Havering’s People Overview and Scrutiny Committee, 5th March, 2024 (part two)

This agenda included a Housing item and the School Performance analysis. The latter is the focus of this blog.

Matt Stanton (1 hour47)¹expressed concerns about how wide the variations in achievement between schools are. He asked the Director what was needed to rectify this problem. Trevor Cook replied ‘Context’ was needed to understand the issue. This is pivotal as it implies underachievement is inevitable. It chimed with remarks about fortunate authorities who suffered less from Covid-19 and had superior funding.

Praising Hall Mead and Redden Court damaged his argument. In 2019 both were below average.²They’re now average. This happened during five challenging years. Their performance has improved in the Covid-19 and Funding Crisis years.

The 2019 list of eleven below average schools has reduced to six in 2024.⁴ Emerson Park has dropped into the ‘below average’ group since 2019. A third of Havering’s secondary schools are below average (6 out of 12) and five schools left the 2019 list.

Matt’s concerns were echoed by Frankie Walker, Mandy Anderson and Judith Holt. Judith believed every Havering school should be above average. She refuted Trevor Cook’s response about Covid-19 and Funding. Her actual doubts related to whether his explanations were correlation or causation. All of Havering’s schools share the same challenges but nonetheless there are massive differences in outcomes.

Trevor Cook is soothing. However, members were in a combative mood looking for action. Some academies are successful but others are weak. A third of Havering’s schools are below average, which is far too many.

Notes

1 Agenda for People Overview & Scrutiny Sub Committee on Tuesday, 5th March, 2024, 7.00 pm | The London Borough Of Havering Go to webcast and then to one hour 47 for the beginning of his contribution

2 Havering and Redbridge: A Tale of Two Boroughs – Politics in Havering 29^th Nov 2019

3 All schools and colleges in Havering – Compare school and college performance data in England – GOV.UK (compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk) This gives the current status of every school in Havering.

4 Schools leaving the 2019 list are Abbs Cross, Hornchurch High, Royal Liberty, Redden Court and Hall Mead

Havering’s People Overview and Scrutiny Committee, 5th March 2024 (part one)

This committee is a tragic commentary on the failure of three unnamed councillors to fulfil their obligations. There are three vacancies on this committee, two years after the 2022 election.¹

The People committee should have 12 members. It has nine. Two HRA and an East Havering RA councillor have let the side down. This damages the committee’s ability to do its statutory duty. Topic groups can’t be formed because there are too few councillors to fill places.

Six HRA councillors aren’t on any of the three Overview and Scrutiny Committees. They are: Councillors Edwards, Glass, Godwin, Misir,² Williams and Wood. In the six months from 19^th September 2023, five councillors had a maximum commitment of five meetings.³John Wood’s commitment was three meetings.

Remembering that councillors are paid £200 a week, this ‘workload’ isn’t onerous. The vacancies on the People committee could be filled without inconveniencing anyone. Meanwhile, Darren Wise, East Havering RA, hasn’t got a place on any Overview and Scrutiny committee. He will fit in beautifully on the People committee to make up the numbers.

Overview and Scrutiny is central to local democracy. It is outrageous that this committee isn’t at full strength. Havering is being sold short.

Addendum: Attendance

Ray Morgon and Gillian Ford should get a grip. Two HRA members* were absent without substitutions. Given HRA’s two vacancies they were actually minus four councillors.

*Jacqueline McArdle and Julie Wilkes

Notes

1 Agenda for People Overview & Scrutiny Sub Committee on Tuesday, 5th March, 2024, 7.00 pm | The London Borough Of Havering

2 Robby Misir has just joined HRA and so the sympathetic figure should be five.

3 Councillors attendance summary, 19 September 2023 – 13 March 2024 | The London Borough Of Havering

Havering Council: Budget Setting – 28th February, 2024

Question: Havering is going bankrupt.¹ What did councillors do in the budget?

Answer: Dug a deeper financial hole.

(They took a government loan of £54m, without increasing Council Tax to pay the £3.4m annual interest therefore adding to the shortfall.)

Chris Wilkins (11 minutes)² His dreadful speech showed a tragic lack of awareness.

Keith Prince (29) Two minutes of ‘Thank you’ name checks was ‘padding’. A more-or-less content free speech followed.

Keith Darvill (44) The government loan is expensive – £3.4m in interest – but the ‘only’ option. Otherwise, he made sound political points.

Martin Goode (56) His speech was hesitant and expressed dismay at the loan proposition.

