'Good schools' to hand back £85m savings

Good schools could be forced to hand back thousands of pounds every year under a new Government "tax" on prudent head teachers, the Daily Telegraph reports today.

For the sake of grabbing back an amount of money equivalent to less than a week of what the government plans to hand to the audit-failing EU under the new EU budget deal, head teachers at some of the best-performing state schools in the country may be forced to axe staff or raid library budgets to finance improvements to facilities rather than tapping into their savings.

The little-noticed move could affect as many as 20,000 primary, secondary and special schools and would require any school with extra money at the end of the year to hand a share back to local authorities.

Schools are set to lose 5% of outstanding balances, even if it has been set aside to fund new buildings, playground improvements, sports facilities or drama studios.

Mick Brookes, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said "Schools are going to have to find that five per cent additional money from somewhere else.

''This includes the money schools use to buy books for the children, teaching materials and sports equipment.

"If schools have to give back £25,000 or more, it could mean losing a teacher."

Pauline Cox, the head teacher at Tiffin Girls' Grammar School, Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, which came top in the country in one GCSE league table this summer, said: "We have a 1950s school which is falling to pieces and needs repairs, which cost money.

''We already have to scrimp and save to do this, and now whatever we manage to pull together for the next year will be taxed. I feel robbed. The fury among teachers is remarkable."

In a Parliamentary answer to the Liberal Democrats, the Government admitted that £988 million of last year's surplus – almost 63% of the total – had been "committed for specific purposes", which may include buildings.

David Laws, the Liberal Democrat children's spokesman, said: "This Government plan is a tax on good schools. It is taking from the prudent head teachers that are about to fund major capital projects and giving to less prudent ones and those who have already spent their money."

Andrew Baker, the head of Westcliff High School for Boys, Essex, said: "I have never heard a proposal that is so devious and unprincipled as this.

''It will encourage schools to make irresponsible expenditure to avoid the taxman."

Terry Molloy, the head of Claremont High School, Brent, north London, said: "This money is meant for my children, to make their education better. Why should they be punished like this?"

Under the new EU budget deal, Britain is set to pay the audit-failing EU £6bn (net) a year - that's £115m every week until 2013.

This deal is expected to come before MPs for approval sometime in the next session of Parliament, starting next month.

Can MPs really justify voting billions of pounds extra a year to such a wasteful organisation as the EU, while the government has to resort to clawing back fractions of that amount from prudent schools seeking to improve their facilities?

Has the EU now usurped 'Education, Education, Education'? MPs will confirm their real priorities with their votes on the European Communities (Finance) Bill.

'Cash crisis' for science centres

Science education centres around the UK face serious financial threats and some have already closed, reports the BBC.

MPs on the House of Commons science and technology select committee want the government to give centres at risk short-term funding.

Two of the centres which were funded by the Millennium Commission - Doncaster's Earth Centre and Ayrshire's Big Idea - have already closed, its report says.

The loss of such centres is a threat to science education, it says. Ministers say they will respond "in due course".

The report, the Funding of Science and Discovery Centres, says that these centres make a valuable contribution to the public's engagement with science - but there are serious financial problems.

After initial funding, these centres are unable to pay for themselves - and the report says that without a change in their financial support, they will be closed before their value has been properly assessed.

The Eden Project is an example of a successful science centre, say MPs.

The Earth Centre and Big Idea have both closed and another, At-Bristol, has had to close two of its three attractions and has made 45 staff redundant.

The report says the government should not be obliged to fund loss-making centres on a regular basis, but as a short-term measure it should make cash available.

It also recommends that "steps are taken to reduce the tax burden on science and other educational centres".

The report says that the science centre concept has been around for about 20 years - representing a place for people to explore science often in an interactive setting.

The biggest injection of funding came in the form of £450m for 18 centres from the Millennium Commission.

But the report says that in terms of earning revenue, science centres - apart from examples such as the Eden Project in Cornwall - have struggled to raise more than 80% of their running costs.

This leaves them with a recurrent funding problem, says the MPs' report, which proposes they should be given a reduced rate of VAT - and it urges the government to consider supporting science centres in the way it subsidises museums.

A Department for Innovation, Universities and Science spokesman said that the government is "keen to encourage young people and the broader community to get involved with science".

He said they would respond to the report more fully "in due course".

Frontline policing under threat - claim

Frontline policing numbers in Norfolk will be slashed if ministers approve a £3.6m funding cut, despite spiralling costs as officers struggle to cope with an influx of immigrants - reports the Eastern Daily Press.

