Cambridgeshire councils share more services

17:15 Thursday 2nd October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: Another of our big stories, an ongoing story actually, one that we discuss regularly: three Cambridgeshire councils have announced the next steps towards sharing services. South Cambs, Cambridge City and Huntingdonshire save hundreds of thousands of pounds by pooling their I.T. and legal provision. So, is this just the first step towards a Greater Cambridge unitary authority? Let’s find out. The men in charge are with me. Cllr Ray Manning, the Leader of South Cambs District Council, a Conservative of course. Ray, hello.
RAY MANNING: Hello there.
CHRIS MANN: Welcome. And how long have you been running the Council?
RAY MANNING: The Conservatives, since 2006.
CHRIS MANN: And how long have you had to start making cutbacks since? When did that .. ?
RAY MANNING: About 1896 I think.
CHRIS MANN: Yes. It’s that long. (LAUGHS)
RAY MANNING: Yes. I can’t ever remember a budget that wasn’t a reduction.
CHRIS MANN: And right now the demands on you are .. ? How much do you have to lose in the next few years?
RAY MANNING: We’ve got to save another million.
CHRIS MANN: Out of a budget of .. ?
RAY MANNING: Sixteen.
CHRIS MANN: Also with us is Cllr Jason Ablewhite. Hello Jason.
JASON ABLEWHITE: Good evening Chris.
CHRIS MANN: The Executive Leader of Huntingdonshire District Council, another Conservative controlled authority of course. Give us the picture as far as you’re concerned.
JASON ABLEWHITE: Financially or politically? Politically obviously we’ve been Conservative since 1976, so quite considerable longer than South Cambs. (LAUGHS) But we’re in exactly the same boat as everyone else. We need to save multiples of millions of pounds over the next five years, and we’re looking at new ways of working and new initiatives, and that’s why what we’re saying today is so important.
CHRIS MANN: And you’ve taken some tough measures already. You’ve had to let people go, look at services.
JASON ABLEWHITE: We have yes, like everyone else in local government. It’s been tough. The last five years, frankly, has been tough in local government, and we’ve seen a considerable reduction in our staff.
CHRIS MANN: Third member on the panel is Cllr Lewis Herbert, who became Leader of Cambridge City Council when Labour took control after the elections earlier this year. Hello Lewis.
LEWIS HERBERT: Hi.
CHRIS MANN: You inherited some problems, not unique to your council, but give us an idea of what Cambridge City have got to cut.
Continue reading “Cambridgeshire councils share more services”

Partnership bid retains older people’s services within the NHS in Cambridgeshire

11:08 Wednesday 1st October 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Within the last half an hour it’s been revealed who’s won the contract to run services for the over-65s in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough for the next five years. The preferred bidder is the Cambridgeshire organisation Uniting Care Partnership which was one of the three bidders who made the final shortlist for the £800 million contract. It’s a decision that will be warmly welcomed by unions, and certainly the Cambridge MP Julian Huppert who joins me now. Julian, morning.
JULIAN HUPPERT: Hi Paul. It’s great news, isn’t it?
PAUL STAINTON: Well .. I can’t possibly comment. The contract stays within the NHS. is that the right idea for you? Obviously .. .
JULIAN HUPPERT: I think it’s not only good because it’s within the NHS, Uniting Care is Addenbrookes and the Mental Health Trust, but also because this is the right outcome for patients. By bringing together these bits of the NHS that haven’t always worked very well together, what you’ll see is something that looks after older people better than we’ve had before. Anybody who’s been through the system, or had elderly relatives going through it, will know that there are also silos and difficulties between hospital care, community care, mental health care and all the rest, and this will bring it together. So we get something which is better for patients, and also stays within the NHS, so you don’t have to worry about the profit motive.
PAUL STAINTON: It doesn’t necessarily follow though, does it, that you bring failing bits of this and bits of that together, and then you make one bigger successful thing. It doesn’t always follow, does it?
Continue reading “Partnership bid retains older people’s services within the NHS in Cambridgeshire”