Phillip Ruck (1 hour 05) He discussed the loan’s implications. The £54m will be consumed in two years followed by a death spiral!

Judith Holt (1:33) She pointed out the iniquity of the Residents Parking Permit for those living in terraced houses without off-street parking.

Barry Mugglestone (1:39) Oblivious to budget problems. He loves 30 minutes free car parking in Hornchurch, where he lives, and £900,000 for five police officers.

Mandy Anderson (1:44) A considered speech. The budget is a ‘valiant effort’, which is damning it with faint praise.

David Taylor (1:47) He said the budget involved choices. He illustrated this with the million-pound subsidy for Hornchurch carparking.

Martin Goode (1:53) He liked the idea of government commissioners. Nothing would change as the council had no control anyway. The loan was dreadful.

Keith Darvill (1:58) Havering should grow the economy and, therefore, get more council tax. This is ‘a wish and a prayer’ economics.

Keith Prince (2:03) More nit-picking.

Ray Morgon (2:08) Summary remarks claimed it was a “budget of necessity”, which sort-of conceded Goode’s point.

Best Speech: Phillip Ruck

Runner-ups: Mandy Anderson and David Taylor

Audacious Proposition: Dilip Patel – a lottery to pay off the £54m shortfall

Wooden Spoon: Chris Wilkins

Notes

1 Havering Council Tax: Is It Too Low? – Politics in Havering This is four years old but the principal points hold good

2 Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) Time refers to when speech began

Havering Council Meeting, 17th January 2024 (part one)

Keith Prince had a tour de force (1 hour18)¹ His motion was opportunist (see addendum) building on the anger that SEN children’s school transport should be ‘reviewed’. It’s believed this will reduce the quality of the service. (A clue is a possible £1.4m saving over four years.).²

Keith said HRA and Labour amendments were out-of-order. This isn’t a technicality. If they were out-of-order, HRA and Labour would be caught in a cleft stick. They’d have to vote FOR the motion and lose £1.4m. Alternatively, vote AGAINST and show they were ruled by accountants.³

The Monitoring Officer rescued them. In an excruciating passage he wriggled⁴ and produced a ‘solution’. HRA’s amendment was accepted and the review of SEN transport continues its ‘consultation’ period.

Oscar Ford (2:08) kept remarking on ‘cost effective’ transport and Havering’s financial position. Unfortunately, an option is Uber. Robert Benham (2:13) noted Uber allocates drivers randomly and many children need continuity or get distressed. David Taylor (2:28) commented on Uber’s surge pricing mechanism, which makes predictions impossible. Ray Morgon (2:41) quoted a comment from ‘someone’ who said cabbies were making ‘thousands of pounds’ from SEN transport to bolster his argument.⁵ No evidence, no names.

Keith Darvill (2:21) politicised the issue in a telling speech.

Addendum: The Conservative Motion

“This Council calls on the Cabinet not to proceed with the proposed cuts and changes in service, proposed in the Home to School Transport consultation. It further recognises that such cuts would have a detrimental impact on both children and parents, causing them increased stress and anxiety.” (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Council, 17/01/2024 19:30 (havering.gov.uk) p39

Notes

1 Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) All times refer to this webcast The item begins at 1 hour 18 minutes and finished at 2:01 hours = 33 minutes of debate.

2 Several councillors noted they’d spoken to protestors outside the Town Hall. Specifically, Cllrs. Persaud, Taylor and Wise who made comments in their speeches

3 Typically this is known as a lose-lose situation

4 Giving a minute-by-minute timeline to ‘explain’ why the cock-up wasn’t his fault. And then discovered an arcane sub-clause ‘rarely’ used to defend the indefensible.

5 This is an example of Confirmation Bias where *evidence* is used to support an argument and countervailing points are ignored or downplayed

Havering’s Cabinet Meeting, 10th January 2024

Scrutiny of council policies and contracts depends on councillors doing their homework. Scrutiny is hard work and can feel like a waste of time. At this meeting every decision passed without a vote. Was that reasonable?

Item 5 should have been the virtually silent Paul Middleton’s great moment. Astonishingly, the item wasn’t *ready*. The current IT contract ends on 7^th March 2024. Delay could mean the contract will be renewed without scrutiny. I hope the delay isn’t a way of avoiding scrutiny. The Horizon scandal has shown cosy relationships can be disastrous and expensive.

At this meeting every decision was passed with virtually no discussion. Only Keith Darvill chipped in on an item that wasn’t his.

