Cllr John Bell North Ayrshire

I had the pleasure of introducing a seminar on Youth crime in North ayrshire which was attended by a number of professionals present the findings from a piece of research commissioned from Glasgow University School of Research,by the Childrens Services Steering Group, presented by Dr Fergus McNeill and his colleague Dr Susan Batchelor. This will guide the future provision of services.

I had the pleasure of chairing the primary schools Question Time event on 6th March where a number of council and other figures answer questions from the audience of Primary seven pupils which was very enjoyable. Also on 6th as chair of the Childcare Partnership I accompanied staff to the Cosla awards ceremony where they won a deserved award for the inclusive childcare project, this eases access to mainstream childcare for pupils with additional support needs.

On 11th I spoke at an event for the carers who take part in our very worthwhile daycarers project, which provides daycare for families with difficulties on referral. On 14th I attended the North ayrshire Head teachers Conference and listened to avery interesting presentation by Professor Dyson on raising attainment and regeneration.

On  the 26th I had the great honour of officially opening the new Stanley Primary school in Ardrossan. So all in all it was a very busy but rewarding period. 

This month saw the councils budget being agreed. Despite the hype from the Scottish Government, council departments were asked to find 3% savings on their budgets this year. Councillors had a series of seminars where possible budget savings were identified and discussions took place on their acceptability. It was agreed that for susequent years all party working groups be setup to examine the service groups budgets in more detail prior to the budget setting process. When this years budget meeting took place the opposition agreed most of the measures, but when it came to the revenue spending thse SNP tabled an amendment asking that the proposed replacement of the sheltered housing warden service with an improved electronic alarm service be remitted to the Social Work service review group. This was defeated by a narrow majority. 

I attended a series of public consultation meetings with the parent councils of a number of schools affected by the recommendations of the  Schools Estate review group which has proposed the amalgamation of a number of primary schools which are now operating with less than half occupancy.

I had the pleasure of presenting awards to schools  who have signed up to the Health promoting schools agenda  

At the January Council meeting I was asked the following question

a question by Councillor Brown to the Children's Services portfolio-holder in the following terms:-
"What urgent steps are being taken to correct the truly appalling situation whereby the three secondary schools in the three main population centres of North Ayrshire Council are recording among the worst examination results and truancy figures in Scotland?"

Councillor Bell responded in the following terms:-
"North Ayrshire Council recognises the issues of attendance and low attainment in secondary schools within our regeneration zones. While there have been considerable efforts made in recent years to bring about change in these areas, there is a clear need for focused and concerted action to improve outcomes for young people.
The new Director is fully cognisant that this is the key priority for Educational Services and improving attainment will be the main focus of the Educational Services Improvement Plan."

As a supplementary question, Councillor Brown asked what urgent action was being taken to address this problem, particularly given that North Ayrshire's regeneration areas' performance was worse than other comparable regeneration zones elsewhere, and asked for clarification on how frequently this matter will be reported to elected Members.
Councillor Bell responded that a number of initiatives had been put in place over recent years to tackle this problem and that regular reports would be submitted to the Scrutiny Committee on progress. He commented that, with many external factors impacting on educational attainment, including parental input and social problems such as unemployment, it was difficult to give a fair assessment of the quality of educational input in different areas of the country.

 While we have  to better for our young people we need to keep a perspective on the challenges facing North Ayrshire.

Issues affecting attainment and attendance cannot be solved solely within schools, North Ayrshire is an area with high deprivation counts, and of high unemployment, all services need to work together to solve that problem, and so raise the expectations and motivation of our pupils.

December has been particularly busy on a personal level with the safe arrival of our 3rd child Scott on the 10th, so sleepless nights are back on the agenda as we try to organise the family into a new routine. Its been an experience just getting the other two children up dressed and out to school in the mornings before I could head to work. I was relieved when the school holidays came round, and Linda and baby came home.

A quiet surgery this month and not too many local meetings. At the council the budget process has begun with the Executives financial allocations being anounced on the 13th. The concordat between local councils and the Executive will bring new challenges as some of the ring fenced initiatives are funded in the block grant and already some organisations previously funded directly by the executive are now looking for local councils to take up the slack. against these and other extra demands on services will mean some difficult decisions to come.

I had a meeting with some of the parent councils who are to be consulted regarding possible amalgamations on 7th December and explained the rationale behind the recomendations of the Schools Review group. I also chaired a meeting of the Childcare partnership where future funding and the priorities of the new Scottish Government were high on the agenda.

I wish all a good new year.

November flew in, with a busy surgery in Kilbirnie on the third, the Kilbirnie age concern Christmas dinner on the 10th and Kilbirnies Christmas lights event on Saturday the 24th. In between I had various meetings concerning the report of the School estate review group as well as the ususal round of Council and Executive meetings. On St Andrews day I was privilidged to attend the Councils Awards ceremony and present certificates to employees of Educational Services who had gained an additional  qualification. Later I took part in Glencairn Primarys Tartan Walk round Stevenston and had a brief chat with Scotlands Minister for Children Adam Ingram regarding a number of issues. Later in the afternoon I had a tour of the new Greenwood Academy, and was very impressed with the facilities.

I took part in the shortleeting and interviews for the Head teachers post for Stancastle school one of the special schools in North Ayrshire. I attended the Eco school celebration at Mayfield primary, where they dedicated a garden to theri former janitor. The schools pupils have built a greenhouse out of old plastic drinks bottles.

Locally I wrote to Scotlands Finance Minister John Swinney regarding his proposed changes to the Scottish Local Enterprise Network which have raised doubts on the future progress of the Lochshore regeneration project, which was being led by Enterprise Ayrshire.