Dundee Labour

News Digest

9th. February 2013

Kevin Keenan

Labour group leader, Dundee City Council

Kemback Street Report Findings Must be On the Council's Agenda for Discussion Having received the Pre Agenda papers for the Scrutiny

Committee, I was disappointed that the Care Inspectorate Report

and its findings as to the lack of consultation and how the service

users and their families were treated by Dundee City Council did

not form part of the Agenda.

I was advised by Officers that the Standing Orders of the Scrutiny

Committee did not allow this Report to be taken.

I have therefore written to the Head of Democratic and Legal

Services requesting that this item be placed as a matter of

urgency on either the Policy & Resources Committee or the Social

Work & Health Committee.

Council have now been in receipt of this report for some

considerable time and I think that it is deplorable that there has

been no public apology given to the users of Kemback Street

Centre and their carers.

I will be asking how much money was spent on the original

consultation and how much money they intend spending doing

the job properly.

It is a pity that the Administration chose not to listen to people

and barge ahead with disregard effectively causing grief and

anxiety and no doubt the public purse considerably.

I have issued this press statement in the hope that public opinion

will bring pressure to bear on the current Administration to do

the right thing and deliver justice to the users of Kemback Street

– treating them with the respect and dignity on this occasion be

prepared to listen to their plea.

The text of an earlier news release issued by Councillors Kevin

Keenan and Helen Wright reads :

Kemback Street Adult Resource Centre

“No one can ever suggest that the Report produced by the Care

Inspectorate is anything other than an accurate illustration of

how the SNP Administration treated the families, carers and

service users of the Kemback Street Resource Centre.

Bailie Helen Wright said no Officer from the Social Work

Department should be expected to shoulder the responsibility for

this damming Report.

This Report is the full responsibility of the SNP Administration

and its political decision-makers as no Opposition Councillor,

having listened to the Deputations to Council, supported the

closure of Kemback Street.

This Report is so bad, that I consider that the Leader of the

Council, Ken Guild or the Convener of Social Work, Councillor

Ken Lynn should consider their position.

Cllr Keenan said, “I echo the call by Bailie Wright for one or both

to take full responsibility and do the decent thing of making the

apology and stepping aside.”

At the last meeting in the City Chambers, we heard from four

Deputations just looking for Councillors to listen to them.

One Deputation from Downs Syndrome Scotland highlighted the

need for meaningful dialogue with the service users and the need

for this to be carried out using a variety of alternative methods

of communication regularly checking that the message was being

fully understood by the individual.

The Deputation emphasised the importance for the need of the

user to fully understand the intentions of Council in relation to

their current and future care provision

The most vulnerable of individuals and their carers and families

have been treated with nothing other than contempt by the SNP

Administration.

We, as a Labour Group, have written to the Chief Executive to

ask what action will be taken in the short and long-term.

We consider that the closure of Kemback Street should STOP and

should not be revisited for some considerable time, allowing time

to heal the up-set caused.”

Web link :

Kevin Keenan

http://www.kevinkeenan.org.uk

Jim McGovern MP

Jim McGovern calls for urgent action for Dundee Remploy factory

Following parliamentary pressure from Jim McGovern MP Esther McVey, Minister for Disabled People at the Department of Work and Pensions, today visited the Dundee Remploy factory to tour the workplace and take questions during a Q&A session.

Following the meeting Jim McGovern MP said,

“I am grateful for the minister in taking up my invitation to visit the local factory and to see the great work being carried out here.

"I was also glad to hear her assurance that the government would try to seek a solution for the Dundee and Fife plants.”

“I appreciate the Minister taking the time to come and see the factory and speak with staff, but what is needed now is action.

"With only 35 of the 1,752 former Remploy workers across the UK able to find employment following factory closures since March, action is needed to stop a deterioration of disabled people’s right to work.”

“The ball now lies firmly in the court of Dundee City Council and the Scottish Government.

"If they commit to taking responsibility for the factory it could have a long and productive future.”

Mr McGovern concluded,

“The SNP administrations in Dundee and Holyrood have warm words for Remploy, but what the staff need to see now is immediate action by those with the power to do so.

