Promising news in The Times today, though – as ever with G Brown – it’s a matter of media briefings, nods and winks rather than direct plain talking in public, so we’ll see what next week really does bring!
theyworkforyou.com
Out campaigning yesterday, I bumped into one of the guys who started faxyourmp.com, theyworkforyou.com etc – he’s one of my constituents.
If you don’t know the sites – they make it easy for the public to contact us MPs, find out what we’ve been doing, how hard we’ve been working, how we voted on different issues etc. All good stuff – and I think that even after having become an MP myself!
Having these sites is a bit like being performance managed – and basically it’s good and keeps us on our toes. As with any system of counting, there is a risk that the numbers don’t really tell the full story – or that people adjust their behaviour to come top of the stats. But they do a pretty good job of trying to deal with that – e.g. when mentioning how good MPs are at responding (or not!) to correspondence they also mention the volume they receive – because of course, the less you get, the easier it is to respond quickly to everything. (As for me? I come in the top 1% for volume of work and despite that am in the top 5% of response standard).
However, as I said to him, the only thing I found aggravating was when someone (and there are a few) faxed me every day or twice a day some query or other – because you then either end up giving them huge amounts of time at the expense of other people – or your “performance figures” ended up looking worse. He thought the solution, which they were looking at, was to have some sort of filter that only counted one contact per week per constituent in the performance figures.
He also said that lots of MPs (not me) were really grumpy with the site for measuring them at all! Well – I think that is the wrong attitude in principle. But also – the best way of getting measured sensibly is to engage constructively – as with this example of multiple contacts from one person problem. The team behind the sites do seem to make reasonable efforts to understand how things look from the MPs‘ side of the fence too – for example, I’m pleased that they recognise the vast difference in caseloads between seats like Hornsey & Wood Green (and other similar seats) and say the shires. He said there was no comparison – and yet there is no differential in the funding of all seats regardless of amount of casework. It was just nice to have that recognised by someone who measures such things.
So – if you are a member of the public – do use their excellent sites, and if there are any fellow MPs reading this – embrace the sites, don’t hate them!
Visiting the Whittington
Having done my usual advice surgery this morning, this afternoon I met with David Sloman (Chief Exec of the Whittington Hospital). We had our usual discussion on the progress of their application for foundation status – which is seemingly progressing.
We then went on to discuss the issues around the Hornsey Hospital development as I suddenly saw a real possibility of how the new facility could be made to work well. David was saying that if the IT system that is installed was linked to all local practises and the Whittington – then we (the people) would get a proper health network whether we went to our local GP, or were referred on to the polyclinic (click here to read about polyclinics) or the Whittington. Also, he was saying, that it would be more natural if the local health trust were to commission the Whittington say, to facilitate the phlebotomy department (taking blood) at Hornsey Hospital or other natural extensions or outposts of the services.
Anyway – the point I made was that David needs to make sure he (and the Whittington) are at the table with the GP practises et al when the specifics of the new health facility are being hashed out. That’s why I keep saying – it could be great or it could be a disaster – it will depend on real, real partnerships and not the Trust simply saying this is what you will have.
Iraqi interpreters: 9th October meeting
The campaign over asylum for Iraqi interpreters who worked for the British armed forces and who are now in fear of their lives has organised a cross-party meeting in Parliament for 9th October – backed by Amnesty International, The Refugee Council and others.
I’ll be speaking, along with Conservative MP Ed Vaizey (a regular jousting partner on Radio 4’s Westminster Hour!) and a so-far unnamed senior Labour MP. Will be interesting to see who pops their head above the parapet from the Labour side on this!
There is some good lobbying advice over on Dan Hardie‘s blog (though I would very much echo his point that personal letters have MUCH more impact on the receiving MPs than messages which are simple copying and pasting of a standard message), and the Liberal Democrats’ petition is here.
London tops corruption survey
Some league tables are good to top – and some are bad, such as being the worst financial centre for international corruption. And who tops this league table – step forward, London!
You can read more on this story at www.corruptionisacrime.com – and whilst there do sign our petition about the Al Yamamah arms deal scandal!
More backing for fixed-term Parliaments
Two more straws in the wind: Ming Campbell on last night’s Question Time and Lib Dem blogger of the year James Graham on his blog have both spoken out in favour of fixed-term Parliaments in the wake of the latest will-he won’t-he dithering from Brown.
Previous backers included Benedict Brogan of the Daily Mail and Samuel Brittan in the Financial Times. There might be a bit of a head of steam building up on this now – thank goodness!
Haringey nursery provision gets worse
Fears have been raised over falling nursery standards as figures uncovered by the Liberal Democrats revealed that Haringey is one of only forty boroughs across the country where the ratio of trained teachers to nursery children has deteriorated.
There were just over 13 nursery pupils to every teacher in 2006. However, that figure rocketed to almost 18 pupils last year.
Commenting, Lynne Featherstone MP says:
“These figures show that in spite of Labour’s claim that every child matters, it is clear in Haringey that our children don’t matter as much as elsewhere.
