Peter Kent-Baguley

Abominable Adonis' accumulator aproach

"Huge boost for city academies" was today's Sunday Times' bold headline. Of the 83 academies open so far, proclaimed the front page story, "...the figures taken from the 37 academies  that had two year's data available, showed the proportion of pupils gaining five A*-Cs had increased by 4.9 points to 29.8%." So, on the government's own criteria, they fail, falling short of the 30% bench mark! Not, that that bothers the likes of education minister Lord Adonis. With 51 more academies due to open this year, 80 next year and 100 in 2010, the government claims to be on course to achieve its target of 400. But for such ultra-right privatise everything Blairites, 400 was only ever the beginning. They won't rest until the entire state system of education  is dismantled and privatised. Adonis resportedly boatsed: "We will have no difficulty moving beyond 400. We will make a political decision in due course on where we go beyond 400." Incredulously, he continued: "On the basis of the results and demand, the only issue is how far."  

Sadly the Liberal Democrats have aligned themselves with this sordid sell-out so unless we are all faced with absolutely no choice on school education at the next general election it is high time the left and centrists within the Labour party showed some spine and put the brake on the head-long abandonment of equality of educational opportunity. Working class families should not be treated with the elitist pretentions and contempt of the public school privatisers. If Labour fails to re-align itself with ordinary working people they will singularly fail to avoid the threatened electoral meltdown.

Despicable desecration

The south and north faces of the plinth of the sandstone obelisk war memorial in the Tunstall Garden of Remembrance have identical rectangular metal dedication plaques while the west and east have identical metal wreaths.

Or at least the opposite faces did have identical wreaths until some 24 hours ago when some wretch wrenched the copper wreath on the east face from its four metal pins embedded in the stone and made off with it.

This obelisk was erected originally in the 1920s to commemorate the hundreds of people who gave their lives in the 1914-18 First World War.

What sort of person has absolutely no respect for such a memorial?

Interim Council Manager appointed

48 year old Assistant Chief Executive, Chris Harman was today appointed interim Council Manager, with effect from 1st October. He joined the City Council council a year ago as a consultant and was appointed Assistant Chief Executive in January this year. The announcement was made at today's first meeting of the city council's appointments committee which will be responsible for overseeing the appointment of the new full-time office holder. 

Chris Harman has a degree from London University, a Master's degree in management, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. He started his career at Kent County Council. Since 1990, has worked at a senior level in a number of councils including Ealing and Slough. He worked for the former media regulator the Independent Television Commission and in the private sector as a consultant.

Chris has co-authored a number of books and professional articles in HR, knowledge management and globalization. He has worked for the UN as an expert and was a lead contributor to the United Nations Public Administration Network 2008 Global E-Government Survey looking at integrated service delivery. Earlier this year he attended a high-level meeting at the UN headquarters in New York looking at the role of carers.

I welcome the appointment and look forward to Chris drawing on his impressive breadth and depth of expertise and experience in his new, important role of interim Council Manager.

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Cheque book cheer leading

The New Labour Elected Mayor boasts that Stoke-on-Trent City Council is the most improved council in the country but at the same time publicly admits he doesn't know what decisions are being made by his officers! How can someone who claims to be in the driving seat, making the decisions, not know?! He claims he wasn't told about the proposed closure of two primary schools. This is the same guy who asserts that school academies will be good for education in the City? Would you trust such an assertion? Of course not. I don't suppose elected mayor Mark Meredith knows the first thing about academies and cares even less about the obliteration of the communty comprehensive school.

This is the New Labour mayor that has betrayed ordinary working people across the city simply to please his political paymasters at Westminster. He and his lack lustre New Labour sycophants cosying up to him in his make-belief cabinet don't care about ordinary, honest local people; if they were told to privatise the local population, you can jolly well bet they would! Trolley loads of Council tax money would be wheeled in to pay yet more consultants to organise the sell out while they would bask in the reflected glory of the setting sun over New Labour's Westminster.

Some consultants may forget they are in the pay of the public. One certainly did when he enthusiastically and ostentatiously applauded whenever the elected mayor finished speaking at the Radio Stoke's public recording of the question and answer session held at the Stoke Film Theatre on 22nd July. Retained as a parliamentary lobbyist, I'm told, makes one wonder what he was supposed to be doing for the Council that evening. Cheque book cheer leading is the obvious conclusion.

Certainly neither the Council's Head of Communications nor his colleagues behaved in such a grossly partial and unprofessional manner. They behaviour throughout was exemplary, as one would expect. I know, I was on the the panel and so had a view of the audience throughout the  proceedings.

My formal complaint of the consultant's behaviour was lodged with Steve Robinson, the Council Manager - Chief Executive the following day. Following a subsequent prompt, Steve Robinson replied: "I really do want to discuss your comments with Chris Harman (Assistant Chief Executive) when he is back from annual leave."

Harman was back for one day before Robinson himself departed for annual leave, or possibly Chester, where he is already billed as Chief Executive ahead of him assuming the designated role when his resignation at Stoke takes effect on 1st October. Unlike the classical Weberian view of bureaucracy, which trundles on relentlessly despite the absence or death of individuals, change of political leadership and even revolution, the nation's most improved bureaucracy really is stopped by absence.

