The recent Harrow People magazine informs: demand for the adult social care is going up and the council tax is rising because of it.
The client group for this aspect of the care includes people with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, sensory impairment, and mental health or physical conditions.
With the rise of the council tax comes the expectation of good quality services and provisions as well as the best value for money. In this respect, Harrow adult social care presents a mixed picture.
Since 2017, many councils have developed Wellbeing and Resilience Framework to provide clarity on why wellbeing and resilience are important, and how they will be systematically improved and strengthened with their residents, and for all ages.
Harrow has now come up with a somewhat deficient Resilient Harrow Programme for the consideration of the Health and Wellbeing Board (this multi-agency forum, chaired by the leader of the Harrow council, receives verbal and written reports from the agencies which it  mostly takes as information rather than professionally scrutinising these – such a weakness results in the concerning performance of the key partners like the Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group not being addressed).
(resilience: empowering citizens to maintain their well-being and independence, strengthening support networks within their families and communities; enabling them to be stronger, healthier, and more resilient).
Following the director of adult social services Vision last year, the council engaged the specialist adult social care consultancy agency Impower to review the impact and effectiveness of the first phase of delivering the Vision.
The diagnostic work identified significant areas where work is needed, like areas such as improving access to information, developing the range of community based resources available, making better use of assistive technology and developing and managing the adult social care market locally.
Such shortcomings are concerning (no lessons seem to have been learnt from similar weakness in many other areas of the council’s works over the years) and become more concerning considering that the adult care provision involves a variety of stake-holders like providers, staff, national bodies and people who use services, their families and carers which requires rigorous coordination and monitoring across the board.
The resilient programme also seems to be lacking focus on the awareness raising activities like the workshops for the stake-holders.
While there is a Resilient Harrow Board, the resilient programme lacks a Wellbeing and Resilience Framework to support and guide the ‘entire system’ (including public, private, community and voluntary services, and communities themselves) as well as to understand and strengthen the things that make people’s lives go well, so that people live the life they want. What a serious omission!
As the council has moved from the interim to substantial senior managers, expectation is improved quality assurance and business like effective and efficient work of the council.

If there was ever a much-loved and vital service that told the story of the NHS funding crisis in north-west London, it was the walk-in centre at Alexandra Avenue closed by the Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) that has been put into special measures because its forecast deficit of £40 million, said Gareth Thomas MP for Harrow west  who was speaking at the Commons NHS debate on 24 April 2019.
“Not only is there no prospect that the Alexandra Avenue walk-in centre will be reopened, but other walk-in centres that serve Harrow are vulnerable to the threat of closure at a moment’s notice” warned Mr Thomas.
Another walk-in centre in Harrow is now only by appointment. The walk-in centre crisis in Harrow have an impact on Northwick Park Hospital that has not met the A&E waiting target as over the past five years, 25% of patients in A&E have not been seen within four hours.
In describing another damaging impact of the NHS cuts, Mr Thomas said “For the first time, the maximum two-week wait for a first consultant appointment after an urgent GP referral is not being met, according to the latest data on our area”.
The Harrow Monitoring Group has been reporting concerns about the Harrow CCG performance whether it is about the walk-in clinics, closing the NHS desk at the Wealdstone Centre, restricted hospital procedures under PPwT policy, quality of GP services  (the Care Quality Commission inspections found that at least seven GP practices in Harrow require improvement – a failing category) or the impingement upon patient rights where the CCG has instructed GPs not to prescribe the items which the NHS England had said should be prescribed if the patents do not wish to buy.
It can only be good that Mr Thomas raised the concerns.
The Harrow CCG is responsible for planning and buying (commissioning) many of the health services needed by approximately 260,000 people registered with GPs in Harrow. Its budget deficit situation has serious implications for the quality of GP services as Harrow CCG has full responsibility for the management of the primary care medical services where GPs have to operate within the tight finances allowed to them.

Harrow is having its share of knife crime surge in London, seemingly for the reasons similar to those in the inner city boroughs.
In September 2018, 24% of Harrow residents were concerned about knife crime in their area, increasing from 12% March 2016, according to the Harrow council report ‘Summary of Crime in Harrow in 2018’.
The fear of crime is highest in Harrow East and rising in both Harrow East and Harrow Central, according to the recent Metropolitan Police Service Public Attitude Survey (PAS).
Very concerning that Harrow East MP Blackman is not really pressing his Tory government for more resources for the borough. Similarly no obvious action by the opposition councillors from the Harrow East Tory wards to work with the council administration and the police to redress the residents fear of crime, despite enjoying extra responsibility allowances.
Figures from London’s Metropolitan police showed that knife crime surged by 16 per cent in the capital year-on-year in 2018, as Britain’s crime epidemic continues.

