Sexual Health, Crisis Grants & the Royal Ed

Interesting and varied week again, including a lengthy NHS Lothian Board meeting on Wednesday sandwiched between two visits to different health facilities. Firstly, the relatively new Chalmers Centre for Sexual Health at Lauriston Place. A wide range of services delivered there including STI, HIV, pregnancy advice and contraception and we were given an intriguing tour and chatted to some of the staff. Fantastic building too with a beautiful atrium space where the old building meets the new. The stained glass window in the picture depicts a family tree, appropriately. 

Thursday saw a visit by Housing Minister Margaret Burgess MSP to Chesser House to check on our preparations for the introduction of the Scottish Welfare Fund, which has been devolved to Councils and will become operational on 1st April. I think the minister came to the same conclusion as me, which is that following a great deal of work by council staff, we are as well prepared as could be expected given the uncertainties that lie ahead. There's more information on this link to the Council's website. 

I then paid a visit to the Royal Edinburgh Hospital to meet Tim Montgomery for a chat and a tour. Visited three wards in all and talked to staff and some patients. Parts of the building are far from ideal and there are plans to redevelop the whole site over the next few years. I was struck though by the professionalism of the staff and the quiet way they go about their business. All was calm and peaceful when I was there but I understand it can be a bit hectic at times and the staff need to draw on all their skills and experience to deal with any issues that arise.

Ravelrig Riding for the Disabled

Ravelrig Riding for the Disabled (RRDA) launched their ambitious plans for a new indoor riding arena on Friday. They already do wonderful work with committed volunteers and lots of demand for their therapeutic and recreational services. Problem is that historically, and currently, they are at the mercy of the Scottish weather. And believe me, Balerno is still covered with snow when it is long forgotten in the city centre. Obviously the bad weather, rain, frost, snow, leads to a lot a cancelled sessions which equals a lot of disappointed youngsters and volunteers. It also leads to issues about keeping the horses trained and disciplined (not that I'm an expert). So, a covered arena would allow them to operate 52 weeks a year and satisfy some more of the demand that is out there. For every disabled person using RRDA there are 4 or 5 on a waiting list. They even have a waiting list for volunteers ! Their plans include the indoor arena, new stables and office and meeting room accommodation and look very impressive. Their fundraising target is £1.8m which is a lot of money but they are well organised, well supported and well respected for the work they do so I'm confident they can achieve their ambition. Admittedly, I'm not what you would call a horsey person but very much enjoyed my visit to the launch event and even though I didn't actually see a horse, one could feel their presence. Went away with a distinctive smell in my nostrils and a mild asthma attack ! I probably wouldn't be much use to them as a volunteer....

Jimmy McIntosh

Jimmy McIntosh MBE

Was pleased to accept an invite to attend the Partners in Advocacy AGM this week. You can find out more about them at their website. Part of the meeting was used to deliver a tribute to longstanding PiA chair Jimmy McIntosh MBE. This was delivered in true "This is Your Life" style by Duncan Macauley. Jimmy's story is quite remarkable. He's well known in Edinburgh for his tireless campaigning for people with disabilities and was a prominent figure in the successful fight against the Care and Support tender exercise under the last Council. Born in 1939 with cerebral palsy, doctors at the time said he wouldn't live into his teens. He's now in his mid seventies and as active as ever. His story also tells us much about our own society in that Jimmy spent 40 years of his life in different institutions including the old Gogarburn hospital. He and his fellow inmates, as they were called, were kept in locked wards and denied the most basic of rights. They even had to go to court to win the right to vote. Thankfully we've moved on a bit since then, but I'm sure we still have further to travel. You can see a short film about Jimmy on this link.