Not only has my formal complaint not been answered my simple question seeking clarity on the consultant's contract and level of reumneration remain unanswered.   

In the meantime, the most improved Council totters towards the emerging Transition Board established by the Local Government Minister pretty well rudderless, morale sinking still further and disciplinary issues treated as casual, chatty cigarette breaks.  

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Transfer list merry-go-round?

With the resignation of the City Council's Manager/Chief Executive with effect from 1st October the special Full Council held last Tuesday established an Appointment Committee of 7 Councillors. Full powers to make an appointment were delegated to the Committee. Surely, by now, word will have buzzed round the national transfer circuit that a golden opportunity awaits the right candidate in Stoke-on-Trent. The Appointment Committee's most difficult task will be to ascertain precisely that, the right candidate. Criteria employed last time, hardly two years ago, will be refined no doubt but will one element be a commitment to actually stay for more than two years? I gather that, of fourteen local authorities in the West Midlands, our departing Council Manager, Steve Robinson is, incredibly, the second longest serving Chief Executive!

What is going on? Has the process degenerated into little more than tribal trumpery? With each move, we hear the clarion that we must pay the top price to get the top person so each time the salary is increased. But with what effect? Have we all been deluded into believing that there is such a tiny pool of talented professionals fit for the top job that extravagant salaries are essential?

Of course, most of us have been seduced into the belief that organisations must be structured in a hierarchical way, with the top person with the top salary sitting in the top job without whom chaos and calamity would surely ensue. What amazes me is that despite the continuing and widespread evidence which undermines the bureaucratic ideology it nevertheless continues to flourish. And the really odd thing is, that although few people would say we need a dictator to run the government, the prevailing view is that we do need organizational dictators. History may be the graveyard of elites but there's no shortage of new ones!

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Profiting from the Public Purse

The Elected Mayor's drive to start the process of privatising the Council's workforce was given the green light this morning by the so-called Scrutiny Committee. I say so-called, because apart from the three Independent councillors, members of the Labour, Tory, Lib Dem ruling coalition appeared content to decline the opportunity to scrutinse the Executive's 2nd Juy decision to turn out our officers into the private sector. The democratic process is ill-served by such subservience to the coalition whip. Our workforce has been battered and buffetted for the past two years with perpetual organisational restructures, redundancies and the engagement of a constant stream of consultants. Add to that the antiquated IT systems many of them struggle to deploy in an efficient and effective way and yet, somehow, the Council's score increases from 1* to 3*. So, to be told that privatisation is a quick-fire way to service improvement is something of an injury. For privatisation of the workforce to be used as a tool to kick-start the (re)generation of the non-existent City-centre Business District adds insult to the injury. Thirdly, privatisation is justified on the basis that it will attract the level of investment our IT infrastructure needs. Not one coalition Member thought it necessary to interrogate the "justification" for any of this. Has the financial case for the Business District been established? What alternative sources of funding the IT investment have been researched? What discussions have taken place with the workforce? Why was this decision taken by the Executive when it should have gone to the General Purposes Committee and on to Full Council? The Scrutiny Committee's Labour deputy chair's one contribution to the proceedings was to say he couldn't see the point of the Independent's motion that the Committee agree to refer the issue to Full Council. Of course the motion was defeated and the two hour meeting ended. A sad day for the survival of public services; a sad day for scrutiny; a sad day for local democracy.  

BT's K6 purge - some good news

English Heritage is leading on representations to BT from heritage organizations seriously concernd about the likely mass removal of the much-loved and celebrated iconic K6 red telephone kiosk. Pictured left is the threatend K6 just inside the City boundary in the north along Bemersley road opposite Tongue Lane which is in the Staffordshire Moorlands District Council. The only other K6 in the City is just within the boundary at Light Oaks in the south.

English Heritage has secured a meeting of key concerned bodies with BT on 9th September. The minimum being sought is a commitment from BT that no K6 will be removed until detailed discussions have explored alternatives to removal. Unlike in parts of London where another telephone company uses the K6 painted black, (picture right shows the black kiosk at Ludgate Hill, London) it is unlikley that a commercial operator would take on little used and "uneconomic" K6s elsewhere in the country. BT should also commit to a full disclosure of the financial costs involved in the retention in situ of the little-used K6s. That information is essential for discissions for the potentially viable rescue plan of preserving the K6s where they are via some form of partnership with the local council, local civic society or local heritage society with initial support from national bodies such as English Heritage.

It is vital that all affected local authorities respond to BT's consultation exercise. The deadline for receipt of written representations is 6th Septmeber. Usually the Council's representation is co-ordinated by an officer within the Planning Department. Make sure your Council is preparing a response which will suppport the retention of the K6s.