The knife attacks in Harrow in 2018 and 2019 so far, include:

• A teenager was stabbed multiple times in High Street, Wealdstone yesterday (April 15)
• In March this year, a Sri Lankan shopkeeper was stabbed to death at his shop in Pinner
• Soon after and in a separate attack, the police were called to the scene in Station Road, less than two miles away, to reports of a 15-year-old boy being stabbed in a park
• A 13-year-old boy was shot in the head after another teenager was injured in a gun attack in broad day light on a busy high street
• In another incident, two teenagers were attacked in double horror stabbing
• A man in his 20s was stabbed outside a restaurant at the Station Road Harrow

“Violent crime in Harrow has increased by 60%, and it is no surprise that this increase correlates to the reduction in police officers on our streets” Gareth Thomas MP for Harrow West previously said.
Recent rise in the stabbings in Harrow also raises questions about the usefulness of the Harrow Safer Neighbourhood Board and the effectiveness of the Harrow Police & Crime Plan (PCP) priority to reduce the number of young people involved in youth violence and gang crime and to decrease the number of young people carrying offensive weapons.

Brent and Harrow Tories are to select their London Assembly candidate on this Thursday from the three candidates shortlisted earlier.
Molly Irene Samuel-Leport MBE, England born east Londoner, is well known for her sports achievements, including 1987 Jamaican Jubliee Award for Excellence. She is impressive orator.
Molly Samuel is a member of the Conservative Way Forward advisory board along with Harrow councillor Paul Osborn, leader of the Tory opposition group. She is a six time karate world champion, and was the unsuccessful candidate for Walthamstow at the general elections.
She has been active in community matters and is well known for her interest in homelessness and social justice issues.
Molly Samuel believes that schools need to change to include self-defence and self-awareness education for young children of primary age.
George Currie, the “son of working-class parents” who progressed to have a PhD in political philosophy, has helpfully worked with the Brent’s diverse community. He is chair of Brent Central Conservative Association.
Mr Currie’s manifesto is to reduce crime by securing more police officers and working with local communities to introduce ‘safe zones’ across Brent and Harrow.
He would work to improve the availability of affordable housing by working with councils and developers to identify suitable sites and remove unnecessary blockages, and  improve the local environment by working with local residents and businesses to tackle issues, such as poor air quality and the illegal dumping of waste.
Kanwal Toor, self claimed Indian actress associated with luxury jewellery and fashion outlet, seems to have little political profile.
Social media research in her case reveals qualifying comments like “I am proud to know Bob Blackman. Bob has done a huge amount work for Kashmiri Dogras” – Kashmir issue is very sensitive and a matter of grave international concern.  Brent/Harrow could do well without it.
However, she stands a chance where her success could depend on the extent of the support by using certain block votes, the strategy, carried out in Harrow West and brought to Harrow East, that seemingly defeated Cllr Susan Hall at the parliamentary selection in Harrow West and GLA selection for Brent and Harrow.
Last time such a Kashmir specific credit was given to the divisive Bob Blackman MP for Harrow East who has been repeatedly exposed for his alleged interactions with far right elements [i] [ii], was by his previous assistant from Kashmir background  [i] [ii] who has now left Harrow.

We reported water build-up around a Wealdstone bench, near Baptist Church bus stop, seemingly due to the slop towards the bench or the earth around the bench sinking .
This was promptly but temporarily repaired. Pleased to see that this area has now been redone.

A local councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick (photo), Director Harrow Law Centre and Labour parliamentary candidate for Harrow East, is delighted that a key policy of the Government’s Hostile Environment policy has been declared unlawful in a ruling handed down by the Court of Appeal today.
In April 2013 the Coalition Government introduced a host of regulations as part of its hostile environment policy.  One such amendment the ‘past presence’ test meant that a person with a disability would have to wait two years before being eligible for certain disability benefits notwithstanding that they had genuine links to the UK.
Harrow Law Centre which has long argued that these rules were discriminatory and in breach of EU law, challenged this restriction and the Court of Appeal agreed the Government had acted unlawfully in denying disability benefit.
The law centre  client, 67 years old German national and severely disabled, came to live with her daughter, a British Citizen, in the UK when she was no longer able to care for herself.  She later claimed Attendance Allowance, but it was refused under the new legislation.  As a result, her daughter was also excluded from claiming carers allowance despite being a British Citizen.
This  case was joined with another involving an Irish national represented by Child Poverty Action Group where the British Citizen mother, of a disabled child was refused disability living allowance for her child under the same rule.
In its judgement handed down today the Court of Appeal ruled that both claimants had a genuine and sufficient connection to the UK when they claimed disability benefits and that the approach taken was flawed and unduly inflexible because it failed to take account of all the particular, personal circumstances and motives of the claimants, which in the round, proved the required sufficient link.
Commenting on today’s judgement Solicitor David Martinez of Harrow Law Centre said:
“This judgment makes clear that once again the government’s interpretation of European Union law has been far too restrictive.  This time those suffering from severe disabilities were denied the assistance they so clearly required and were entitled to.  This was despite the strong family links to the UK and the clear intention to settle here that both clients had.  At least for those disabled EU citizens and disabled UK citizens returning or relocating from the EU the decision-making process for those who have carers strongly connected to the UK will now be done within a fundamentally more benign environment.”

