explain their long run of incident-free days from safety processes as rigorous as holding handrails while on the stairs. We discussed closure, scheduled for 2023, but with extensions of five or ten years possible. Although new high-pressure water reactors are planned in England, no replacements for AGRs at Hunterston or Torness are under consideration.

Having been round Torness several times, its impressive operation and engineering were not new to me. And, knowing plenty of workers, I need no reassurance of the professional pride all 500 of them take in running the place. In fact, having been the mover of the motion that changed SNP policy to run nuclear stations to the end of their useful lives, I remain among the least sceptical of SNP members on nuclear energy.

That said, even before events at Fukushima Dai-ichi, I voiced concern how the unforeseen can evade the best safety plan, as when an RAF Tornado crashed close to Torness. The third explosion at Fukushima may not have caused a catastrophic core breach, as happened at Chernobyl. But the increased radiation leak has caused both the Swiss and the Germans to suspend all new nuclear build.

Tsunamis my be rarer than Tornados in the North Sea. But, why should we risk nuclear catastrophe at all? With alternatives as alluring as Scotland’s renewable riches to tempt scientists and engineers into building our green future, why tinker with second-best?

Plant manager Paul Winkel with Dave Berry at Torness

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52: Coast to Coast

Posted on March 14, 2011 by davidsberry

Going through to Glasgow for the SNP Conference let me sample another SNP Government achievement—the Airdire-Bathgate line. In theory opened in December, it’s only been running to timetable the last week or so—quarter-hourly to Bathgate, with half then running on through Airdrie and Glasgow to Helensburgh.

Though it worked fine, I must admit to disappointments. For a start, they’re using SPT stock, whose livery was designed by the colour-deaf and which offer nothing by way of tables, space or trolley service. Add in that it takes almost an hour and a half to get to Queen St (low level) as it stops at every lamppost between Blairhill and Belgrove.

But the major disappointment is that the journey refuses to be scenic—the stubby bings of West Lothian give way to the stubby hills of Lanarkshire and then suburbs of eastern Glasgow begging to be adverts for B&Q or weed-whackers. Along most of the track the bare embankments, praries of empty car parks and miles of galvanised fencing look neat but add zip to the experience. That West Lothian neds have already discovered this short-cut to the good criac and bevvy of Glasgow didn’t help either.

The arrival of the new Class 334 trains might boost the experience. I had argued that ScotRail should extend this line into the North Berwick service as these same trains are planned for here. That would have meant a true coast-to-coast from NB to Helensburgh.

As it was, I had to change at Partick to get to the SECC and so a 2-hour journey took me 3 hours. Next time, I’m afraid I’ll be back on the 45-minute Queen Street service and leave the views of the snow-flecked bings of Blackridge to the neds and their Buckie.

Glasgow-Edinburgh via Airdrie & Bathgate

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53: Govan in Sight

Posted on March 13, 2011 by davidsberry

Arriving at the SECC for conference, the Armadillo resembled a huge igloo under the snow but the buzz among delegates was warming. By mid-morning, the hall was already  receptive as I seconded Mike and Angela’s motion on Delivering for Scotland’s Schools, highlighting early years focus that will boost literacy and numeracy and, in turn, reduce unemployability that blights too many school leavers.

In the afternoon, my motion on SNP achievements in councils to complement those of government could have descended into trite self-congratulation. However I felt real pride in relating how green SNP administrations had led the way these past four years: solving major budget crises in cities; working with other parties; building affordable homes; refocussing schools; exhibiting new ideas.

Then to the BBC’s makeshift studio to be interviewed on justice with Stewart Maxwell MSP. Stewart and I had coincidentally talked at the CSPP dinner just the night before and so were soon both in full flow: he defended the Meghrahi decision and the advisability of avoiding knee-jerk automatic sentences; I waxed lyrical how extra police enable rural policing to lower crime levels even further and spread that sense of security people want—and associate with the small towns of East Lothian.

Swapping doorstep war stories at the Law Society of Scotland’s reception that evening, it was clear that this opportunity I feel in East Lothian is found from Orkney to Dumfries. While none exhibited ‘candidatitis’, and saw their contest as in the bag, the SNP’s record is standing us in great stead—demonstrated competence at local and national levels.

As we left, the snow had gone and the views across to the Science Centre in Govan were a much clearer good omen. That was where we met four years ago, prior to winning the Govan seat and power. Now it’s Kelvin’s turn.

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54: Table Talk

Posted on March 12, 2011 by davidsberry

Organised by Stop Climate Chaos and RSPB, together with local organisations like Sustaining Dunbar and the SSC, a ‘Climate Cafe’ in Haddington’s Town House brought the four EL candidates plus a Green list candidate together over tea and biscuits to field questions in a kind of musical tables format. This event was one of a half-dozen being held across Scotland.

Although Kelsie Pettit of SCC had clearly put in much work to make it succeed, it was not well attended. But the format worked better than I thought; each candidate hosting a table and being grilled by a group for 15 minutes before the group moved on to the next table. It allowed for different styles of interaction to happen simultaneously.

With the exception of one older gent who clearly had come to lecture, rather than ask, I found the challenge worthwhile. Questions ranged over environment, wildlife, transport, planning, sustainability, agriculture, global warming and power generation. It made me dredge deep for knowledge of party policy. I also felt encouraged by people who cared enough to think up and grill potential MSPs with such questions before casting their vote.

It was so consistently intense that biscuits, generously laid out on the tables, did not get touched. If only the other 99% of the electorate would go to such trouble informing themselves then I’d embrace any subsequent election result as a democratic triumph.

p.s. It was recorded, albeit poorly (wrong aspect ratio and poor sound quality)

Posted in Environment | Tagged | 1 Comment

55: Top of the Hill

Posted on March 11, 2011 by davidsberry

No wonder East Lothian needs the affordable homes that the SNP are building—and fast. After 13 years of Labour’s “egalitarian” rule, the divide between ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ is greater than ever and nowhere more so than here.

