PROMISES AND AFFORABLE SUSTAINABLE HOUSING

PROMISES AND AFFORDABLE SUSTAINABLE HOUSING

With the greater part of the party conference season over it has become clear that we live in the promised land and no wonder so many people want to come to live in this country.   Our party political system is geared to making promises that are in the main not costed or undeliverable and in truth will do nothing to support the normal working man or woman of this country.  How can i say this because take the minimum wage for years they have kept this at the true level of poverty as without the benefits system to back this up they would be in poverty.   For many of these people it would be better for the family finances if they left work and were on the dole, so it is clear that all the political parties do not understand how to make work pay.    Now they go onto the saga about the living wage and this is more of a comedy then the minimum wage, they claim that this is £ 7.20 per hour times 40 per week = £288.  Now take rents at £100 plus per week add rates, electric, gas, water and natural living expenses they still need the benefits system to keep them where they can live a normal existance.   How is it that we keep people on such low wages and then need to top this up with public finances to help them survive, wouldn't it be cheaper to remove all payment of income tax until they earn above a true living wage which in truth is around £400 per week.  The saving in the tax, tax credit and benefits system would cover the costs of the shortfall in lost tax, as someone who has helped people fill in forms i know how complicated they are and how over administered the system is.

After looking at the wage structure they need to look at the housing problems which are much of the cause of why we need such a high benefits structure in this country.  We all know that when they started to sell council houses it was the start of a big problem for the country as the failed to reinvest the money from those sales into building new homes.   This has caused a shortage of social housing which created both larger markets with social landlords and private rented housing.  It is clear that with the lack of investment by government in true social housing (the old council homes)  the private sector is now in control of the public finances in this area.  Look at it this way because there is a lack of social housing and an ever increasing demand it pushes up the prices of housing.   As the price of houses increases the so does the need to meet the greater investment costs by increasing the rent to meet the social need the costs are spiralling out of control.  With a million people on council social housing lists waiting for homes and increasing by the day the costs of rents will go up and the costs to the nation in housing benefits will increase also.  Since the last election the government has cut the money given to councils (outside London) for the provision of social housing but without this investment the costs to the welfare system are increasing.   But thats where i started this conversation, politicians making promises that are not costed, unaffordable and not sustainable, with a get rich quick (or richer) side to the polices they have.   Many will be the same as me i bought my home for £56k in 1991 and it is worth £180k now, great for me but is it really ?  If i sell i have to live somewhere and although i could choose to move somewhere smaller and cheaper i would gain out of it, i'm not so sure.   But then again i could wait for old age and let the state take it for my social car (another blog another time).    

For nearly 11 year i have been involved in council work and it is clear that the system is broken and what needs to be done is put councils of a sustainable footing to meet the demands for housing needs of it's area.   I have an idea but it's no good sharing that without a council and bank/building society that are brave enough to look at it.   Some years ago i put an idea to Cornwall Council and i wasn't even asked to the committee meeting when they discussed it, so no luck trying there again.  Are you able to help, do you work for a bank or mortgage company and would they be willing to try something if so get in touch   Armand Toms 01503 264823

DO WE CARE ENOUGH ?

Getting older sometimes give you an insight into what the future holds as your elder peer group are where you will be in such a short space of time.   I remember when I started work many of those who i worked with were fit strong men, they worked hard and enjoyed life to the full.  Now many of them are in there 70s and 80s not so mobile and some in the need of help to stay within the community.   As the age demographic in Cornwall changes so will the difficulty to meet the demands place on it by the increasing numbers of people needing adult social care.   To show this look at the figures, in April 2010 there were 3238 service users then come forward to April 2013 and that figure has increased to 4766 not far off 50% increase.    You will know that costs have not gone down in the same period which will also impact on the budget, yet the current coalition government have place further cuts into the system.   My question is and will always be how do we continue to provide a service whilst the money to meet the increased demand is not there, a question that has no easy answer and places enormous pressure on those in charge of social care.  So far social care services in Cornwall have managed by taking out management costs and removing or reducing costs to services on the edges but there is only so much you can do to meet the extra demand.

Talking to local people they want to keep public conveniences, bus routes, repair roads whilst cutting car parking charges but they say very little about social care.    Perhaps much of this is about them not knowing what social care does and will only know when they need it or one of their family needs it.  So how does the Council meet all the demands of the public to keep services and meet demand, well the truth is that they will not be able to do so.    Unless council tax goes up to cover this or the government realises that the cuts they have introduced will hurt local people and reverse them, but i don't think either of those will be allowed.  In 10 years of being a councillor i have never known a time like it, you can reorganise, reduce, cut and shed staff but there becomes a point that to go further will hurt people.    I believe that we are at that tipping point when the balance of services in social care are such that demand will exceed the available resources.   Please don't get me wrong the decisions to be made in the next couple of years will be more then difficult, some will be life changing for the people of Cornwall and the Council.  