SERCO sidestep public debate on academies

No one from SERCO, the private profit-making company brought in by the City Council's Labour Elected Mayor, will speak at the 13th Sepember one-day conference on ACADEMIES: The Challenge, at the City centre Forum Theatre, Hanley. Director Ged Rowney declined my invitation. He thought the platform rather one-sided. Well, that's something thousands of parents, pupils, teachers and governors have been thinking about the one-sided way in which the secondary school restructure programme has been forced through with no real democratic involvement. So much for the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Hazel Blears' latest load of hot air in her White Paper, cringingly entitled: REAL PEOPLE, REAL POWER. It's about as real as David Milliband's rhetoric of not so long ago when he fleetingly lodged at that Department when he talked of DOUBLE DEVOLUTION but of course moved on before doubling anything. At best, like the rhetoric of Real people, Real Power, translated it means something like letting the locals manage their community centre. Great stuff. That's really radical, except for the thousands of community hall management committees across the land that have been doing precisley that for decades. How can a minister lose touch so quickly?

One thing guaranteed about the 13th September conference is intellectual integrity, a quality markedly absent from most of SERCO's policies. Three professors, an author and journalist, a top officer from a teachers' union and four Barrow-in-Furness Cuncillors elected last May on an explicit and specific anti-academies platform ensures that a range of academic research, practical school experience and political campaigning are shared in a forum of 300 people.

The City Council's Scrutiny Committee lamentably failed the people of the City when they merely rubber-stamped the Executive's plan which includes the imposition of five academies across the City at the "Call-In" meeting which I instigated in the hope that a serious analsyis of the proposals would be possible. But with the fear-driven cobbled coalition of Labour, Tories and Lib Dems yoked with the Executive's whip superficiality was about all the scrutiny achieved. I promised then, that I would ensure that there was a genuinely open scrutiny available for all.

It's a pity that Labour's Elected Mayor, Mark Meredith, won't be there either. He to thought it a bit one-sided. That's rich coming from the arch exponent of one-sided political processes. He should change his mind and sample a bit of genuinely open, democratic sharing and debate.

City's Chairman cheerleading campaign   

Of course Peter Coates, owner and chairman of Stoke City Football Club, is campaigning for an elected mayor and cabinet system to be adopted next May when the current unique and undemocratic unelected Council Manager and Elected Mayor system is finally abolished. Had the City Council been run openly and democratically Mr Coates would not have been allowed to buy the City Council's stake in the football club's stadium for a mere £4.5m plus the equivalent of £500,000 community benefit on an interest-free repayment basis over several years!

I argued strongly at Full Council that we should not agree to the sale with such a low price tag. The matter of interest-free staged payment over a number of years was never raised! Yet, subsequently, the elected mayor claims that the details of the agreement conformed to the Full Council's decision!

Is it this kind of business deal that Mr Coates is thinking of when he writes in his letter: "The Elected Mayor wants to build a truly enterprising city."

Mr Coates goes on to say: "We're starting to see signs of real progress across the city and the Elected Mayor is determined that the scale and pace of change must increase."

Well, Mr Coates, the Elected Mayor isn't alone; I don't know a single Councillor who isn't determined that the scale and pace of change increases but and it is a big BUT the change we are witnessing has nothing to do with the Elected Mayor. In fact, under this grossly undemocratic AND grossly inefficient AND grossly ineffective Council Manager and Elected Mayor system progress has been retarded with £millions of government investment money lost as a result.

That's not all. The continuous organisational restructures across all Council departments together with the departure of hundreds of staff, some with invaluable experience and expertise now sadly lacking in key under-resourced areas, has not only led to poor morale but an increasing dependency on costly consultants. This bureaucratic turmoil has led to much decision-making being less than transparent and seemingly often made in an ad hoc manner with little or no direct reference to accepted strategies, policies and budgets.

I suggest members of the business community concentrate on what they know about: running businesses. I also suggest that if they want to get involved in politics they either do what councillors do and stand for election to seek a democratic mandate or if they prefer the armchair approach then at least declare their interests. After all, at every single meeting, whether Committee or Full Council, Councillors are required to declare any interest relevant to the agenda.   

Place your bet - put your Coate on it!

There must be quite a few people across the City who would love to communicate their political views directly to hundreds, if not thousands of householders, about the system of governance that should replace the present Elected Mayor and Council Manager system which is abolished next May. Unfortunately, not many people have the necessary staff, technology and money to do it. One person that does have all three is multi-millionaire Peter Coates, owner and chairman of a global on-line betting company as well as being owner and chairman of Stoke City Football Club.

Peter Coates feels the need to write to individuals to tell them that he believes "that the Elected Mayor and Cabinet system is the best system for Stoke-on-Trent." Mr Coates either suffers from limited understanding of the situation or suffers from considerable make-belief for he appears to believe the present Elected Mayor will be the next Elected Mayor if the referendum vote favours an Elected Mayor and Cabinet system. Mr Coates seems to have missed the small point of the need for an election should that situation arise.

Coates' unsubstantiated claim that "We now have strong leadership from the Elected Mayor, who is making a real difference and bringing investment into our city" is laughable. What is the evidence of strong leadership? Look a little closer, Mr Coates, and you might discern that chaos and reversal are more the order of the day. Mr Coates has made a fortune out of other people's betting, but honestly now, Mr Coates, how much of your fortune would you bet on Mark Meredith winning an Elected Mayor's election?

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