My LibDem colleague on Haringey Council, Cllr Rachel Allison has done some excellent investigative work into the lives of children in care in Haringey. Lives of these children in care could be improved and £7million saved by action on Haringey’s Fostering Service. The Liberal Democrats revealed this situation at the last Full Council meeting on the 22 November.

Rachel, who is Liberal Democrat Children’s Spokesperson, examined the cost of fostering in Haringey and the outcomes for local children.

She highlighted that the cost of fostering Haringey’s 600 plus Looked After Children was high due to the high proportion (70%) of out-of-borough fostering agency placements compared to Haringey Council placements (30%) – this is contrary to a best practice target of 80% in borough and 20% out-of-borough. Each out-of-borough placements costs, on average, £25,000 more than the costs with a Haringey Council foster carer.

Cllr Allison also emphasised the widespread evidence of better outcomes for children of Haringey-based foster placements. The outcomes for children can be so much better if they are placed close to their wider family, their school and friends.’ The Council needs to focus on what is best for our children and we owe it to them to ensure that do all we can to increase the numbers of Haringey foster carers’ said Rachel.

There is clearly a need for a comprehensive recruitment drive to sign up 220 more Haringey based foster carers which would be able to care for 340 children (based on current figures showing that there are 1.5 children currently per carer). To enable more recruitment of Haringey Council foster carers Cllr Allison directed attention to areas of long poor performance by Haringey Council. A mystery shopper exercise uncovered that the Council failed to answer phone calls and a comparison of fostering services websites showed Haringey Council’s was woefully inadequate. These failings, Liberal Democrats suggest, are likely to put off potential foster carers.

The saving would be £25,000 per placement – 340 x £25,000 = £8.5million (minus recruitment and extra social worker costs of £1.5million = £7 million).

Evidence from Demos/Barnardo’s used by Cllr Allison to show that the outcomes for children are better with local foster placements http://www.barnardos.org.uk/in_loco_parentis_-_web.pdf

Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women – and the day that the coalition government published our cross-government plans to tackle violence against women and girls.

The Home Secretary has allocated more than £28 million for specialist services to tackle violence against women and girls – running up to 2015. These specialist services which support victims of sexual and domestic violence will continue to receive central Home Office funding – including local domestic and sexual violence advisors, services for high risk domestic violence victims , national helplines and work to prevent forced marriage.

This is my portfolio too (as of about six weeks ago) and this cross-government vision and long term priorities for tackling violence against women and girls will be followed up by a full plan of action next spring. There are four key areas that we will focus on. The prevention of violence including reducing repeat victimisation, the provision of support, the bringing together of groups to work in partnership and action to reduce risk by ensuring that perpetrators are brought to justice.

For the first time the strategy brings together work to tackle violence against women in the UK with details of the international approach to tackle this global problem. In fact that includes my own appointment, announced today, as Overseas Champion to lead on the UK’s international work.

This is a departure from the narrow focus of previous strategies – where whilst continuing the pressure to bring perpetrators to justice – we put a big emphasis on changing and challenging behaviours and attitudes. We need early intervention – making sure young people understand the importance of healthy relationships and respecting the right to say no.

We put emphasis too on the importance of training for professionals and front line staff to spot early signs and risk factors of domestic and sexual violence, child sex abuse and harmful practises – including a new e-learning training course for GPs on violence against women and children.

There are new powers to help domestic violence victims break the cycle of abuse including piloting in three areas Domestic Violence Protection Orders (DVPO). Until now – post a domestic violence incident – it has been the abused partner and the children who have had to leave the home and seek refuge elsewhere. These civil orders enable the police to use their judgement to issue a DVPO where it is then the perpetrator of the violence post an incident who has to leave the vicinity. This is decided at super-intendent level and is for 48 hours at which point it can be extended to between 14 and 28 days – subject to a magistrate’s decision. This applies equally to men as to women.

Internationally it’s about supporting innovative new projects in the poorest countries and working with international organisations and governments overseas to promote women’s rights globally and reduce the impact of conflict on women and girls.

Domestic violence is sadly an everyday occurrence. Last year there were more than one million female victims of domestic violence in England and Wales – nearly two women each minute. And every week two of those women lose their lives. Each year 300,000 women were sexually assaulted and 60,000 women were raped. It is a shaming indictment of the way we are.

