PUBLIC SERVICE CUTS

[Stanley]

It's funny how seemingly disconnected events can come together and affect the way we are governed, the botched election and the success of the Labour Manifesto advocating the end of austerity, the Grenfell disaster focussing attention on social housing and council finances and the growing unease in the Try Party about their survival chances have all combined to start a movement across all shades of opinion to put pressure on Caretaker May and her chancellor to ease the cuts. Even Jeremy Hunt is reported as campaigning for the end of the nine year freeze on NHS pay. (It didn't apply of course to the top management.) This as news comes out that Manchester Royal Infirmary is to axe heart surgery as staff leave on the expectation of this happening under 'reorganisation'. (LINK) There is something very wrong in the fact that a city the size of Manchester can't support an essential service like this.

[Stanley]

THIS is well worth reading. More nurses and midwives are leaving the NHS than are starting and the majority of these are British born staff. This at a time when demands on the service are increasing making the Department of Health's stock response that there are more nurses than ever in training. This could be strictly true but ignores the fact that demand for their services increasing.

[Stanley]

See THIS for a report on the 2% wage rise offered to the fire fighters. Cracks in the pay cap? The government says that it isn't as they don't decide pay levels, it is done locally..... Really?
See THIS also for a good example of hypocrisy. Speaking in one of his £120,000 an hour lectures in S Korea Cameron attacks his own policies, some think either out of spite or an attempt to preserve his legacy.......

[Stanley]

See THIS for a concrete example of how underfunding and consequent lack of staff are affecting an essential part of the NHS. Safe in our hands?

[Stanley]

See THIS for a report of the arrests in Newcastle, the warning from the Chief Exec to other councils and the chief constable, Steve Ashman, defending the payment of £10,000 to a paedophile for undercover work. In both cases they are right. I have no problem with the police paying criminals for legitimate ends and have no doubt that this was a small proportion of the total cost. In this case, the end justifies the means no matter how repugnant the process. My question is, how well are the government funding these investigations.

[Stanley]

This subject really worries me. I watch the erosion of public services in the name of austerity and reflect on the damage it is doing to society. How far are we going to let these policies go? Do we really want to be pushed back into the 19th century?
The latest scandal that is going on largely under the radar is that Chris Grayling is suspected to be considering further subsidising the outsourced Probation Services which are obviously failing. See this (LINK)
Later. Right on cue I see that the Colne Job Centre is to close next Monday.

[Stanley]

I misled you yesterday about Grayling, he moved to transport after slipping the privatised probation services £22million. News yesterday that his successor Liddington is 'adjusting the contracts' and giving a further £227million to the companies. It appears that there is indeed a money tree.

[Stanley]

I think we all noted the chairman of the Police Superintendent's Association stating publicly that the system is in crisis. This from a body widely regarded as very conservative.
Then last night I watched the BBC report on the Brook Detention Centre at Gatwick run by G4S. If the portrayal is correct (and it seems to be) this is another disgrace and must be added to the already widespread difficulties in the system. Common factors in all the above are budget cuts, staff shortages and lack of training. How bad can it get?

[Big Kev]

I've just commented on the 'attracted your attention ' thread. Nurseries being underfunded by government to provide the 30 hours a week 'free' child places. It's all going to fall apart and I fail to see how they can't see this...

[Stanley]

Quite right Kev. One more example of the long term damage being caused by short term austerity. There are many more instances.....

[Stanley]

See THIS report on the failure of the trust running academies in Wakefield despite government money being pumped in. This position is not uncommon amongst other trusts. Another 'initiative' going off piste.....

[Stanley]

The Public Sector pay cap is cracking at last under public pressure but all public servants are not equal.... The police and prison service get the first tiny respite. Interesting priorities, the nurses and other caring professions are left in poverty.

[Stanley]

Yet another warning from the police that the erosion of normal policing by having to divert front-line officers into anti-terrorism activities within falling budgets. They point out that there is a further 7% cut in the pipeline..... This without the uncomfortable fact that the easing of the pay cap will have to be financed by more job cuts, there is no new money. The Home Office says of course that it is increasing ant-terrorism funding. So that's all right......

