PUBLIC SERVICE CUTS

[Stanley]

I applaud the news of the pay rises for essential public service personnel but deplore the fact that it has to come out of existing budgets. This is madness and storing up even more problems for the future.

[Tizer]

`Labour wants to end outsourcing of council services' LINK
I'm behind them all the way on this. I've had too many experiences of problems due to the subcontracting of council services. The latest, though relatively minor, is the long waiting time to get our new sticker for the green garden waste wheelie bin. We let the subscription lapse when we moved here because the garden was being landscaped and we didn't need it. Now we're getting waste again so we paid online on the council web page to start it again. The men won't collect until we have the new sticker on the bin. We waited...and waited...and missed a collection due to lack of sticker. I phoned the council and they said it takes at least 10 working days for the sticker to be sent out. I pointed out that I can subscribe in 5 minutes on their web site so it's ludicrous to then have to wait for two weeks.. Reply: `Oh but the payment has to be processed'. Me: `It's validated immediately by the card company when I place the order.' Council: `But we have to send it to the company that deals with waste collections'. Me: `It's paid for when I pressed the Payment button on your web site; all you have to do is forward my address details to the company and they could print and send out the sticker on the same day. Council: Oh no, they can't do that. At that point I gave up and made a cup of tea!

[Stanley]

Couldn't agree more Tiz. Worth remembering it was Sir Keith Joseph and his hypnotic influence on M Thatcher that kicked the outsourcing and privatisation bug off. It was his obsession with Hayek and Friedman that drove his beliefs. Reagan fell for it as well. This what led to deregulation of financial services and 2008 and yet the establishment still leans towards it. It looked like a quick easy fix and more profits for the lobbyists. In consequence we lost control of the Commanding Heights of the economy. Fill in the dots......

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC account of the latest report into Feltham Young Offenders Prison. Brexit has meant that matters like this have not had priority, the faults have been obvious for many years. Add to this cuts to funding and we have reached the stage where the Inspector has had to use the strongest sanctions open to him. All right, these are very challenging youngsters but legally they are still children and this matter must be addressed immediately. How much priority will it have with a new Justice Minister?

[Stanley]

Couldn't find the report on BBC but see THIS Nottingham News report which is basically the same message about a 20% rise in food parcels during summer holidays, this in the last year.
This is where action is needed Mr Johnson, hungry children.

[Stanley]

The Parliamentary Home Affairs Committee has demanded that Johnson take personal responsibility for the shocking increase in violence involving young children. Cuts leading to less youth services are one of the reasons cited for the deterioration. (LINK)

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report that gives definitive proof of the failure of the Tory 2014 government promise to build 200,000 "starter homes" for people under the age of 40, sold at a 20% discount. Not a single one has been built.
Labour says ministers have wasted years and millions of pounds. But the government says it has a "great track record" on housing and has delivered more than 430,000 affordable homes since 2010. I leave it to you to make up your own minds. I think it is a disgrace and a blot on our society.

[Whyperion]

There was some critism of Starter Homes as being of a smaller than present minimum standards of size, i think developers found what was most profitable was to stick with the help to buy scheme ones. We have a small project that if it comes to fruition may have funding for starter homes as it is an ackward multi-use site and its the only way to fit what is basically a couple of bed-sits into.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on the case of Joseph McCann, the man released 'due to a probation error' who was convicted yesterday on 37 serious offences.
There is quite a lot of discussion about this and more than a suspicion that the probation services, whilst culpable, aren't the whole reason. Attention is being drawn to cuts to the Justice System as a whole, the botched 'efficiency reforms' made by Grayling and the failure of subsequent Tory ministers to address the obvious failings in the system. As Jeremy Corbyn said the other day on a different but related matter, "You can't protect the public on the cheap". It looks as though this could be what has happened, a failure of multiple parts of the system.

[Tizer]

This should strengthen the argument for keeping guards on trains...
`Train emergency alarm delays rise as more passengers call for help' LINK

[Stanley]

I have always had sympathy with the union argument that a point of contact, the guard, is essential for many reasons. The company's aim of reducing wages by cutting staff is transparent but consider the advice quoted in the article "Consult a member of staff". How do you do that if there isn't one?
All part of the current fashion for cutting the quality of service to get costs down. We see it through all the public services. I noted yesterday in discussions about crime that one common theme mentioned by all the independent informants was cuts to police numbers, The justice system, youth services and general social services. In the end it will have to be addressed.

[Tizer]

The following problem is probably at least partly due to public service cuts or insufficient funding. Some time ago The Times did an undercover investigation of the the national fraud reporting service, Action Fraud. It found may failings and that staff mocked victims and misled people into thinking they were dealing with police. A report of has appeared of the subsequent official investigation by an ex-Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner. It doesn't seem to be in the news yet except for The Times and the BBC: BBC

[Stanley]

I heard that report on the BBC Tiz. I think it started in commerce where companies looked to cutting the cost of supporting customers, experting call centres to areas with cheap wage rates and thick accents. Long waiting times helped as well. A good example is the police 101 help line. Virtually useless here, I have never had a connection on the infrequent occasions when I needed it.
No surprise really, cut funding and service suffers. QED.