This is a priority for the coalition government – and for me!

Firstly apologies as this post is out of time sequence as Social Enterprise Day was last Thursday – but social enterprise is such an important component of the power shift that will come about in the next few years that I wanted to note it here.

Nick Hurd – Minister for Civil Society – who is leading on Social Enterprise and the Voluntary Sector’s transformation into the Big Society asked ministers to go out on Thursday to visit a local Social Enterprise.

So – naturally – I visited the Selby Centre. This is an amazing model of how this new Big Society might work. Sona Mahtani – who is the amazing woman who runs the whole thing (and injects her energy and enthusiasm tirelessly) – had gathered various of the enterprises who operate from the Selby Centre so that they could all tell me what they do and what their vision was for the future of their social enterprise.

What an impressive group. There was Gareth – who had started a school for young ones because he wanted young black children to achieve. They all go on to other schools ultimately where there results have been staggering – and he is now thinking about perhaps going the Free School route. There was a recycling wood enterprise and coming in I saw one of their products – a bench and table – of such beauty and skill you can’t imagine. They skill young people – several of whom are ex-offenders – and then they are able to seek work. There was a group who support people with disabilities into work. There was another that helped with language and basic IT skills – training to work – and much more. Selby is host to around 1500 people each day who come there to the various activities that go on there.

I was so impressed with what was going on I actually spoke to Nick Hurd the very next day about coming to visit the Selby Centre if possible (I’m sure everyone will want him to come to their operation) but I hear so often the refrain that the Big Society will be alright in middle-class areas where the chattering classes will know how to do it – but poorer areas will be left out. The Selby Centre absolutely contradicts this. In fact – it’s the direct opposite  – where people have come together to make things happen for themselves in this area of high diversity and relative disadvantage. I was blown away by the commitment and determination in that room.

Thanks to everyone who gave up their time to meet me and demonstrate so clearly – that the Big Society already exists – it just needs more encouragement and support. Funding is the key issue – and in the two years between now and the Big Society Bank taking off – there is a transition fund of £100million (but that is for sums of £50,000 and upwards). Elizabeth Henry (the CEO of Race on the Agenda) who is on the Board of Selby raised the fact that there is a community fund being created for smaller sums. There is also a £1.4billion regional fund and the govenrment has commissioned work to reduce the amount of bureaucracy involved for these small social enterprises to cut down on red tape.

This is just the beginning.

Once again Jewish communities up and down the land are again doing mitzvahs. A mitzvah is an act of human kindness and on this day Jewish members of the community do a good deed.

In Muswell Hill the local synagogue put on a number of special activities on the day (Sunday) to encourage people across the local community to think of others less fortunate than themselves.

Two years ago their ‘mitzvah’ was standing outside M & S and Sainabury’s and as people went in to do their shopping – asking them to buy one thing to donate on their way out. I went there to help – and people were only too happy to donate one item. Last year we were planting bulbs in a little park.

This year – for the first time – the Synagogue hosted a community inter faith tea party as well as at the same time having a massive wrapping session of Xmas gifts that have been donated by local people for children who are being supported by Barnardos in addition to other activities all over the place.

When I arrived it was an absolute hive of activity – and having helped (a very little) with the wrapping – I then went and talked to all the older members of the faith communities who were having a very nice tea with lots of cakes.

Congratulations to everyone who made it such a successful day. Events like this take a huge amount of coordination and a lot of work. It was a real ‘mitzvah’ to be able to join in.

I went to an event in the House last week to celebrate the Rugby Football League’s efforts to tackle homophobia in the game.

The RFL brought their gay equality campaign to Parliament to an event, hosted by my LibDem colleague Greg Mullholland MP. The RFL chief executive Nigel Wood said: “Many believe rugby league to be a brutal sport. I will not disagree that the on-the-field product can appear combative and aggressive but it is always played in the correct mindset of competition and fairness. This latter point translates across all those involved in rugby league and is the reason for the event today.”

I was presented with specially-designed Sheffield Eagles shirt carrying the ‘Homophobia Tackle It!’ slogan which will be worn at a home game in February. In my speech I said: “players and officials know that racism is unacceptable but sadly homophobia continues to be an issue in sport, at all levels. The Government is committed to stamping out homophobia wherever it occurs so I’m delighted to see the Rugby Football League and the Sheffield Eagles working hard to tackle the problem. They’re setting a really positive example that all other sports bodies should be proud to follow.”