[Stanley]

We get so used to austerity that it becomes part of the landscape. I wonder whether this is one of the secrets of repressive policies? Remember Thatcher and 'Be grateful you still have a job!"? Can anyone doubt now that the constant cutting of public services we have seen since 2010 and the advent of Osborne and Cameron has now reached the point where we are less safe and much more badly served than at any time in the last thirty years? This is bad enough but the long term consequences for society from this erosion are going to be with us for the next half century. I think in particular of bad primary education provision and homelessness. We are rearing a new generation of kids in poverty and without prospects. If the pundits are to be believed, and I suspect they are right, the erosion of unskilled jobs is going to accelerate and make things even worse. I've always said that a man sweeping the streets may have been at the bottom of the skills ladder but at least he had the dignity of a living wage. To my mind, this makes such jobs an economic necessity.

[Stanley]

We have another local example of the deleterious effects of cuts to council funding. The LCC is cutting their contribution to waste recycling and Pendle propose reducing the service to a four weekly collection and making charges for some services that were previously free. Has anyone costed in the inevitable increase in fly-tipping that will ensue? The Tories respond by saying that the service could be privatised. The only way this can be profitable is to reduce the wages and conditions of the operatives and cut the service to the bone. How is this any solution?
This is only a small matter in national terms but is yet another example of how the cuts are lowering local standards. This in what is reputed to be the fourth largest economy in the world......

[Stanley]

See THIS for a BBC report on the sad state of affairs in N Ireland where deserving patients are waiting years for operations. There is also another report of a separate investigation which has showed that almost every Trust has reported missing waiting time targets for the last 13 months on the trot. "Safe in our hands"??

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the installation of sprinkler systems in schools. I find it incredible that the rate of installation has fallen from 70% to 33% since 2014 and only 5% of schools in England have sprinklers.
Have you noted that the government pledge in the wake of Grenfell to fund the removal of cladding and installation of sprinklers in tower blocks would get funding has proved to be yet another hollow PR stunt. The Councils are told they must borrow and fund it themselves. Meanwhile, as many commentators have pointed out, the refurbishment of the Houses of Parliament includes a full sprinkler system. Are MP's lives more important than schoolchildren and council tenants?

[Stanley]

I think that we all suspected that THIS was common practice but here we have a National Audit office report that reveals how the practice is growing in the armed forces as budget cuts bite home. Cannibalising parts from other ships, planes and other kit is as old as the hills but is inefficient in economic terms and this report highlights that. This is not a good way to run a railway, let alone our armed forces!

[Stanley]

See THIS for a BBC report on the number of EU based nurses joining and leaving the register of UK nurses. It paints a bleak picture of decline since the referendum vote and I suspect is accelerating as the consequences of Brexit become more clear. The MOH says that they are training 25% more nurses but how long will it take for this to make a difference? There's an interest rate rise expected today and inflation is rising. The annual pay increment for the nurses, even under the relaxation of the cap, doesn't compensate for these increases, in effect it is another pay cut. How long can this go on?

[Stanley]

See THIS for a BBC report this morning of an interesting suggestion made by the head of the NHS in England. Quite simply, he is asking for the promise writ large on the side of the bus in the Brexit Leave campaign to be honoured, £350million a week extra funding. A reasonable request but one which will be totally ignored. Promises have no currency in the present political climate.

[Stanley]

Just to remind you......

The abandoned Council Office on the 'Post Office Corner' (Post office is now a betting shop of course....) reminds us what is happening. They have done a cheap and cheerful coat of white paint on the woodwork, no doubt looking for a buyer or tenant...... A commentary on the times.

[Tizer]

I hope the NHS boss keeps pressing his case and shames the Brexiteers...and it's £350M a week as claimed on the bus, not £35M, so even better!

[Stanley]

Thanks Tiz, I edited it..... When you look back the scale of the lying is breathtaking!

[Stanley]

See THIS for the latest serious warning about the effects of police cuts, this time about the damage being done to efforts to contain terrorism.
I think almost everyone has to agree that the budget cuts have reached, and perhaps gone beyond, the limit. This is repeated in all the public services and you have to wonder how long these services can survive in the face of pressure on staff and burn-out. It's a time bomb that is ticking......

[Big Kev]

Just to remind you......

The abandoned Council Office on the 'Post Office Corner' (Post office is now a betting shop of course....) reminds us what is happening. They have done a cheap and cheerful coat of white paint on the woodwork, no doubt looking for a buyer or tenant...... A commentary on the times.

The council still have the lease on the shop until April 2018...