Officials at Norfolk police will meet next week to discuss the “nightmare” scenario which comes against a backdrop of a succession of grant cuts in recent years which have already left the county's budget stripped to the bone.

Police authority chairman Stephen Bett accused the government of being out of touch with rural areas, saying it had failed to take account of changes brought about by population growth brought about by an influx of immigrants.

His comments echo those of Cambridgeshire chief constable Julie Spence who said a squeeze on funding caused by out-of-date population figures meant there had been no extra cash for officers in the past five years.

Mr Bett said that the very best Norfolk could hope for is that it maintains its current level of funding which led to a 7% council tax increase this year - the fourth highest increase in the country.

At worst there will be “major and widespread” cuts, including a reduction in officers on the frontline.

“Until now we have had a level of protection meaning that, at worst, we would not lose funding as we are guaranteed a minimum increase,” Mr Bett said.

“However, the formula used to calculate grants is being reviewed and this protection could be lost.

“If this happens we stand to lose millions of pounds from our budget. Our budget is already at full-stretch following a disappointing settlement last year.

“This has left us extremely vulnerable and we would have to carry out a review at all levels. This would certainly include frontline policing and may also mean that we do not introduce safer neighbourhood teams in all areas as originally planned.”

Authority treasurer Bob Summers said council tax must increase by 1% for every £450,000 needed. This would mean an 8% increase would be needed in Norfolk if the changes go ahead.

Earlier this year the authority was reprimanded by the government for increasing council tax beyond its approved level and warned ministers would have “no hesitation” in imposing strict penalties if there was a repeat of this increase.

Mr Summers added that early signs were that nationally the settlement will be an increase of 2.7% but some of this will be skimmed off to meet Home Office costs bringing the rise in way below inflation.

Bridlington & Scarborough: NHS trust announces 600 job cuts

The Scarborough and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust has announced that it is to axe 600 jobs, comprising a third of its workforce, in a bid to save £10m and balance its books - the BBC reports today.

The cuts are the latest in a long series of similar actions by NHS trusts across the country, being forced when cost over-runs are not being met with extra funds from central government.

The government is finding the cash, however, to gift an extra £2.5bn a year (net) to the wasteful European Union (which already receives £3.5bn a year on average). Yet The EU hasn't been able to have the majority of its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years in a row.

Latest figures from the NHS Information Centre show that 17,000 posts have been closed in the last 12 months alone.

The North Yorkshire trust runs Scarbrough General and Bridlington District hospitals.

Unison regional officer Ray Gray has condemned the huge cuts in staff levels as a "disaster" for health services in the area.

"Job losses on this scale are completely unsustainable. It would devastate the NHS in this part of Yorkshire and have a profoundly damaging effect on the local economy", he said.

"How the trust has ended up in this dire situation is a matter of grave concern and we are seeking urgent talks with the Secretary of State for Health to find a way of saving the jobs and the health service in the Scarborough district."

2,500 more post offices to close

The BBC reports today that about 2,500 post offices are to close by 2009, representing a fifth of those left in the UK.

The news comes on top of the over 4,000 post offices that have shut in the past eight years.

Trade Secretary Alistair Darling, ahead of speaking in Parliament about the post office network, claimed that the current network was "unsustainable".

But opposition parties say further closures will devastate local communities, particularly in rural areas.

The network has been affected by the decision to pay a range of services like pensions and benefits directly into bank accounts, while others traditionally provided by post offices like TV and driving licences, passports and tax disks are now increasingly being bought online.

Liberal Democrat trade spokeswoman Susan Kramer said the closures would be a "death knell" for many communities.

"The government sees only a business in inevitable decline. Its plan is designed purely to save money and has nothing to do with meeting the long-term needs of people who rely on post offices for essential services."

If the government can't afford to subsidise those post offices that are not profit-making on the grounds of the essential support and services they provide in many communities, they need to be looking to make savings in the areas of government spending that are an obvious waste.

One obvious target for making a saving is the £2.5bn extra every year that Tony Blair has agreed to hand over to the EU - because of the scale of the saving possible, and the complete lack of justification for rewarding an audit-failing organisation with a 60% increase in payments.

Are MPs going to agree to this waste, when the EU budget deal comes before Parliament for their approval? If so, post office closures due to lack of public money for subsidies will be their fault alone - and local voters will know who to blame, come the next election.