This financial year Adult Social Care needs to save £18.5m to keep pace with demand, next year it will be £13m and this from a total budget of £140m this on the back of three years of tough budgeting.  Everyone who works in social care do so because they want to help and support the community, yet with savings to meet such as those above it is near impossible to do what is needed for clients they meet.   I have at first hand seen how hard those involved have worked to improve the services provided in Cornwall yet are we helping them with such budget constraints ?

It is for all the people of Cornwall to make our voices heard to make sure that Cornwall gets a fair share of funding to meet the basic demands on services, so write to your MP and councillor to make your views known.  My feelings are that those in London don't see Cornwall as a priority, our road, rail links are poor and our funding per head of population is less then the city.  We get European funding because of the inequality we have with the average european living standards why does our own government not care about us.

New Planning Applications

Dear All,    Two new planning applications, comments to atoms@cornwall.gov.uk or 01503 264823   Thanks Armand

Looe

(Looe East

Electoral Division)

Pixies Holt Shutta Looe PL13 1JD

Demolition of existing artist studio (restricted C3 Use class)

and construction of single storey dwelling. - Mrs C Eastley -

PA13/07584 (Case Officer - Jonathan Luker)

Looe

(Looe East

Electoral Division)

Pixies Holt Shutta Looe PL13 1JD

Application for conservation area consent for demolition of

existing artist studio - Mrs C Eastley -

PA13/07585 (CaseOfficer - Jonathan Luker)

Three New Planning Applications

Dear All,   Three new planning applications this week, any comments to atoms@cornwall.gov.uk or 01503 264823   Thanks Armand

Looe

(Looe East

Electoral Division)

2 Sunrising Looe Cornwall PL13 1NA

Proposed new dwelling - Mr Paul Penhaligan -

PA13/06708

(Case Officer - Julie Mitchell)

Looe

(Looe East

Electoral Division)

Barbican Sports Field And Premises Barbican Road East Looe

Looe Cornwall PL13 1QQ

Proposed replacement clubhouse, additional parking and pitch

levelling - Mr B Horsfield -

PA13/06739 (Case Officer -

Julie Mitchell)

Looe

(Looe East

Electoral Division)

Barbican Sports Field And Premises Barbican Road East Looe

Looe Cornwall PL13 1QQ

Conservation Area Consent: Proposed replacement clubhouse,

additional parking and pitch levelling - Mr B Horsfield -

PA13/06740 (Case Officer - Julie Mitchell)

Joint working between Health and Social Care - First part letter to newspapers

Letter

Dear Editor,     After four years as the portfolio holder of Adult Social Care for Cornwall Council I have had a great insight into the effects of the governments spending review has had on service provision.   I feel very honoured to have worked with so many hard working people from the director to care worker who contributed to delivering a more efficient department and finding savings in many areas.   Over a 9 month period last year the demands on Social Services in Cornwall grew 4% month on month which has added immense pressure on the workload of the staff and a budget overspend which will in my view not decrease in the future with Cornwall's demographics.  In the next spending review the pressure on Council spending will get even greater and this will exercise even greater pressure on their spending power which will add to a pressure on the spend on Social Care.   

With the local health service it is no different, the proposed call 111 line did not happen, there have been delays at A and E cancelled operations etc etc.  It is obvious that they system is under great pressure yet health and social care deal with the same people every day and there should be greater links between the services and an integration of the money and services available for Cornwall.  It's about time integration of health and social care become a reality to deliver a single budget and service for Cornwall that meets the demands places on it for all the residents.

But where to start, with a budget of over a billion pounds across all the organisations but are we getting the best use of this money and are we using the available staff and buildings to maximise output of services.   Are they delivering value for money and delivering services needed closer to home and in a way that uses resources in the best way.  Currently we have great capacity in our community hospital for services to be delivered including operating theatre capacity.    The following are my views and should be considered as a starting point

Firstly i would have a joint telephone system across all the services in Cornwall that delivers directly triage calls to the right place and department, delivering the person to GPs, Hospitals and Social Care in an efficient manner 24 hours a day 7 days a week(including the current out of hours Serco contract)   This should also include Cornwall's charitable and voluntary sector who provide many services not available within the area such as befriending etc.  The current Serco out of hours service should be integrated with PCH and delivered from Community Hospitals and include an out of hours GP service with active support to the current MIU services.  This would take the pressure from A and E during the evenings but there needs to be an added radiography support for breaks and fractures.  With the best outcomes coming from keeping people out of the acute sector this would give our main hospitals the focus on delivering life saving acute services for emergency situations.  

