Nursery Schools closure confirmed

Edinburgh Council doing its bit to help newly qualified teachers today by announcing that the two Nursery Schools it wanted to close (remember the closures were 'called in' by the Scottish Government) are indeed to shut their doors in a few days time :-(

No mention though of Westfield Court Nursery School, even though there was an earlier promise of clarification regarding its status ...

... technically, Westfield Court is just shut on a temporary basis at the moment - and parents who had kids there before that temporary closure, don't yet know (formally) if it will open again at the start of the new term in August? Pretty disgraceful, if you ask me.

I know full well it won't open again in August - but someone, somewhere needs to have the moral courage to formally confirm its closed for good --- after all, the "informal decision" was taken well over a year ago in the local SNP/Lib-Dem 2010 Budget :-((

1 in 6 new teachers unemployed

Some truly shocking (I think) statistics out today about the number of newly qualified teachers gaining full-time, permanent employment --- only 20.5% are doing so.

The even more shocking figure though, has to be the 16.2% who are completely unemployed ...

... that's 1 in 6 newly qualified teachers without any job whatsoever!

I wonder what the comparative figure for Doctors is ... I have a sneaking suspicion that if 1 in 6 Doctors were completely unemployed after qualifying, then there would be much more public disquiet?

I'm willing to accept that, of course, there will always be some professionals who qualify and then don't pursue that profession - but over 16%!  :-(

1 in 6 teachers being unable to find a job (of any description) after qualification is a sign of significant failure in the system, as far as I'm concerned. Not good.

Blog design?

Since refreshing the blog design, I've had pretty good feedback - with the few exceptions of those for whom the 'outer background' is missing and subsequently the side-bar text is difficult to read :-(

... I'm almost certain this is due to the use of old versions of 'explorer' - but please do let me know if upgrading explorer doesn't solve the problem?

Thanks.

7th most congested city in Europe

Pretty depressing stuff in the Scotsman (and elsewhere) today ... Edinburgh now the 7th most congested city in Europe :-(

Okay - we can all quibble about the reliability of the data, and whether we're 6th, 7th or 8th ... but, either way, it's not good.

Almost as depressing as the congestion (with all its negative impacts) is the undeniable fact that precious little transport infrastructure has been built recently to try and help alleviate the problem: trams at a standstill (literally!); no more park+rides; no more suburban rail stations; no more bus corridors ... just when was the last time a ribbon was cut on any such a completed project?

... seems to me, the real problem is no more political will.

As I said, pretty depressing stuff :-((

Commissioning Strategy update

The Commissioning Strategy consultation report did take up a significant bit of time this morning, but pleased to report that rather than take the actual 'Strategy' (which wasn't in today's papers!) straight to the 30th June Council Meeting, there was agreement to send it first to the next meeting of the Policy and Strategy Committee on 9th August before it's ultimately approved at the Full Council Meeting on 25th August ...

... it is an important, and welcome, delay - as it now means the actual 'Strategy' will be able to be debated at the Committee-level, as opposed to it being subject only to the political-theatre that is often Full Council :-(

A good decision.

Policy and Strategy Committee and GME developments

Policy and Strategy Committee meeting tomorrow morning - main agenda here, and all the papers can be found here on CPOL as usual.

I suspect items 7 and 8, on the Commissioning Strategy and the Sustainable Development Framework respectively, will generate the most debate.

Of course, I should also mention that the much-awaited report on the future development of Gaelic Medium Education (GME), for Nursery and Primary levels, is also now published - you can see it in full here - but won't be formally debated until the Full Council Meeting on Thursday 30th June.

... personally, I do hope to see the launch of a consultation on the future development of GME, for Secondary Schools, at the same Council Meeting? All the papers (for that meeting) should be up on CPOL by the morning of Friday 24th June at the latest.

Blog refresh?

I haven't changed the format (or many of the side-bar links) on the blog for ages ...

... so, I've taken the plunge (this relatively quiet Sunday morning!) and refreshed the look and layout.

All constructive feedback most welcome ;-)

By-election candidates lining up!

Well, that local by-election could indeed be only a few weeks away - strong rumour is that it's likely to be Thursday 18th August, which is the week prior to the next, but one, Council Meeting on 25th August.