“Regardless of their spin and hype, the quality of local education provision for the youngest children in our area is falling in spite of the hard work of our teachers. They are having to paddle against the tide of empty promises from the Government.
“Once again this is clear evidence of what a raw education deal Haringey gets, on top of the significantly reduced pupil funding our schools receive compared to inner London. I would urge worried parents to support my ‘Fair Funding Deal for Haringey‘ campaign.Money pumped into our local education system will right these wrongs and raise standards.”
Liberal Democrat concern at Coleridge Primary School expansion delay
Haringey Liberal Democrats have expressed their concern at reports that Phase Two of the expansion to Coleridge Primary School, planned to be completed in September 2008, has been delayed.
The two month delay will come as another major disappointment to parents and children in the area plagued by school delays and school place shortages in the past. Lib Dem councillors are writing to Haringey Council to demand a full explanation of why the contract negotiations took longer than planned and to receive guarantees from Haringey Council that the expansion will not be delayed further.
Cllr Gail Engert, Lib Dem Children and Young People spokesperson, comments:
“Not only do parents struggle to obtain a local reception place of their choice, they now have the added anxiety of whether the place will be there at all at the start of the school term.
“This just goes to prove what Lib Dems have always said: Haringey Council needs a more long-term planning process and not just a knee-jerk reaction to a shortage crisis which inevitably means that places are not provided on time.”
Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, adds:
“Yet again the Labour Council has shown its inability to provide new reception places on time and on budget. It’s a real let down for local parents and children who just want local school places and an end to uncertainties.”
Hornsey Central Hospital: the latest plans
Haringey PCT presented their update on Hornsey Hospital to a meeting yesterday. The good news (potentially) is that they have financial closure and the building will be built. The battle now is over what services get provided, which GPs will be based there, how local pharmacies will be impacted as they want a bit of a pharmacy on site, whether extra public transport can be provided (it is served only by one bus currently) and how all of this will be decided. Will consultation be wide and reach all users and stakeholders? And will we and our GPs be listened to?
It was an extremely robust meeting. The Better Local Healthcare Campaign group are extremely concerned that this is a privatisation of our health care. They raised the issue of the building actually being used for residential or commercial purposes. Richard Sumray, the Chair of Haringey PCT, denied this categorically and said whilst it had been in early proposals as alternatives – it had fallen as they had managed to find funding without the need for either of those proposals.
There is no doubt that there will be some private provision. That is Labour’s avowed proposition – that 15% of our health provision will come from the private sector. However, from what I could tell at the meeting, there is a fundamental commitment to this being and remaining an NHS service. I guess that we all have so little faith in what the Labour government tells us – especially because there have been so many varied incarnations of promises on Hornsey Hospital – that we are all concerned that what we are told may not be what happens.
My key issue is GP practices. The Trust is quite clear that some current GPs will have to move into the new, super-centre – otherwise it would not be viable. They deny absolutely that they are looking for a 50,000 patient list – but that they will commence with 15,000 rising to 25,000 years hence. Moreover – all practices will be able to use the new facilities – and thus a network of better health services will be provided locally.
My concern, which I raised pretty strongly, was that all the GPs and practices are really brought into the planning of this new facility. I have had reports from GPs of feeling pressured, being concerned that if they don’t move in or do what the Trust wants they will be punished financially and so on. So I asked the Chair about coercion, punishment, engagement etc with GPs and they absolutely promised that this (engagement, not punishment!) starts now. If they do work together – then this could be a real step forward. If the Trust steamrollers its way through and doesn’t listen to local people and GPs – it will be the opposite.
In terms of the concerns around local pharmacies in Crouch End being adversely affected – the Trust seems to be talking to them about them forming a collective to run the new pharmacy themselves. If this could come to fruition that would be a good way forward and an inclusive one. I haven’t heard recently from the local pharmacies – so I hope that it is as we were told at the meeting.
Lastly – transport. You couldn’t choose a worse placed site for lack of public transport. Only one bus now runs there. I have twice met with Peter Hendy, Commissioner of Transport in London on this issue – as the last thing we should be creating is more car journeys or poor access to such a facility for local people. On each occasion Peter has said – when it is a live project – let me know.
Well – with financial closure this is very live! And as my Lib Dem colleague Cllr Gail Engert (Muswell Hill) pointed out – it takes Transport for London a couple of years generally to get going on a new route (let alone the decade it took for the 603). So after the meeting I suggested to Richard that now is the moment to really push the transport aspect forward.
More generally – Richard Sumray has promised that over the coming weeks and months we will be given specifics and be consulted on this. I have over the recent weeks put out a health survey door to door (cos not everyone goes to these meetings or even hears about them) and part of the health survey is about what local people want at Hornsey Hospital. When they all come back – I will be feeding in the views to the Health Trust too.
Benedict Brogan 1, Nick Robinson 0
I’ve blogged before (just once or twice!) about what a soft ride Gordon Brown is getting in the media for treating the choice of general election polling day as if it is his own personal plaything.
So – credit where credit is due – which means credit to Benedict Brogan (Daily Mail) today for writing:
Once all this nonsense is over, I’m going to start campaigning for fixed terms.
Lynne Featherstone 