Bedroom Tax - Making it Real

This morning I joined Pentlands Labour Party to spend a few hours at the Wester Hailes Shopping Centre getting signatures for a petition against the Bedroom Tax. I really was genuinely surprised to see people queueing to sign the petition and I spoke to dozens of folk who will actually be affected by this in just a couple of weeks time. It really did bring it home, seeing the worry this has caused to people who are already pretty poor. They feel they've been attacked and can't understand why. One grandmother told me she looks after her 3 grandkids at the weekend to allow her daughter to go to work. She'll now lose benefits based on the additional bedrooms that she uses for this. Gran is thinking of moving to a smaller house and her daughter will have to consider giving up work and being more reliant on benefits. Absolutely nuts ! A guy told me that as he and his partner are in low paid jobs they receive £1 a week in Housing benefit. Because they've got an extra bedroom they've received a letter advising that their benefits will be reduced to 86p ! The fact that exemptions to the Bedroom Tax were just announced this week proves to me that the ConDem Government are making it up on the hoof and surely more changes will follow.

Tomorrow I shall head for Hampden, more in hope that expectation, for the League Cup Final. I think that St Mirren are underrated as a football side and they certainly carry plenty of threat up front. However, Hearts won't be lacking motivation, fired up with the infectious enthusiasm of new boss Gary Locke. Looking forward to it. Determined to have a good day, come what may. Good luck Hearts.

SH&SCP & JGCC

Very constructive meeting of the Shadow Health and Social Care Partnership yesterday. Still a lot of work to do and a few challenges to overcome but we're certainly moving on the right direction. Starting from next month the meetings will be held in public. There won't be any fanfare launch or anything but the fact that our discussions will be held in public takes us on to an important next stage.

Last night was spent at a special meeting of Juniper Green Community Council to discuss the proposals to re-designate Curriemuirend Park as development land for housing in the new Local Development Plan. Its accepted by most that we really do need more housing in Edinburgh, especially affordable homes and there is pressure from the Scottish Government to identify development land. However, building houses on a local park does seem like a step too far. In addition, the plans (as revealed at Planning workshops earlier in the month) mean reconfiguring Wester Hailes Road from a dual to single carriageway which might make sense from a theoretical policy perspective but would be disastrous in practice. So, I've submitted an objection to the proposal and we'll see what happens at the Planning Committee on Tuesday.

Brixton, Balerno, Glasgow and Easter Road

Lambeth Town Hall

Been on tour the last few days. Visited Lambeth Council (Town Hall is in the centre of Brixton) with a couple of colleagues to discuss their Co-operative Council initiative. They've been leading the co-operative approach for a couple of years now and have developed some really innovative and exciting ideas. The Young Lambeth Co-operative for example which will be established in the next few weeks and young people will own and run their own services with the current budget transferred to them. And the day care centre that we visited that will soon become a mutual, owned by the staff and managed by staff, users and carers. Interesting stuff and not without its challenges but Lambeth colleagues were very open about some of the problems they've encountered, and resolved.

Having got off the train at 11.30pm on Friday I surprised myself by managing to get to the Balerno Farmers Market for 9.30am yesterday, then a cup of coffee at the Fairtrade event in Balerno church before meeting Andrew Burns to head to Glasgow for a Scottish Labour Councillors Conference. Addressed by Sarah Boyack, Anas Sarwar and Johann Lamont as well as a couple of workshop sessions it was very worthwhile and will be repeated.

Last leg of the tour is today, Easter Road, for what is likely to be the last derby of the season. Not hugely confident but looking forward to the game anyway.