The Hootsmon has just published the top ten streets in the country where houses sell for ‘Monopoly money’ i.e. over £1m. Three Edinburgh postcodes lead the parade: Belmont Drive EH12, Ettrick Road EH10 & Dick Place. In fourth place—well ahead of anywhere in Glasgow or Aberdeen—was the only non-city address: Hill Road, Gullane EH31.

Where the butler lives is anyone’s guess but it’s unlikely to be in Hummel Road either.

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56: Parliamo Politico, Part V

Posted on March 10, 2011 by davidsberry

Let’s Talk Pencil-Pusher: Lesson V—Education (Fifth of a series, translating bureaucrat-speak into what it means for folk in East Lothian)

Probably no one element of local (if not national) government gets as much emotive, hands-on attention as education. While tertiary (university and college) education is vital investment and students have a habit of drawing media attention when they are unhappy, the most widespread grass-roots ginger group in Scotland is the army of parents with their children at school.

The principal debate is between the Scottish Government, who are forever cooking up new policy like Curriculum for Excellence and the teaching unions like EIS who exhibit a very 19th century, demarcationist attitude towards change. Eight years on from the Kerley recommendations, teachers have 50% more salary but little else has changed. Many parents, especially those with non-academic children, feel that too much emphasis is placed on exam results and not enough on developing vocational skills and addressing learning difficulties. Those and the need to focus on the P1-P3 years to avoid weakness in literacy and numeracy in later years form the basis for local education debate at present.

In tight times, the worry is that funding will be cut. Indeed that has already happened in some councils like Glasgow. East Lothian’s £104m shows no cut and most of that is passed on to schools under Devolved School Management (DSM) that allows Head teachers the latitude to manage their own budgets. While they have severe limits on their latitude to spend this as they see fit, it is weaker management—regardless of academic status—that leads to pleas to parents to help out as paper supplies run out.

East Lothian has been in the lead in academic innovation from interactive whiteboards, school and student websites/e-mail, through investigating the power of community schools (where a school cluster would be managed from a joint panel that included locals) and looking into sharing central services (e.g. psychologists, administration, etc) with a neighbouring authority—in our case, Midlothian. The result of longer-term investment in targeting teachers towards P1-P3 to develop literacy and numeracy is some years away.

Most parents are very happy with the high quality of schools in the county and most moans have to do with the difficulties of child care or the lack of places in after-school clubs. If that’s what the top problems are, then we’re doing something right, especially as each pupil costs £5,600 a year to educate when Band D Council Tax is just £1,117.

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57: Load of Rubbish

Posted on March 9, 2011 by davidsberry

Most of the time people speak of “the Council” in pretty adversarial tones, seeing it as a constipated local version of ‘Yes Minister’. At its bureaucratic worst, the jobsworth form-fillers can make mild-mannered ordinary folk dream of vile tortures for those who put them through the bureaucratic mill.

But, more often than not, the services are actually very good and none more so than Cleansing, who were the subject of a detailed report to a Review Committee this week. Not only do some 30,000 wheeliebins get emptied regular as clockwork but the amount of recycling going on here is just short of heroic. In fact, it’s as good a ‘win-win’ example of the Council and residents working together as you could wish for.

Ten years ago, East Lothian recycled barely 5% and 50,000 tonnes of annual rubbish went into landfill at Oxwellmains. By five years ago, when the blue/green boxes and brown bins went county-wide, we were up to 12% of the 52,000 tonnes. Thanks to Cleansing’s slick and reliable operation receiving whole-hearted support of residents across the county, those same figures last year were 42% and 38,000 tonnes. In other words, despite our growing population, we were throwing away 14,000 tonnes less each year.

That, in itself, is a green credential of which both council and customer should be proud. But, when you think that a landfill tax of £25 is levied on every tonne of waste buried (on top of actual cost of collection and dump fees), then—together—we’ve saving a whopping £350,000 each year. That’s like a 1% drop in your Council Tax or a dozen jobs. Doing the right thing is sometimes smart for any number of reasons; it’s not a load of rubbish.

Spending a Day Learning how Tough It Is Wheeling Brown Bins Around

Posted in Community, Environment | Tagged | 3 Comments

58: Round One (ding!)

Posted on March 8, 2011 by davidsberry

East Lothian’s election was effectively launched yesterday with an hour-long candidate hustings in front of 100 S4-S6 seniors in Modern Studies at North Berwick High, although the Lib-Dem candidate neither responded to nor showed up for the event.

How did it go? You’d have to ask the audience that—although it was worlds away from my experience last week, with the audience attentive and as lively as anyone on stage. After a few minutes introduction from each of the three candidates, we launched into a dozen or so questions prepared by the audience.

The first question was about cuts in Scottish Education, over which Iain Gray and I fell out almost immediately. He argued teachers were being cut and education savaged; I argued that was alarmist—we have more teachers, supported by bigger budgets here in East Lothian and it was Labour-run councils like Glasgow who were shedding teachers.

But, after I suggested that the audience might want to hear something more than verbal head-butting, I thought both he and Derek did raise our dialogue to meet the standard of questions being asked. Jane Gurley wanted to know how we each would work to improve life for young people;  Fraser Duff whether the Edinburgh trams project was still a good idea. We got tore in but, almost despite ourselves, the three of us agreed on more than we disputed.

But, talking to organisers Kerrie and Gordon afterwards, they seemed disappointed that there had not been more controversy. Seems like discussion is one thing but there’s nothing more entertaining than a good rammy.

Posted in Education, Politics | Tagged | 3 Comments