Petition against Hall exceeds 500 mark

The lead petitioner Leigh Pickett informs that the petition asking the LFEPA (London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority) and Harrow Council to hold Councillor Hall accountable for the offensive and inexcusable comments made on Twitter (below) about Gemma Collins during her appearance on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity, has now passed the 500 signature mark.
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Councillor Hall is bound by at least two codes of conduct in her professional capacities; one for Harrow Council the other for the LFEPA.
Official complaints have now been submitted to both the LFEPA and Harrow Council with recommendations that Councillor Hall is sacked for significantly breaching the Codes of Conducts to which she should be adhering.
Following our article, we reported Cllr Hall to the Standards (Harrow Council monitoring officer and Fire Authority monitoring officer) under the provisions of the code of conduct.
Also 150 Harrow council employees in UNISON union petitions have demanded Cllr Hall’s resignation over her “offensive and inexcusable Tweets”, and have called upon the monitoring officer “to take this matter forward in order to avoid Harrow Council and its staff facing any further reputational damage which has the real potential to impact on all staff representing Harrow Council”.
Notes:
Nothing new about Cllr Hall being disrespectful or unprofessional – for example, sometime back, the Harrow Council Standards suggested: “Councillor Hall may benefit from training in media and interpersonal training and training in holding voluntary groups and public bodies to account” Decision Notice gov 008-039/ 442202”.
And, during an industrial action by the Fire Brigades Union, Cllr Hall, a member of London’s fire authority, said the union was taking the capital back to “the dark days of Arthur Scargill””.

How well your GP practice doing

Following the Ofsted success in evaluating and league-tabling the performance of the providers for children’s welfare, care and education, now some NHS providers are inspected and their performance being made public to set competition for ‘customers’ (patients).
Recent is the Intelligent Monitoring of GP practices by the Care Quality Commission – click for Harrow GP practices here or for national GP practices here.
To find out more about an individual practice click here.
Intelligent Monitoring isn’t a judgement on GPs but helps to anticipate, identify and respond more quickly to providers at risk of providing poor quality care.
A ‘risk’ or ‘elevated risk’ in Intelligent Monitoring does not necessarily mean that people using the practice are at risk. It is for inspections to determine whether GP practices are providing safe care and whether patients may be at risk. Band 1 represents the highest risk and Band 6 the lowest risk.
Comparing with some neighbouring boroughs (like Barnet, Brent or Ealing), Harrow has more GP practices in Band 1 risk. This is concerning.

Another blow for Hall

Good that the Labour administration has decided to restore the role of chief executive and are to reappoint the popular council chief executive Michael Lockwood, forced out by the short-lived Tory administration.
This is yet another defeat for the Harrow opposition leader who has been repeatedly leading her Tory group to defeats (Councils in 2010 & 2014 – five sitting Tory councillors were defeated – and 2 by-elections in 2013).
Michael knows Harrow well and was much liked for his resident-friendly approach.
However, during councillor Hall’s elected-mayor style Tory administration, grabbed through a highly controversial process*, many noticed a tense ‘culture of fear’ at the civic centre, marked by the resignation of the chief executive, followed by some key directors leaving – seemingly Hall-style administration was not possible with a strong chief executive in place.
Responding to the invitation to Mr Lockwood’s farewell event last December, Husain Akhtar, then a councillor, said, “Michael is a gentleman, wish him best and will be delighted to say ‘’bye for now’ to him privately, but I don’t intend to attend a show directed by those who axed his position in the first place”.
Such was the nature of the ‘show’ that the members of the Tory group were seemingly instructed not to attend the event in number to demonstrate that the leaving chief executive is not popular and would not be missed.
This personalisation is likely to continue at the council meeting next week where the opposition group led by Cllr Hall is to vote against approving the appointment of Mr Lockwood, despite some reservation within her group, as it appears.

    • Like in 2014, voters also voted in Labour administration to run the council in 2010
    • In mid-2013, a breakaway Independent Labour Group, snatched the council administration from Labour with the support of and encouragement from the Tory group leadership – the ILG seemingly had personal grudge against some in the Labour group which became highly toxic with the time
    • Few months later, the Tory group grabbed the council administration with the support of the well groomed Independent Labour Group who voted in the Tory group leader as the leader of the council through a highly controversial process which created the political mess i.e. a hung council where both the Labour and Tory groups had 25 councillors each, putting Tory minority administration in place by the 8 ILG councillors
    • Harrow finished up with an elected-mayor style short-lived Tory administration and three different council cabinets and administrations within a short period

Blackman investigated!