Ealing: 15 teachers lose jobs in cuts

More news of cuts to public services in Ealing that should give Ealing's MPs pause for thought about whether they can afford to approve the 60% hike in payments to the audit-failing EU - and certainly whether local voters will approve of such a choice, come the next election.

The Ealing Gazette reports today that 15 teachers at Ealing, Hammersmith and West London College are losing their jobs as a result of a government cut of 7% - equating to £2m - from the college's budget for adult education services.

The cuts are thought to be the "tip of the iceberg", with more following before September.

The college has campuses in Barons Court and Ealing, and is having to increase class sizes and merge some services as a result.

Amarjit Busi, deputy principal of the college said: "We've lost £2m of public funding support at the same time we're being told to direct money away from lower-level courses."

"It's going to affect the most vulnerable and poorest parts of the community."

Hounslow: Cuts close playground

Angry Mums on a deprived estate have slammed Hounslow Borough Council for "penny-pinching" after a children's playground was forced to close - reports the Hounslow Chronicle.

The cost-cutting council recently removed swings, slides and a climbing frame from the play area on the Beavers Lane Estate. The equipment was deemed unsafe, but leisure services provider CIP has been unable to fund repairs or replacements.

One Mum-of-three said: "This administration's penny-pinching is hitting kids on this estate - including my eight-year-old girl - very hard."

"First the community teacher was cut, then a dance teacher from Waterman's art centre who used to hold classes at the Hub was axed, and now this."

No doubt speaking for hundreds of local parents, she added: "My daughter loved the play area and it's really sad it's gone."

To be fair, councils like Hounslow are operating under a great deal of financial pressure, caught between insufficient funding from central government and the deadly unpopularity of hiking council tax bills unreasonably.

It's for local MPs like Ann Keen to justify why her local council can't be given more to prevent such cuts by the government. Especially when she's enthusiastically intending to approve paying £2.5bn a year extra to the already lavishly-funded but endlessly wasteful EU.

If the government can't afford to give local councils more, why is she going to approve wasting such vast amounts of public money by handing it to an organisation that hasn't had its accounts approved by auditors for twelve years running?

If Mrs Keen doesn't block that extra money for the EU when it comes to the vote in Parliament, local residents will know who's really to blame for cuts to local services come the next election.

NHS Direct complaints rise by 50%

Complaints about helpline NHS Direct have risen by 50% since the end of 2006 as it struggles to answer calls and offer speedy advice, figures reported by the BBC show.

In March the 24-hour health helpline had 1.89 complaints for every 10,000 calls - over twice the target level - after four successive monthly rises.

Hundreds of posts were lost and 12 of its 50 centres closed last year as the service tried to make cuts as part of the NHS-wide push for savings.

The service was set up in 1997 to help give advice to people on how to deal with symptoms and to direct them to the correct place in the event of an emergency.

NHS Direct complaints rise by 50%

Complaints about helpline NHS Direct have risen by 50% since the end of 2006 as it struggles to answer calls and offer speedy advice, figures reported by the BBC show.

In March the 24-hour health helpline had 1.89 complaints for every 10,000 calls - over twice the target level - after four successive monthly rises.
The Patients Association said people were now turning to them for help.
But NHS Direct, which had about 400,000 calls in March, said the situation was improving after a major reorganisation.
We are getting a lot of people ringing our helpline who are unhappy with the help they have got from NHS Direct
Patients Association spokeswoman
Hundreds of posts were lost and 12 of its 50 centres closed last year as the service tried to make cuts as part of the NHS-wide push for savings.
The service was set up in 1997 to help give advice to people on how to deal with symptoms and to direct them to the correct place in the event of an emergency.
Performance data from NHS Direct showed that in recent months the service had struggled to answer calls or deal with non-urgent cases quickly enough under its targets agreed with government.
It now means that the number of complaints it is receiving has risen by 50% in the last four months.
The 1.89 complaints per 10,000 calls in March meant there were still under 100 complaints for the month, but the figure is more than twice the target of 0.75 complaints per 10,000 calls.
Service 'scandal'
It is also recognised that it is likely that many more people have been unhappy with the service, but have not lodged formal complaints.
A spokeswoman for the Patients Association said: "We are getting a lot of people ringing our helpline who are unhappy with the help they have got from NHS Direct.
"It is scandalous that this service is not doing what it should.
"Some are even saying NHS Direct has referred them to us. We are a charity, we should not be picking up the pieces for a publicly-funded service."
A spokesman for NHS Direct said: "We have dropped below the planned targets, but the service is now improving and getting near to the standard it should be.
"There was a major reorganisation last year and it has taken time for that to bed down."

