Middle age is upon me

Been a bit sore today - after all those allotment exertions ...

... middle age is clearly upon me :-(

Anyhow, didn't stop a busy morning of campaigning - lots more envelopes stuffed and delivered :-)

There appears to be a never-ending stream of them to cope with ... only 87-days to go, after all :-))

Allotment-fencing update :-)

Spent all afternoon down at the Allotment today ... and MAJOR progress has, at last, been made with the long-running fencing project :-)

This first photo shows the pretty poor state of parts of the plot perimeter fence; and its particularly bad at the 'fruit-cage' section as shown! You can just see a very 'squashed' hydrangea right on the fencing edge :-(

Well - five hours of very hard-graft later ... with the help of a small bonfire! ... and the whole of the remaining perimeter fence and the 'fruit-cage' is down and all the wood that I couldn't re-use has been burnt.

Third picture shows how its all looking now - you can see the hydrangea (bottom right) has much more freedom ;-)

And the plot definitely has a much better, more open, feel to it than before ...

... plan now is to put up some round fencing posts (I've managed to locate enough second-hand ones to circumvent the whole site!) and then to put a single (maybe two?) strap/s all the way round. Aiming to keep it around 3-foot high maximum and it will really be there to 'mark-out' the site and a lot more open than all the old 6-foot high fencing and wire mesh.

The site won't be as secure, but it will definitely feel better. And there's nothing much worth nicking from the shed/s anyhow :-)

On a slightly separate note, you can just see the rear-wheel of my bike in that last photo ...

... well - cycling home, along the canal, just as it was getting dark, with the wind at my back; masses of broken-ice on the canal slowly moving and sounding like a thousand small chimes; near full-moon reflecting on the canal; with the solar lights all shimmering --- was totally magical.

Perfect end to a successful Allotment-day :-))

Lothian Valuation Joint Board (LVJB)

Lothian Valuation Joint Board (LVJB) meeting this morning - agenda and papers can be found here and here ...

... all 'relatively' straightforward business; but as an organisation there's no doubt the Valuation Board Staff are about to enter yet another very busy period of activity in the run-up to the Local Council Elections!

That 25-month gap between the elections of May 2012 and June 2014 looks ever-more welcoming I'm sure ;-)

Labour Group alternative-budget proposals

Ever since I took over as Edinburgh Labour's Group Leader (back in June 2008) we've enforced a discipline of publishing our budgets just prior to the actual budget-setting meeting of the Council:

- February 2009 budget here
- February 2010 budget here

And last year, we published a full week in advance:

- February 2011 budget here

Well, its Local Government election year! --- and we've had a healthy internal debate about standing by that discipline in 2012 :-)

And, on balance, given all the arguments we've made in recent years about how flawed the Council's budget-setting process is, we concluded it would simply be hypocritical not to publish our budget proposals early again this year.

So, with a week to go - 2012 budget day is Thursday 9th February - the final draft text of our Budget Amendment follows below. There are a few question marks in paragraph 7, but they only relate to 'report numbers' which we don't yet have. And, with seven days to go, it is possible some elements may change slightly.

But, frankly, we continue to be pretty sick-and-tired (and this criticism applies to previous Labour Administrations of which I was part) of the way that the Council's annual budget round is managed.

Every year, we get ourselves into the ludicrous situation of each Party Group not knowing what the other is proposing until we walk into the Council Chamber at 10am on the local Budget Day. And we're not talking a Westminster or Holyrood budget here, but the budget of a medium-sized city ... it just makes no sense to continue like this.

... so, once again this year I'm just going to re-produce below the final draft text of our Budget Amendment.

This whole approach is also entirely consistent with our Draft Manifesto launch - back in November 2011 - when we put our early manifesto thoughts into the public domain a full six-months prior to the election (more on the manifesto process next week!). Meantime, I hope you'll see those early manifesto thoughts reflected in our budget decisions below?

I do hope this all sends a very clear signal about the style of Council we would help run, if given the opportunity to do so by the electorate on Thursday 3rd May.

We're absolutely prepared to work with any others in sharing our ideas early, and I'll positively welcome any other Group who now adopts the principle tenets of this main Opposition Party Budget.