Well publicised Visit My Mosque event in Harrow last Sunday was widely attended, including by community leaders, clergy and many Labour councillors.
This could only be good for community cohesion and togetherness. However, concerns have been expressed that the event was hardly attended by the Tory councillors.
Given the possibility that Tory councillors might have attended the event at a Harrow mosque but were not noticed, we asked the leader of the Tory opposition group Cllr Paul Osborn to clarify whether he or his councillors attended.
Days have gone but he has not come back, perhaps to save embarrassment.
Although there is no compulsion to attend such events, local Tory position needed clarification in the light of the national outcry* about Islamophobia in the Tory party [1], [2], Harrow East Conservative Association selecting and nurturing divisive elements [1], [2], and no Muslim representation at the Tory councillor level in Harrow.
While there are some Tory councillors who are professional enough to appreciate that they are paid to represent wider population in Harrow, there are many, mostly in Harrow East, who don’t and use their councillor title to promote themselves within their tight community, and therefore give poor value for public money.
*

Both Labour and Liberal Democrats parliamentary candidates for Harrow East assert that the sitting MP Bob Blackman position is very shaky in this marginal constituency because of his undesirable doings and lack of interest in Harrow matters.
Declining support for him became obvious at the last general election when despite all his divisive moves to attract Indian and Jewish background voters, Mr Blackman majority was slashed from 4,757 in 2015 to 1,757 in 2017 by Labour. His position will be under further threat once the boundary changes take place.
Labour parliamentary candidate for Harrow East Harrow councillor Pamela Fitzpatrick is determined to unseat Mr Blackman as at the very time local people need more help, Mr Blackman has consistently voted for budget cuts meaning budgets of local authorities has been slashed as well as a huge reduction in funding to  schools, police service and benefit system.
“All this has an impact on the residents of Harrow East. For example, in Harrow diverse community the two-child restriction on benefits and the hostile environment have had a particularly harsh impact” said Cllr Fitzpatrick.
Also “homelessness has soared and the numbers of looked after children is unprecedented. In once a borough with the lowest level of crime in London, now Hate crime has increased and many families are fearful for the safety of their children” she said.
“A housing crisis and the worst level of homelessness in decades are not accidental but because of the benefit cap, universal credit, the restriction of housing benefit to below rent levels, the huge increase in benefit sanctions for people who are seriously ill or have a disability” reminds Cllr Fitzpatrick.
“We are desperately in need of a Labour government that will invest in our schools, provide affordable homes and protect our NHS” Cllr Fitzpatrick said.
Liberal Democrats parliamentary candidate Adam Bernard, born and brought up in Edgware, focuses on the appallingly divisive nature of some campaigning in Harrow East.
“I’m proud to live in Harrow, which is lucky to have people from so many cultures. It’s sad to see divisive political campaigning here; pitting Hindus against Muslims against Jews, or people from the EU against people from the Commonwealth” said Mr Bernard.
“A community like ours can only thrive because of its inclusive spirit. I and the Liberal Democrats will always stand against racism, Islamophobia, Antisemitism, and xenophobia. None of these should have a place in our society or our politics” he said.
A long standing Liberal Democrat, Mr Bernard  works as a researcher teaching computers to read medical research papers and was a Harrow East candidate in 2017 election.

Some years back when the previous chief executive Michael Lockwood rejoined the council and accelerated Harrow regeneration programme, the Harrow Monitoring Group suggested study of how Brent attracted the developers and addressed the social housing shortage.
He listened and just in four years the Harrow that struggled to attract investors is now bubbling with developments and impressively progressing towards its housing target. Credit to the council, particularly the regeneration and planning team.
Following is a snap shot of developments around the Harrow Town Centre: