Timing is everything, and this isn't it

I get a fair amount of email dropping into my inbox every day at work. Some of it is from constituents, some from my colleagues, and some of it is unsolicited and gets deleted after I've had a quick swatch. Late yesterday afternoon, I received a mass email addressed to all Council staff that surprised me so much I had to read it again. Here it is:

I'm sure we all have our own special memories of life at school - some good, perhaps some not so good. But when was the last time you were actually in a school? How much has changed since you walked out of the school doors for the last time?

When you were at school, did you have Interactive Whiteboards, Media Suites, Social Streets? Or are you reading this and thinking "what are you talking about"? Well here is your chance to find out for yourself. A new exciting initiative is being offered to staff in 2009. Education Services are organising a number of 'Back To School' events, open to all Council staff and staff from the Councils' Arms Length External Organisations (ALEO's).

Glasgow's School Estate

The Council has radically improved the condition and quality of its education estate in the past 8 years. Since 2002 the Council has invested approximately £550m to ensure that children, young people and staff have high quality, vibrant learning and teaching environments that support the core objectives of raising attainment and achievement. A high number of schools in Glasgow have been transformed. Project 2002 resulted in Glasgow's secondary schools undertaking the biggest rebuilding and refurbishment programme ever seen in the United Kingdom. Project 2002 underlined the commitment of the City Council to investing in education. The end result of the project was 11 brand new secondary schools and 18 secondary schools totally refurbished, some with major extensions built.

The Council recognised that the reform could not be restricted to the secondary sector and therefore brought forward the Pre 12 Strategy. We are currently in Phase 4 of this project - full details are available at - http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/en/Residents/GoingtoSchool/Pre12Strategy/

Education Services want to increase awareness throughout the Council of the positive impact of the investment in 21st century schools. So we are 'opening the gates' to our schools to allow council colleagues the chance to visit and see for themselves classrooms of the 21st Century. These proposed visits will also allow colleagues to have an increased awareness of the educational opportunities now on offer to our children and young people.

How to Apply for a Tour

Full details of this exciting new project, along with an application form for anyone interested in visiting a school, are available on Connect.

Tours will commence at 10am in specific schools and will finish off just before midday with a complimentary meal in the 'Fuel Zone' - the catering service provided by Direct and Care Services that has revolutionised catering in all primary and secondary schools - www.fuelzone.co.uk This will allow you the chance to compare school meals today with yesteryears delights such as mince, semolina and lumpy custard!

Staff will also have the option of making their own way to the school or alternatively Land and Environmental Services will arrange for transport to and from the school - leaving from, and returning to, Wheatley House on the day of the visits.

This message has been authorised for all Council distribution by Margaret Doran, Executive Director of Children and Families.

For a significant number of Council staff, it's part of their job to know what's going on in our schools. Some Council staff may get access to schools as parents, and will have an idea of what they're like. As an elected member, I'm in the schools and nurseries in my ward on a regular basis and I try to keep a handle on what's going on.

For the rest, I wonder what value a trip round Glasgow's schools will bring. Will staff will get time off their work to go on this jolly outing? Why not wait for Doors Open Day? The campaigning parents of St Gregory's and Wyndford Primaries certainly didn't need an invitation!

I'm less than convinced that in these times of austerity what is needed is Education spending money on an open invitation to all Glasgow City Council employees to come and wander around school buildings. It sounds like there will also be cost implications to Land and Environmental Services for the minibuses and DACS/Cordia for meals.

The point of this exercise clearly isn't to give staff a true impression of the conditions children are taught in. It's not about nostalgia or letting staff go back to school. The schools that have been selected aren't among the five "Category D for Dangerous" school buildings, or even among the Cs and Ds. These tours won't show flaky paint, leaking roofs, pitted playgrounds, or point out the foliage sprouting from the gutters. Visitors won't get the chance to sit in drafty classrooms with their coats and mittens on to keep them warm.

They'll be visiting these selected schools:

Primary - 22nd April

• Ashpark Primary
• Avenue End Primary
• Castleton Primary
• Merrylee Primary
• St Maria Goretti Primary

Secondary - 23rd April

• All Saints Secondary
• Drumchapel High
• Knightswood Secondary
• St Andrew's Secondary
• St Thomas Aquinas Secondary

• 
  

I don't seek to do Glasgow schools down by this post. The effort and high standards of the vast majority of teaching staff in sometimes difficult circumstances is admirable. The new schools Glasgow has invested in are impressive. For older schools, however, basic maintenance has been skimped over years. In some cases, we don't need new schools; we just need to look after what we have.

