FAIRNESS COMMISSION MEETING ON EDUCATION - 25.8.15

Three presentations were made on the subject of 'Closing the Educational Attainment Gap in Dundee'

Dr. Edward Sousa of Strathclyde University argued, what to my mind was a highly questionable proposition, that "Who you are in Scotland is far more important than what school you attend."  He was however making the valid point that parental involvement and encouragement is important - as are 'rich experiences' for children

On 'aspirations and expectations' he suggested that aspirations of parents and pupils across income groups are often similar, but expectations are quite different.

 

Sara Spencer of the Child Poverty Action Group gave us many insights into their report 'Cost of the School Day' which is to be published on 2nd October.  She illustrated 'cost' barriers to full participation in school life.  Often even short school trips and the small costs of clubs and fun events are impossible for some.  Costs are complex but the Commission agreed that we should be looking at the desirability of increasing the clothing grant.

 

Paul Clancy of Dundee City Council Education Department outlined some of the initiatives being pursued by the City Council to lessen the attainment gap.  He also spoke of 'placing requests' which have resulted in 1 in 3 children in Dundee attending schools outwith their catchment areas.  When asked what effect the ending of these placement requests might have, he replied, "Dramatic, but it wouldn't be a popular policy!"

 

If the Fairness Commission is to achieve change then it cannot be afraid of championing unpopular policies.  It must ask of what it proposes, "Is it right and is it fair to those who are least able to articulate their needs?"  In this case we must ask ourselves, "Do we wish to push for an end to parental placing requests?  What benefits would accrue?  What would be lost?"

SHAME ON US ALL

A selection of headlines from this week's newspapers must make us wonder what kind of country we live in, what kind of nation are we?

"NATIONAL LIVING WAGE WILL 'DAMAGE CARE HOMES'"

 

In a letter to the Chancellor, the five biggest providers of care homes (Four Seasons Health Care: BUPA; HC-One; Care UK and Barchester) claim that the National Living Wage could result in a catastrophic collapse in the number of care homes.  The companies said that they supported the National Living Wage (put that to music) but efforts would be needed to rescue the care system.  The UK Homecare Association made a similar warning last month, saying services to care for people in their own homes would become 'unviable'.  The Government said, (don't hold your breath) social care 'would be considered' as part of the spending review later this year.  Clearly, the care and dignity of our fellow citizens who are elderly or disabled is valued at no more than the minimum wage that we can get away with.  Shame on us!

 

 

"ONLINE GAMBLING HELPS RANK GROUP CASH IN"

 

 

The business pages report as 'good news' that the Rank Group has cashed in with a 19% rise in pre-tax profit to £74.1 million in the year to June.

 

There has been concern for some time over the growth of betting shops in our high streets and the powerlessness of local authorities to do anything about it.  However, in the figures issued by Rank, revenue in betting shops grew by only 2% compared with 21% in digital.  Chief Executive Henry Birch said, "We are particularly pleased that the strong digital growth continues."  Maybe in our concern for the proliferation of betting shops we have had our focus in the wrong place.  At least in betting shops there is company and, hopefully, some responsible staff who might encourage the over-hyped punter to 'go canny'.  But what curbs exist for the person alone in the bedroom at the computer with 24 hour betting available at the click of a mouse?  Heavens above, 'thanks' to in-play betting, at five past three on a Saturday afternoon I could place a bet on who is going to score the next goal for Partick Thistle....now there's a route to throwing your money away!  But I shouldn't joke, the income generated by the gambling industry dwarfs the expenditure on the care of the elderly.  That is wrong.  That is a sin.  Shame on us all!

 

 

"WILL THE DWP NOW FACE SANCTIONS FOR UNTRUTHS"

 

 

Speaking of sin, what about the revelations this week that the DWP have been inventing people in an attempt to continue the delusion that the welfare changes are reasonable, fair and welcome.  Far from apologising, the department has come out with some guff about the need to positively promote the worth of the sanctions regime.  To you, me and most folk, they are claiming that its OK for them to lie.  Were a claimant at the Jobcentre found to be giving false information, it would immediately be identified as lying and the claimant sanctioned.  Can the man at the top, the wicked and/or hapless Iain Duncan Smith not be sanctioned?  A withdrawal of his ministerial salary might be a start.



DUNDEE FESTIVAL FOR PEACE

The focus of the Dundee Fairness Commission so far has always ended up with issues of poverty and lack of resources.  There is no greater, nor blasphemous, waste of resources, than the eye-watering sums spent on weapons of war and oppression. Trillions and trillions of pounds, dollars, euros and every other currency under the sun are spent on the manufacture, use and threat of use of weapons ranging from hand guns to nuclear bombs. 

One of the annual delights in my life is to go to the Duncan of Jordanstone degree show.  I've been going for the past 20 years and never once been disappointed.  The range of imagination that fires the artistry of the students is utterly amazing.  One student this year had an exhibition illustrating what he perceived about the world's trouble spots - he gave examples from the Middle East, the Central African Republic, the Philippines and Pakistan amongst others.  There wasn't a weapon at all in his display, it was all examples of heavy engineering.  He said, and I think I quote him properly, "Wars are as much about engineering and economics as about actual warfare."  At the time I knew instantly I was listening to wisdom.

