Reply from the Chief Executive, Elected Mayor Meredith and the Director of Children and Young People's Services
Thank you for your recent email addressed to the Chief Executive, Mayor Meredith and the Director of Children and Young People's Services. This response is a collective response to the various issues that were raised.
Steve Robinson
Chief Executive
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
1.
Why should the community believe that a private company running Stoke
schools has any motive other than making a profit?
Serco is a private sector company but
has a strong record of working with local authorities and central
government to deliver the objectives of the public sector - in the case of Stoke-on-Trent to
deliver improvements in children's services.
2. To whom exactly does Serco answer?
In relation to this contract Serco is
answerable to the City Council and the Department for Children, Schools
and Families (DCSF) (formerly the DfES).
3. How much of the City's education
budget is paid to Serco instead of going to our schools?
The Dedicated Schools Budget, which
is money provided directly to schools and currently has a surplus of
over £7 million, is unaffected by this contract - the costs of which are shared between the
DCSF and the City Council. The contribution from the Council is met
from the Council's own budget but includes costs that would have been
spent on the former management team of the Children and Young People's
Service.
4. How much profit would Serco make
for their shareholders by closing Haywood High? James Brindley High? Brownhills
High?
The contract with Serco is to deliver
management of the Children & Young People's Service so this
question does not apply. Any proposals for closure of any school would
be subject to full formal consultation and would be the decision of the
council.
5. Why, and by whom, has the
community been threatened that the £200m for Stoke schools will disappear if Serco's plans
are not adopted?
All BSF proposals have to be robust
and deliverable and they are checked by The Office of the School
Commissioner (OSC) and a body called Partnership for Schools (P4S). If these groups are not
satisfied that the proposals are deliverable, cost effective and
transformational they will not be recommended to the DCSF. Both the OSC
and P4S have indicated that the original proposals were not
satisfactory and they are working with Serco and the City Council on the current set of proposals. All public
bodies are accountable for the use of funding and BSF is no exception.
The government needs to be assured that public funds are being used appropriately
and in a transformational way.
6. Why has there not been any
consultation with the community before Serco's plans were revealed?
In recent years, various proposals
from Stoke-on-Trent have been discussed with stakeholders across the
city. The Serco draft proposals were developed in consultation with headteachers, governors
and other stakeholders over the last three months. What has emerged is
a set of informal proposals, which have been circulated for comment
prior to more formal proposals - based on feedback from the community -
being compiled for further discussion in September/October. We would
reiterate that these initial proposals are therefore a starting point
for discussion prior to the full consultation which will take place in
the autumn.
Please be assured that there is
nothing to hide on this. It is in everyone's interest to turn these
proposals into a huge success for the city and that means being open and transparent
throughout the process. We will genuinely welcome everyone's views in
due course.
Steve Robinson, Mayor Meredith, Ged
Rowney
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
e-mail received 07/08/07
The government says it wants local government to
be responsive to citizens and "communities". See quotes from five
web-sites, below.
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1. from the
Government’s "Together we can action plan" (page 13) (http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/659/TogetherWeCanActionPlanpart1_id1502659.pdf)
"Schools sit at the heart of many
communities. We are encouraging people to get involved in extended
schools, where their facilities are made much more accessible to
everyone in the area. We will make it easier
for parents to have a say in where new schools are placed, and we are doing more to help
people in disadvantaged communities decide what they need in terms of
education and learning opportunities in their local areas.
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2. from the
website of the Department for Communites and Local Government (http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1165628)
What does Communities and Local
Government do?
Our role is to build
the capacity of communities to shape and protect their own future.
We want to see:
* empowered and confident
communities, with higher levels of democratic participation and citizen
engagement
* working together to offer more choice and
quality in public services
* building cohesion and
tackling extremism
* addressing the issues
of climate change and anti-social behaviour
* backed by strong and
responsive local government drawing in all local partners to shape and
deliver the communities' vision for the future
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3. About the Government’s Community Call for
Action (extract from http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=5126878)
About the Community Call for Action
A councillor may become aware of an
issue causing concern to the community. This may be as a result of
information from individuals, community groups or their own
observations. In this situation the councillor
should be able to trigger a response from service providers.
Service providers
must consider the matter raised. They must state what action they will
take or explain their decision not to act.
The Police and Justice Act (2006)
establishes a 'Community call for action' mechanism in relation to
community safety. Several other central government departments are also
exploring proposals.
The proposed process
The proposals from the Home Office
via the Police and Justice Act (2006) are currently the most developed.
They give frontline councillors a central role in calling to account
the work of agencies throughout the local area. The idea is for
councillors to be the first point of contact when the public wish to
raise a 'matter' relating to community safety.
The Act places councillors under a
duty to both consider any matter raised, and to respond saying what
action they will take (if any). If he or she does not do so, then the
person who has raised the issue can refer it to the executive instead.
The executive is placed under similar duties to consider and respond.
Once councillors have considered the
issue raised, they can refer the matter to the 'overview and scrutiny
committee' (OSC). The Act places community safety issues placed under
the OSC remit - on a more general basis, not just when referred to
them. Proceedings are only likely to reach this stage in particularly
complex matters. Councillors will usually try to resolve the issue
through other means first.
Overview and scrutiny committees can
co-opt other agencies - such as the police - to help consider the
matter referred to them. They have the power to produce a report or
recommendations to the relevant 'responsible authorities'. They in turn
have a duty to consider them and respond.
The Home Office mechanisms are
expected to be rolled out in April 2008. Proposals from the Communities
and Local Government are likely to take a similar format to those of
the Home Office. They will not be implemented until later, however.
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4. from the Local Government White Paper (Nov?
2006)
(http://www.communities.gov.uk/pub/98/StrongandProsperousCommunitiestheLocalGovernmentWhitePaperVol1_id1504098.pdf)
The relationship
between local government and citizens
Local government's
strength is its closeness to its communities. Citizens and communities know what they want from
public services, and what needs to be done to improve the places where
they live. We want to use these strengths to drive up service standards
and foster a sense of community and civic pride.
This White Paper sets out new
responsibilities for local authorities to give local citizens and
communities a greater say over their lives. Local citizens will have
more information about how services perform in their area and they will
have more opportunities to get involved.
Responsive
services and empowered communities
Citizens and
communities want a bigger say in the services they receive and in
shaping the places where they live. The best councils and
councillors already work closely with citizens and communities. We want
this to be the case everywhere - for people to be given more control
over their lives; consulted and involved in running services; informed
about the quality of services in their area; and enabled to call local
agencies to account if services fail to meet their needs. We want all councils to
focus more on their citizens and communities.
Local people will receive more
information about service standards and be able to turn to their local
councillor to demand an answer to their questions through a new
Community Call for Action. We will
encourage local authorities to put in place standard procedures for
dealing with petitions. In addition the role of the Local
Government Ombudsman in tackling complaints will be updated.
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5. from
the Local Government Ombudsman leaflet (http://www.lgo.org.uk/pdf/howcompcouncil.pdf)
The law says that the Ombudsman must
look for 'maladministration' by a council that has caused you
'injustice'. This means something that the council has done wrong, or
failed to do, that directly affected you. But we cannot question
whether a council's decision or action is right or wrong simply because
you disagree with it, and we may not investigate your complaint if we
decide that the injustice is only slight.
(As regards the Ombudsman, I wonder
if failing to consult its citizens about closing schools would, in the
Ombudsman’s eyes, count as "maladmistration"?)
Alan