For me, the timing is pretty tactless. In a matter of weeks, Councillors in Glasgow will decide whether to close dozens of schools and nurseries across the city. This a diversionary PR exercise, nothing less.

Norwegian generosity

I noticed amongst my news feeds during the week, while the G20 were fretting over the future of the world economy and the UK Government starts to consider calling the IMF, there was a small article on Reuters which gave an indication of where some of this bailout money was coming from.

Oil-rich Norway said on Saturday it was ready to offer up to 30 billion crowns ($4.56 billion) to support the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and called for the fund to play a bigger role in supervising financial markets.

Fancy that. Labour have been gleefully gunning for the arc of prosperity, but here we have cast iron evidence of how a small, oil rich nation can contribute to the world. Norway have invested their oil wealth, rather than squander it across the decades. $4.46 billion is pocket money in a fund worth $300 billion. Remarkably, this generosity comes at a time when their oil fund isn't even in the peachiest of health.

How much better off would we be as a nation if North Sea oil had been invested in this way? What do we have to show for striking black gold? As a Scottish Nationalist, you would expect me to argue the It's Scotland's Oil case. And yes, it's ours. The McCrone revelations showed that our only mistakes were underestimation of our potential wealth, and stopping our campaign too soon. I believe that we have been incredibly lucky to have oil. The majority of nations have not been so fortunate, but not having oil hasn't hindered their independence.

I have heard the SNP accused by unionists of various political persuasions of being selfish and greedy for even trying to ask for our fair share of our oil revenues to spend or invest. Who's to say that if we had taken a truely prudent approach back in the seventies that we wouldn't be able to give our neighbours a helping hand?

Norway's example of how to make the most of a finite resource should be an example to the UK government. It's not too late.

Exciting news from Dundee

"Friends as you know I’m not long back from Washington D.C. and I said to people there that I couldn’t stay long, because I was off to Dundee.

And they asked Dundee Michigan, Dundee Illinois or Dundee Oregon?

I said the original Dundee.

They asked what state was it in?

It’s in a great state, I replied.

It’s got a Labour council."

Gordon Brown, Labour Conference Speech, 6th March 2009

Since the SNP's emphatic win in the Maryfield by-election on the 12th of March, negotiations have been ongoing to remove the Labour/LibDem/Tory administration from Dundee. There will be a special full meeting of Council on the 30th of March, but ahead of this the tension appears to have gotten too much for the Labour Lord Provost John Letford, who has stepped down from the Labour party to go independent.

Provost Letford said in the Courier “I have been trying to persuade my ex-colleagues for nearly two years to recognise the fact that, in the interests of the city and fair play, Dundee City Council committee conveners should be compiled from all parties... It is ludicrous to believe all the political talent required to run a city is only available in the administration and exclude half of the councillors”.

That doesn't sound like a group in a great state, never mind a Council. The anti-democratic anyonebuttheSNP administration in the city has most recently been criticised for the condition of it's Council housing. When I went up to lend a hand during the by-election campaign I spoke to plenty of scunnered Dundonians who were desperate to kick the administration out of office. I also found out how unhappy some Dundee Council employees are with those in control. What's needed isn't a rainbow coalition - it's a wind of change.

The make up of the Council is now:
14 SNP
8 Labour
3 Conservatives
2 Liberal Democrats
2 Independents

If you're a teenage mum, who can you ask for help?

I would guess, if you're a teenage mum living in Glasgow South, Tom Harris MP is certainly not who you're going to go to for a sympathetic listening ear. The outburst on his blog has attracted a lot of media interest from across the left, right and religious spectrum.

I wouldn't deny that there's a problem in society when young teenagers find themselves having sex and young girls end up pregnant. Dealing with unexpected and unwanted pregnancy isn't a situation any of us would want to find ourselves in. Whatever choice teenage mums have to make, that choice is never going to be easy, and they will live with the consequences of that decision for the rest of their lives. If there is no commitment from their partner, or support from their parents, that decision has to be made alone.

Tom Harris is a male, married, middle aged, middle class, educated and well paid Member of Parliament (incidentally, with sons rather than daughters). In his blog post, he almost manages to put himself in the position of the father of a teenage mother. Almost. The father may well be hopping mad, in denial, disappointed, and fearful, but what good would showing that do to his daughter? They've probably had that fight already. Summoning pride and hope in support of a daughter who may well be terrified herself is surely better than arguments and recriminations; once the baby has been born, that moment has long past.

