Cambridgeshire County Council – Page 3

County schools languish post academisation

10:43 Tuesday 1st December 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: The education watchdog Ofsted has just announced its annual review of school in the country, and it doesn’t make great reading for Cambridgeshire. The chance of a child attending a ‘good’ secondary school less than half, and it’s amongst the lowest ten authorities in the country. A damning assessment really of our county’s education record and surely pours doubts over the academy system, doesn’t it? Let’s go and get the latest on that from Andrew Cook, who is from Ofsted. Morning Andrew.
ANDREW COOK: Good morning.
PAUL STAINTON: Not great news for Cambridgeshire is it?
ANDREW COOK: No it’s not good news for Cambridgeshire, and you know I’ve been on your show before to highlight our concerns around Cambridgeshire, particularly secondary schools, where like you say, there’s less than a 50% chance of a student in Cambridgeshire going to a ‘good’ or better secondary school.
PAUL STAINTON: What’s going on?
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Supermarketgate – no immediate prospect of a Sainsburys in Whittlesey

10:24 Wednesday 25th November 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: So it’s official this morning. The confirmation has come through. The final site of Peterborough City Council’s big solar park dream scrapped. Councillors have confirmed that plans for America Farm won’t now go ahead, alongside Morris Fen and Newborough which have already bitten the dust. It’s the end of the whole project, which has cost the people of Peterborough over £3 million. In return they’ve got diddly squat. So bad news. And there could be even worse news for people in Whittlesey. Remember two supermarkets fighting over the chance to open a big supermarket in Whittlesey? Well we understand there’s a possibility that the whole Sainsbury’s development, the winners in this struggle, might now be pulled. Let’s speak to John Elworthy. He’s Editor of many Cambridgeshire newspapers. It’s easier to say that John than list them all I think.
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Proposed cuts to children’s centres ‘stark and unpalatable’

08:24 Wednesday 11th November 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Vulnerable children in Cambridgeshire could stay in difficult family situations for longer instead of going into care, just one of the realities the County Council faces as it considers major cuts to its budget. The department that cares for young people in the county needs to find savings of £26.5 million next year. Reducing the number of children in care was just one of the challenges discussed at the Children’s Committee meeting yesterday. Our political reporter Hannah Olsson was there and joins us now from outside Romsey Mill Children’s Centre in Cambridge. Because Hannah, the children’s centres are another area where funding could be cut.
HANNAH OLSSON: Yes good morning Dotty. These are just proposals at the moment, but some of the options on the table are a significant reduction to the money given to children’s centres like Romsey Mill where I am this morning, ending the funding for the Connections bus which works with young people in Cambridgeshire’s rural villages, and cutting the amount of money they spend on getting young people to school. But the biggest cost and therefore the saving they face is for the money they spend looking after vulnerable children. That’s paying for social workers, placing children in foster care and helping with the care of the needs of children with disabilities. This is something the Council has a statutory responsibility to do. So they face difficult decisions keeping their legal responsibility whilst meeting their budget. It was summed up in yesterday’s meeting as ‘a horribly difficult decision to make’.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And Hannah, a couple of weeks ago I spoke to Charlotte Black, who is one of the Council directors. I spoke to her at the time that these cuts announcements were made. She admitted that they are going to have to take more risks. What does that mean?
HANNAH OLSSON: Well what they’ve said is that they’re going to be working on a best case scenario, rather than a worst case scenario, which as you said at the beginning could mean leaving children in difficult chaotic families for longer than they might at the moment. Now when this specific example was mentioned yesterday, one councillor said it screamed of Baby P, and that was a big worry. The officer’s response was that there would be more of an emphasis on prevention. They are hoping that communities will take up some of the slack, and step in to continue running some of those services, but obviously they said it’s inevitable that some of these services will have to stop altogether if the funding stops.
DOTTY MCLEOD: And this was a big meeting yesterday at the County Council. What else was discussed?
HANNAH OLSSON: Well there was considerable concern for the proposal to cut funding for getting over-16s to school, with councillors pointing out this would hit those in rural areas. The funding of children’s centres was also discussed at length. There’s 38 of these all over Cambridgeshire, providing early years support for families. Looking at what’s on here at Romsey Mill this week, there’s a parenting course, a toddler group, and midwife clinic for example. At the moment the majority of their funding comes from councils and family services, but under these proposals this money would be cut significantly. The Council is hoping to be able to keep some of these services open, looking at making centres bigger with a concentration of services. But the Chair of yesterday’s committee said that the loss of children’s centres in some areas would be disastrous, pointing out the irony that there was a greater emphasis on prevention in these proposals, but it was these centres that are a vital part in recognising problems early on.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Disastrous is a very strong word to use when you’re talking about the well-being of children in Cambridgeshire. Let’s talk more about this with the Chief Executive of Romsey Mill Neil Perry. Neil are you worried about the prospect of these cuts to children’s centres?
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Cutting mobile libraries ‘a disaster for rural communities’