"The clock is ticking, so I sincerely hope the SNP come up with a plan to save Remploy in the very near future.”

Tony Allen a Dundee Remploy worker stated,

“The move to close this factory is a disgrace.

"I have been working here for 25 years and what the Tories are doing is simply throwing us onto the scrapheap.

"The minister assures us that other employment opportunities can be found but the truth is there is nowhere to go.

"There are no jobs anywhere at the minute.”

Web link :

Jim McGovern MP

http://www.jimmcgovern.co.uk

Councillor Lesley Brennan

The cost of a disease : Diabetes

 The personal cost of an illness to a patient cannot be measured

in monetary terms when we consider pain, physical appearance

after treatment, and dysfunction.

Quite properly, these factors are major considerations in shaping

a policy agenda for care.

However, studying the economic cost of ill-health for the overall

population has decided benefits, particularly in these times when

health resources are very tight.

The NHS in Scotland today faces significant tests in dealing with

the effects of an ageing population on the provision of services,

and the effects of inequality upon health care demand.

One disease that is related is to social disadvantage is diabetes, a

serious chronic condition, with type 2 tending to be more

prevalent in less affluent areas, a trend reported by Audit

Scotland

Diabetes poses public health challenges for the health service,

and Diabetes UK has pulled no punches, saying ,

“Diabetes has become one of the biggest health challenges of our

time.

“In the UK diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in the in

working age people, caused by retinopathy affecting the blood

vessels at the back of the eye.

“Diabetes is a main cause of kidney and heart disease, stroke and

amputations.

“Diabetes is big, it is growing, it is serious and it is expensive.

“Its rising costs threaten the NHS budget”

In 1997, international experts gathered in Helsinki to tell 9,000

delegates to the International Diabetes Congress of the threat of

diabetes becoming a global epidemic .

Local figures here confirm its predicted rise.

In 2001 the number of people in the NHS Tayside area with

diabetes was 9,694.

A decade later, that number had more than doubled to 20,066.

A series of studies have shown the magnitude of the effect of

diabetes on NHS resources.

In 2008/9 Quality Improvement Scotland indicated that diabetic

care accounted for £1billion , equivalent to 10 per cent of the

health budget.

This is a great deal higher more than the much more media –

reported disease of obesity costs Scottish society .

“We estimate that the total cost to Scottish society of obesity in

2007/8 was in excess of £457 million and it is likely that this is an

underestimate. Much of this cost is avoidable,” said the Scottish

Government three years ago.

Those with diabetes in Scotland face substantial financial costs,

estimated at totalling over £40 million a year .

These costs result from absence from work, through loss of

employment and early retirement because of the condition, and

travelling costs for treatment.

So in dealing with diseases such as diabetes, assessing its

economic cost is not an academic exercise.

It is a major concern of government and it assists them in making

better-informed decisions about the level of allocation of

resources to health budgets for primary care and scientific

research, it presents evidence on how successful or otherwise

preventative programmes have been, and it better informs

choices made on priorities.

By demonstrating the magnitude of the economic cost of a

disease, cost of illness studies play an important part in

determining public health policy.

Notwithstanding that, we can go further.

Public health policy is part of overall government policies.

As the incidence of type 2 diabetes correlates with social

inequality, then overall government policy, and not just public

health policy, needs to be examined.

Obesity shows a similar relationship with inequality, as does

smoking.

Therefore, a more determined, better-resourced policy of

tackling social inequality generally is a priority if we are to bring

down the rates of these diseases.

 

 

Web link :  

Lesley Brennan : http://www.lesleybrennan.com 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jenny Marra MSP

Human Rights (Speech in the Scottish Parliament )

I was sincerely hoping that the minister would set a serious tone for what is a serious debate and talk about the reality of human rights in the lives of people in Scotland.

Nevertheless, I thank the Government for bringing the important issue of human rights to the chamber.

The Labour Party has a strong record of promoting human rights.

Clement Attlee’s Government was one of the first signatories to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and it ratified the European convention on human rights in 1951.

As one of its first actions in 1997, the Labour Government incorporated the European convention into UK law.

Every act of this Parliament is required to be compliant with the convention or it is nullified.

