Immigration & Protecting our Borders

"Who does Policing Best" By Lionel Barnard, WSCC, Deputy Leader and Chairman of Sussex Police Authority

The three main political parties all think that policing governance needs some form of modernisation and that the way to do this is to involve the public more in the in day to day decisions.

The best way forward said the government, throughout 2008, is to elect members to Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) and call them Crime and Policing Representatives (CPRs). Then, change the nature of the CDRPs from being partnerships to bureaucratic ‘quangos’ and allow the newly elected chairman to sit on the local police authority, along with twenty or thirty others that have been similarly elected. Receiving something of a bloody nose on this from a wide range of Labour MPs and a select committee as well as innumerable Tories and police authorities the Home Secretary, Jacqui Smith, withdrew that proposal in December 2008. And we thought it had gone away. Not a bit of it. The Home Secretary then announced a review (a favourite method of Labour speak to mean ‘get what we want’) by David Blunkett into the methods of involving the public in policing governance. We will have to await developments but in the meantime it keeps another Labour member on the media pages as well as in a job and indicates that the Home Secretary will have another go at legislation at a later date, probably when the fuss has died down.

The Liberal Democrats, ever a party to take an idea and muddle it up with their own logic, have agreed with the Labour government idea of CPRs, but instead decided that if you are a mayor you can be a CPR anyway and the remainder will have to be elected, but by proportional representation, not first past the post. This is a great way to confuse the public. Still, the possibilities of LibDem policy on this becoming law can be considered very remote and when they notice the change in Labour policy, they will not doubt change theirs too.

The Conservative idea is backed solidly by David Cameron and involves electing a police commissioner, sometimes referred to as a sheriff. Taking some cognisance from the American model the police commissioner could be anyone willing to run for office. Personally I find it difficult to see how one individual could be such a recognisable figure over an area the size of East Sussex, Brighton & Hove as well as West Sussex, that’s 2.5m people by the way, to be someone known about and that you’d want to elect. How would this person manage the election mechanics, the organisation and raise the money required to achieve that? As part of a party machine it becomes more likely. And, I feel, that it is unlikely that the Labour Party or the LibDems would not put up a party candidate.

The elected police commissioner would act as the governance of the local force representing the public and work on a day-to-day basis with the chief constable, but not interfere in the chiefs running of his or her force. Managing a budget of £250m and acting as the governance mechanisms would require serious help, as it does at the moment with a police authority, and the new commissioner would surely need a team of deputy commissioners, in much the same way as Boris Johnson runs the Mayor of London’s office.

One way or another we are due a general election before June 2010 and the issue of elected police representatives to replace your local county councillor sitting on the police authority will not go away. Many say the status quo is best, others that some form of direct public representation is going to come, whichever party is in power. Crime figures, or at least those that are not massaged, show overall crime is down and that the fear of crime is greater than the reality. Is that what the politicians are addressing here?

If you would like to know more on this subject then email me at lionel.barnard@west sussex.gov.uk and I’ll try to help.

"Highway Vision for west Sussex" by Derek Whittington, Cabinet Member for Highways & Transport

We tend to be at the forefront of highways and transport issues nationally, and are considered to be a 'centre of excellence' and 'Pathfinder' enabling other local authorities to learn from us. Our core business continues to be reducing casualties on our roads and improving the street scene. We are bringing forward revised speed limit criteria that will make it easier to control the speed of traffic on our roads and at the same time we will continue with our programme of road improvements. We continue the battle to get major improvements to the A27, A23, and A24 roads as they pass through West Sussex and to improve public transport within the county. We have an open mind to issues, such as road pricing, and will look at any improvement that will benefit the people of West Sussex. We maintain an incremental approach to traffic management that looks first at education, then engineering, and laterally enforcement, the three 'Es.' We do of course want to work towards modal shift to take some of the cars off our roads in heavily congested areas and the school travel concession scheme of quarter fare for 5-16 and half fare for 16-19 in full time education will help us to achieve some improvement. We are also planning to give the bus priority at every opportunity and to reap the benefits of our experiences with Fastway in Crawley. Cycling is starting to play a much more prominent part in everyday life, not just for leisure, but commuting too. We aim to do much more to improve the cycling facilities and wherever possible to take cyclist off the road. By 2010 we will have completed the programme of rolling out Local Authority Parking Enforcement (LAPE) right across West Sussex. That will make life much easier for shoppers and residents alike and massively reduce illegal parking. Our town centre shops will benefit from the better control of short term on-street parking. We are now able to exercise better control of works on our highways that are undertaken by organisations other than West Sussex Highways, such as Electricity, gas, and water. All that I have touched on here can be found on our county website http://www.westsussex.gov.uk/ . Your feedback is an important part of our aim to continually improve services." Wherever you go in West Sussex, whether on our roads, pavements, cycle tracks, or rights of way, may you have a safe and enjoyable journey.

"Fire & Rescue Regional Control Centres - Who needs them?" by Peter Evans, Cabinet Member for Public Protection

The responsibility for Fire and Rescue currently rests with the County brigades, of which West Sussex is one, and Combined Authorities. Locally Brighton and Hove are combined with East Sussex.

Each Fire & Rescue Authority throughout England currently has its own control centre at which emergency calls are received and fire engines are despatched. Whether that is to a simple rescue of a trapped animal, a road traffic collision or a fire, it is all dealt with locally.

After the disasters of 9/11 and subsequent bombings in London the government decided to improve resilience for fire and rescue and that one way to do this would be to create nine new control centres, each one of these being responsible for one region. So, for the South-east Region instead of nine control centres there would be one, based in Hampshire.

Part of the government argument is that if disaster strikes then brigades are better supported by the new infrastructure and that one is better than nine separate centres. Sorry, but if one is taken out of the new equation there are none, but if one is taken out of the existing arrangements there are eight left, all of which have sight of what the others have available in terms of capacity. Surely that makes better sense? No, say the government, every regional control centre is interlinked with each other and can easily take over responsibilities for call outs.

The South-East Regional Control Centre is due to come on line in 2010 but more than a few brigades are currently facing the need to replace ageing radio control systems now. Many of these are will not be supported by the manufacturers for much longer, those that are likely to be very costly and the government are not inclined to help.

Lets assume that the government are right, we need a Regional Centre. On what does this brave new world depend? A new IS computer system and FireControl project, and a new geo satellite positioning and recording system. The contract for all this has just been let for some initial sum of £200 million pounds. In addition each control centre will probably cost upwards of £20m each. Add to that a brand new company, a new chief executive and board for each one, the directors of which will owe their allegiance to the company and not to the residents they are there to serve.

Many of us have experience of government led computer systems that fail almost immediately or that costs twice or three times as much as first estimated. The lessons learnt from failed NHS systems, doctor recruitment IS and the new system of registering births marriages and deaths makes one extremely wary of entrusting the lives of the people of West Sussex to untried, untested and un-warranted computer systems to deal with that most frightening thing - fire.

The government have promised a full business case proving that the savings will be made with new Regional Centres. We have yet to see it! The government have promised too a new and resilient system of fire control, I have yet to be convinced.

"Labour is Incredible" by Daniel Hannan MEP

I’m beginning to feel sorry for these Labour-wallahs. In order to explain why they are going back on their promise of a referendum on the Euro-constitution, they’re having to engage in some excruciating contortions.

“It’s not the same at all,” they insist. “It’s a treaty. It’s got a different name. And, er, that means it’s completely different”. They know, and we know, and they know that we know, that it’s not true. They look perfunctory, uncomfortable, grim as they recite the party script. But they have to keep doing it.

It’s not the constitution qua constitution that is going to debilitate Labour. It’s the referendum. Or, rather, the absence of a referendum. Every day that they deny us a say makes them look shifty, sleekit, arrogant. How long can they keep it up?

"Labour's Tax Credit Chaos''

Conservatives say that the Labour government’s new and complex system of tax credits is causing chaos and confusion in the benefits departments of local councils up and down the country.

Under Gordon Brown’s unnecessarily complicated scheme, 450,000 families who currently receive housing benefit and council tax benefit are entitled to new tax credits.

However, fresh evidence indicates that a meagre 7% of these families are receiving the credits to which they are entitled. The remaining 93% have not received their proper entitlement, and are now receiving extra housing and council tax benefit payments instead.

This is creating huge administrative burdens in town halls throughout the land. It is also causing financial headaches for councils because Labour ministers have refused to give them refunds to cover the additional benefits payments.

This chaotic situation has emerged despite the fact that the Labour government was given advance warning by Labour-run councils that problems loomed over the new tax credit scheme.

David Willets, Shadow Cabinet Member said:

''The introduction of the new tax credits has been an utter shambles. Ministers were warned months in advance of the impending problems, but they insisted on forcing the changes through before the right systems were in place.''

''This has caused a real crisis within local authorities because ministers are apparently refusing to refund local authorities for all the extra payments. Local authorities are also facing enormous new administration costs as housing benefit claims will have to be recalculated once again when the new tax credit money does begin to be paid.''

''It is clear the blame lies with Gordon Brown.''

"Defending Parish Councils''

The Conservatives have criticised plans by the Labour government to erase parish council boundaries from Ordnance Survey maps. The government tried to bury news of the measure in an obscure written answer to a Parliamentary Question. This is the latest in a series of Labour Party attacks on parish councils. Draconian CodeLast year the government imposed a draconian Code of Conduct on parish councils that forced many long-serving and respected parish councillors to stand down. Bureaucratic RulesUnder new government rules, parish councils that want to access extra sources of funding must meet rigid targets set by remote Whitehall bureaucrats. Red Tape and CostsThe government’s Best Value regime has imposed on parish councils new red tape and inspection costs of up to £30,000 a year. Government InsultsA government body, The Countryside Agency, insulted a third of all parish councils in England by describing them as “sleeping” or “barely active.” Abolition ThreatsMo Mowlam, a leading Labour Party figure, last year called for the abolition of parish councils as part of the government’s plans for regional assemblies. The latest government measure is yet another snub to parish councils and illustrates how little the Labour Party understands or appreciates rural communities. Erasing parish boundaries from maps is further evidence of the Labour government’s agenda to eradicate parish councils. The Labour government is literally wiping parish councils off the map. Parish councils are an integral part of governance in England, and are central to the life of many rural communities. The Conservative Party values the work of parish councillors and will defend parish councils in the face of this unwarranted attack by the Labour Party.