07:20 Friday 6th November 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: County councillors were meeting earlier on this week to talk about which services might have to be cut or reduced. They face of course a big budget deficit. And it was the issue of mobile libraries in Cambridgeshire that provoked the most debate. Cutting the service would save £160,000 over two years. You’ll remember that next year the County Council is looking to save £41 million. One councillor said these savings would be small but the damage would be costly. Another said that mobile libraries were dinosaurs of the past, and that services should be delivered in another way. So with the vans looking to be one of the first battlegrounds of the budget negotiations, our political reporter Hannah Olsson went to see one in action, as it stopped at Windsor Court in Somersham.
(HORN BLOWING HEARD)
DRIVER: Welcome aboard. Nice to see you.
HANNAH OLSSON: It may be a very grey wet miserable day, but even as the van is pulling up, the ladies are ready with their bags of books.
(HUBBUB)
READER: I only read at night. A little bit of sex.
HANNAH OLSSON: Really! How convenient is it that the library comes to you?
READER: Oh it’s lovely. I don’t know what we’d do without him.
HANNAH OLSSON: You’ve got a big pile of books there. What are you getting out today?
READER: That particular author, J.D.Robb, he’s very kindly getting me these ones in the order they’ve been printed.
HANNAH OLSSON: Norma, you’ve got a big pile of books there. You’re weighed down. How many have you got today?
NORMA: There’s my bag what I bring back down there.
HANNAH OLSSON: There’s probably .. a dozen books in there?
NORMA: About that. It’s like that every time. Well I don ‘t sleep at night, so I read at night, during the night. And I’d be lost without it.
HANNAH OLSSON: What sort of books do you get?
NORMA: Mills & Boons. I’m all Mills & Boons.
HANNAH OLSSON: This service. I think Norma, if they got rid of it, it would save about £160,000 over two years. Do you think it’s worth that money?
NORMA: Yes it is. We worked all our life so why shouldn’t we get some benefit out of it.
DRIVER: Can I offer to help you down with your bags? Thank you so much.
NORMA: Thank you.
HANNAH OLSSON: David Hamilton is a mobile librarian. He’s been helping these ladies out today. He’s been part of the library service for thirty years, and shows me around.
DAVID HAMILTON: We’ve got a range of non-fiction titles and fiction titles.
HANNAH OLSSON: Behind us here we’ve got all the children’s picture books.
DAVID HAMILTON: The book section for the very young children.
HANNAH OLSSON: And even some DVDs around the corner.
DAVID HAMILTON: DVDs as well as the audio books of course.
HANNAH OLSSON: So we’re at a care home today, some residential flats. Is that some of your stops?
DAVID HAMILTON: In fact there are a couple of days when I actually devote to just doing the care homes.
HANNAH OLSSON: The ladies that were coming on earlier, they’re taking out a lot of books, aren’t they?
DAVID HAMILTON: Their satisfaction is reading. It’s almost like a hobby to them.
HANNAH OLSSON: So this is just one of the vans that travels around Cambridgeshire. Christine May is the Head of Communities and Cultural Services.
CHRISTINE MAY: We’ve got four vehicles altogether, three of which are out full time on the roads, and another which works part-time.
HANNAH OLSSON: And they cover so many villages, don’t they?
CHRISTINE MAY: They do. 245 villages, stopping at 421 locations. So yes, it’s really extensive.
HANNAH OLSSON: Although obviously the books are the primary reason of going round, today we’ve got this winter health bag, which has got lots of leaflets and a cup of tea that they can have. Is that also important? It’s kind of the Council’s link to these communities?
CHRISTINE MAY: Yes. When I first got to know the mobile service, I really felt this is more a social service really, because of the highly personal nature of it. And we’re giving out information as you can see on the notices behind you there, particularly health information and information aimed at older people and young families. As part of the options looking forward we’re also talking to some of our partner services about whether there’s an option to do more with the mobile services, those that remain.
HANNAH OLSSON: When are you likely to come back again?
DAVID HAMILTON: The next visit is scheduled on Wednesday 2nd December.
READER: Right. Thank you very much. See you then.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Our reporter Hannah Olsson there, catching up with the mobile library at Windsor Court in Somersham. Well councillor Ian Bates is a Conservative who represents the Hemingfords ward. And Ian, you’ve come out fighting for mobile libraries. Tell me why.
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Council tax – a 5% rise could protect services for vulnerable adults