Please do read the text below, in conjunction with my colleague Ricky Henderson's more general explanation of our thinking, which was published earlier on Tuesday this week - see here and here.

======

DRAFT verFINAL

(based on current information as at 02/02/12)

The City of Edinburgh Council

9^th February 2012

REVENUE BUDGET 2012- 2013

CAPITAL INVESTMENT PROGRAMME 2012- 2016

HOUSING REVENUE ACCOUNT AND CAPITAL PROGRAMME 2012- 2013

LABOUR GROUP AMENDMENT

1. AVAILABLE RESOURCES

Council agrees that the protection of front line services remains an important priority, and acknowledges that every effort should be made to rationalise back-office functions.

Council further agrees that economic regeneration is vital to ensuring Edinburgh’s prosperity and future prospects; and recognises the Council’s duty to lead on both issues.

Therefore Council notes:

• The current budget position as contained within today’s report/s.

• The imbalance in revenue resources over the next 3 years due to the allocation of funding from the Scottish Government.

• That future years will be extremely challenging based on current allocations / forecasts.

2. SERVICE PRIORITIES

Council now agrees:

• That the introduction of the Living Wage of £7.20 per hour for Council workers is necessary to ensure social and economic justice and will also support the local economy.

• To plan for the payment of the Living Wage to be a condition of future contracts with external suppliers.

• That in future the highest paid Council employee shall earn no more than 12 times the salary of the lowest paid Council worker.

• To establish a “PSC / Service Improvement Fund (Spend to Save)” of £11million to develop Council services and achieve efficiency savings; whilst noting that some £4.25million of abortive expenditure, plus extensive internal costs, has been sunk on the abandoned privatisation alternative.

• To establish a “Co-operative Development Unit” (CDU) with an initial fund of £250,000. This unit will be resourced by the redeployment of senior staff from elements of service restructuring; noting that this restructuring has been called for in the previous 4 Labour Group Budget Amendments.

• The CDU will work with Council departments, communities and partner organisations to develop sustainable co-operative models which will deliver excellent public services in a cost effective and cooperative manner. (i.e. childcare, renewable energy production, housing)

• That £3.44million funding in 2012/13 will go towards the ‘Change Funds for Health and Social Care and Early Years’, to support the wider alignment of budgets on a preventative basis, with provision of £6.88million by 2014/15.

• To reinstate £826,000 of Voluntary Sector funding to ensure that all Voluntary Sector Grants are maintained at current levels, throughout 2012/13.

• Funding of £740,000 to Edinburgh Leisure for specified works and services.

• To reinstate £550,000 to the Libraries Service, which would secure existing Sunday opening hours.

• To allocate £2million towards Employability Services in the city, ensuring that every school-leaver has a positive employment/education destination, and agrees to review the effectiveness and deliverability of these services in view of their importance to jobs and economic success.

• To call for an urgent report, within 2-cycles, on all potential solutions to provide long-term stability for the funding of these Employability Services/Programmes.

• That, recognising the need for ongoing schools maintenance, an additional ‘School Fabric Repairs’ fund of £3.1million is established.

• That an additional investment fund of £1.2million is allocated to Neighbourhood Partnerships (doubling their existing discretionary spend) and those local communities are thus fully consulted on the best use of these one-off resources for infrastructure or community improvements, and also local co-operative developments, such as:

1. roads and footways improvements (Right First Time [RFT])
2. expansion of ‘Real Time Information’ for local bus services
3. cycling infrastructure improvements
4. local Play facilities
5. local Sports Pavilions
6. local Community Centre facilities

3. PROPOSED SAVINGS

Council further agrees to the following areas of significant saving:

a.    Restructuring of Senior Management (Heads of Service) Posts

b.    Reduction in the Q.I.O. Teams

c.    Removal of various Council Publications

d.    Absenteeism management

4. CONTINUED INVESTMENT

Council notes this budget allows the following areas of continued investment:

a.    Nursery, Primary, Secondary and Special Schools

b.    Health and Social Care Services for the Old and Vulnerable

c.    Voluntary Sector, and third-party, grant support

d.    Sport and Physical Activity services

e.    Neighbourhood Services and local infrastructure

f.     Libraries

5. FUTURE BUDGET DEVELOPMENT

Council notes that the budget process is an internal exercise which culminates in the setting of the Council's budget in mid-February each year. Spending plans are set for at least 12 months and sometimes up to 3 years.