[Tizer]

I tried in the past reporting attempted scams through their web site but couldn't do it unless I had suffered a fraud and had details of the perpretrator! They're reactive rather than proactive - and not even very reactive.

[Stanley]

But when a question is asked in the House the representative can stand up and say that the service is in place, even if it isn't working! Modern Caring Government.

[Tizer]

While Boris tells us how great we are...
`'Obscene' 18-month delay for DWP complaints' LINK

[Stanley]

Yes I saw that and surprise surprise all these bottlenecks, waits and delays mean the government pays out less. Look at Universal Credit for another example or applications for re-assessment when you have lost a disability benefit. The real scandal is the affect on people's lives, health and finances. It's a disgrace.

[plaques]

Its likely that we are all missing the plot. It looks like we are following the American model of minimal social support instead of being given handouts from the state we should be relying on the good will of Philanthropists and Charities. As Iain Duncan Smith proposed. 'give them so little it will force them into work'. Not only does it save money it gets rid of all these commie socialist thoughts.

[Stanley]

Or humanitarian instincts.....
Remember 'cradle to the grave'?
I learned yesterday that Family Allowance is now means tested.

[Tizer]

`Wales tax rises considered to pay for growing care costs' Wales care
`Health Minister Vaughan Gething is set to call for "honesty" and a "grown-up debate" about increasing care costs...'.
It's time we did the same throughout the UK, not just to fund care but to get the rest of our services and infrastructure up to standard. It can't be done without more money.

[plaques]

Social care tax smacks of socialism, The better off may be disposed to look after their own relatives but its pushing the boat out too far asking them to subscribed to other peoples care. After all its their fault for getting old, nothing to do with me, they should be made to look after themselves. Compassionate Conservatism.

On a smaller scale. The green garden waste collection is due to recommence any time soon. When it first started it was totally free. Then someone spotted that it wasn't part of the EU scheme and that the wealthy footballers in Alderley Edge could well afford a small collection fee. Now that everyone in Pendle is on footballers wages we all have to pay a set fee. This has gradually increased from free to £30 per bin for nine months of the year on a two weekly interval. Bearing in mind collection charges for items not classed as normal domestic items is now £10 for up to 3 items irrespective of size. So far we have not been told if by leaving the EU there will be similar charges on other recyclable items.

[Stanley]

It's a pretty safe bet that despite all the crocodile tears all we will get is what the justice minister said yesterday about the catastrophe that is swamping the Justice System and probation in particular. "We are investing record amounts blah blah blah" ( Remember Grayling.......)
As I have said many times, society is suffering and being degraded. The root of phenomenon like the radicalisation of people like the man who was shot the other day is an underbelly of young people who have been neglected all their lives, education, services and opportunities. This will get worse, not better and is the price of neglect.
We reap what we sow, these people don't understand that.

[PanBiker]

The root of phenomenon like the radicalisation of people like the man who was shot the other day is an underbelly of young people who have been neglected all their lives, education, services and opportunities. This will get worse, not better and is the price of neglect.
We reap what we sow, these people don't understand that.

This event does beg the question of the cost of having the guy closely followed by armed anti terrorism officers. Surely on a purely cost and safety point of view it would have been better keeping him in gaol. Mind you he only got 3 years in total for a terrorist offence?

Why not have mandatory 30 year or more sentences for terrorism and make offenders serve the full term. This applies right across the board, the sentencing tariffs need serious overhaul. Never understood why when they sentence someone to life they can come out after 5 years? Others like this latest bloke automatic review after half his sentence. We give too many custodial sentences to petty criminals and first time offenders. Clear all the minor offenders out of prison and use the accommodation for the really bad folk. Mind you this would require a properly funded support network for re educating the petty criminals.

[Stanley]

I agree with you Ian up to a point but at the same time we have to address the root causes.
I remember once being asked what sports I played in the evening after work. I said none. We were too bloody tired! This would also apply largely to the possibility of being radicalised. 'The devil finds work for idle hands'. There is much truth in that old saying. If the individuals had a stake in society like a family to support and rent or mortgage charges to service they wouldn't be spending so much time in places where they could be radicalised by rogue Imams. Look at the riots that inflamed the country in 2011..... Another consequence of the same syndrome.

[PanBiker]

Indeed,lots of young folk don't feel "worth". If you are on a zero hours contract at minimum wage, what exactly have you to look forward to? Add to that religious fanaticism and you have perfect weapons in the making or at the very least the temptation to fall into bad practices such as petty crime. I agree that full time proper work and apprenticeships are and always were the way forward. Couple this with National Service from an even earlier era and you end up with more rounded individuals despite the protestations of many that went through the system. Doubt if we will ever see either regime again but they did work.