Bin collections being cut to every fortnight

More homes could see the end of weekly bin collections after a government report played down claims of fortnightly collections causing hygiene problems, reports the BBC.

Many councils have already adopted a policy of collecting general waste fortnightly - with many picking up recyclable rubbish on alternate weeks.

The research into waste collections - funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) - found that if waste was properly wrapped there should be no hygiene concerns.

However some residents in areas where rubbish is collected fortnightly have complained of more rats, maggots and nasty odours.

Doretta Cocks, a Hampshire housewife who campaigns against fortnightly collections, says they are "not adequate" and "compromise public health".

She says her bin gives off an "awful smell" after 10 days, despite the rubbish being double-wrapped.

One third of English councils have already phased out weekly collections of general waste. Similarly, half of Welsh councils and many Northern Irish authorities already carry out less frequent collections.

Councils claim that the move to less frequent rubbish collections is more about encouraging recycling than cost-cutting. But is it becoming too much to ask that our streets are kept clean and our bins emptied?

Certainly if local authorities can no longer afford weekly bin collections, the time has come to cut wasteful spending elsewhere. Payments to an audit-failing and extremely wasteful EU must surely be a prime candidate for the chop.

Wimbledon: Bereavement help slashed

The Wimbledon Guardian reports that a counselling service which has helped hundreds of bereaved people each year is due to close because funding has been withdrawn by health bosses.

The Sutton & Merton bereavement service has been helping those who have lost loved ones, sometimes in tragic circumstances, for 25 years and sees those who have both referred themselves and been referred by their GP.

Though the annual cost of running the service is just £36,000, providing five part-time staff supported by an army of volunteers, the Sutton & Merton Primary Care Trust has refused further funding in an effort to cut costs.

- Article contributed by: R.A. C-H, Wimbledon

Richmond: Children's centres hit by cash shortfall

Plans for much-needed children's centres at borough primary schools have hit the rocks because of a £665,000 shortfall in government funding - reports the Richmond & Twickenham Times.

Lowther Primary School, Barnes, was due to submit a planning application for its centre next week, but the cruel blow means the project is now in serious jeopardy because of a lack of cash.

And two other proposed children's centres - at Heathfield Primary and St Richard's, Ham - could also be forced to scale down.

The blow comes as a result of a failed application for additional funding from Richmond upon Thames Council.

Pat Hutchies, headteacher at Lowther Primary School, said north Barnes had been identified by the government as a key area for a children's centre.

She said: "One of the ideas of these types of centre is that they can deliver intermediate services, not just education.

"Health visitors could have a proper space not just a tiny chair in the corner of a room.
"This kind of service is hard to deliver at the moment in the area and it would have just been the most marvellous opportunity for families in the community.

"There will be a significant shortfall in the cost of what we want and what we should be delivering.

"North Barnes deserves the facility so we can deliver hard to access services.

"We are going to be campaigning to get the money - where there's a will there's a way.

"I think if you look at what is right, the community deserves it. It's extrememly disappointing."

She added the idea had been in the pipeline since the early 1990s, but it was only since the government pinpointed the area as part of a wider children's centre plan that dreams started becoming reality.

A Richmond Council spokesman said: "The three new-build children's centres, at Heathfield Infants, St Richard's with St Andrew's and Lowther Primary, are facing a combined shortfall of £655,000.

"The children's centre capital programme consultants, employed by the DfES to oversee the Children's Centre initiative, supported Richmond's request for additional funding.

Subsequently, however, the DfES has, initially, refused the funding.

"If Richmond does not receive the additional funding, then the council will have to rationalise its plans for children's centres schemes in the borough."

Sheffield: Operations postponed amid flood of emergency patients

A Yorkshire hospital that found itself overloaded with seriously ill patients was forced to postpone 36 operations in two days, reports the Yorkshire Post.

The Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said that over the weekend higher than average numbers of emergency patients had over-stretched resources, forcing the Northern General Hospital to postpone 26 operations yesterday and a further 10 today.

Many maternity units could be stripped of consultant cover

More hospitals could be stripped of consultant-led maternity units under controversial new plans, according to the Yorkshire Post.