I do though foresee a few practical problems with such a hasty timetable ... which ultimately, the local SNP/Lib-Dem Coalition can dictate:

... a lot of people could still be on holiday; the dispatch of postal votes etc. will need to be organised literally in a few weeks time; and thus printing of ballot material will also need to be organised literally in a couple of weeks time - straight after the 30th June Council Meeting; and several polling stations in the Ward are 'fringe' venues and may already be booked!

Might be wiser to wait until September?

Anyhow, none of this has prevented candidates being lined up already, with news this afternoon that an Independent anti-tram candidate (John Carson) is going to throw his hat into the ring ...

... looks like it could indeed be a very interesting contest!

Group Away Day

One of our periodic Group Away Days this afternoon - used a couple of the rooms at Riddles Court as the venue ...

... set the right historic atmosphere for the challenges facing us in the next 11 months ;-)

More seriously, very healthy and open debate about political priorities for the next year - with an imminent by-election coming first, of course!

August by-election it is!

Appears that the rumours were indeed true and David Beckett is off to the States ... he has secured a place at Havard ... at a personal level, many congratulations to him and I do wish him all the best in his move.

Politically, this will be a very interesting contest :-)

I mentioned yesterday that, in 2007, only 200 1st-preference votes separated the top 4 Parties with the Greens close behind --- but equally as significant is that fact that everyone was at least 360 1st-preference votes short of the electoral quota, and that was on a 50% turnout.

With a much lower turnout in August (apparently, that's the time-frame?) then this will be a pretty open contest.

I sense an exceptionally busy, couple of months of campaigning coming up :-))

Edinburgh by-election soon?

The rumour-mill in the City Chambers has been on overdrive today --- I've had this confirmed from numerous good sources, so here goes ...

... a certain SNP Councillor from the City Centre Ward is apparently off to the States (employment driven), and is about to trigger a local by-election!

You can see the 2007 Ward results here and you'll no doubt notice that, whilst we were 4th on 1st preferences, there were less than 200 such 1st preferences between the top four Parties - with the Greens close behind. All that on a 50% turnout, which would undoubtedly drop considerably in any by-election.

Now - I don't need to spell it out I'm sure, but if the SNP lose that seat to Labour (or the Tories, or the Greens) then their local Coalition Majority with the Lib-Dems would be over :-)

Further dark rumours circulating the Chambers are, of the variety, that they are desperate to lose the by-election so they can extricate themselves from the shambles that has been the last 4-years of the SNP/Lib-Dem stewardship of Edinburgh :-(

Whatever the local SNP's intentions ... if there is to be a by-election ... one thing is for certain: Edinburgh Labour will be in it, to win it.

Finance Committee discussing housing

Finance Committee this morning - main agenda can be found here ...

... discussions were dominated by items 7 and 8 on housing issues (respective reports can be found here and here).

Both of these reports were ultimately approved on an all-Party basis, but what became abundantly clear under questioning was that, whilst welcome, the 800 or so homes (that both reports amount to) are but a drop in the ocean of what's required in the Capital --- and the much-trumpeted Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) isn't providing one-single extra penny towards their construction.

And when contrasted to the recent reductions in Housing Grant from the Scottish Government, the net overall result is entirely negative (as regards Housing Units) and all the spin in the world won't hide that depressing fact.

Yes, No --- Yes, No

Huge fuss created (literally!) this evening by the Scottish Secretary arguing that 2 referendums will be required before any approval of Scottish Independence ...

... whilst (a few weeks ago) I was arguing that certain Parties might want to quickly get their constitutional ducks-in-a-row, this wasn't the type of response I had in mind :-(

Really - a bit of calm reflection, before coming forward with a coherent position is what's required ... not another muddle that is simply an open-goal for the SNP: they must be loving it :-((

Bienvenue chez toi

Junior back from Normandy early this morning ... appears to have been a very successful trip with a great time had by all present :-)

Made the best of our freedom last night and went to see Dunsinane (at The Lyceum) ...

... very good production with Siobhan Redmond and Jonny Phillips being a powerful (and entirely fatalistic) 'Gruach and Siward'.

Would highly recommend it - last production tonight, if there are any tickets left?

Canal solar lights!