Bedroom Tax

Interesting debate at Corporate Policy and Strategy committee this week about the introduction of the Bedroom Tax from 1st April (the Tories don't like it being called the Bedroom Tax by the way, so that's that sorted then...). The Bedroom Tax will inevitably cause problems for individuals across Edinburgh, it is estimated that 6,500 Council and Housing Association tenants will be affected and face the threat of having their Housing Benefit reduced for the heinous crime of having an extra bedroom in their house. Complex rules mean many questions have still to be fully answered regarding people with disabilities, those who need carers to stay occasionally and grown children who may be serving in the forces. But it also presents risks to housing providers like the council and services that are funded after all by the rents that tenants pay. If the Council suffers a reduction in income through the Bedroom Tax that will have a knock effect to front line services and investment in housing. We also have to consider what we do when people inevitably run up arrears. As things currently stand the Council takes every possible precaution to avoid evicting tenants for rent arrears but it does happen unfortunately. Now, I really don't want the Council to find itself in court asking for eviction on the basis that an individual is in rent arrears and their only offence is to have had the goal posts moved on them by the ConDem government. Result of the committee debate ? We've asked for a report on the impact of a no eviction policy and what other mitigation measures we can consider. Watch this space.

Mixed Bag

Very varied and enjoyable activities last weekend. Saturday morning I boarded a 44 and headed for Balerno Tattie Day, staged and promoted by Balerno Village Trust. All things potato related were available for purchase, participation or consumption. The tatties really were selling like hot cakes ! I managed to diplomatically decline the offer of buying various types of seed potatoes and head down the road to Juniper Green Community Market for my stewarding stint. Then off to Tynecastle to see Hearts on the wrong end of a 3-2 against Inverness CT.

On Sunday I accepted an invite from the Edinburgh AhlulBayt Society to attend a lecture on medical ethics as viewed through the Islamic faith. TEAS are a Shia Muslim educational group seeking to encourage debate and a greater understanding of Islam. The lecture, in association with Imamia Medics International, was by Professor Shabih Haider Zadi and focussed on the place of Islamic doctrine in the dogmas of medical ethics. Very interesting session and healthy debate afterwards. I look forward to attending future events. You can find out more at their website.
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Healthy Living

2nd half of this week was pretty much dominated by Health related activity. Wednesday saw a visit to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary to look round the A&E department and their impressive plans for improving and upgrading some areas to cope with increasing demand. Also got a wee insight into the alterations that will be required to facilitate the construction of the new Sick Kids adjacent to the existing complex. This was followed by a meeting NHS Lothian's Finance Committee and then a meeting of the Trustees of the Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation (the charitable arm of NHS Lothian). 

Thursday afternoon saw me jumping on a 38 down to the Western where there was a seminar on "person centred care". A great deal of audience participation was required and it was encouraging to see Council and Health colleagues exchanging ideas and the boundaries between the two becoming increasingly blurred. A good sign. 

Yesterday was the latest meeting of our shadow Health and Social Care Partnership. Quite a few strands of work being developed and beginning to look more meaningful and well formed. We also agreed to invite a trade union representative from the Council to join the partnership to match the NHS arrangement where "partnership" (TU) reps are part of the decision making at all levels within the NHS. I could be wrong but I think its the first time we, as a Council, have formally included trade union colleagues as part of the decision making process.

Praise Indeed

My attention was drawn today to a press release from the Scottish Parliament Finance Committee regarding a report they have published which deals with how public bodies are addressing the challenges of demographic changes. (people getting older to you and me, the stuff I've been banging on about for the past few months) Apparently they are impressed by our approach to this and say the following -

" The Committee welcomes the approach adopted by City of Edinburgh Council. However, it is concerned that other local authorities and NHS boards appear not to have undertaken similar long term planning. The Committee would therefore welcome the view of the Scottish Government on the need for public bodies to introduce long term financial planning on a similar basis to the City of Edinburgh Council and whether it has any plans to disseminate good practice in this area." I'm assuming this refers to our long term financial planning and the recognition of demographic changes in last week's budget settlement and allocation of additional funding for services, as outlined in previous posts.

Not wishing to hide our light under a bushel (don't know where that biblical reference came from!) we are pleased to accept praise from any quarter.

Very useful H&SC Integration session this afternoon with CEC and NHS managers, the debate rolls on and more and more ideas and questions are coming forward which is all helping to inform the development process. Now, must dash to the South West Area Housing Board tonight at WH Library and hopefully be back in time to catch most of the fitba'.