Priti Patel Conservative Conference 2014

17:20 Monday 29th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

CHRIS MANN: The Chancellor George Osborne has outlined plans to cut the welfare bill and reduce the deficit, if the Conservatives win the next election. Speaking at the party’s conference in Birmingham, George Osborne pledged to save around £3 billion by freezing working age benefits for two years. Labour says George Osborne is standing up for the very wealthiest few, but Treasury Minister Priti Patel, the MP for Witham in Essex, thinks that’s nonsense. She joined me earlier from the conference.
(TAPE)
PRITI PATEL: Well this message is very clear. This is a conference about securing a better future. We’ve been working to a long term economic plan over the last four years to turn Britain around. And this conference is very much, as the Chancellor’s speech outlined today, about how we are securing that better future through our plan, and what it really means for hard working taxpayers over the next five years.
CHRIS MANN: The twin-pack announcements, so he looks tough but fair at the same time? Is that the strategy?
PRITI PATEL: We are very focused on the fact that look, we are still, off the back of the last four years, we are still dealing with the legacy of the biggest recession that we have had in a hundred years. And with that of course we have to make tough choices, and the Chancellor outlined many of those choices today. It is about the principle of fairness. There are hard working people that go to work every single day who are working hard, doing the right thing. They want to get on in life. They want to access good services and have a decent quality of life. And with that of course it means that we have to make tough decisions around the welfare system that didn’t reward work before but bring in the changes that will reward work in the welfare system.
CHRIS MANN: But isn’t the question Mr Osborne has to answer that this is creating a way for better off savers to escape tax? They would have an incentive to use money stored in bank accounts and investments before dipping into the pension pot.
PRITI PATEL: No absolutely not. I don’t think this is about better off people at all. We have to create incentives to get people to save and think about their future retirement. I’m certainly part of that generation. When  first started work people did not think about putting money away for the future, and saving, and certainly not for a pension pot. This Government has worked to establish the automatic enrolment policy, where people now, when they go into work, they will be automatically enrolled into a pension scheme. And that is very much about encouraging saving. So getting them to think about their futures in a responsible way as well.
CHRIS MANN: He said nothing in his speech about the squeeze on real earnings, is the challenge from Labour. What about the people who are suffering at the moment, the worse off?
Continue reading “Priti Patel Conservative Conference 2014”

Huw Jones on the merits of international aid

11:42 Friday 26th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Earlier on in the show we were talking to Patrick O’Flynn, who’s the Parliamentary Candidate for UKIP in Cambridge, and we were getting his reaction to what Nigel Farage says, that he wouldn’t support the Government’s plan for air strikes in Iraq when they vote today, and that they’d cut various things in order to support an income tax cut in this country. One of the things they would cut is overseas aid. And listening to that earlier was Huw Jones. He’s the Prospective Labour MP for South East Cambridgeshire. Huw, Patrick got your goat, didn’t he?
HUW JONES: Yes he did. I think it’s a very short-sighted attitude to cut international aid, because essentially we’re buying influence and power at a far better deal than if we send troops in. Had we spent maybe a tenth of the amount we spent on fighting in Afghanistan on nation-building and helping the people there, we’d have friends in that country, rather than the mess, and it would have saved us an awful lot of blood and treasure in the long run.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes. Somebody did make that point earlier, that it’s the way you have to do trade with some countries. You help them out with a bit of aid and they’ll give you a few contracts for airplanes or machinery or whatever.
HUW JONES: I think it’s soft power rather than hard power. It’s a very good way of gaining influence in the world, rather than sending the troops in or sending the bombers in.
PAUL STAINTON: But then again, on the flip-side of that, many of our listeners listening to what Patrick had to say would have been cheering, and saying woop woop. Yes. It’s about time we looked after our own rather than giving money abroad, particularly to India or somewhere like that. Half their population starving and they’re sending people to Mars.
Continue reading “Huw Jones on the merits of international aid”