The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has opened an investigation into the expenses claimed by MP for Harrow East Blackman.
Out of the total of £178,771.14 expenses, the MP had spent £149,054.13 on staffing, including the salary of £30,000-34,999.99 for his wife, the office manager of unknown formal qualification for the post.
Mr Blackman is well to do and owns six buy-to-let properties in Welwyn Garden City jointly with his wife.
There is a serious question about the cost effectiveness of the public money enjoyed by the MP, given the concerns that:

    • Mr Blackman shows a lack of democratic sense to represent the interests and wellbeing of all his constituents in a balanced way
    • The highly diverse Harrow East can’t afford divisive approaches like the use of sensitive international situations to generate political support from the selected communities by siding with them and their interests – for example, Blackman’s recent anti Gaza position and his disproportionate attitudes towards Kashmir – a place that is another legacy of the British Empire and a longstanding divide line between India and Pakistan relationships – Harrow East has substantial number of residents from both Indian and Pakistani backgrounds
    • While 274 MPs voted for the recent Common’s motion regarding Palestinian statehood, Mr Blackman was one of the 12 MPs who voted against the motion – out of all those voted against the motion, his constituency is most diverse with quite significant support for Palestinian statehood

Sour grapes!

Sad that Tory opposition shows no sense that they have failed to gain legitimate control of the Council, and also their leader fails to demonstrate that she accepts the will of the people who did not want Cllr Hall to be leader of the Council.
Instead of the above, there is a trail of sour grapes comments and actions by her and some of her little group of supporters – latest is to Call-In the recent cabinet decision to restore council chief executive post, deleted by the short-lived Tory administration last year.
The Call-In notice by Cllr Hall and her handful Tory faithful councillors, asks the Call-In Sub-Committee to challenge the cabinet decision on key ground of ‘inadequate consultation with stakeholders prior to the decision’.
While in October 2013 the Tory leader of the Council launched a consultation with stakeholders on proposals to delete the post of Chief Executive of the Council but did not include the councillors, essential stakeholders*, in the consultation that led to the controversial deletion of the post of chief executive.
This serious omission constituted ‘inadequate consultation with stakeholders prior to the decision’, key basis for the Tory call-in notice now – what a contradiction!
Very concerning that those calling-in on the basis of ‘inadequate consultation’ failed in seeking adequate consultation regarding the matter concerned themselves.
Not only this but by calling-in the sub-committee meeting (2/10/14) on such a thin ground is a waste of council resource and public money.
* A person, group or organization that has interest or concern in an organization –- councillors are persons and Harrow Council is an organisation!

Lockwood could be back!

Good that the Labour administration has decided to restore the role of chief executive and it is now possible that the popular council chief executive Michael Lockwood, forced out by the short-lived Tory administration, could come back. We predicted this last month.
This is yet another defeat for the Harrow opposition leader who has been repeatedly leading her Tory group to defeats (Councils in 2010 & 2014 – five sitting Tory councillors were defeated – and 2 by-elections in 2013).
Michael knows Harrow well and was much liked for his resident-friendly approach.
However, during councillor Hall’s elected-mayor style Tory administration, grabbed through a highly controversial process*, many noticed a tense ‘culture of fear’ at the civic centre, marked by the resignation of the chief executive, followed by some key directors leaving – seemingly Hall-style administration was not possible with a strong chief executive around.
Responding to the invitation to Mr Lockwood’s farewell event last December, then Cllr Husain Akhtar said, “Michael is a gentleman, wish him best and will be delighted to say ‘bye for now‘ to him privately, but I don’t intend to attend a show directed by those who axed his position in the first place”.
Such was the nature of the ‘show that the members of the Tory group were seemingly instructed not to attend the event in number to demonstrate that the leaving chief executive is not popular and would not be missed.
*
    • Like in 2014, voters also voted in Labour administration to run the council in 2011
    • In mid-2013, a breakaway Independent Labour Group, snatched the council administration from Labour with the support and encouragement from the Tory group leadership – the ILG seemingly had personal grudge against some in the Labour group which became highly toxic with the time
    • Few months later, the Tory group grabbed the council administration with the support of the well groomed Independent Labour Group who voted in the Tory group leader as the leader of the council through a highly controversial process which created the political mess i.e. a hung council where both the Labour and Tory groups had 25 councillors each, putting Tory minority administration in place by the 8 ILG councillors
    • Harrow finished up with an elected-mayor style short-lived Tory administration and three different council cabinets and administrations within a short period

Blackman could endanger communal relationships!

Concerns are mounting that while Harrow East MP Blackman happily uses diversity loaded foot-soldiers at the doorsteps, he not only shows a lack of democratic sense to represent all his constituents but also uses sensitive international situations to generate political support from the selected communities by siding with the state of affairs concerned in an unbalanced way. Such a divisive process has no obvious considerations for its adverse impact on community relationships in Harrow, a very diverse borough.
Soon after demonstrating his anti Gaza position and the subsequent backlash, Mr Blackman showed similar disproportionate attitudes towards Kashmir – a place that is another legacy of the British Empire and a longstanding divide line between India and Pakistan relationships, needing a harmonious and sensitive approach to resolve the dispute.
Mr Blackman was a speaker at the Commons BacKBench Business debates on 11 Sep 2014 regarding the political and humanitarian situation in Kashmir.
No other MP speaker at the debate matched the toxicity of Mr Blackman whose performance has since been well acknowledged by the delighted right-wing BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) supporters and newspapers in India!
Liberal Democrat David Ward MP for Bradford East who started the debate said, “The consensus view, however, held by 75% of Azad Jammu Kashmir people and 82% of Jammu and Kashmir people, is that the dispute is important. They believe it to be a strong issue and they have little faith that politicians will sort it out. Bob Blackman (Harrow East MP) might well trust the politicians to sort things out, but the people of Jammu and Kashmir do not”.
In his concluding statement, Mr Ward said, “I was not happy with the criticism from Bob Blackman. It was strange criticism, because one of his arguments was that Kashmir is not our business…”.
It is very concerning that the Harrow East Conservative Association, usually moderate, nurtures such an extremist and divisive MP as Mr Blackman.
On the other hand, Harrow West also has a Tory prospective parliamentary candidate for 2015 but the constituency, with similar Indian background voters,  does not show any disproportionate attitudes towards any communities!
Kashmir divide line deepened by some vote thirsty opportunists in the UK – alarming!

