Despite a last minute concession, health spending in Haringey is being cut.
How John Prescott got it wrong – and why he should apologise to two women
A rant that needs ranting follows the welcome High Court judgement over the sacking of two women from the Bridge New Deal for Communities (NDC) regeneration body in Haringey.
Acting as voluntary chair and vice-chair of its finance committee, Joyce and Ibiola were dismissed after they raised questions about how money was being spent. Residents got up a 600 strong petition to John Prescott – then the man in charge of regeneration. But they got the brush off – and Parliament was told that Prescott and his team were “satisfied that the expulsions were handled fairly”.
Well, that’s not what the High Court decided after looking through the evidence (more details here). So why were Prescott & co satisfied that everything was ok? What investigations did they really carry out on receipt of the petition? And then there is the issue that these two women were trying to bring to light – what happens to all that public money thrown at areas of deprivation with real need? If two people are sacked after asking questions, some tough questions should be asked about what has happened with the money they were concerned about. What shouldn’t happen is what Prescott and co did do – dismiss the petition from 600 residents and say everything is ok.
In fact, the court’s verdict reminds me of my second year as a councillor in Haringey, when I was on the Regeneration Scrutiny Committee and tried to track some of this myself. I could not understand how such large sums of funding could end up with an end result of only around nine jobs being created in the cases we were looking at. Haringey Council may be the ‘accountable’ body for this spending – but what if they are no good? Who and how and to what extent are they checked? Audit – I hear you say! But … there was no audit in this instance since 2001 up until the current date; a question for the Secretary of State I think!
Funding our health service: the future of St Ann's
Met with Carl Lammy – Chair of Haringey Mental Health Trust. The promised development of St Ann’s (and much needed and vital development – have you seen the antiquated mess of buildings that form St Ann’s?) has run into a storm of objections from local people concerned that what this really means is a sell-off of public land. Well – yes probably.
In this, yet again, we see this Labour government’s steam-roller approach to their avowed intent – which is to remodel the health service into specialist centres with local super health hubs within which 15% of the budget will be spent on private providers.
We didn’t ever get to vote on that. If such a switch to private providers had been from a Tory government it would have brought forth a howl of protest from Labour supporters – but this is from Labour itself. Put this together with the sell-off of public land assets to finance new builds – and you get protests.
Hence the problems St Ann’s renewal is encountering: they suffer the rage of those of us who never agreed to this program – but they have no real choice or voice in this. Local campaigners together with local politicians including my Liberal Democrat colleague Wayne Hoban and others campaigned against the closure of the X-ray service on the St Ann’s site – and that bit has had a reprieve, but it is only a reprieve. We need an X-ray department at St Ann’s. The very important eating disorder services that are there – and many others – that need frequent x-rays.
Anyway – the point is that the facilities at St Ann’s are ancient and failing. To change them to modern day standards and comfort needs money – and Labour will only make funds available on its own terms, making people jump through the hoops that it wants, regardless of local opinion. And that will see land sold, I am sure.
We have seen this happen in education and in housing and now it is health’s turn. Labour’s modernisation program means – do what we say, sell-off land and involve private companies. Now – selling off land and involving private companies can have their place on occasion – who would want to die the in ditch to say that every single last square millimetre of land owned by the NHS anywhere in the UK must be kept for all time? – but the problem with Labour is that they impose, top-down, a one-size fits all solution rather than taking individual cases on their merits and listening to what local people really want.
Selling assets and involving private firms through PFI, PPP, LIFT etc is a live now, pay later philosophy – where we getting new buildings for our aging hospitals and schools but then the pain comes down the line when we are still paying high costs year after year and all the family silver has gone.
Concession on health cuts not enough
A last minute concession to the proposed cut in Haringey health spending has been described as Labour spin by the Liberal Democrats.