Council agrees to establish a new Council Budget Committee to improve the scrutiny, and effectiveness, of the budget process. The proposed committee would be made up of Councillors and external groups representing wider civic society in the city. Such a dedicated budget committee could radically improve scrutiny and transparency of the budget setting process.

6. POLITICAL CHOICE

Council thus agrees to develop the concept of a ‘Co-operative Council’, positively promoting local decision-making, and rejecting the now, failed privatisation alternative.

Council thus acknowledges that this budget has focused on proposed areas of targeted savings to enable both continued investment in essential front line public service priorities, and the achievement of longer-term sustainable savings.

7. ADDITIONAL APPROVALS

Council notes the following:

1. Report no. CEC/86/11-12/PS and CEC/87/11-12/PS by the Director of Corporate Governance, setting out the overall resources available for revenue expenditure.
2. Report no. CEC/??? by the Director of Corporate Governance setting out the proposals for funding services from third parties in 2012/13.
3. Report no. CEC/88/11-12/PS and CEC/??? by the Director of Corporate Governance setting out the overall position on capital resources for the period 2012 - 2016.
4. A further report will be submitted to seek approval of revised charges for Council services, the outcomes of which are contained in Annex 1 to this amendment.

Council approves the following:

1. The revenue budget set out in the reports, subject to the adjustments set out in Annex 1 to this amendment.
2. The 2012 - 2016 capital budget as set out in reports CEC/88/11-12/PS and CEC/??? by the Director of Corporate Governance.
3. The Council Tax and Rating Resolutions as set out in Annex 2 to this amendment.
4. The recommendations contained in report CEC/??? by the Director of Services for Communities to increase rents by 7.9% in line with the agreed rent strategy in the HRA approved business plan.

            Signature of Proposer ……………………………………………………

            Signature of Seconder ……………………………………………………

£4,253,384.00

Got the answer to that ABM-question this afternoon ...

... £4,253,384.00.

I accept that, one could argue, it has indirectly led to savings via the eventually successful (thankfully!) in-house Public Sector Comparator bids?

But, nevertheless, this is four-and-a-quarter million pounds that Senior Council Officers expended under the direct authority of the SNP/Lib-Dem Administration's February 2009 Budget --- only to see the whole programme abandoned at conclusion.

Group Meeting with a budget focus

Group Meeting this evening, and we obviously discussed this Thursday's Full Council Papers ...

... but most of the debate was taken up (as planned) in finalising our alternative budget proposals for next Thursday's Budget Council Meeting.

As per previous years, we do intend to publish the final draft of our proposals in the run-up to the debate next week: watch this space.

Forget and smile ...

Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.

Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:

Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.

Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

by Christina Rosetti, 1862

Full Council this Thursday

Full Council Meeting this coming Thursday (2nd Feb), with Budget Council Meeting next week (9th Feb) ...

... going to be a very busy couple of weeks :-(

This Thursday's agenda can be found here, with the individual reports accessible via this link.

The Managing Absence a Work report is up - Labour having referred it from last week's Policy and Strategy Committee. I'm still hoping that an outbreak of common-sense might prevail and the report will indeed be continued for another cycle --- it's what we originally asked for (and where refused), but if the local Administration concede that on Thursday it would be very welcome nevertheless.

We've also got a question down about the final costs of the abandoned ABM programme - will be interesting to see the total figure expended on the near 3-year project?

Allotment update!

Well, survived the two Burns Suppers over the weekend ... both were very enjoyable events :-)

Managed a brief visit to the Allotment late this afternoon - fencing project still ongoing, but you can see that half of one side is now down, providing much better views over the adjoining plots.

First weekend in February and the other side is coming down - then the 're-fencing' will commence!