Neil Darwin and Ed Goodman on wage cuts at Monarch Airlines

09:22 Thursday 25th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Would you take a pay cut if it meant keeping your job? Well staff at Monarch Airlines have agreed to that. They’re going to take a 30% slice off their pay packet to secure the future of the airline. Well earlier this week the struggling company said it was in talks to secure future funding. It’s Chief Executive warned though there are further hurdles to overcome. Employees voted overwhelmingly in favour of the pay cut. Let’s talk to Ed Goodman. He runs the Cambridge Business Lounge, a business he recently started. And he also mentors startup companies. Ed morning.
ED GOODMAN: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Are there any companies out there you know of that have done similar things?
ED GOODMAN: No there aren’t. I think it’s a very brave decision for the employees to undertake, although in the wake of Monarch announcing 1,000 job cuts only a month ago, I think that probably explains why it was an overwhelming majority that said yes to this. I myself took a pay cut when I moved from one job to another job a few years ago. But the decision was made primarily on two factors, firstly for me that actually the work was one that was going to be more enjoyable, more fulfilling, but most importantly I wouldn’t have done that if I couldn’t have afforded to have done that at the same time.
PAUL STAINTON: Right. OK. So you’ve been in a sort of similar position. Neil Darwin is with us as well. He’s the Director for Enterprise and Skills at the Greater Cambridge Greater Peterborough Enterprise Partnership. You need to get an acronym for that. Morning Neil.
NEIL DARWIN: Morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Have you ever heard of this? Any local companies that you know of that have gone this far? We’ve heard of companies changing terms and conditions, haven’t we, to keep people in jobs.
NEIL DARWIN: Absolutely. Locally no, but I’ve shouted out across the office this morning, and someone said that their brother-in-law’s done it in Ireland. So it does happen.
PAUL STAINTON: Obviously keeping jobs at all costs is the way to go. People need to be in work. But 30%, that’s a large sum, isn’t it, out of your pay packet.
Continue reading “Neil Darwin and Ed Goodman on wage cuts at Monarch Airlines”

The English regions post-referendum

07:19 Wednesday 24th September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

DOTTY MCLEOD: The dust may have settled on the Scottish referendum, but the fallout is only just beginning. Alex Salmond returned to Holyrood for the first time since the big vote yesterday. His message was clear. It’s now time for Team Westminster to deliver their promise of fairer funding and more power for Scotland. So if Scotland is given what it wants, could Cambridgeshire benefit as well, or will English power be remaining in London? Here to debate and speculate what the future holds post-referendum is Professor Kenneth Armstrong. He’s an expert in European law at Cambridge University. Good morning Kenneth. Thank you for joining me.
KENNETH ARMSTRONG: Good morning.
DOTTY MCLEOD: So Team Westminster as Alex Salmond has dubbed them were making a lot of promises before the referendum. Do you think that is something they are now slightly regretting?
KENNETH ARMSTRONG: I think there are two different sides to it. One is the Scottish side of it, and then the other side is the rest of the UK. On the Scottish side of it there were very clear promises made, and there’s now a fairly clear timetable and process that has been set out for the devolution to Scotland. And on that it’s very hard to unpick, and there seems to be a very strong momentum and commitment to that. The English side however is more open, because there are more options on the table really in terms of what might be done.
DOTTY MCLEOD: There is the whole West Lothian question of whether if Scottish MPs get to have their say on Scottish-only issues, well English MPs should be the only ones who vote on English-only issues. Can you see that becoming more of an issue, in the run up to the General Election next year?
Continue reading “The English regions post-referendum”