The Haringey Primary Care Trust (PCT) told Haringey Council’s ‘watchdog’ committee last week (26th March) that instead of the original 3.6%, the reduction would be revised to 2.4%. The revision of the figures has angered Liberal Democrats who have highlighted the fact that this will still cut spending by £8 million.
Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green comments:
“No matter how much tinkering Labour does with the figures, the fact is that Haringey residents’ health care will suffer. This is yet one more example of people having to pay for Labour’s poor management of the NHS.”
Cllr Richard Wilson, Haringey Liberal Democrat spokesperson on health issues adds:
“Last year’s £10 million raid on our local health budget resulted in hospital wards and clinics closing across the borough. The Government has now confirmed that £8 million will be raided from Haringey’s health services this year because of Labour’s continuing NHS financial crisis. This double-whammy means patients will lose out as more health services are cut by Labour.”
Liberal Democrat concern over condition of roads in Haringey
The Liberal Democrats in Haringey have voiced their concern over the state of the borough’s roads and questioned the service provided by the contractors who are paid thousands to maintain the roads.
At a meeting of Overview and Scrutiny, Haringey Council’s ‘watchdog’ committee, last week the Liberal Democrats highlighted the ‘potential death traps’ posed by increasing pot holes and uneven surfaces. One councillor cited a six-inch deep hole on a busy road in Bounds Green that was left untouched for two months.
When questioned about the problem, the Labour councillor responsible for the roads, Brian Haley, had no idea why the roads weren’t being repaired and had no answers to how this service would be improved.
Cllr Martin Newton, Lib Dem spokesperson on traffic issues, said:
“Anyone who uses the roads of Haringey will know that the roads are riddled with potholes and bumps. Holes are getting bigger, deeper and more dangerous for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
“The Labour Council seems to have little or no control over the contractors it is paying. Haringey residents have every right to expect their council to make sure they are getting value for money from the companies they hire.”
Will the pensions crisis cost Gordon Brown his next job?
Westminster Hour and Mark d’Arcy was holding the fort for Carolyn Quinn. Ed Vaizey was my co-panellist. Gordon Brown and the pension scandal, Iran and various green bits were the key issues of debate.
The sky is darkening over Gordon Brown – and it’s a race as to whether he gets to the Prime Minister finishing line before being engulfed by bad opinion polls and damaging issues – such as this pension scandal. And Labour are doing themselves no favours with the usual New Labour spin: in this case deliberately timing the release of pension papers under a Freedom of Information request from The Times (well done The Times) on the Friday night of the parliamentary recess. Sneaky, disgusting, planned – and it won’t help him.
We will return to Parliament and Gordon Brown will have to face the music – which is not something often seen as most Treasury Question time he puts his minions out front and sits with head below parapet.
The damage to individual pensioners, the pensions industry as a whole and the damage to trust in politicians (if it can go any lower) is immense. But ultimately it may be damage to Gordon that is irreversible. We will see how things panned out. But he cannot say he wasn’t warned. The point is – he needed the money and clearly he didn’t really care about the consequences. That is sooooooo New Labour – live today and let someone else pay tomorrow!
Newroz celebrations
Campaign 
team meeting and door knocking to start off and then off to Shoreditch Park in Hackney to speak at the Newroz celebrations. Thousands of members of the Kurdish community come together to celebrate the year’s ‘renewal’. With bands, dancers and political speakers – the sun shone and the fun goes on. Simon Hughes and I were the Liberal Democrat contingent – and Simon is clearly an old favourite with the Kurdish community with whom he has done a great deal of work.
How do we tackle climate change?
Local community groups came together to discuss and work out a way forward for a sustainable agenda for Haringey. Well, given that the Labour Council and the Labour government between them have not done the necessary – this is probably a move in the right campaigning direction.
The problem is that whilst the presentations were very good – from Friends of the Earth, Haringey Residents Associations and an energy consultant – it is in the end to a great extent about political will. We really do have to work towards a sustainable future and (excuse the number of clichés) there really is no time to lose. But whilst there is a lot of emphasis put – rightly – on individual action, there is much more that need to be done by the different parts of the state, especially giving us not merely an aspirational target for reducing carbon emissions by 2050 in the forthcoming Climate Change Bill but annual targets instead.
