Oh dear, oh dear ...

No, not Peter Hain's resignation, but the Government's Review of UK Voting Systems announced earlier this afternoon ... Statement here and full report here :-(

Now, my views on this issue are well known, but having very quickly read the report released today I just don't think it matches up to the one produced nearly a year ago now by the ERS ... which can be found in full, here.

Deeply disappointing.

... not that anyone will notice, given Hain's resignation :-((

Talk about hypocrisy

On a much, much more serious Scottish budget issue - just what the hell are the Scottish Green Party MSPs playing at?

I'm fairly certain most of their supporters will be appalled at their actions earlier this evening.

Do have a quick read at this News Release from the 20th December 2007 ... then make up your own mind about their decision to abstain in the vote today ...

... I simply can't print what I think.

MSP Campbell's soup spill

You really couldn't make this up ... it could only happen in the Scottish Parliament ;-)

I don't know the MSP concerned, and certainly hope she's okay - but really ... I can just see Frank Boyle having some fun with this tomorrow ;-))

The wonders of consultation ...

I think (?) I've solved the dark mystery of the CLD Review Consultation Paper that I was bemoaning easy sight of yesterday ...

You can find it by going to:

• Edinburgh Grid for Learning at http://egfl.net/
• Click on "C&F Organisational Review update" under recent updates
• Click on the first link, entitled "Consultation Paper"

Simple to find :-(

So ... as far as I can best establish, this Consultation Paper has been nowhere near any Committee of the Council, is not therefore on Committee Papers on Line (CPOL), and I'm left wondering if many of the 29 Administration Politicians even know about its contents - none of us in the darkest recesses of Opposition knew about its existence, that's for sure :-((

Frankly, it's easier to find on my favourite local blog ... second only to this one, of course :-)) ... which just about says all there is to say about the efficient and professional dissemination of this reasonably important information.

What a shambles.

... and it gets a lot worse - if you follow the first two links above to the "Children and Families Organisational Review Update Issue 2", you'll see that:

• it wasn't published until the 21st January; a full SIX DAYS after the Education Committee met on the 15th January
• "comments will be listened to and a summary of the feedback will accompany the report setting out the proposals to the meeting of Council on 21 February where final decisions will be made" - my emphasis; yes, no time for any political scrutiny!
• the deadline for comments is 11th February; giving less than 3-weeks for feedback from anyone who can actually find the document
• remember that papers for the 21st February Council meeting go out a week before, that's the 14th February ... so feedback on the CLD Review Consultation Paper is going to be "listened to", assessed and written up in no more than 3-days ... because, of course, no one has drafted the final paper yet before the closing date for comments ...

BUT - read on, the best bits are to come under a later section entitled "Organisational Review – Other Areas" where it boldly states:

• "The options for Departmental Management arrangements, Neighbourhood Services Management arrangements, Working Together Management and Services, Youth Services and Discretionary Services are still under consideration and will go to the Council on 21 February prior to consultation with staff."
• "A final decision on these proposals is likely to be taken at a Council Meeting in March." - again, my emphasis ...

So, how on earth can we (as politicians) decide on a new structure for the Children and Families Department (the largest Department of Scotland's second largest Council) on the same day we set the 2008/09 next-year budget BEFORE the proposals have even been consulted on?

... and okay, lets be generous here and accept for a second that the "final decision" will not be taken until the March Council Meeting - how on earth can we therefore set the budget for a Department that is about to change shape a few weeks later??

This timetable means that NO (sensible or credible) assumptions can be made about 'efficiency savings' from the main Organisational Review at the Budget meeting in February because the process WILL NOT be finished.

... oh, and can I just remind you of this:

• I now also think the decision to cancel the Special Meeting of the 12th February is completely contrary to the extant Council Decision of the Education Committee Meeting on 30th October 2007 - have a look at Paragraph 8 of this minute ...
• for ease of reference, the above decision reads - "To approve the departmental review as detailed in the report subject to the outcomes report being submitted to the Education, Children and Families Committee ahead of the Council budget meeting." (my emphasis)

"Shambles" is being polite.

Merchiston Community Council

Merchiston Community Council this evening ... usual Community Council business was preceded by a talk entitled ‘"Schools in our Area - what is happening?"

The question refers to potential new-builds or refurbishments, of course ... answer, after 45-minutes of debate, er ... virtually nothing :-((

Organisational Review/s

The whole saga over the Children and Families Organisational Review gets murkier and murkier ...

I mentioned last week that I thought there was less than total transparency being shown by those in charge of the process - Convener saying one thing/Trade Unions another?