This year, the Dundee Festival for Peace comprises various events between 6th August (Hiroshima Memorial Day) and 21st September which id the U.N International Day for Peace.

Details of individual events can be found on the dundeefestival4peace Facebook page or by emailing dundeefestival4peace@gmail.com

 

WHAT IS LABOUR FOR?

It's a question ringing round the United Kingdom and probably nowhere more painfully than in Labour's so-called heartlands in Scotland.  What is Labour for?  First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asks, "If Labour is not about standing up for the vulnerable, trying to lift people out of poverty and help those who are working hard to make ends meet, then what on earth is labour for?"

 

Can I put it more succinctly.  If Labour is not a crusade for social justice, it is nothing.  At the moment the Party seems depressingly moving towards proving it is nothing.

DEEP FRIED MARS BARS

Contrary to the belief that the deep fried Mars bar is part of a Glaswegian's staple diet, I am a Glaswegian who not only has never had a deep fried Mars bar, I don't personally know anyone else who has.  Never the less, I cannot think what must have possessed the bright sparks in Aberdeenshire Council to want the Stonehaven chip shop to take down their 'Birthplace of the World Famous Deep Fried Mars Bar' sign. 

 

I was chaplain to the staff of Tayside Regional Council and then Dundee City Council for over 15 years and during these years I was impressed over and over and over again by their commitment to the well being of the City.  But even the best of folk sometimes make the daftest of decisions.  "Dundee - City of Discovery" was, I believe, a wonderful, pithy and memorable slogan, yet, at great expense, a number of years ago, it was decided to bin 'City of Discovery' for the far less memorable title, "One City - Many Discoveries".  Can this error not now be rectified?  Its been allowed to run for long enough, can we not get back "DUNDEE, CITY OF DISCOVERY "?

UNIVERSAL, UNCONDITIONAL 'BASIC' INCOME

The Dutch city of Utrecht is about to start on an experiment which hopes to determine whether society works effectively with a universal, unconditional 'basic' income.  The City has paired up with the University to establish whether the concept of a 'basic' income can work in real life.  From January, some Utrecht job-seekers will receive around €1,300 a month with no strings attached.  Critics are arguing that job-seekers will not try as hard to get a job; the proponents of the experiment believe that more people will be a little happier and will find a job anyway.

The population of Utrecht (330,000) is about double that of Dundee, but in our city where the very opposite of 'no strings attached' prevails and is manifested in a bewildering welter of sanctions, the Fairness Commission should encourage the City Council to watch the Utrecht experiment closely.

"FROM WELFARE TO WORK"

"From Welfare to Work" was the headline on Thursday's Daily Telegraph.  It was just one of a number of banner headlines reacting to Wednesday's budget.  With its usual right-wing hyperbole the Daily Express trumpeted "HOORAY! ITS PAY RISES ALL ROUND".  Mind you, if you are working in the public sector your pay rise will be limited to 1% - not too much hooray there.  A so-called 'Living Wage' of £9 per hour, but by 2020 what might it be worth?  By this morning when the number-crunching experts had gone to work it was clear that over 13 million families would be left worse off.  Was this what Ian Duncan Smith was captured cheering ecstatically about?

 

But let me leave IDS (if only) and return to the "From Welfare to Work" headline.  I have had the privilege - I'm not sure that's the right word - of reading a memo to David Cameron from a woman struggling with ill health called Rosie Fletcher.  It was written on 3rd July, just a few days before the budget.  Here are some of the things she said:

 

"Another day, another rummage down the back of the benefits sofa to find a spare £12bn.  This week: changing Employment Support Allowance to incentivise ill people to get back to work.  One problem:  I already have the best incentive to stop being ill and get back to work.  It's called "being ill".  I would love to go back to work because if I were able to work I would no longer be sick.  Long term illness nibbles away at your identity from the edges, taking out chunks of the things that makes you you: the friends you meet, the shops you wander into, the job you do.............I would love to have a job.  I would like to feel productive.

 

This proposal (about changes to ESA) makes two fundamental mistakes:  that illness and disability are a) passive and b) attractively lucrative.

 

If you think I do not work for my benefits, you are wrong.  Ringing the DWP at eight in the morning to find out why my benefits are a month late, only to hear a recorded message to tell me they are busy and that perhaps I ought to call back between 8 and 9 in the morning..........the constant stream of sick notes I have to ask my doctor for, pick up from the surgery and post to the DWP..........the sight of a brown envelope on the doormat makes my heart pause; I fear each one will contain a ransom note of sanctions.  My doctor asks me what causes me stress.  I can answer in three letters, D.W.P.

 

Chronic illness often feels like a terribly paid admin job, chasing down missed payments, posting doctors' notes, requesting repeat prescriptions, sending in bank statements.  The rigmarole around being ill seems to tower, colossus-like over the actual illness.......cutting the money that sick and disabled people receive isn't an incentive to work, its a disincentive and a punishment for being ill.

 

If you think that eventually you can make people so sad and stressed and poor that they will 'get over' being ill, that you can starve them out and they'll end their little displays of sickness, then you are very much mistaken.  We have all the incentives we need to get back to work; cutting ESA will only make it harder to do so."

 

I don't think this letter needs any additional comment from me.