Haggis overload

Third Burns Supper of the season tonight - Scottish Labour Students event at Teviot ... giving the Immortal Memory!

One more to follow, tomorrow evening, at Tynecastle High School, and then that's it --- no more veggie-haggis until 2013.

There's only so much of it one can eat :-(

Audit Committee

Audit Committee earlier --- main agenda here, and individual reports can be found here ...

... main item of debate and discussion was, unsurprisingly, around the Tram Update Report. All just for noting, with one omission being acknowledged - that being the lack of presence of 'Transport Scotland' at the Committee?

Wouldn't like to be too 'machieavellian' about their absence, but they do now have several staff working on the project (at long last!) and I hope that some of them will attend the next Audit Committee which looks at the projects progress.

Scottish Government consultation

Would be trite not to acknowledge the significant events of the day --- following the UK Government's earlier consultation launch (which I mentioned here), the Scottish Government has launched its referendum consultation paper today.

The former has a closing date for submissions of Friday 9th March ...

... the latter, a closing date of Friday 11th May.

I hope both papers receive a significant number of well-considered responses - as what follows next, whatever your constitutional viewpoint, is of huge importance.

Managing absence at work?

Policy and Strategy Committee earlier - main agenda here and full set of papers here ...

... item 5 (specific report here) on managing attendance/absence at work resulted in a bit of needless (in my mind, at least) debate :-(

Trade Union-side and Management-side, clearly have a disagreement on the 'trigger points' within the new, propsed procedures ... but it was obvious from the Deputation and ensuing discussion that there isn't a million-miles between them on the main tenets of the proposals.

So --- we suggested a month's continuation to hopefully sort out the differences and ensure workforce buy-in to the changes; but no, because it was a Labour suggestion it was swatted away and we've ended up having to take the issue to February's Full Council in the (further!) hope that some common sense might prevail meantime.

Lets hope so.

100-days to go

A mere 100 days to go :-)

Next, significant (local) campaigning milestone, will be the release of our re-drafted Manifesto - based on the feedback we've had to date ...

... first week in February and it should be good-to-go :-)

Final document to be published in early March after a few more weeks of public consultation.

Edinburgh South West Burns Supper

Edinburgh South West's Annual Burns Supper this evening ...

... another successful event, with excellent speeches from Rachel Reeves MP, Lewis Macdonald MSP and Johann Lamont MSP. And all very ably chaired by Alistair Darling MP and Sarah Boyack MSP.

What a line-up :-)

And, to make the night even more enjoyable, one of my long-suffering sisters won the main raffle prize :-))

Coalition reflections

No - not the UK Coalition, but our own more local variety :-(

Been reflecting a bit on recent events in the Council Chamber (and also those of November) and I'm left wondering if there really is anything of political value, other than the naked retention of power, that the local Lib-Dems are now achieving via their 'so-called' partnership with Edinburgh's SNP Group?

Of course, I'm resigned now to the pairing stumbling through to the 3rd May ... but really, despite good people being present in both Groups, Edinburgh does deserve a better local leadership.

Joint Labour-SNP Amendment, with Green backing

Full Council Meeting later today and it looks like there should be a joint Labour-SNP Amendment, with Green Group backing, to support the in-house option for Integrated Facilities Management (IFM) services --- the text of which should be pretty much along the lines that I outlined a couple of days ago ...

... a majority Council position which,  in essence, is a repeat of last November's meeting (on 'Environmental Services' outsourcing) - and again, Officers, Employees, Trade Unions and Politicians (of all Parties) should simply get on, and deliver on the eventual Council decision.

Time to move on.

Policy and Strategy Committee next Tuesday

Policy and Strategy Committee meeting next Tuesday - and the main agenda can now be seen here; with all the individual reports available via CPOL, as usual, here ...

... the reports numbered 7, 8 and 9 are laying the final scene for the upcoming 2012/13 budget-setting meeting on Thursday 9th February; all of which I mentioned earlier.

Item 10, on the developing Commissioning Plan for Treatment and Recovery from alcohol and drug dependency also makes fascinating reading ... large sums of money are spent, by the Council, in this area with potentially very significant impacts on many peoples' lives.