International rugby star – Gareth Thomas – was meant to attend (the only out gay player – whose example sends out a fantastic message to young boys struggling with their sexual orientation to say – if I can do it you can do it’ – and it’s normal) but he was ill sadly.

However, it was a great event and highlighted just how important it is for all organisations around sport to take this issue very seriously. When the associations do – then the whole world changes for youngsters who then see their role models out there – and no longer feel perhaps that they need to hide who they are or indeed – give up their passion for the game itself.

Someone was telling me that out of 3,500 soccer players in our football league – not a single one is gay! Clearly not the real case. So – well done RFL. And come on FA.

Where rugby leads – soccer needs to follow – and fast!

Here is my column from yesterday’s Ham & High: 

I got sacked from my first job.

It was a small design/advertising agency and one night during my six week trial period – one of the Directors asked if I would join him and a blue chip client for the show reel and drinks. Afterwards he offered me a lift home, insisted on stopping for a drink on the way home and as he dropped my at my mother’s house – made a pretty crude lunge at me. I told him where to go – and the next day I was fired.

I sobbed my heart out to my mother – who said it was just one of life’s lessons. Thank goodness these days (I hate to admit this was over thirty-five years ago) it isn’t just one of life’s lessons – it is sexism, bullying and discrimination – and we have laws against it!

But despite having pretty advanced equalities legislation – reality on the street means that women still find they are paid less than men; gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender members of our community still feel defined by their sexual orientation rather than their personality or skills. Black and ethnic minority teenagers are still condemned daily by assumptions and prejudice.

One of my proudest moments so far in government was the launch at Number 10 of our action plan for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights. We will be tackling homophobic bullying in schools. I am looking at the next steps for civil partnerships and I am currently working to produce a plan to take transgender equality forwards – the first ever by any government.

But perhaps the greatest shift is that this government sees gay rights not only as a domestic issue – but in an international context.

Homosexuality is still illegal in over 70 countries. It is why we will use Britain’s influence to push for a unified EU stance on LGBT rights and we will proactively question countries who retain homophobic laws.

We must also get our own asylum laws in order. I was delighted with the recent Supreme Court ruling on gay asylum – a ruling which endorses the coalition’s position of stopping the return of asylum seekers to countries where their sexual orientation or gender identification puts them at proven risk of imprisonment, torture or even death.

Last month I launched a consultation on the public sector equality duty. Public bodies have huge potential to create a fairer society through the way they deliver their services, the people they recruit and the training they offer. Up until now these bodies have been sidetracked by centralised targets – distracting them from the real goal –serving their local community in the best possible way.

Under our plans, these organisations will be free to focus on the community they serve. But in return they must be transparent. Public bodies will have to publish a whole range of equality data – about their staff – about their services. Complete transparency, putting people in charge of the public bodies they pay for.

Gender inequality at work persists – the pay gap itself, the paucity of numbers of women on boards and at senior levels across organizations and companies throughout Britain and in segregated work –where women’s work is often just paid less than men’s.

So we are working to extend the right to request flexible working to all employees, to bring in shared parental leave and to get more women on boards – as well as having commenced the Equalities Act on October 1^st – which simplified, extended and improves protection from discrimination.

There is no greater privilege than to spend every day fighting for equality. But it’s not just a privilege – it’s a necessity. Because when companies or organisations discriminate – it isn’t just the individual who loses their job who suffers – it’s all of us. We cannot afford to ignore 50% of our population whose skills and talents we all need.

Moreover, it’s just plain wrong.

Paul Burstow, Liberal Democrat Minister of State, Department of Health launched the social care policy yesterday – so am pasting information on the new proposals below.

Social care is essential for most people at some time in their life. It embraces the most intimate care for people, often at times of great distress. It is about helping people and their carers to live independent lives. This isn’t happening at the moment. That’s why the Coalition Government is moving away from the “business as usual” mentality of the last Labour government to tackle the broken system of how we care for our older and disabled people.

This new Government policy is built on two key reforms that Liberal Democrats have been campaigning for over the last decade.