Tiphereth

Spent an extremely interesting couple of hours at the Tiphereth community at Torphin on Friday. They provide 12 full time residential and 50 day places for people with learning disabilities in a lively community based working environment. In their own words and from their own website http://www.tiphereth.org.uk/ - "Tiphereth is part of the Camphill Movement, which was founded in 1940 and works to create communities in which vulnerable children and adults with learning difficulties, can live, work and learn with others in healthy social relationships based on mutual care and respect.Tiphereth is a place where fun, work and care go hand in hand." I was massively impressed with the operation and the atmosphere of the place. They produce jam on the premises, maintain their own gardens, carry out craft projects, cooking and a major composting business. Their workshop also makes charcoal and produces wood chip. I was also pleased to hear they enjoy a very constructive working relationship with the Council and have some ambitious and impressive plans for the future. I hope they continue to do well and look forward to my next visit.

Budget Day

Trip to Celtic Connections last weekend was excellent. I'd forgotten how good a venue the ABC in Sauchiehall Street is. Three Blind Wolves were great but Roddy Hart and the Lonesome Fire were fantastic. A very varied set that mixed the best of the sound of contemporary Scottish bands with a sprinkling of Gerry Rafferty and Johnny Cash for good measure. His cover of Randy Newman's Louisiana (1927) was outstanding and I hope he tours a bit more this year, it would be good to see him in Edinburgh.

Back to business this week though and the culmination of many months of work took place today in our annual Budget Debate. Pleased to report that all went well and in a significant departure from centuries of budget setting tradition we managed to adjourn the meeting to consider proposals from other parties and agree that some elements could be incorporated into the Capital Coalition Budget Motion. So some proposals from the Greens and the Tories will now be implemented. Didn't accept anything from the LibDems. Obviously. At the risk of being lazy, all the background details and the link to the Council webcast coverage of the debate can be accessed through Andrew's excellent blog.

Three Blind Wolves and the Budget

Full Council meeting on Thursday was interesting. Leith Waterworld dominated the agenda and debate. Having heard from the Splashback deputation (for the 4th time !) and a private discussion outwith the meeting we agreed that, on balance, it was worth supporting the community bid to the next stage, even though we know it will be difficult to deliver a viable, sustainable operation in the longer term. However, you never know and if it can be made to work it would be a wonderful example of partnership working and looking at imaginative alternatives to traditional service delivery.

We also published our Capital Coalition draft budget motion on Thursday (one week early), first time in living memory that this has been done. Usually the budget motion is still warm from the photocopier as the budget meeting kicks off, but this departure is designed to be more open and accessible. As ever, all the essential detail can be found on Andrew's blog .

Off through to Celtic Connections in Glasgow later to see Roddie Hart and the Lonesome Fire supported by Three Blind Wolves. Should be good.

Finally, good luck to the Jam Tarts today on their long journey north to Ross County and all the Hearts fans making the trip.

Committee Business

Productive day yesterday, the Health, Wellbeing and Housing Committee, which I chair, took all of 30 minutes to conclude the formal business on the agenda. The Policy Review and Development session which followed, took 3 hours and gave us the chance to have an in depth discussion about Domestic Abuse and Homelessness, two issues that are not completely unconnected but we dealt with them separately and heard excellent presentations from Council officials and external partners dealing with these services. Some thoughtful and constructive contributions from elected members too made for a very worthwhile exercise. The test of our new policy development approach will be how we actually take these discussions forward into shaping policy and improving services but we've made a good start.

Then the Special Sub Committee on Adult Social Care (which I also chair) considered a report on standards in Council Care Homes, some of which had been subject to Care Inspectorate inspections and reports. Reasonably positive with action plans in place to address any issues that have been identified. We do need to invest in the fabric of homes though. Modern standards have advanced and in many cases our somewhat dated buildings struggle to meet our aspirations.