Cornwall has been a leader in Tele Health and Care systems which is delivering assistance to people within their homes.   This needs to be taken further with video links in homes of patients to allow health and care to be monitored and provided.   Just think of someone at home during the day without transport having the ability to access a GP to take advice.   If your Care provider does not turn up and you want a back up service or a link to a out of hours service outside working hours without the cost of having to find transport especially in our rural areas.   The possibilities are endless, communications with patients with mental health problems or mobility problems phobias etc etc.  Or take it further with the provision of services from the charitable or voluntary sector, befriending, carers, bereavement and many others.  

A process that has a single assessment system, assessment form and IT delivery that allows for skilled people to access the right information about patients to provide the right services.  Reducing form filling and making staff more productive will deliver a more efficient and cost effective service for all.

The management of this would be from a board, who would manage the money from a pooled budget to meet the pressures and demands placed on it.    These people would be the current directors of the trusts and social care who would still have to meet their own responsibilities within their organisations but have the authority to move money around the system to provide the best outcomes.

One New Planning application

Dear All,   Just one application this week, any comments etc to atoms@cornwall.gov.uk or 01503 264823  Thanks Armand

Looe

(Looe East Electoral Division)

The Coddy Shack Great Tree Widegates Looe PL13 1NX

Retention of North and South walling to enclose restaurant

seating - Mr M Peacock -

PA13/04991 (Case Officer -Jonathan Luker)

Education thoughts to ponder

Approaching the age of 60 my thoughts turned to the possibility of retirement and a life without work, not something i'm looking to as for me having something to get up for every morning is very important. Yet even if i thought i was going to retire at 65 like so many of my generation these were dashed because i received a letter saying i need to work another year. This means that i will work another year before getting my pension but it also means that i will take a job for that extra year. This is great for me but not so good for someone that may need work and especially for the youngsters that are leaving school and hoping for work. Last year i held an apprenticeship event in Looe with the local Job Centre Plus trying to get youngsters into work to give them a career and a great start to their working life. Currently there are a million OAPs working and 2.5 million unemployed the problem is that about a million of these are youngster who are not gaining experience in the jobs market. They sit at home without purpose, a future and more importantly the lack the self esteem of being part of society gaining respect and contributing to the country. The following are only my thoughts from my experience with apprenticeships and my children's education.
My fathers generation left school at 14, my generation left school at 15, the current generation leave school at 16 and the next generation it will extend to 17 then 18. With the adage of you get out what you put in it's clear that most will put in 50 years of work to get a pension, except the current generation because they have limited choices either take further education or for a great number of them life without employment. Ambition seem to have gone for so many of our youth or is it the way we treat them, for so many they will vote before they take up paid work. Think about it your 16/17/18 what future have you got, for some it's an opportunity further education and a degree. But for so many they find education a bind don't want to be at college but want to get on in life. Do we give them that opportunity of a careers maybe not, but we will fund education for two extra years.
I would challenge the way this country is going with the education system, making our youth stay in education longer is not always best for the individual student. A career for life and the opportunity for skills for life is what many of them want, we teach maths but it's arithmetic that many employers say is needed. Should we be teaching for employment and life skills not for education sake giving a student the right skills for the job or career they wish to take. With the new eduction system we will pay for a student to go to college until they are 18 (about 4k per year average) why not use this in a different way. Allow employers to take on youth at 16 and give them an apprenticeship or career skills with the 4k a year bursary the costs to government are the same but the difference is that the country gets someone with skills. Employers are always saying that the youngsters leaving school are not equipped for work why not allow them to build the skilled workforce they need. A construction worker, engineer or care worker with the right skills will have a job for life contribute to society and the country. You get what you put in and the younger they contribute the more goes into the pot for their retirement. Also the most valuable lesson is getting up and having a purpose in life and being a valued member of the community.
Now for my thoughts on further education and university especially when i see my children's generation coming to the workplace with debt that affects them for many years. Having spoken to many of them it appears that the education does not meet the costs incurred, some degrees have tuition for only a few hours per week, but have a 9k cost. The cost per hour is expensive and if these were paid weekly the true costs would be counted by the student but these just amount to debts to be paid later in life if at all. Even when most get their degree many of them still need to be moulded by employers to fit the needs of their industry.
This idea is just a thought, why not look at starting University schools courses would be shorter because they would have a 9 to 5 lesson plan but cost the same in tuition fees. The students would be in school for 37 week year with 10 weeks working with employers and 5 weeks holiday, just like being in work. Give the student less debt an employer chance to snap up good skilled graduates and people who know what to expect when the complete the course. The country needs skilled graduates to put it ahead of others, getting the right skills for the job and work ethic is good for them and the country.
These are my thoughts, sorry if you do not like them but i am happy to receive comments.