Since the coming into effect of the Human Rights Act 1998, citizens the length and breadth of this country and throughout the United Kingdom have enjoyed the protection of the convention.

Of course, the Human Rights Act 1998 is still in its formative years, with its effect taking shape in our courts every day, but it has already resulted in some of the biggest changes to our law in recent times.

For instance, the Cadder case established the right to legal representation for people who are held for questioning in Scotland.

Labour believes that the important task is to get on with that job of making human rights a reality in all our lives by ensuring that they are daily afforded to people.

Each and every day, we need to protect the rights of those who are affected by welfare reform.

We need to protect the rights of vulnerable children in this country.

We need to weave human rights into the fabric of our communities through the laws that we pass and the policies that we advance in the chamber now.

We can do that using the immense powers that we have.

Our amendment—I thank the Government for indicating that it will support it—seeks to advance that cause specifically in relation to human trafficking, which is a human rights abuse that is happening in our towns and cities today.

Human trafficking happens under our noses but is, unfortunately, largely undetected.

Here in the Parliament we have the power to take concerted action against that trafficking.

The victims of trafficking in Scotland cannot wait for a written constitution that would enshrine their rights, nor do they need to do so.

The Government in power in Scotland, sitting over there to my right, already has the power that it needs to make a big impact on that human rights abuse today—now.

If I were to stop any Scot on the street outside the Parliament building and ask whether there are people who have been sold into this country, who are living in our towns against their will, to work in the sex industry or in forced labour, most likely I would not be believed.

It is hard to accept that such an issue is alive in our communities.

People would be further shocked if I were to tell them that there are young people, who have been convicted of drug offences after being trafficked into this country to work on drug farms, incarcerated in our prisons tonight.

Young people are being incarcerated in Scotland who have been convicted of crimes as a result of coercion and deception by others.

Such human rights abuses are taking place in Scotland under our very noses, and those youngsters are sitting in our prisons tonight.

Roseanna Cunningham: Does the member intend to make any mention of the role that the United Kingdom Border Agency plays in the issue, or will she simply ignore that aspect?

Jenny Marra: As my co-convener of the cross-party group on human trafficking will know, we are dealing with a multifaceted problem, to which the UKBA is part of the solution.

However, my point is that this Parliament has a lot of powers that we can properly use to tackle and prevent the issue of trafficking.

For that reason, I am glad that the Government will accept our amendment, but I want to talk a bit more about the powers that we already have to tackle human rights abuses in our communities.

The minister will surely agree that she would want to use all the powers at her fingertips to do as much as she can to prevent those human rights abuses.

Gil Paterson (Clydebank and Milngavie) (SNP): Can the member name a single solitary person who she knows has escaped due process with regard to trafficking? Can she name one?

Jenny Marra: I am not sure about the question that the member is asking, but let me attempt to understand it.

We believe that many people who are trafficking people into this country today go undetected because the police and other front-line services are not properly trained and do not have the tools to recognise those people.

To date in Scotland, there have been two successful prosecutions and five convictions for trafficking offences, but we believe that the problem is much more widespread.

Due process needs to be visited on many people who are trafficking people into this country.

I hope that I have answered the member’s question.

The priorities are ours to decide, and we know the flaws in our current approach to trafficking: it lacks will and direction and, as a consequence of our laws and policies, it has developed in a piecemeal fashion and victims are slipping through the net.

Our law is currently split between two acts—one UK act and one act in Scotland—that give different definitions for the same crime.

There is no statutory obligation to provide comprehensive mental health treatment and education services to victims, and we lack training for national health service staff, paramedics and police officers, who could do much to identify victims and give them the support that they need.

The Labour Party supports incorporating the Palermo protocol into our law.

The minister has accepted our amendment, but I wonder whether she will go a little further and in closing speak about the possibility of incorporating the international gold standard, which is the Palermo protocol on trafficking.

I realise that I am running short of time, Presiding Officer.

The Deputy Presiding Officer: You are.

Jenny Marra: I believe that the Parliament has the power—through control of housing, education, health and legal affairs—to put measures in place.

Experts such as Helena Kennedy have set out recommendations that are within the power of the Parliament to follow.

