PUBLIC SERVICE CUTS

[Stanley]

The Police federation have reacted to the report by HM Inspector of Constabulary forecasting that cuts will damage the ability of the police to work efficiently. See this LINK.

[EileenDavid]

Why are all these public bodies cutting at the bottom when it's pruning at the top that needs to be done. Too many chiefs not enough indians Eileen

[Stanley]

One of my ladies in the Cathedral of Choice told me yesterday that the management have announced that 400 hours a week must be cut off the staffing. Their latest computer system for rep[lenishment of stocks has resulted in Green Condor vanishing off the shelves.....

[Nolic]

Nasty things seem to be coming out from Tim Loughton the Children's Minister on the back of the Rochdale grooming scandal. Being used to justify another kick at children's homes and local authorities. Lots of anecdotes but little hard evidence to support draconian measures but then we'll decide the policy and look for evidence to support it.
Of greater concern however are the consultation documents looking at the revision of safeguarding guidelines. Even the architect of the policy - Eileen Munro says they are going too far. I await further information on developments. Nolic

[Stanley]

I'm glad we have you keeping an eye on it Comrade. The elephant in the room for me is the fact that most of the culprits seem to be of Asian ethnicity. I hate to even contemplate the long-term damage this could do to relations with the vast majority of perfectly decent immigrants. Would concentrating on deficiencies in care homes divert attention from this? Is there a hidden agenda?

[Nolic]

The big worry for me is that no-one has any hard evidence of numbers or incidence. The deputy Children's Commissioner Sue Berelowitz, has fallen into the trap of generalisation
"The case in Rochdale has brought the sexual exploitation of children sharply to public notice. Right now substantial numbers of children across the country are being sexually abused and exploited, including some children in care, by people from every social and ethnic background." When questioned about this on Newsnight recently and about another comment she made about children in every city, town, village and hamlet being groomed she had to admit to having no hard evidence to back these comments up.
I personally think that there is an issue for younger Asian males who do see young British girls as fair game largely because they have no outlet for sexual desires in their own community and I think there are many Asian elders who are just as worried about this as we are.
The government are quickly back peddling on a range of related issues. For example they are pointing to the low levels of training for staff in children's homes as a possible cause for failing to manage the current situation. They forget that they recently scrapped the Children's Workforce Development Council in their bonfire of the quango's and also that their own watchdog Ofsted is supposed to monitor staff training on inspections and have the power to take regulatory action if a home is failing in meeting staff qualification and experience levels.
No joined up thinking at all and it will get worse if this current consultation goes the government's way. The national framework for safeguarding children " Working Together" has been watered down from 700 pages to 68 as the government proposes to allow Local Safeguarding Children's Boards to develop their own policies and procedures. Potentially this means that 152 councils could each be working in different ways. A recipe for more tragedies. Nolic

[Stanley]

"I personally think that there is an issue for younger Asian males who do see young British girls as fair game largely because they have no outlet for sexual desires in their own community"
You put your finger squarely on one of the big problems of clashes in culture. Thirty years ago when I was in NY I used to have interesting conversations with the business ladies who gathered on the junction of E10th and 3rd Avenue. I'd noticed that around 09:00 a couple of school buses used to drive repeatedly around the block and they told me it was the after school run. The buses were used to take children from the more extreme Jewish community to school and had a curtain dividing the sexes. Once the kids were delivered to the school Jewish men would board the bus and pick up some business ladies with whom they could indulge themselves in any sexual practice denied them in their own community. These powerful undercurrents in society, and it's not limited by ethnicity, are what the social services are forced to try to contend with as the focus of attention of these men are the damaged and under-privileged children who are the easiest targets. Think of paedophiles and incest. These 'easy targets' are by definition the children that the care homes and other institutions have to try to protect. Whilst I am sure there are flaws in the institutional system it should be recognised that they are working under this handicap.
You say "The deputy Children's Commissioner Sue Berelowitz, has fallen into the trap of generalisation" and I believe you. Is this a defence mechanism forced upon her by the lack of knowledge of the depth and extent of these flaws in society, many a time fostered by a blind eye being turned. The case of internet paedophilia is a good example of how a modern technology has picked up on a widespread evil and everyone has been surprised by the extent of it. How much more would be discovered if a mechanism allowed us to see the scale of other areas of exploitation? I firmly believe that it is a massive problem that we haven't got to grips with properly and 'the trap of generalisation' isn't the way to any improvement. Of course, deep investigation and research would cost money.....

[Nolic]

The Child Exploitation and Online Protection arm of the police goes some way to guestimating the size of the problem of internet abuse in their latest report. Its quite frightening.http://www.ceop.police.uk/Documents/ceo ... 12_web.pdf Nolic

[Stanley]

I skimmed the report Comrade. Good if frightening example of the hidden underbelly of society. Good to see that work is being done.
My son in law works in a unit where severely disturbed children are mentored on a one to one basis. One of his charges goes off into the wide world unsupported this week. Think of the effect on him as he watches him leave. There is good work being done in the system but it doesn't get the headlines.....

[Stanley]

By coincidence, last night both C4 Dispatches and BBC1 Panorama did programmes on the firm ATOS to whom disability assessments have been outsourced. Some horrific examples of how the system is failing. The government admit that 30% of appeal cases are allowed but once people have won they are immediately put in the programme again, it's harassment! Advisers in the field rubbish the 30% figure and say that it is much higher. The general opinion is that the system is geared to get people off benefits, not actively help them to find their true potential. Thank God I am past such harassment....