And a bit more is required of businesses – such as why not get the FTS100 companies to publish their carbon footprint? And why does Labour Haringey show no interest or desire to take up the local Liberal Democrat manifesto commitment to get businesses to recycle? Lots of individuals recycling their glass bottles is one thing, but imagine the impact of providing more pubs with a glass recycling service – or shops a cardboard box recycling service – and the list of examples goes on.
And one of the biggest carbon emitters of all – our homes – could be so much more energy efficient: not just lagging and cavity walls, but real improvements like in some northern European countries where emissions from peoples’ houses is almost down to nothing. It can be done – and the costs can be covered by savings on fuel bills.
Nevertheless – congratulations to the organisers of the sustainable communities conference, as we sure do need pressure – continual pressure – on both Haringey Council and the Government, particularly as the Climate Change Bill proceeds.
Caring for pets in Haringey
Next 
visit of the day was to the Wood Green Animal Shelter. Dennis Baker (OBE) – the Chief Executive – and Harry Eckman – the Shelter Manager – greeted me as I arrived. Here were really dedicated souls giving virtually free vet services to those who need it for their pets – as well as operating a sanctuary for animals that come their way and a re-homing service for cats.
And all this despite the facility being unbelievably cramped. The X-ray facilities, the operating room, the pre-op room and the waiting rooms are all tiny. I don’t know how they manage – but I do know that this is a vital service to our local community.
Private vets fees costs an arm and a leg – and I should know ‘cos I have a dog (black and tan mutt) who I got as a pup from Crisis at Christmas. Now 9 years old – and because I get to take her almost always out of hours – it truly costs a fortune, but what are you going to do if your pet is ill? So for those who cannot pay much – this service is a godsend.
Just while I am on the subject of vets fees – I would be happy to hear from anyone who has views and stories about vets fees and insurance cover.
Back to the shelter itself: whilst it started here in Wood Green, there is also a bigger facility near Huntingdon – where they have superb facilities and where I once went to look for a dog when I wanted to get one for us. The centre is a charity but forbidden to apply for lottery grant funding to help them expand their premises as those funds are only applicable to humans.
So they manage on legacies and donations – and if you want to help financially, I am sure they would be grateful. Extending the shelter would allow for greater care for poorly animals, and also help the shelter’s expansion into re-homing services. They will be having a Christmas Fare open day. If you don’t know the shelter and want to know more you can visit their website for more information: www.woodgreen.org.uk
Visiting the Cypriot Community Centre
After 
meeting residents in the morning to talk through individual cases, I went off to the Cypriot Community Centre. It is a model for how community centres can really not only support a particular community but also help perform the functions of the local authority to a group of residents who might not access them through other channels so easily or so happily. I’ve visited previously, but this was my first visit as MP for the area.
Susie Constantinides and Chris Stylianou showed me around and what struck me most was the warmth of the atmosphere and the intermingling of the different groups. The general area was full of older gentleman (I don’t know how to put that more politely) who clearly enjoy coming for a right old natter. And they were all very sweet and welcoming to m. At other times of day women come or young people come. In the same large space, but over to one side, were older disabled people who had a large TV to watch – but were still part of the general community. In other rooms there were older people with various challenges – be that age, mental health or physical – and all cared for. The centre is really several centres rolled into one – providing meals, physio, care, socialisation, occupation, classes, meeting rooms, performance space, advisory services and so on. I can’t go into the details of all that they do here – but suffice to say – that they really do perform a vital function for the community – largely Cypriot although open to all.
One of the services they offer is to provide a Cypriot food version of meals on wheels. They brought up the issue of the price people have to pay for the meals on wheels service if they are not part of a total care package but rather getting just the meals. I promised to take up this point with Haringey Council.
Lynne Featherstone 