Tag Archives: Jeremy Pembroke

Buses, eXplore card, New Strategic direction, Suffolk County Council, Transport, Uncategorized, young people

Explore card, RIP

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Today, April 1, is a sad day for Suffolk. Not only has Jeremy Pembroke, Leader of Suffolk County Council resigned, but there has been another departure, one which, in truth, will affect far more people in Suffolk far more immediately. Today the Tory administration that Mr Pembroke has led for the last 6 years has seen off the Suffolk Explore card.

Any of the 28,130 post-16 year old cardholders, relying on their Explore card to get to school, college or work will find that from today it will not be valid, and that from today they may be paying double the amount for the same journey, making other arrangements, or staying at home.

In connection with the same administration’s cuts in subsidised transport services (many of which also start today) this is a huge blow to the young, the poor and the rural – and most particularly to the young, rural, poor.

Currently the scheme has 52,555 card holders representing 55% of the eligible group. The Explore card was divided into two age ranges 5-15 (24,425 card holders ) and 16-19 (28,130 cardholders).

The only thing wrong with this card was that Suffolk County Council’s administration identified cutting it as a means of saving money.   A pretty safe move, if you’re not worried about social justice. After all, people can’t vote until they’re 18 – and by then they might have forgotten who was responsaible, or  might not be voting in Suffolk!

This cut was made halfway through the school and college year.   And who cares?   Certainly  not the administration who runs Suffolk County Council! They didn’t even do an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA)  before they decided to abolish our Explore card  because their pre-screening decided that :

there may be an adverse impact to the 15-19 age group but this is not unlawful discrimination as providing the scheme is not a statutory duty.  Concluding: This function should not move to a full impact assessment as it is a discretionary activity and has been indentified as a budget saving proposal.

Good excuse!

Can I mention that the press release notifying us of Mr Pembroke’s departure praises “his unquestioned commitment to protect the most vulnerable in society”.

Right.

Notes
Please continue signing the petition to save SCC’s  eXplore cards We need to get 3,675 signatures to get this decision back to Council – and now have less than 1,000 to go.
The Explore card scheme was the brainchild of Suffolk County’s previous Liberal-Labour coalition, started in January 2005, and was designed to help tackle social isolation by enabling young people to travel cheaply from rural areas to the main urban centres in the county as well as within those urban centres. It is also designed to assist the local economy of Suffolk by enabling access for young people to retail and leisure opportunities. The scheme is also PASS approved and therefore qualifies as a Proof of Age card.
Currently the scheme has 52,555 card holders representing 55% of the eligible group. The Explore card is divided into two age ranges 5-15 (24,425 card holders ) and 16-19 (28,130 cardholders).
In Leicestershire a similar county council proposal for withdrawal of non-statutory bus services triggered an immediate EIA (unlike here in Suffolk)  which concluded public consultation  with all  affected groups is essential (unlike here in Suffolk) , including special interest organisations,invited to comment publicly on the proposals to curtail non-statutory service provision (unlike here in Suffolk).  Consultation documentation to be available by web, post (and large print on request). Once more, unlike here in Suffolk!

Council spending, cuts, Lollipop patrols, Suffolk County Council

Suffolk’s Parsimony and Profligacy: Update

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Having blogged a couple of weeks back about the extraordinary spending priorities being displayed by the leaders of Suffolk County Council,   I wasn’t unduly surprised to find another example  hitting  national news via the Daily Mail.

Apparently both our  Chief Executive and our Council Leader have been benefiting from extraordinarily expensive “coaching for change”  (article here) According to a Freedom of Information request the Chief Executive has had 23 sessions  from ex-Chemical Engineer turned senior executive coach  Sol Davidson each one of which cost the Suffolk taxpayer £525 plus VAT.

We do not (yet) have figures for the amount Suffolk taxpayers have spent on Jeremy Pembroke.

I’d like to mention here our Woodbridge lollipop man, Terry King. Mr King has been paid £35 a week by Suffolk County Council for his valued and life-saving services. Now Suffolk says his services are too expensive.   £12,075 would pay for him to continue protecting children in Woodbridge for nearly seven years.

I will not offend your intelligence by pointing out what other equally valuable uses Suffolk residents could put this sum of money to.

The county council line is dismissive.  Spending £12,000 on personal coaching is  ” in line with training normally provided to senior officers” they say  – which suggests that SCC spending priorities are even more skew-whiff  than anyone has realised.

I know nothing about Mr Davidson, beyond what is available via Google  which is principally profile pages. The more recent profiles read:

He now specialises in coaching leaders and their teams in building strategic and operational capacity in the face of increasingly uncertain and unpredictable circumstance

What is interesting for the residents of  Suffolk is that the uncertain and unpredictable circumstances we face are seemingly created by the very people he coached!

What’s all that about?