The Government could make a big move towards ending human rights abuses in Scotland by supporting our amendment, as it has done, and by committing to the Palermo protocol to prevent trafficking and human rights abuses in Scotland.

I move amendment S4M-05556.2, to insert at end:

“, and believes that tackling human trafficking should be an essential part of the national action plan for human rights, including a clear commitment to review the current law to ensure that the crime of human trafficking is defined as clearly and comprehensively as possible.”

Web link :

Jenny Marra MSP : http://www.jennymarra.com

Marlyn Glen

Why We Need More Women in Politics

What discourages so many women from thinking about entering the world of politics?

Consider the following :

US Congressman Dana Rorhabacher posted a message on his

Facebook page that his Foreign Affairs Committee would be

inteviewing US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

“Take the bitch to the floor!” was one response.

“Rake her over the coals” was another.

In the roughhouse politics that some Australian male politicians

roam around, the country’s first female Prime Minister, Julia

Gillard, is a prime target.

While Deputy Leader of the Australian Party in opposition she was

described by a male political opponent as "deliberately barren"

and unqualified for leadership, because she has no children.

He apologised for his remarks.

Another who apologised for different remarks was a radio host

who said that Julia Gillard’s father, who died after a short illness

last year, had “died of shame”

"Every person in the caucus of the Labor Party knows that Julia

Gillard is a liar,'' he was reported as saying.

"The old man recently died a few weeks ago of shame. To think

that he had a daughter who told lies every time she stood for

parliament.''

Her main protagonist in Parliament is Opposition leader Tony

Abbott who displays an interest in a pre-destined order of society,

politics and family life.

“What if men are by physiology or temperament more adapted to

exercise authority or to issue command?” he once asked.

The Australian Labor Government has introduced a carbon tax

that levies a levy on every tonne of greenhouse gases by the

forms that pollute the most.

Abbott spoke out against the tax, addressing his speech to “the

housewives of Australia, as they do the ironing.”

Then, in other political chambers , comes the macho politics of

bluster, swagger, and boorishness, and the prominent use of

personal attacks and derision as legitimate instruments of

political debate.

Of course, very many men in politics do not behave anything like this, but those who do, as if it were a male preserve, dishearten countless more women from engaging in politics.

Beyond the barriers of incivility and bad boy behaviour , a good many women see politics as not for them because it appears to be for the competitive, the combative, the risk-takers, and less so for the co-operative, the consensus-seekers, and the cautious.

There is also the encroachment of politics on to family time and family life.

American research suggests that some women regard themselves as less qualified than men for public office in politics because they have received less encouragement than men from others to become involved.

This creates a gender gap in potential recruits into politics.

However, the recent rise of a new “ism” may provide a new perspective.

It’s called “Talentism”.

The Founder of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Klaus Schwab, maintains that the present foremost economic model – capitalism - is giving way to talentism.

To make your city stronger or your country more competitive, you need those with "talentism" -, the ability to imagine , create and innovate more than you need capital.

The WEF expands on this with regards to women :

“Long-term progress is difficult if half of a population is not fully engaged in the development process. As consumers, workers, entrepreneurs and caregivers, women are central to solving today’s most pressing global challenges.

“In a world moving from capitalism to “talentism”, gender parity can no longer be treated as superfluous.

"Women make up one half of the human capital available in any economy and businesses and governments may reap a rich diversity dividend from investments in gender parity.”

The same can be said of politics.

The more that women are involved in politics, the greater the shift in the political agenda.

It would mean a higher priority given to issues that women regard as more important such as child care, care of the elderly,

maternity/paternity rights, low pay, the work-life balance, health, education, gender equality , and the gender pay gap.

It would mean a more consensus-building style of doing business in politics.

It would mean more favourable decisions being made , as the European Union puts it, “ to counteract the variety of practical obstacles competent women face in reaching the top on the basis of equal qualification and merit.”

Web link :

Marlyn Glen http://www.marlynglen.com

Councillor Richard McCready

Action needed against Blacklisting

I am concerned about growing evidence that proves that blacklisting has been widespread in the construction industry.