Our usual pre Council Labour Group meeting followed, starting at 7pm and finished around half nine. Thorough debate on the Council agenda items with Leith Waterworld understandably taking up most of our attention and discussion.

Off to Tynecastle tonight, hoping Hearts can build on our success at the weekend. Looking forward to seeing new striker Michael Ngoo in action again, he certainly looks the part.

Politics and Ska

Excellent Edinburgh Labour policy / strategy session today. Healthy turn out and lively discussion about how build on our successful Council election campaign in May, looking towards Westminster in 2015 and Holyrood elections in 2016. Really helpful to get the space to talk public services and our political priorities for the campaigns that lie ahead.

Having returned to the City Chambers to do a bit of work, I'm now off to meet a few mates and go to a Ska fest at the Voodoo Rooms, a benefit gig for the Sick Kids Foundation. Bombskare are headlining, ably supported by Big Fat Panda and This R 2 Tone. The track above is Fistful of Dynamite by Bombskare. Not sure where is was filmed, maybe the guys will let us know ? Looking forward to a good night.

0 - 100mph, in a day

Having returned from the Christmas / New Year break I was fully expecting business to start getting back to normal. However, rather than a gentle re-entry to business as usual its been pretty full on from Monday morning til Friday night, with Council budget discussions woven into much of the activity. The highlights as follows -

Monday - mostly consumed by preparation for forthcoming committee meetings i.e. briefings on reports.

Tuesday - Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation. As a new member of the Grants Committee this was a training session on new software to assist the assessment process and an introduction to how the grants application and decision making works.

Wednesday - A very constructive meeting with some of the key players in the Advice Services sector in the city to discuss ideas on how we can all work more collaboratively to meet the challenge of an ever increasing number of victims of Welfare Reform changes seeking help and advice.

Thursday - Visited Castlebrae High School in Craigmillar with a few colleagues. The school is under threat of closure, partly due to the declining number of local families choosing to send their children there. Have to say though that we were very impressed by the commitment of staff and current pupils and the warm, welcoming atmosphere throughout the school. The additional community based services that provide an additional layer of support and identity to the place certainly made an impression too. Then a quick dash across town to say a few words at the retirement do of Rab McEwan, long serving "Jannie" at Clovenstone Community Centre. Having been a loyal public servant Rab is retiring to spend more time with his Boxing Club !

Friday - Second meeting of the new Shadow Health and Social Care Partnership. Much better than our first meeting last month with a greater feel of ownership of the many areas that are still under development prior to us "going live" in April. Still an awful lot of work to do and we agreed to bring strategy document / work plan back to the next meeting so that we can monitor progress more effectively.

So, busy start to the year and every indication that its going to get busier !

A Co-operative New Year ?

Enjoyed a very productive visit to CASA Knowsley (on the edge of Liverpool) just before Christmas. Part of the Care And Share Associates (CASA) Group, based in Newcastle, CASA Knowsley are one of a handful of care co-operatives in the north of England. Basically, a workers owned and run company they recruit locally, often from the ranks of the long term unemployed, and deliver local domiciliary care services in and around their own community. A true co-operative, their strength appears to lie literally in the sense of ownership felt by their workers which leads to a real commitment to the task, much lower turn over of staff and therefore lower recruitment and re-training costs. They still have to compete for Council contracts against private sector businesses and third sector organsations but where they have successfully secured contracts the evidence is that high quality services are delivered and people enjoy being part of the organisation. Don't know if the concept can be transplanted to Edinburgh but given our commitment to creating the Co-operative Council it's an idea whose time may have arrived. Needless to say talks are continuing and if we do set up something similar, remember where you heard it first !

Santa's Little Helper

Crap photo, but you get the idea...