Update: It was reported in the EADT March 5th, that the total amount paid to Mr Davidson by SCC for his coaching was £27,825 for 53 sessions of between one hour and ninety minutes each. This was to coach the Chief Executive, Andrea Hill, and the corporate management board in ‘teambuilding and working styles’.

 

'Divesting' services, Cabinet, Care homes, Council reports, Council spending, cuts, Helping the community, Libraries, New Strategic direction, Roads, Social care, Suffolk County Council, Uncategorized, Woodbridge, Your councillor

Suffolk’s NSD – a Noddy Style Democracy?

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Sadly, at full council yesterday the Conservative administration used its large majority to carry on with its horrifyingly unformed proposals of divestment  – and STILL without any public mandate.

I’m sharing below the speech I made against this decision. Unfortunately, despite its undoubted brilliance, and despite equally superb and  accurate speeches by my leader Kathy Pollard, deputy leader, David Wood, and colleague John Field, all the backbench conservatives voted with their leaders rather than their consciences  to support this unformed, uncosted, un-budgeted,  and undemocratic piece of ideologically-driven decision-making.

So in the years to come, folks,  you need to remember that this decision to ‘divest’ is NOT a coalition decision. This is NOT a national decision. It is NOT based on national cuts . No, the responsibility for the NSD  lies squarely in the hands of Leader Jeremy Pembroke, his Cabinet  – and all the Tory backbenchers on Suffolk County Council with huge reservations – not one of whom had the bottle to vote so in public!

My speech against the NSD

In September this council agreed  – via its socking Tory majority –  to push through the Cabinet recommendation , the NSD

–  Which stands for… what exactly?  Me, I think Noddy-style Democracy sums up the process pretty fairly!

Now there are lots and lots of reasons to object to this Enid  Blyton fantasy, the NSD, but I’m only given 3 minutes.

So, I won’t mention their spurious 30% cuts, nor the value of the services they want to sell off or throw away .  As regards its  lack of logic and responsibility to the people of Suffolk – I’ll confine myself to quoting the Deputy Leader :

“If people don’t value a service, it won’t be delivered. If no-one comes forward with an offer to deliver it, that’s proof it’s not needed.”

(What a superbly Toytown approach to service delivery that is, by the way! So, if no-one comes forward to unblock your loo, is that proof your loo’s not blocked? )

No, my three minutes is going on the democratic deficit that led to this decision – and the democratic deficit that underpins your  subsequent  ‘consultation’.

Now, I missed last meeting for serious personal reasons and so couldn’t cast my vote against the NSD. Did it matter?  Not a jot!

Why? Because the future of Suffolk’s services lies

  • not in the hands of its half a million plus electors,
  • not in the  hands of the 75 county councillors who represent them,
  • – and, – NOT  – in the hands of the  55 Tory councillors opposite who hold a majority vote.

NO, it  has been made by my esteemed colleagues, the Leader and  cabinet.

These ten people have unilaterally decided to  ‘transform Suffolk public services”.

Last September, Council also agreed “proactive and wide-ranging engagement across Suffolk to establish whether the key NSD proposals found favour with the communities.”  Note that  weasel word ‘engagement’ rather than ‘consultation.’

I’m sorry Jeremy, but your ‘proactive and wide-ranging engagement’ is a farce. Nowhere in your ‘engagement activity’  did you ask the VITAL question, “Shall we do it?”

Instead you asked “Do you understand it?” And indeed, by 21 November you had 528 responses – 63% of who DID ‘understand’  Jeremy, the concept of ‘selling the family silver’ is very easy to understand.

What people don’t understand  is WHY you’re selling it without asking the family first.

So we Lib Dems decided to hold our own ‘engagement process’. We  actually walked around, we delivered 23,000 leaflets, we visited not a single town, once – as several of the Conservative councillors say they did – but town after town over and over again and talked to many residents  about your NSD.  And, you know what? People had never heard of it.

They were appalled, Jeremy!  We didn’t get 528 responses– we’ve had over 1500, and rising.

Aren’t you – even a little bit – aware of  just how angry most people are?

Or maybe this is the area where YOU ‘don’t understand’!

Now, some of my constituents think your plans ridiculous,

Some  of them think they are reprehensible.

But maybe it’s simpler than that. Maybe they’re just WRONG.

Couldn’t you all  just admit you’re wrong?  There are lots of my colleagues opposite, who I know are privately very unhappy about what’s happening and how.  Of course you are. You’re friends of democracy – no fans of fairytales. You represent the people of Suffolk with as much passion and dedication as I do.

So why not go for it! Why not summon up the courage of all those thousands of crosses on your ballot papers?  People voted for democratic values. For Suffolk values!  NOT for Noddy Style Democracy. Suffolk is not Toytown! Playtime is over! So lets  consult properly – and LISTEN to the replies. The people of Suffolk aren’t  children. They don’t need fairy-tales. You can trust them to make grown-up decisions!