Martin Goode attends meetings, despite not being a cabinet member. He does his homework, asks hard questions and isn’t fobbed off. He identified a difficulty in the NHS partnership for rehabilitation services. NHS have committed £900,000 but only for one year. This is crucial as the contract lasts three years plus extensions. “What happens in year 2 if the NHS don’t continue the £900K?” The unfortunate answer is that those benefitting would cease to receive the service.

Keith Prince believes the rehabilitation service saves the NHS and LBH money. This might be wishful thinking as there’s nothing in the papers about savings.

Keith continued on another item by asking about the lack of toilet facilities for bus drivers at terminus points. The answer was ‘tough luck’. He let it pass.

Note

1 Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) This webcast is about 30 minutes long

Havering’s People Overview and Scrutiny Committee, 5th December 2023

Jason Frost¹ made a convincing speech in December’s council meeting when requesting that his committee be sub-divided because of its overwhelming responsibilities. He was brushed off by Ray Morgon. This 27 minutes meeting² proved Ray correct. Jason’s absence added further substance to Ray’s opinion.³

Frankie Walker chaired the meeting with aplomb.

There was an excellent discussion about the ‘hub’ for autistic adults. It’s in Romford Mall, the lease of which is very expensive and consumes most of its grant. Bryan Vincent (@17)²said only 3.1% of adult autism sufferers use the facility, which means it fails 96.9%. Officers said this challenge will be met by the hub becoming ‘mobile’, using council facilities. Matt Stanton (@22)⁴ made the critical point that autism sufferers had an unemployment rate of 78%. He speculated this was due to poor support from DWP and the council. His insight was confirmed by the director who said that strategies were in place to correct this systemic failure. Matt built on a comment by Darren Wise (@15) about financing and forward visibility so proper planning could take place. The director supported them, describing multi-year contracts.

Gillian Ford (@9) attended the meeting. Neither she nor the chair understood her constitutional role. She entered the scrutiny debate, which is inappropriate. Cabinet members can only answer policy questions at scrutiny committees. The best mechanism for this is an unambiguous Q&A session. There haven’t been Q&A sessions in any Overview and Scrutiny committee and they ought to be introduced.

Notes

1 Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) Jason Frost (1:40) Time refers to the webcast See Havering Council Meeting, 22nd November, 2023 (part two) – Politics in Havering

2 Agenda for People Overview & Scrutiny Sub Committee on Tuesday, 5th December, 2023, 7.00 pm | The London Borough Of Havering Times refer to the YouTube webcast available here

3 Along with cllrs Benham and Wilks.

4 Cllr Stanton isn’t on the committee but attended for the scrutiny discussion

Havering’s Half Baked Budget Consultation, 2024-5

“Even with the difficult proposals put forward in this consultation, the Council still has a budget deficit of £12 million.”¹ (my emphasis)

Only half of the savings/revenue increases are available for consultation. Another £12m is floating about. The consultation is farcical. Voters are expected to see half a budget and take the other half on ‘trust’. In other words, agree half a budget and get £12m of cuts sight unseen.

The £12 million deficit demands an 8% council tax increase ABOVE what’s proposed.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Huge deficits need bold, imaginative transformative options. Avoiding bankruptcy in February 2024, requires brave leadership.²

Instead, the Administration has lost hope.³ The majority of the £11.93m cuts and savings programme is contained within five items, none of which are sufficient for the task in hand.⁴ Financial juggling and increased parking charges, for example, are 49% of the £11.93m. Toxic options, which would solve the challenge, are avoided. Havering waits for government Commissioners to do the unpopular dirty work.⁵

Keith Darvill⁶ said borrowing £12m from the government is “massive.” Massive means: £12m at 7.1% (RPI + 1%) for 20 years = £17m interest.⁷Mortgaging future generations for a year’s deficit. The elephant in the room? 2025-6, 2026-7 and so on.

A genuine consultation should offer a 13% increase in council tax OR brutal cuts in services. Undemocratic play-acting is absolutely unacceptable in a mature democracy.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

This is a government inspired *perfect storm* for local authorities, not just Havering.

“I don’t believe that there is a conspiracy to destroy local government. But I think we are sleepwalking towards a position where councils just won’t be viable.”

He said that while assets could be sold off in the short term, it would lead to a big transfer of wealth of public assets into private hands.”⁸

I think there is a conspiracy to privatise local authorities and loot their assets.