[Nolic]

Earlier this year the Children's Workforce Development Council was scrapped as part of the cuts in the bonfire of the quango's. The DfE are having to re-circulate much of the excellent material produced by CWDC as part of their justification for claiming that staff in children's homes need better training. This is of course part of the response to the Rochdale grooming case.

Not a bad idea but have they not realised that their own national minimum standards for children's homes spells out minimum levels of qualification and experience for staff and managers and this is supposedly monitored by the most expensive quango of the lot - Ofsted? Nolic

[Stanley]

Comrade, are they too busy chasing target reductions to talk to each other?

[Tardis]

Lest we forget, the Toies introduced new things into the ATOS tests that allowed medical information to be looked at alongside the assessment.

I still think that it is flawed, but I do agree that if you can work then you should

[Stanley]

According to their questions, I am fit for full time work.....

[Whyperion]

Given the amount of cooking and light engineering you do I thought you were. Clearly questions are wrong as the ability to perform an activity is not matched to the duration of the activity , the recovery time after the completion of the activity, or the ability to perform the activity under 'stress' = employer or repetitive, conditions.

[Stanley]

I have received my polling card for the election of the Police and Crime Commissioner for the area. For the first time in my life I am unsure of what to do with my vote. I do not know enough about the candidates to make a rational decision. In addition I have no confidence in this process being non-political and have read enough history to recognise the dangers of too close a connection between the state and law enforcement. As things stand, the only sensible thing to do seems to be to abstain, a course I hate. Far better if we'd had a referendum to decide whether we want a change in the first place. I am deeply suspicious of the whole process.

[PanBiker]

I think nominations only closed on the 19th Stanley. My view on this is that it all seems rather rushed. There does not seem to have been any build up or explanation in detail on what effect this will have for the ordinary bloke in the street, even though they are being asked to vote someone into the role.

I had a hunt around the web earlier in the week and I found a website for the two Labour guys that are standing for chief and deputy and some information on the Tory candidate but scant little else really, the site put up to explain it all said more information would be forthcoming after nominations had closed. That's understandable I suppose but if you don't have access to a computer and the nous to use it you are instantly disenfranchised it would seem. Not a happy state of affairs in what we perceive to be a democracy. It will all be legal of course but you might as well cast your ballot blindfold with the level of information that has been made available so far.

[Whyperion]

I think there was some consultation on the proposals for elected police 'chiefs' (strategy as opposed to operations), it was called a general election.

[Stanley]

Ian, I agree with all that, the Coalition refused to finance mail shots to every household laying out the reasons and strategy behind the change. They gave the reason as 'economising'. There has been no meaningful public debate and the media are as guilty as the politicians. My problem is that I object to any politicisation of the police and the very fact that the candidates are divided on party lines indicates that this is what is happening despite protests to the contrary. There are too many examples in history of the terrible things that can happen to justice and law enforcement when this firewall breaks down.

[Stanley]

Lord Blair isn't my favourite ex-policeman, I think he was to close to his namesake. However, I find he's reinforcing my view of the police commissioner election, he is advising abstention. Perhaps he's been reading Oneguy!
My crap detector is whining softly. There is a possibility that the woeful record of the Coalition in relations with the police has resulted in an anti-politician mind set in the police forces. Something is triggering these retired officers to blow the whistle. Any reasonable observer had grave doubts about political control of the police during the Miner's Strike. Too many 'prosecutions' failed in the aftermath and the treatment of Scargill (like him or not he was right when he said over 30 pits were on the closure list) was a disgrace. Don't get me wrong, I have a very clear view of King Arthur and he was perhaps the miner's biggest handicap but he has as much right as anyone to be sympathised with when he was so obviously targeted by the government using the police as a weapon. Think back to Derek Hatton and the Stalker affair. Will we see revelations about these disturbing cases? One thing is certain, the austerity cuts to policing could be the trigger for retaliation. The law of Unintended Consequences.

[Tardis]

Under current rules of democracy if you abstain, your vote doesn't count

It also means that the value of my vote increases exponentially.

Sir Ian Blair should have been sacked earlier from the met and stripped of his right to a pension and fully disgraced IMHO.

[Stanley]

The damaging thing that is going to hurt the election most is low turnout. Abstaining contributes to this.
I got the leaflet yesterday. Strange that it arrived on the same day the distribution was announced. Press release timed to make the delivery look more efficient? I've read it and it gives me no guidance on my doubts and misgivings. What I want to do is protest against the concept. You're right Ian, this is fag packet governance designed to deflect attention from more serious matters. This is not the time for making such a fundamental change.

[Stanley]

It struck me that the number of serving police officers blowing the whistle on Hillsborough and Orgreave could be an indication of dis-satisfaction in the force as a consequence of the cuts.

[Stanley]

Winterbourne View proves to be a slow burner. Apart from the fact that Panorama was credited with triggering the investigation when they sent an undercover reporter in and this raising questions about the CQC, we now get reports of an investigation into allegations of bad treatment of the transferred patients in their new homes.

[Tardis]

It struck me that the number of serving police officers blowing the whistle on Hillsborough and Orgreave could be an indication of dis-satisfaction in the force as a consequence of the cuts.

More likely to be a 'it wasn't me'