I wonder if he has tried to put himself in the postion of the daughter. Fear. Panic. Worry. Hope. The coming realisation that no matter what they do, they are now tied to live with the child they brought into the world. Education, work, relationships are all bundled up into that.

I've heard from friends that recently had children - married people, as it happens - about how challenging the whole parenting thing is. How much harder must that be on your own?

There are education programmes being developed to give young people a better chance of understanding their bodies, and learning the self esteem to be able to make decisions in their own best interests. I hope that Sexual Health and Relationship Education (SHARE) will make the difference to the generations growing up today. Parents are intended to be part of this education, and they need to feel able to encourage their children in a positive way.

I hinted at the difference between attitudes to boys and girls by their parents earlier. There are very different attitudes to sex and relationships by gender, and this needs to be tackled as part of young people's development. Put simply, girls don't get pregnant on their own.

For those who have had their babies, we need to assist where we can. Offer childcare places and routes into training and employment. Offer parenting classes where they are needed, or just finding ways to lend a hand. There are ways of preventing or breaking the benefits cycle and these are better to be carrots rather than sticks.

The teenage mums who have visited my surgeries aren't looking for handouts. They're looking for the best start they can give their children, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. If that happens to be a warm, secure home, then fine. It's a start, and when their home life is on track, I believe other things will eventually follow.

It's not my job to judge the people who ask for my assistance - as an elected representative it's my job to do my best for each and every one of my constituents. With his moralising patronising tone, Tom Harris risks alienating the constituents who need him most.

Recycling in the East

It was chilly yesterday, but there was a great turnout of press, local school pupils, and a few politicians for the opening of the new state of the art recycling centre at Tesco Shettleston, the first automated recycling centre in Scotland. The pupils were from the Eco-Committee at Wellshot Primary, with one pupil having designed a great poster which graces the outside of the recycling machine.

The centre is a bold statement, and represents a considerable investment by Tesco of £150,000. The automated recycling machine designed by Tomra of Norway crushes and granulates materials on site, reducing the number of times it has to be emptied by lorry, and improving efficiency in recycling.

A wider range of items can be recycled on site than before - glass bottles and jars, steel and aluminium food and drink cans, plastic bottles (such as milk containers and soft drink/ water bottles), yoghurt pots and plastic food trays. Being Tesco, you even get Clubcard points for what you recycle!

The Scottish Government's recycling targets are ambitious, and Glasgow has had a historically poor record of recycling. I know staff in Land and Environmental Services are keen to improve, and much is being done. Assistance from business is important in the bigger picture to reduce waste and improve our recycling performance; as they say, every little helps...

Breaking new ground

I was pleased to attend Thenew Housing Association's groundbreaking ceremony for a new housing development in my ward, on land at the triangle formed by Baltic Street, Albany Street and Dunn Street. Staff were telling me that, while they've taken on the ownership of existing housing in the area, these were the first houses they were building themselves in this part of the city. A lot of the cases I get at my surgeries are housing - related, so these twenty four extra homes will make a difference.

It was also fascinating to hear from one of Thenew's committee members who remembered the street when it last had homes on it back in the 1960s.

Thenew were also having a drop in for people in the Calton later that day to show their plans for new housing on London Road and Green Street. I've heard some constituents are uneasy about one aspect of these plans, a purpose-built unit to be run by Aberlour Child Care Trust. I've visited one of their projects, and was very impressed by the safe and secure service they provide. I appreciate local people might be concerned and uncertain about this; I'm happy to meet up with them to discuss the plans further.

Public consultation

The consultation meeting at St James' tonight was ace. The place was packed - at least eighty people turned out to make their voice heard. Excellent questions were put, some of which couldn't be answered.

One which really had parents concerned was bus provision. There's no direct bus from the Calton to Alexandra Parade, so it had been suggested that buses might be provided to take pupils the 1.3 miles between the schools. Fine and dandy, you might think, until it was revealed that there would be no supervision of pupils on the bus (other than from the bus driver, who ought to have his eyes elsewhere!). Parents were understandably worried about their children - some as young as four - being left to their own devices for the trip, and made it quite clear that they felt that was unacceptable.

I was very pleased at the quality of the questioning; officials were left in no doubt why the community opposes this proposal.