08:24 Wednesday 4th November 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Would you pay more council tax if it meant vital services in Cambridgeshire could be protected? That’s the question that some of the councillors debating proposed cuts to social care think you should be considering. They voted in favour of the idea at a committee meeting yesterday. Our political reporter Hannah Olsson joins me now. So Hannah, what’s being proposed and why?
HANNAH OLSSON: Good morning Dotty. As we’ve already been talking about here on the Breakfast Show, Cambridgeshire County Council is facing major holes in their budget next year, and some big changes are being proposed to meet this deficit. The most significant of these arguably is the £10 million that could go from the Council’s care budget, that’s what it uses to help vulnerable people in the county. So it could mean that not everyone who receives care now would continue to do so in the future, and other people will see their support reduced. Yesterday the committee of elected councillors on the Adult Committee that oversees services for vulnerable adults considered this proposal. I was there, and to be frank it was quite depressing, as councillors faced what they described as the impossible task of fulfilling their responsibilities to vulnerable people as well as the budget they were being given. One councillor actually asked whether someone would have to die of neglect before the risk of these cuts was considered too much. Now there were some councillors there who were saying we shouldn’t just accept the budget, and either ask the Government for more money or consider putting up council tax to raise more money locally. And in the end councillors voted six to five to ask the General Purposes Committee to consider a 5% council tax rise. Now this General Purposes Committee is the one that deals with the election and constitutional matters.
DOTTY MCLEOD: OK. So this is a proposal that’s been put forward by councillors. It’s not definitely going ahead.
HANNAH OLSSON: No far from it. The Council isn ‘t actually allowed to raise council tax more than 2% without a referendum, and it wouldn’t even get to a referendum without it being voted for by the whole Council. And you can take, by the fact that the committee yesterday was split on whether or not to even proposes this, that not everyone agrees it’s a good idea. But I suspect yesterday’s meeting won’t be the last time we hear this suggested. As far as I know, no other local council has so far held a referendum on council tax, but as councils across the country face increasingly difficult budget decisions, I’m sure it’s not going to be too long. In fact I heard that it’s being discussed in Oxfordshire County Council at the moment.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So the Council needs to save £40 million next year. Would putting council tax up 5% be enough?
HANNAH OLSSON: Well not if they continue with all the services they provide at the moment. When the proposed cuts were announced last week, the Leader of the Council Steve Count explained to me they would actually need to put up council tax by 17.5% next year to meet the savings. That’s an average of around £200 per household. And of course some people might think that it’s actually worth it. There’s also an option of meeting in the middle, so making some savings, and putting council tax up a bit, which is where this 5% would fall. But again to emphasise, this can’t happen without a full referendum of voters here in Cambridgeshire.
DOTTY MCLEOD: OK Hannah. Thank you very much for that update. Hannah Olsson there our political reporter. Lucy Nethsingha is joining me now, who is the Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Cambridgeshire County Council, and a member of the committee that voted for this proposal yesterday, this proposal to see if it might be possible to increase council tax by 5%. Lucy, which way did you vote on this? Do you think it’s a good idea?
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Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign

08:08 Thursday 29th October 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: Local taxpayers will not foot the bill if they help to foster refugee children in Cambridgeshire and the UK. Those are comments from the Cambridge Refugee Resettlement group, after there were calls for Cambridgeshire County Council to do much more to help find foster placements for around 1,000 child refugees currently staying in Kent. But not everyone in Cambridgeshire agrees, as Johnny D. found out in Wisbech this morning.
PUBLIC ONE: I think it’s all wrong, because they’re migrants as such, but they’ve done it on purpose. I don’t think any of the migrants should be allowed in the country, because there’s plenty of other countries they can go to.
JOHNNY D.: What do you mean it’s done on purpose?
PUBLIC ONE: Well I think the parents just let them go. Oh, they’ll get in, and then we’ll get in. And as far as I’m concerned none of them should be allowed in the country, adults or anything, because we don’t even look after our own people in this country. And there’s enough immigrants here. Everything is overloaded, the system. You can’t get a doctor’s appointment. You can’t get in doctors. Everything else. Walk round this town, all you hear is foreign voices. Nothing’s done with the foreigners. They come down on the English. We’re just overloaded. There’s no room any more for people in this country, and these people that are going over to Calais should be stopped at the Tunnel this side, all the goods taken off them, sent back, because they’re a …
DOTTY MCLEOD: That’s the man who Johnny D. met in Wisbech this morning. Of course many people would say that any claim that Britain is full is not the case, that there are huge swathes of the country that are unbuilt on. Many people would also counter his view on the negative contribution of Britain’s migrant population, would say that in fact people from abroad do a huge amount to help this country, including working in the health service, working on the police force, and doing many many positive things in Britain. Now the group calling for Cambridgeshire County Council to do more to help the refugee situation in Kent is the Cambridge Refugee Resettlement group, which held its first public meeting last night. That meeting featured a talk by Adrian Matthews, a Principal Policy Adviser for Asylum Immigration at the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. I spoke to him earlier on.
ADRIAN MATTHEWS: The Home Office are actually offering quite a generous amount of money to take some of Kent’s children to local authorities, more than the rate that they would normally offer. So I would ask Directors of Children’s Services including Cambridgeshire’s to look very carefully at the offer that’s on the table from the Home Office.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Cambridgeshire County Council says it can’t take in any of the thousand child refugees currently staying in Kent, as it doesn’t have the resources. They arrived at ports and through the Eurotunnel, after travelling across Europe as the refugee crisis continues. Authorities in Kent are said to be under huge strain as they try to find foster homes for the under-18s who arrived there without an adult with them. The issue was discussed last night during this public meeting at the Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign. Stefan Haselwimmer from the Group joins me in the studio now. Stefan, good morning.
STEFAN HASELWIMMER: Good morning. How are you doing?
DOTTY MCLEOD: Yes good thank you. So what do you make of the County Council’s stance that they don’t have the resources to share the load with Kent?
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Cambridgeshire budget proposals – Leaders react

10:21 Tuesday 27th October 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

SUE DOUGAN: Cambridgeshire County Council as you’ve been hearing today has announced its budget proposals for the next financial year. The authority has to save over £40 million. Here’s the savings being proposed. Over £9 million to be taken from the care budget that supports vulnerable adults and older people; £1.4 million taken from supporting bus services across Cambridgeshire; the mobile library service could be removed. That would save £160,000; over half a million to be taken from the winter maintenance budget; further cuts to school crossing patrols, libraries, children’s centres. Even things like street parking fees could increase in Cambridge. We have with us today the Conservative councillor Steve Count, who is Leader of Cambridgeshire County Council. Steve good morning.
STEVE COUNT: Good morning Dotty.
SUE DOUGAN: Good morning. It’s Sue actually. Good morning.
STEVE COUNT: Oh sorry Sue.
SUE DOUGAN: That’s quite all right. Ashley Walsh is alongside us as well, the new Labour Leader on Cambridgeshire County Council. Ashley hello.
ASHLEY WALSH: Hello Sue.
SUE DOUGAN: We’ve got Pete Reeve joining us from UKIP as well. Pete good morning.
PETER REEVE: Good morning.
SUE DOUGAN: I thank you all for joining us here on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. Let’s start with you Steve first of all. As Leader of the County Council, what were your reactions when these budgets were announced, when this figure was achieved?
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Heidi Allen on tax credits social media and the housing crisis in Cambridge

08:24 Friday 23rd October 2015
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: It has been a very busy week for South Cambridgeshire’s Conservative MP Heidi Allen. Her maiden parliamentary speech on tax credits drew praise from all sides for its compassionate tone to those who will be affected by cuts. But equally it drew criticism from those who say her voting record doesn’t match with the sentiments she expressed. Here’s a quick taste of her speech.
HEIDI ALLEN: As these proposals stand too many people will be adversely affected. Something must give. For those of us proud enough to call ourselves compassionate Conservatives, it must not be the backs of the working families we purport to serve.
DOTTY MCLEOD: Well Heidi Allen joins me now. Hello there Heidi.
HEIDI ALLEN: Good morning Dotty.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So the charge is that you said one thing, you said that changing and cutting tax credits is a bad idea. But then you voted along with it anyway. How do you plead?
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