Harrow strike for fair pay condemned by Tory opposition

Like at many other places, Harrow strike, a part of a co-ordinated day of action by public service unions, has been well noted.
People in Harrow value local public services and they don’t want to see those that provide them struggling to make ends meet to feed and clothe their families.
Harrow’s position matches a new poll that reveals widespread support across the generations for today’s strike by public servants because the public sector workers have lost out to the estimated tune of £2,245 since the coalition came to power in 2010.
In a wide-ranging report into public sector pay increases under the Coalition, the TUC found:

  • A refuse collector on the top of his pay scale would have been earning £16,440 in 2010 and is now on £16,770, an actual increase of just £330. If pay rises were kept in line with inflation, bin men would have an extra £2,950
  • Nursery assistants earning the maximum they are entitled to would be on £18,824 in 2010, and would have seen a pay rise of £371 under the Coalition. In real terms they should now be earning £22,134
  • A residential warden in sheltered accommodation, who has also reached the top of her pay scale would be on £27,052, back in 2010. They now earn £27,596, an increase of £544 over the last four years
As expected the Harrow Tory opposition group which has been defeated four times (two council and two by-elections) since 2010 under Cllr Hall’s leadership, has condemned the strike saying that “The only thing this strike will achieve is the disruption of services that Harrow residents expect” and “Chaos reigns because of strikes”.
Such negative statements by the leader of the opposition makes one wonder whether Cllr Hall really values our public services or understands their place in the lives of the Harrow people.

Re-do Harrow Safer Neighbourhood Board (HSNB)

We have asked the new council administration to revisit the appointment of the Harrow Safer Neighbourhood Board because of the concerns about the nature of the board and the way board appointments were made by the short-lived Tory administration!
An interview panel led by Councillor Hall and made up of a former Borough Commander for Harrow and a Harrow council service manager, appointed the board members, closely known to Cllr Hall.
Concerns include:
    • the appointment panel did not adequately reflect the Harrow’s socio-political reality
    • the appointees to the board were no strangers to Cllr Hall and included some friends like the Harrow chairman UKIP (also)
    • no information about who else applied for but were not selected and why?
    • not being elected, who the board members are accountable to?
    • although the SNB would meet in public, it would not be the public meetings in the sense that contributions could be accepted from the public
    • with no statutory powers or delegated authority, Harrow SNB is a toothless mechanism for local engagement value for money?

We believe it would be professionally sound for the new council to double check that the board appointments are fair and secure, and to ensure that the SNB is an open body, well placed to robustly serve its purpose which is to:

  • ensure communities are more closely involved in problem solving and crime prevention;
  • achieve greater coherence between different engagement mechanisms e.g. ward panels, Independent Advisory Groups, Neighbourhood Watch and Stop and Search Community Monitoring Groups, so as to provide greater public accountability in policing and crime reduction; and
  • make more efficient use of resources to deliver value for money and target funds at issues of local concern and crime prevention

Highlights of the short-lived Hall administration

While the Harrow council machinery was consistently used to promote the environment-specific egos, the iffy use of the council resources under the short-lived Tory administration remained obscured. Few of these we report below in the public interest:
Harrow Safer Neighbourhood Board appointments under Cllr Hall watch included what appeared to be her friends like Harrow chairman UKIP (also) – this is now to be revisited

    • £15,000 wasted on a paper exercise to investigate the alleged racism at the council to please Independent Labour Group who asked for the enquiry that added nothing to what was already known
    • because of the political gains that the Tory group made and hoped for by fostering Independent Labour Group and using it to divide the Labour votes, the elected mayor-style minority Tory administration turned a blind eye to the ILG overspend (nearly £29,000) and let the ILG mayor ( Cllr Asante) overspend nearly £45,000 on public funds
    • Like now, in 2010 voters voted in Labour administration to run the council
    • In mid-2013, the breakaway Independent Labour Group, encouraged and supported by the Tory group, snatched the council administration from Labour because of what has been described as the personal grudge against some in the Labour group (which became highly toxic later)
    • Few months later, the Tory group grabbed the council administration with the support of the well groomed Independent Labour Group who voted in the Tory group through a highly controversial process which created the political mess (i.e. a hung council where both the Labour and Tory groups had 25 councillors each, and Tory minority administration was in place because of the 8 ILG councillors)