Instead more women will give birth in midwife-led units, with complex cases dealt with in specialist centres.

The switch provoked an outcry in Huddersfield last year when specialist maternity services were switched to Halifax, while further opposition has followed plans to end births at Malton, Whitby and Bridlington hospitals, centralising services in Scarborough.

Ministers have been accused of hypocrisy for opposing such closure plans, which conflicts with government policy.

Dame Karlene Davies, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, is quoted, saying: "Unfortunately, too many recent reconfigurations have led to midwifery care units being threatened with closure, thereby reducing the amount of choice women are able to exercise."

Trust in debt asks staff to work for no wages

The Daily Telegraph reports today that a health trust is asking doctors and nurses to work without pay because it is millions of pounds in debt.

Managers at Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust have written to workers at its three hospitals to see if they will put in a day's work as "a voluntary contribution".

The trust, which has cut services because of a £16 million deficit last year (NB. not even a day's worth of cash that's flowing to the EU) is also encouraging staff to postpone taking a week's holiday to "help avoid additional costs".

Bolton: Hospital cuts and services protest demo

Angry demonstrators walked from the town centre to the Royal Bolton Hospital to protest at the latest proposed cuts in jobs and services, reports the Bolton News.

The procession was organised by Unison, the staff union at the hospital.

Last week regional health bosses, NHS North-West, announced plans to move initial tests in ear, nose and throat, urology, gynaecology, general surgery and orthopaedics into independently-run Clinical Assessment Treatment Centres.

Hospital chiefs predict this will result in £3.7 million being cut from the Royal Bolton’s yearly budget and the loss of up to 130 jobs.

Harlow: Closure still an option for NHS walk-in centre

The long term future of Harlow’s walk-in centre is still hanging in the balance, according to the local health chief – reports the Harlow Star.

West Essex Primary Care Trust chief executive Aidan Thomas has confirmed that closure is one of the options he is looking at for the Wych Elm centre.

Mr Thomas told a press conference on Tuesday than nationwide government cuts in the NHS had left the PCT no choice but to look at a number of money-saving ideas. A new PCT strategy is being launched to make £8.5 million of annual savings in future in order to meet government targets.

The PCT has to cut around £750,000 from centre costs to meet the budget shortfall.

Savings elsewhere of £300,000 are set to be made by revising long-term medication prescriptions, and a further £800,000 by giving heart patients cheaper medicine.

Harlow MP Bill Rammell is quoted as saying: "I will do everything in my power to stop closure; I do not believe it will close."

But would that include voting against the EU budget deal, which would save vastly more than the cash needed to keep this centre open?

Essex: Police support funding cut by £2.6m

Funding for hundreds of police community support officers (PCSOs) in Essex has been slashed by £2.6m, reports the Colchester Evening Gazette.

Top officers in the county say the cutbacks will mean cash for nearly 200 PCSOs will have to be found from elsewhere, possibly by upping the force’s council tax quota.

The news comes after the Home Office scaled back its recruitment targets for PCSOs from 24,000 to 16,000.

Robert Chambers, chairman of the Essex Police Authority, said: "We were going to get our quota of the PCSOs but, because there is now only funding for 16,000, we won’t be getting our funding."

- Article contributed by: Mr & Mrs L.C. M, Colchester

Police face cuts in cash squeeze

Police forces have warned Ministers they may have to cut officer numbers because of a squeeze on funding, reports the Yorkshire Post.

A document prepared by the Association of Chief Police Officers and Association of Police Authorities says that Treasury-imposed budget curbs could have a "significant impact" on local policing.

The Police Federation, representing more than 140,000 officers, says that growing demands on the service to provide high visibility policing and combat anti-social behaviour mean forces need a five percent a year increase in funding simply to stand still.

Chairman Jan Berry told Sky News: "We’re having enough trouble at the moment keeping our head above water."

Yet the Home Office will only receive a funding increase of 2.7% a year between 2008 and 2011.

Leeds: Shortage of midwives blamed in baby death inquest

A shortage of midwives was blamed at an inquest last month as a factor in the death of a baby girl at Leeds General Infirmary, reports the Yorkshire Post.

Caitlin Rose Simpson died suddenly after birth as a result of an infection which could have been prevented if her mother had been induced sooner, the hearing was told.

It took almost three days from when mother-of-four Janine Howarth’s waters broke to her giving birth, because of a lack of beds and medical staff in the delivery suite.