Notes

1 Havering Budget Consultation 2024 – London Borough of Havering Council – Citizen Space

2 Romford Recorder² headline was: ‘Council could declare bankruptcy in 3 months’. 24^th November 2023 p3 Reporter Josh Mellor

3 The consultation document is here Budget Leaflet.pdf (havering.gov.uk) The summary statement is here 1 APPENDIX A SUMMARY SAVINGS PROPOSALS.pdf (havering.gov.uk)

4 Ibid (Appendix A) The top 5 account for 49% (£5.85m) the other 51% is 35 items the smallest of which is £23K

5 Reducing the library service to two libraries, closing Romford market and ending the 30 minutes free period for parking are obvious starting places.

6 Romford Recorder 24^th November 2023 p3

7 United Kingdom Retail Price Index YoY (tradingeconomics.com) RPI = Retail prices index

8 Jeremy Hunt’s budget cuts spark fears of ‘existential threat’ to English councils (msn.com)

Havering Council Meeting, 22nd November, 2023 (part two)

The principal debate wasn’t about Havering’s impending bankruptcy. Conservatives chose, instead, to discuss Romford Market. This illustrates why Havering is in a mess after 20 years of Conservative rule.

In the 1990s Arthur Latham listened to the traders and spent £1,000s on cobble stones and £1,000s removing them because shoppers hated them. Traders spoke, Latham listened: it was an expensive mistake.

David Taylor (@1:06)¹discussed the survival of the market. Adopting a conspiracy theory, he accused HRA of attacking Romford itself. Graham Williamson (@1:11) pointed out the market was very costly.

Romford Market is in a death spiral. The,

“….number of traders was in long-term decline with 339 traders in 1985, 266 traders in 1995 and 170 traders in 2005. By 2015 the number of regular traders had declined to 90.”² Reducing once more to 60 in 2023 according to Williamson.

Veteran councillor Michael White (@1:29) said blaming Conservatives for doing nothing after 20 years in power was unfair. Timothy Ryan (@1:32) recounted stories about his childhood. Ray Morgon (@1:35) was surprisingly enthusiastic.

Conservatives demanding subsidies for lame ducks is strange. The Administration refused to say that subsidising Romford Market was throwing good money after bad. This is despite the fact that Romford Market has been on life-support for 30 years.

What would Margaret Thatcher do?

Addendum: Margaret Thatcher on lame duck industries

“…her policies had consigned out-dated, lame-duck industries to the nostalgia books…”³Ironically she’s revered by Romford’s Conservatives, especially their MP.

Notes

1 Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) Times in brackets indicate when speeches begin and relate to this webcast

2 Romford Market – Wikipedia

3 An economic dawn in the wastelands | The Northern Echo

Havering Council Meeting, 22nd November, 2023 (part one)

This meeting was amazing. It pivoted round councillor behaviour, slacker councillors and the failure of Overview and Scrutiny.

Councillor Behaviour

The Mayor (@18)¹ was displeased by David Taylor’s off-hand manner towards her. This was quickly followed by her rebuking the chamber for chatter whilst she was speaking. (@21)

The Leader was surrounded by councillors treating the chamber like a canteen. Brian Vincent ate throughout the meeting, Gerry O’Sullivan brought a mug into the chamber and Oscar Ford had a flask, from which he drank repeatedly. An appalling example to impressionable children watching.

Slacker Councillors

Jason Frost (@1:40) made the important point that his committee should scrutinise 70% of the budget but it can’t do it effectively. His committee is allocated about 20 hours per year which is far too little time for the workload. He proposed that his committee should become two scrutiny committees to cope. Ray Morgon (@1:44) denied Frost’s task was impossible. A case of defending the indefensible.

Then things turned nasty. Keith Darvill (@1:51) launched a blistering attack on slacker councillors.² He said another Overview and Scrutiny committee wouldn’t happen because of unwilling councillors. The sad fact is that some councillors are semi- detached in their commitment to their democratic responsibilities. They want the honour of being a councillor and £200 a week, without fulfilling their duties. Frankie Walker (@1:54) gave forceful support to Darvill. Keith Prince (@1:59) noted that inadequate scrutiny was a common theme amongst failing councils. Ray denigrated the sincerity of Jason Frost’s proposal.

Notes

1 Annotator Player (sonicfoundry.com) All times (@ 18) in brackets relate to this webcast

2 For councillor attendance see Councillors attendance summary, 2 June 2023 – 25 November 2023 | The London Borough Of Havering The current leader in the competition for the Slacker of the Year Cup is Sue Ospreay, with 33% attendance