I mentioned some months ago that, at a meeting of Craiglockhart Community Council, I'd picked up that ground-based solar-lights, de-marking either edge of the canal towpath, were to be fitted along the canal ...

... well, on my way home last night, British Waterways are obviously now starting to put them in place!

They now line the canal from the Lochrin Basin, westwards, for a mile or so.

Wasn't dark, so I can't speak for their efficacy yet ;-)

"Too posh to poster"

Well, the Full Council Meeting did indeed have only one really significant debate - and it was, as predicted, on the Alternative Business Model (ABM) report.

Sadly, the report was pushed through by the local SNP, despite the best efforts of the Labour and Green Groups to simply concentrate on the Public Sector Comparator work :-(

On a more light-hearted note, the funniest moment of the whole Council Meeting came when Councillor Alison Johnstone accused the Tories of being "too posh to poster" as they tragically managed to win majority support for their call to ban lamp-post posters :-))

Now, regular readers will know, I'm not exactly a fan of the dreaded lamp-post posters, but to ban them in the year of the first stand-alone Council elections - when turnout will likely go through the floor - seems crazy to me ...

... and worse than that, we spent longer debating the bloody lamp-post poster ban than discussing the possible privatisation of huge swathes of Council services :-(

Edinburgh Labour AGM this week

Was the Edinburgh Labour AGM on Tuesday evening just past --- with the positions being confirmed at today's Council Meeting --- for those sad political anoraks out there (I know you're reading this!) I'll just paste the News Release and full list of Spokespeople below ...

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Edinburgh Labour re-elects Burns in crucial election year

The Edinburgh Labour Group has unanimously re-elected Councillor Andrew Burns as Labour Group Leader at its Annual General Meeting.

Burns commented:

“I will be completely focused on the May 2012 elections and exposing the failure of the local SNP-led Council over the last 4-years. The most basic Council services are in chaos – a 2-year long bin dispute rumbles on; many Primary 1 classes have over 40 children in them; and 1 in 6 of our school leavers are not finding work, training or further education. Not to mention the complete mismanagement of the tram project. Frankly, the local SNP have let Edinburgh down.”

The full list of Labour Spokespersons, as confirmed unanimously at the AGM, is attached (follows below) for reference.

With the tram project moving to a new phase, and with a crucial decision coming up on the 30th June, Councillor Lesley Hinds has taken on the Transport Brief --- Councillor Ian Perry has moved to Environment --- and Councillor Maureen Child will focus on Health & Social Care. In addition, Councillor Bill Cook (elected in September 2010) will focus on Community Safety issues.

Burns further commented:

“It’s quite clear the local SNP-led Council has failed to manage the tram project over the last 4-years. With a major decision coming up at the end of this month, it’s appropriate to have a change of Opposition Spokesperson which will bring a re-invigorated scrutiny to the tram project at this crucial time.”

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List of Group Executive and Responsibilities (2011/12)

LABOUR GROUP EXECUTIVE MEMBERS

Andrew Burns - Group Leader
Ricky Henderson - Deputy Leader

Lesley Hinds - Chair
Ian Perry - Vice Chair

Angela Blacklock - Secretary
Paul Godzik - Assistant Secretary

Gordon Munro - Whip
Cammy Day - Vice Whip


LABOUR GROUP SPOKESPERSONS

Ricky Henderson - Finance & Corporate Resources

Maureen Child - Health & Social Care
Cammy Day - Housing & Local Services
Bill Cook - Community Safety
Ewan Aitken - Voluntary Sector

Paul Godzik - Education, Children & Families
Angela Blacklock - Early Years & Equalities

Gordon Munro - Culture, Sport & Leisure

Lesley Hinds - Transport & Infrastructure
Ian Perry - Environment & Sustainability

Norma Hart - Economy & Regeneration

Eric Milligan - Planning / Police
Eric Barry - Fire / Licensing

Donald Wilson - Governance, Democracy & Smart City

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Elections Consultative Group

Elections Consultative Group meeting earlier this morning ...

... most of the meeting spent reflecting on the recent polling events and no major issues raised by any of the Parties present - which is quite a credit to all the staff who organised and ran what was a huge, complex operation.

Results were bloody awful mind you, but don't think that was their fault :-(