November 2012

A Tory-UKIP pact: inept politics, but don’t rubbish (all) the stats

By:
Published November 30, 2012, in Politics


For a national party without a single MP and only a handful more members of principal councils than the Canvey Island Independents, almost any publicity counts as good publicity. For UKIP supporters, therefore, two national front-page stories on successive days in a triple by-election week must be close to bliss. For the rest of us, we can simply thank the wonders of coincidence, and try to make the most of it.

The Rotherham story broke first – with Education Secretary Michael Gove’s condemnation of the Council’s ‘indefensible’ removal of three east European children from their foster parents, on the grounds of the latter having joined the ‘racist’ UK Independence Party.

The justification of the R word can and will be much debated – but

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Seventy-five children from one special school chalk up £3 million legal bill

Birmingham school reveals huge cost of 'behavioural issues' pupils entering criminal justice system

By:
Published November 29, 2012, in Politics


Lindsworth School

Teenagers ran up a £3 million bill in court appearances, police investigations and supervision during the time they attended a Birmingham special school, the Chamberlain News can reveal.

The on-costs flowing from criminal activity while 75 pupils were at Lindsworth School in Kings Norton have been estimated at a minimum of £3,125,766 using a National Audit Office formula.

But a draft city council strategy setting out plans for Special Educational Needs provision says the true impact on the public purse of  Lindsworth pupils entering the criminal justice system is likely to be substantially more.

The estimate does not include full court or supervision costs or any undetected offences, nor does it include the social impact of offences committed, the council admitted.

Lindsworth is one of four Birmingham schools for children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (BESD). Eighteen months ago, 34 staff including teachers and carers were made redundant by the council after the school ran up a 3350,000 budget deficit. But there was

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Birmingham set to pioneer Heseltine growth plans

City expects to pilot radical transfer of powers and budgets from Whitehall to regions

By:
Published November 29, 2012, in Politics


Birmingham is likely to be chosen as the pilot city to investigate ways of implementing the economic growth agenda outlined in a wide-ranging report by Tory grandee Michael Heseltine.

In what’s being seen as a considerable coup, Lord Heseltine is expected to spend several weeks in Birmingham with a team of experts investigating how his ideas about giving more powers and budgets to local councils and enterprise partnerships would work in practice.

The former Trade and Industry Secretary intends to publish a report in March 2013 setting out ways in which Birmingham could be “freed from the shackles of Whitehall”, according to a spokesman for the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership (GBSLEP).

At the centre of Lord Heseltine’s deliberations will be ideas setting out how

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Mosquito told: you’ll have to work full time for £65,000 a year

Scrutiny body backs Deputy Police Commissioner appointment, but with reservations

By:
Published November 28, 2012, in Police Commissioners


Bob Jones and Yvonne Mosquito

The Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for the West Midlands has been told she should work full time in return for a £65,000 salary.

Yvonne Mosquito, a Birmingham city councillor, will be appointed deputy by Police Commissioner Bob Jones who initially said she would work only a 32-hour week.

But the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel is demanding several changes to Ms Mosquito’s proposed working arrangements.

At the top of a list of demands from the scrutiny body is a recommendation that the post should be full time and that Ms Mosquito must have “no additional office competing for time commitments”.

Other recommendations from the panel include:

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Leveson could give the press a foundation of responsibility

Kevin Johnson welcomes the prospect of a statutory underpinning of press regulation

By:
Published November 28, 2012, in Opinion


The build up to the judgement of the Leveson Inquiry is fascinating. Large parts of the national press, or their representatives on earth, are throwing the kitchen sink at trying to devalue the process, the man and at convincing David Cameron to ignore what he might say about statutory underpinning of press regulation.

There are plenty of comment pieces, blogs and tweets on the subject. But I’ll add my two pennw’th and highlight some contributions to the debate that are worth reading. (Besides, if we can run multiple pieces about bins on the Files, we can find room for another Leveson post).

As Ed Miliband has already , when the PM

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