My trade union, the GMB, has produced compelling evidence of this practice. (link)

It is just wrong that people have been denied jobs as a result of their trade union activity.

I have written to the Chief Executive of Dundee City Council seeking reassurances that the City Council has a policy against blacklisting and that the council will not let contracts to companies which continue to operate blacklists.

I have written to the Chief Executive of Dundee City Council asking about the City Council’s policy on companies which have operated a blacklist.

I think that it would be wrong for public money to be given to companies which have sacked workers or refused to employ them on the basis of their trade union activity. We must have fairness.

Money from the public purse should be used wisely but I do not think that we can condone the practices of companies which operate blacklists.

I hope that the council has a policy which means that contracts will only be given to companies which have open, transparent and fair employment practices.

I look forward to hearing about Dundee City Council’s policy and if necessary take action.

My colleague Jim McGovern MP for Dundee West has also written to the Chief Executive of Dundee City Council and Cullum McAlpine Director of Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. to inquire into the level of local employment currently being undertaken in the waterfront development.

Jim McGovern has also written to Malmasion urging the use of the local workforce as the chain aims to open its new hotel in Dundee later this year.

Mr McGovern stated, “While I do not know if blacklisting is a current practice on site of the waterfront development constituents of mine who are Dundee based often raise the issue that the project needs brickies, sparkies and plumbers but yet no jobs for them seem to be forthcoming.”

Mr McGovern continued, “With the Government’s welfare to work programme failing to help the vast majority of those in Dundee who are unemployed we should use any opportunity such as the redevelopment on the waterfront as a way to reduce the unemployment that is currently blighting our communities.

"In looking forward I hope that the council has a plan to boost local employment through the opportunities that will arise through the development"

web link :

Richard McCready

http://www.richardmccready.org.uk

Councillor Laurie Bidwell

Issues Raised at Education Committee

I made two comments and posed two questions at the Education Committee last Monday (28 January 2013) in the context of commenting on the sole agenda item: Education Department Standards and Quality: Firstly, I said,

”This report is an important report which I welcome.

“I am pleased that we have an opportunity to talk at the Education Committee about core issues such as the attainment of our pupils in examinations in S4-6. ”There are some promising trends.

“I particularly appreciate the hard work of teachers and pupils to improve the proportion of pupils gaining a minimum of Standard Grade in English and Maths.

“The increase in passes from a level that was beneath the national average to level that is above the national average and our comparator authorities is a real achievement. ”I think that we all appreciate that improvements like this are unlikely to come from a wee sprint in S3 and S4 but build on incremental changes in Nursery, Primary and Secondary schools over a number of years.

“After all, the results referred to in this report come after a pupil will have spent up to two years full or part time in a Nursery School, seven years in Primary School and between four and six years in one of our secondary schools. ”Convener, I would therefore like to recommend to you that we ask the Director in subsequent reports to include facts and figures we already collect about the performance of our pupils at earlier points than the end of secondary school

“ For example, for more than five years our primary pupils have been linked to the Durham University's Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (PIPs) tests on reading and writing in early, middle and upper primary. ”Now I note that in the equivalent reports in other authorities in North East Scotland for example, Perth and Kinross and Angus, there are references to these wider measures which I would argue are milestones on the route to attainment at the end of our pupils' school days. ”Convener, I have a motion on this but would hope you would agree that this is a constructive suggestion and one that we shouldn't need to divide about? So shall we agree to take this forward for the Standards and

Quality Report in 2014?" The Convener accepted my proposal. Secondly, I asked,

"Convener, in the SNP manifesto you campaigned on in the local government elections last May your party wrote

'Under the SNP, Dundee City Council will continue to deliver new schools, smaller class sizes, breakfast clubs in every school and after school clubs in every area of Dundee.' .... 'As every parent knows, smaller class sizes means more teacher time and better learning.' (Extracted from Re-Elect an SNP Council, Moving Dundee Forward) Convener, will the improvements in attainment, that the Standards and Quality Report promises be helped or hindered by increases in class sizes in S1 and S2 Maths and English in five of the nine secondary schools in Dundee?" The Convener did not address his answer to my question.

Web link :

Laurie Bidwell

http://www.lauriebidwell.org.uk