The first is that people – and not service providers – will have control over their care. By extending the roll out of personal budgets, first proposed by the Liberal Democrats in 2004, we will give individuals the freedom to decide what their money is spent on. By 2013 councils will provide everyone who wants one and is eligible with a personal budget.

The second key reform, that Liberal Democrats have consistently championed, is guaranteed respite care. We believe that this is a lifeline – not just for carers but for whole families. The Coalition Government’s vision for social care will deliver on our Party’s manifesto commitment to provide guaranteed respite care by making over £400million available in additional funding over the next four years to hundreds of thousands of carers.

Please forward this message to anyone you know who could be entitled to respite care

Too often in the past money for carers has been diverted into other areas. (NOTE: Our allocated money for carers in Haringey dissappeared into the PCT never to be actually given to our carers!) Unlike the last Labour Government, we’ll ensure that the right mechanisms are in place to make sure that this money gets to carers. Under the current system, too many vulnerable people have been left imprisoned in their homes, fearful of moving to be near loved ones, in case they found themselves worse off in a postcode lottery of care.

Our reforms will reverse rules which mean those who receive help from their local council have to be reassessed if they move to another part of the country. People will have the freedom to move home without the fear of having their entitlements taken away from them. The care and support of our older and disabled population is one of the most urgent of all social policy issues we face as a society. That’s why the Coalition Government has committed itself to invest £2billion into social care by 2014/15.

Today we have announced a vision for social care that joins up health and social care. It will provide better, more independent lives for older and disabled people – and their carers.

Baroness Newlove launched her ‘call to action’ for community safety today.

She is working with ministers to encourage local people, businesses and frontline workers (like the police) on what more they can do to make their communities safer.

The Baroness is keen to find what initiatives are being effective in various communities up and down the country in terms of community safety – so other areas can take them up if they think they would work for them.

She is going to go around the country visiting projects and meeting people who have helped make a difference in their area, witnessing first-hand what works and what the barriers are to successful community activism.

The Baroness has become a blogger! She is keen to communicate directly with activists and the wider public, sharing on-going learning from her visits, highlighting innovation and challenges and signposting people to useful resources – and reporting back to ministers next year detailing how Government can empower local people and communities in their endeavours.

For more details on Baroness Newlove’s progress – you can log on to her blog here.

A magnificent performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah last night by the Highgate Choral Society (of which I am a patron).

Ronald Corp was the conductor, the New London Orchestra played the music – five soloists took the solo characters – but the real stars are without doubt the Highgate choristers – the many local people who every Monday night rehearse and rehearse  year in and year out. When the Chorus takes off and swells and soars to the rafters – those are incomparable moments.

Congratulations to everyone for such a wonderful performance and to the unsung and less seen members who do all of the organisation – and it must take a tremendous amount of organisation to put on such a huge show.

Went out for a walk in Kenwood yesterday. The sun was shining (for the first five minutes) and I love Kenwood and Hampstead Heath – nowhere better to see the seasons change. Kenwood was in beautiful autumnal colours and looking just wonderful.

The point of mentioning this is only to say that on walking out of Kenwood the way I exit you get the most wonderful view of Athlone House – one of the most amazing landmark buildings overlooking Hampstead Heath. This beautiful building is still under threat – despite proposals for its demolition being decisively rejected by Camden Council.

The developers are taking it to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate in an effort to get Camden’s decision overturned.

It is absolutely vital that local people let the Inspector, Sian Evans, know how strongly local residents oppose the scheme. The Highgate Society has been fighting together with local people all the way against these proposals. They are campaigning (and I was handed a leaflet as I left Kenwood to this effect) to get local people tell the Inspector directly. The e-address is: Sian.Evans@pins.gsi.gov.ukif you want to let the Inspector know how you feel about this or you can write to The Planning Inspectorate, Temple Quay House, 2 The Square, Temple Quay, Bristol BS1 6PN. The reference to quote is: APP/X5210/A/10/2135357. There is more information on the Highgate Society website www.highgatesociety.com

How we arrived at this position is a matter of some interest itself. In 2005 planning permission to construct new flats in the grounds of Athlone House. In exchange – the developer agreed to maintain and restore Athlone House within three and a half years. Needless to say- the first part of the deal – ie the developer built the flats and made the gain by the sale of the completed flats but Athlone House has not been maintained and restored. A new owner is instead seeking to replace one of London’s finest Victorian Houses houses with a new one.