• well, now the Trade Unions have sent a letter to all the elected Members on the Education Committee refuting a lot of the points made in the earlier answer to my question of 20th December - see question 8 here - about aspects of the Review process
• it also transpires that a specific consultation paper on the Community Learning and Development (CLD) part of the Review was only published JUST AFTER the Education Committee met last week - sheer coincidence??
• I could be wrong here - but I don't believe that consultation paper has been anywhere near a Committee Meeting of the Council - okay, it's CLD and non-statutory (so nothing 'illegal' being done) but we are supposed be in the halcyon days of Edinburgh's Bright New Future when all of us were to "have real opportunity to participate in decision-making"??
• I now also think the decision to cancel the Special Meeting of the 12th February is completely contrary to the extant Council Decision of the Education Committee Meeting on 30th October 2007 - have a look at Paragraph 8 of this minute ...
• for ease of reference, the above decision reads - "To approve the departmental review as detailed in the report subject to the outcomes report being submitted to the Education, Children and Families Committee ahead of the Council budget meeting." (my emphasis)
• well, that's clearly NOT happening now!

I'm of the firm opinion now that taking the Review to the Full Council meeting of the 21st February, when all attention will rightly be on setting the 2008/09 Budget, is a monumental mistake for the Department.

It's almost certain that almost WHATEVER is in that report will be approved, given the mathematics and dynamics of the day.

And yet, political scrutiny of the whole Review process has amounted to absolutely ZERO.

I'll (sadly) predict that chickens will come home to roost over this in the not too distant future.

Fruitmarket

No escape from the fray today ... a lot of time spent (again) on budgetary preparations :-(

... and this evening, a special meeting of the Hutchison and Chesser Community Council, who had organised speakers from Applecross - the developers about to start work on the old Fruitmaret (and ASDA) site on Hutchison Road.

It is a pretty significant development - around 500 units - which will undoubtedly have a massive impact on the existing local community.

I sense it's going to be the biggest item of debate in the area for a considerable time to come - and quite rightly so ...

Slow weekend for Burns

A pretty quiet weekend all-in-all ... first time in a long time.

Perfect for a bit of well-needed reflection.

The slow weekend ended on Sunday night, with the usual last-minute panic to finalise the details (and ticket-sales!) for the upcoming, annual Labour Party Burns Supper.

Thankfully, looks like it should be a good evening ;-)

Budget

No escape from the misery this afternoon unfortunately, as a tight deadline had already been agreed on the production of another round of financial figures for our endless discussions on the 2008/09 budget ...

... thank goodness it's nearly the weekend.

Family Funeral

Family funeral today, over near Salsburgh - a Cousin on my Father's side, who was a pretty close family friend as well as a relative. Not a great day obviously.

... just as we all got to the graveside it really started to pour down, making the whole scene like some dark, Dickensian novel :-((

At least the wake afterwards was dry - externally that is; sorrows being suitably drowned.

Neighbourhood Partnership meeting

South West Neighbourhood Partnership meeting this evening ... as usual, the agenda can be found via Committee Papers On-Line.

Plenty of 'robust debate' on a wide variety of issues - I thought that, despite the intermittent tensions, there are the beginnings of a decent local Committee in the making.

Ever-optimistic perhaps ... but what the Partnerships need now is some serious devolution of centrally-controlled budgets.

Circumstances. circumstances ...

I've just read the latest edition of "COSLA Connections" - COSLA's monthly bulletin.

It contains a couple of sentences that absolutely deserve wider attention - you can find them on page 8 in the bottom, left-hand corner here ... I should warn you that you'll need to squint sideways to see it properly, but you'll undoubtedly fall over laughing anyhow ...

... in a two-page spread on the infamous concordat, whilst discussing the overall financial settlement for Scottish Local Government, it boldly states:

"Under no circumstances can the financial position be described as good. However, it has generally been accepted that it is the best deal possible under the circumstances."

Just about sums up the whole sorry-saga really ...

I smell a rat

Somethings not quite right about the way the 'Organisational Review' of the Children and Families Department is being handled - frankly, I smell a rat.

At yesterday's Committee meeting, we were told by the Convener that the reason the Organisational Review wasn't going to the proposed (and now cancelled) 12th February extra meeting was all down to more time being required to consult the Unions.

I did make my frustration at this clear - 'said Convener' and the Council Coalition are in charge of the Review and if they can't manage the timetable properly to allow decent scrutiny (or is that the point!) then that's entirely their fault. Taking the Review to the main budget-setting meeting of the Full Council on Thursday 21st February is lunacy and will certainly ensure that the Review will be rammed through without any proper consideration - mind you, maybe that's the point once again!!

But to make matters worse (and murkier) I'm now picking up on the 'Union-grapevine' that the reason they haven't yet seen (and I do know that to be true) the draft proposals is because managers are telling them that elected Members haven't yet been consulted?