Had a great time last night helping the Currie and Balerno Round Table on one of their famous Santa Runs. Santa and Rudolph manned the brightly lit and very noisy (all the Christmas classics, Cliff, Slade, the Pogues et al) Santa Buggy with myself and about another 6 or 7 elfs knocking doors, collecting money and making sure any children that wanted to meet Santa got their chance. He seemed to go down well with children of all ages actually with an excitement and expectation that the Round Table and Santa would perform their customary pre Christmas rounds. We covered all the Riccartons, Bryces, Weavers Knowe and then had time head up to Kirkbrae and Blinkbonny. A three hour stint in all and then back to the recently refurbished Riccarton Arms for a well earned pint and count the night's proceeds. £727.75 was the grand total and testament to the generosity of the good folks of Currie. The money raised from this run and the other 11 in other parts of the community goes to local charities and good causes throughout the rest of the year so a very worthwhile exercise all round.

Not Caring

Very productive and informative meeting with Seb and his colleagues at Vocal (Voice Of Carers Across Lothian) this week. If Health and Social Care Integration and Self Directed Support are to work and we achieve our ambition of more community based care services and less unnecessary time spent in hospital then the role of carers, often close family members, is crucially important. And not just because of the important work they do, but because they have vital experience that should inform our policy making and preparation for the two initiatives mentioned above. I think we have come a long way in recognising the voice of carers, the recent appointment of our Carers Champion for example, but we need to continue the joint work going forward. I was keen to reiterate that if we do make mistakes (not unheard of) that Vocal and other carer organisations need to tell us so that we can get things back on track quickly. I look forward to working with Vocal and others in the months and years ahead.

Wester Hailes Community Council on Wednesday evening where we had a lengthy discussion about the underpass/link from the new Healthy Living Centre to the Shopping Centre. We've run into problems again and I share the CC's disappointment and frustration that we keep running into issues and can't make the progress we need. Further thought is required. On a positive note the HLC itself is progressing well and looks very impressive.

On Friday I attended my first meeting of the Scottish Local Government Forum Against Poverty at the CoSLA offices in Edinburgh. We discussed a paper that analyses the impact of the Chancellor's Autumn statement (issued in mid December!) Among other things Gideon Osborne announced that various benefits will be capped at 1% increase each year rather than the rate of inflation (RPI or CPI). You wouldn't think the difference between 1% and 2.2% would make that much difference but you'd be surprised, I was. Shocked actually, based on a basket of only 5 benefits (tax credit calculations are still to be added) Edinburgh will lose over £3.1m each year with the overall figure for Scotland £35m. That's £35m directly out of the pockets of the poorest people in Scotland. 'Tis the season of goodwill to all ? Aye, right.

The Big Build Up

Santa and Carols

Having attended a couple of the Council group Christmas parties on Friday night, the Tories plied us with mulled wine and mince pies, while the SNP was more Karaoke and lager, I made my way to Balerno's Christmas Farmers Market yesterday morning full of festive cheer and a fuzzy head. It was going like a fair though, as they say, the market was the busiest I've seen it with Christmas Carols in full swing and Balerno (Ravelrig) Riding for the Disabled providing pony rides up the Main Street. Official duties to perform though and myself and Alistair Darling were duly escorted to the three different locations hosting decorated Christmas trees as part of the annual competition. About 40 in all and they were all excellent, so we debated and agonised before announcing that the winner was the Balerno Baby and Toddlers Group, see below. Second was the 3rd Balerno Brownies and 3rd was the local Fair Trade group. Nice community spread of honours I'd say. 

And the winner is ....

Managed a half pint with Paul and a few regulars in the Grey Horse before drawing the raffle for the ubiquitous Christmas Hamper. In a nice twist they had already decided to donate the proceeds evenly to the Syrian Humanitarian Aid stall and the Cyrenians whose stalls were side by side. What a coincidence. Nice touch a very much the embodiment of the modern Christmas message, in my humble opinion.

Then off to Tynecastle for a satisfying 2-0 victory over Aberdeen. Last week's cup disappointment already a distant memory.