Peterborough solar energy plans delayed

22:33 Monday 22nd September 2014
BBC Look East West

JANINE MACHIN: For two years they’ve been at the centre of a bitter argument in Peterborough, but tonight it seems the plans for a set of solar energy sites around the city are officially on hold. The City Council wanted to build the wind and solar farms on 900 acres of farmland at Newborough and Thorney. It was predicted to cost up to £300 million, but would generate electricity for the city to both use and to sell. Now the proposals were first put forward back in 2012, but they’ve always been controversial, sparking protests last year and a dispute between the City Council’s Leader and its MP, both Conservatives, but with very different opinions on the issue. The plans were last halted by the need for an archeological dig on the site, and then in March this year a team was put together to review the plans. Today came the decision to delay, as Ben Bland reports.
Continue reading “Peterborough solar energy plans delayed”

Lewis Herbert Cambridge City Council on Coalition cuts, bankruptcy and council borrowing

09:39 Tuesday 23rd September 2014
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

PAUL STAINTON: Marion’s been on. Morning Marion. She says, “Paul, some of the managers in the NHS just need to go. There are so many of them now. Surely money can be saved in that way. No way should the NHS be means-tested.” But how do we find this £30 billion? When do we stop pouring money in and find a different way? Or should we? Or should the Government just direct money from somewhere else? Julian says, “There’s a substantial waste of financial resources inside the NHS, and a culture of only selecting candidates for the top jobs from people already working within the system.” says Julian this morning. ” How on earth are they going to get new blood in the system? It really needs a shake-up from the top downwards, and rooting out dead men’s shoes, automatic promotions. Let’s face it, Marco Cereste was in charge of our patch at one time and that didn’t work either.” says Julian this morning. Keep your comments coming in on the NHS. How do we work it out? How do we find a way to fund it properly? And talking of funding, it seems to be the in thing at the moment for local authorities to mention bankruptcy when talking about their dire financial situations. Indeed, the much-mentioned Marco Cereste told me that the Peterborough City Council was looking at every area of finance in order to avoid bankruptcy, and that his staff are selling their expertise just to try and balance the books.
(TAPE)
MARCO CERESTE: It’s the money that worries me. And we’ve done a lot of things in the city to train our staff, so that we can sell their expertise. We’re not only just saving money in the Council, we’re actually selling the Council’s expertise. We’re doing this where lots of other cities don’t really know where to start. And so that’s doing really really well. I wish we’d have started earlier. I wish we’d have had this drive earlier. But we didn’t, and we are where we are.
(LIVE)
PAUL STAINTON: That’s the Leader of Peterborough City Council, Marco Cereste. They’ve got a £22 million budget shortfall. Cambridgeshire needs to save £150 million. And Cambridge itself needs to save £30 million over the next five years. Well the Local Government Association says local government is nearing crisis point. So what would happen if a local authority actually went bankrupt? Would assets be seized? Would dustbin lorries be carted off – the street sweeper? What would happen to our services? Well let’s talk to Cambridge City Council Leader Lewis Herbert. Lewis, good morning.
LEWIS HERBERT: Good morning Paul.
PAUL STAINTON: Are local councils just scare-mongering? Are you scare-mongering a bit?
LEWIS HERBERT: We’re certainly not. We haven’t said we’re going to go bankrupt. Our job is to work for residents and to make sure that we deliver quality services. We’re not a poor city, but as you’ve introduced, we have to save £6 million a year by 2020, and that’s about a quarter of our budget, and that’s after we’ve taken all the easy wins and cut our spending in line with the Government’s spending cut of 30% in the last few years.
PAUL STAINTON: Yes, it’s a lot of money, isn’t it? You can understand then why some councils are using the B-word. But equally, financial experts we’ve spoken to say local authorities could never go bankrupt.
LEWIS HERBERT: Well they have in America, and they have in other places. It is possible.
PAUL STAINTON: Would the Government not just step in?
Continue reading “Lewis Herbert Cambridge City Council on Coalition cuts, bankruptcy and council borrowing”