Well, I can assure you that Opposition elected Members haven't seen any draft proposals. All sort of suggests that some want as little scrutiny of what's going on as possible, which usually only means one thing - a controversial mess.

It's all a classic stitch-up if you ask me ...

... oh, and what about our bright, new future whereupon we were all "to have real opportunity to participate in decision-making"?

Streamlined committee system alright - no one's involved :-((

Goodbye Wave3 Schools ??

Well, recently it was Goodbye biomass, it now appears that all our fears about Wave3 schools were all too well-founded :-(

Back in October the Council agreed a motion on the way forward and to receive an update report on the various feasibility studies by the end of January ... still haven't seen that report, and now that the 12th February meeting is cancelled, I've no idea when this work will publicly surface - surely not as part of the main budget-meeting when it would have no chance of receiving any 'detailed consideration'?

And now, to make matters a lot worse, it appears that at a meeting of the Portobello High School Parent Council last night the local MSP said something to the effect of:

• as a result of the local government settlement, Council’s no longer apply to the Scottish Government for additional capital funding
• they have been allocated additional budget that they can use as they see fit
• with regard to new schools – or any other capital project - the City Council now needs to work out its priorities and how to use the additional funds that have been provided
• for a new Portobello High School, the City Council does not need to present a business case or apply for funding to the Scottish Government
• once its has decided its commitment to a new school, it needs to work out how to fund the project from its own resources

I'll tell you now, that will come as a huge shock to officers working on the feasibility studies ... not to mention the Council Coalition politicians!

As for the money being available in the Local Government settlement ... well, I can only repeat that if the equivalent levels of finance as the first two-rounds of school-building in the City are eventually made available, then I'll be the first to applaud it - remembering that round one in Edinburgh was some £130million of capital investment and round two some £180million.

That level of capital monies is NOT in the current Local Government settlement for the City of Edinburgh Council.

Goodbye Wave3 Schools ??

Children and Families committee

Children and Families Committee earlier this morning - agenda here.

I thought there was nothing desperately seismic up for discussion - until we got to item 8 on 'youngedinburgh' ... the full report is here.

Have a look at paragraph 6.1 in the recommendations, were it indicates that the 'Organisational Review' of the Department (of which 'youngedinburgh' will be a constituent part obviously) is to come back in a separate report in February 2008.

There was to be a special meeting of the Committee set for Tuesday 12th February to consider the output from this Review, so that everyone had time to digest the proposals before the Full Council 'budget-setting meeting' on Thursday 21st February.

It transpires that this meeting has been completely scrapped and that the said 'Organisational Review' outputs are going to the Full Council meeting on 21st February instead ;-(

So; no time to consider the re-organisation of the Council's largest Department in any detail (so much for open-government) and chances of a 'considered discussion' on the proposals as part of the main budget-setting meeting are frankly zero!

All being driven by our Liberal colleagues who said (in their manifesto) that they had "no plans for immediate reorganisation" of the Children and Families Department; and wanted us all "to have real opportunity to participate in decision-making".

Boom, boom :-((

New school for Craigmillar

Details of a new High School for Craigmillar announced today - see the local press coverage here.

Clearly, given the gestation of this whole idea, I generally welcome this development - but it does underline the madness of even considering the 'earlier' closure of Castlebrae Community High School back in August of this year.

Even in July the new school was being seen as a 'replacement' for Castlebrae Community High School, yet by August Castlebrae was to be shut regardless?

As we all know, those plans were thankfully abandoned in mid-September

Now ... new Craigmillar High School seems on track for 2011 and hopefully Castlebrae will be safely open until at least then?

Talk about 'clarity of purpose' ??

Thinking of achievements ...

Saturday night's celebrations were very, very enjoyable ... quite an achievement for my Dad to reach 80 years of age when I reflect on his background and upbringing ;-)

... thinking of achievements, and being a bit of a part-time walker myself!, was really taken with Jan Morris' article about Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay in Saturday's edition of the Guardian.

Thought the picture, as carried in the 'printed version' (reproduced here), was an absolute classic ... no wonder they're smiling - that's Mount Everest over Hillary's left-shoulder and they have just been the first people in the world to stand on it's summit :-))

Friday at last - and a Birthday Weekend!

At last, Friday afternoon! ... and you'll be relieved to hear that blogging my be very light for the rest of the weekend :-((

It's my Dad's 80th Birthday next week!

- so, off to the ever-sunny Salsburgh tomorrow for a bit of a family-celebration over the weekend.

Looking forward to it ... bit of a 'gathering of the clans', so anything could happen :-)