Cadder Task Group launched

I was delighted to attend the first meeting of the Cadder task group which includes representatives from Cadder Housing, the Community Council, centre management committee, voluntary agencies, regeneration staff and council officers.

Top of our agenda was of course the continuing work on the centre and in particular securing funding for refurbishing the sports hall which had been damaged by flooding.  We agreed that there are both short and long term objectives which require to progressed in relation to the Cadder Community Centre, specifically, and the wider neighbourhood, more generally.

Short Term Objectives – Ensure the ongoing use of the existing centre with additional refurbishment to the buildings to ensure that they can continue to provide a quality facility for the community.

Long Term Objectives – Developing the community centre as part of the wider regeneration of the Cadder area.  This includes exploring the opportunity to develop a Regeneration Masterplan for the Cadder area to look at addressing issues including transport and road access problems, the need for new housing, play areas, retail opportunities and future school building plans.

Glasgow and Southern Cross

I know that constituents have read about the crisis facing Southern Cross and are concerned about the potential impact upon Glasgow – below is the latest briefing supplied to Councillors from Social Work in this regard.

Briefing on the Current Position of Southern Cross

Date 3 June 2011

1.    Background

Southern Cross is the UK’s largest Care Home operator.  The provider is experiencing severe financial constraints that may lead to Administration.

2.    Glasgow Service Users

There are 8 Southern Cross care homes within Glasgow with capacity to support 497 individuals.  Currently there are 421 service users receiving support within Southern Cross’ Glasgow based Care Homes.  Glasgow City Council placed 335 of these individuals with the remaining 86 service users placed by external Local Authorities. In addition to this Glasgow City council has placed a further 176 individuals in Southern Cross Care Homes across the UK (173 out with Glasgow but within Scotland, and 3 out with Scotland). Glasgow City Council’s total spend with Southern Cross is c£10.5m (c£7m within Glasgow based services and c£3.5m out with).

3.    Business Position

None of the Southern Cross properties are owned by the provider. Rather, the company has indicated that it cannot honour the rent agreements it has with its landlords going forward. Southern Cross Senior Management met with property owners at the end of April 2011. It has intimated its intention to apply a 30% reduction in the rental charges payable to its landlords, deferred for 3 months. Consequently:

  • Southern Cross is not breaching bank covenants
  • Enables further negotiations concerning long term rental charges
  • Enables negotiations  to take place with prospective investors

It is not clear that all of Southern Cross’ landlords are supportive of this action, the consequences of which will only become clear over time.

4.  Discussions with Southern Cross

A meeting between Glasgow City Council Social Work Services and Southern Cross took place on the 17 May 2011.  Southern Cross could not divulge details of any specific care home closures due to limitations of being a public limited company.  However, they did advise that they had collated criteria to identify Care Homes that were likely to have a “limited lifespan”.  Southern Cross intimated that none of the Glasgow Care homes fit the “limited life” criteria.

A National Contingency Planning Group hosted by COSLA has been convened and meets regularly. Southern Cross has advised through COSLA that there are 10 care homes within Scotland that are likely to close.  Sefton park care home in South Lanarkshire is the first care home to be closed (2 August 2011). There are 7 Glasgow service users at Sefton Park.  Arrangements are in place to deal with this.

A further Social Work Services / Southern Cross Senior Management meeting is planned for mid July 2011. In the interim Southern Cross agreed to contact Social Work Services with any significant developments.

5.    Contingency Planning

A national contingency planning group hosted by COSLA has been established with a focus on Southern Cross. Glasgow City Council is developing its own contingency planning arrangements in line with the broader national contingency plan.  Even were Southern Cross to go into administration a worst case scenario where all existing residents physically have to move is highly unlikely due to the likelihood of at least a partial takeover from another provider. However, even allowing for this worst-case scenario there is sufficient capacity within the City to accommodate all of the 421 residents currently living here.  The contingency plan will also identify alternative locations for those service users living out with the City.  In extremes, support would be sought from the NHS to make hospital beds available on an emergency basis.

6.    Conclusion

We remain vigilant in our monitoring of Southern Cross’ position whilst it is prudent to contingency plan for the worst-case scenario highlighted above it remains an unlikely scenario.

Riverside Museum opens 21st June 2011

YouTube – Riverside – Glasgow’s Newest Destination.

The Riverside Museum: Scotland’s Museums of Transport and Travel opens to the public on 21st June 2011. Glasgow’s well-loved Museum of Transport will relocate to this spectacular waterfront landmark that was designed by internationally-renowned architect, Zaha Hadid. The Riverside Museum will be her first major public building in the UK. The dynamic new Riverside Museum will display Glasgow’s rich industrial heritage, which stems from the River Clyde. The Tall Ship Glenlee is berthed alongside the Museum, creating a fantastic experience in this stunning setting. Visitors can relax and enjoy the riverside views in the Museum’s café, and take home gifts from the Museum’s shop. We look forward to welcoming you to Riverside Museum on the 21st June 2011.

Events Sat 21st May in Maryhill

Two big events this Saturday which I hope people will support.

Maryhill Parish Church are hosting their Family Spring Fair from 12 to 2pm. The parish promises everything from a bouncy castle to BBQ, car boot sale and lots lots more. The Church is at 1990 Maryhill Road, opposite Maryhill Train Station.

And the Glee musical at The Maryhill Hub (former St Gregory’s) Wyndford Road at 7.30pm, cafe open too for food and refreshments. Come down and support the kids of Maryhill.

A bad night but the work goes on

Well the election results proved to be a startling evening for the SNP who against all expectations ended up with a majority government. For our own party it was a night of hardship as good MSPs failed to get returned and candidates who had given their all were left with the reality of only 5 seats secured in the new parliament.

So what now? I’m sure over the next few weeks and months the Scottish Liberal Democrat Party will seek to learn what lessons we can, not least how the Scottish party which scrapped tuition fees in Scotland, introduced free personal care, and has stood in defence of public services can ensure our record and ongoing work isn’t erased by the coalition none of us wanted.

For the Scottish Liberal Democrat Council Group, we now face our own re-election campaign next May. In Maryhill Kelvin, Councillor Mary Paris and I will be working  just as hard this year as the last four to show that we can, and indeed do, make a difference in our communities every day.

From defeating plans for a nightclub in the Botanic Gardens, saving our local post office in Kelvindale, to securing the funding to keep Ledgowan and Cadder Community Halls open and winning over £150,000 in new funding for the Hub in Wyndford, we’ve worked with local residents and community activists to defend services and improve our communities.

If the Scottish Liberal Democrats are to succeed next year it will be because each day party members rise and ask themselves a simple question, how will I help make things better for my community today?

Save our local Police

Just last week rank and file police officers rejected the SNP, Labour and Conservative plans to create a national police force.

I agree with the police officers. The plans to scrap our local police forces will cost £92million and it has been estimated, could cut 3,000 front line police officers – we cannot afford this proposal.

At a time when we need to save money, this proposal doesn’t make sense. The Scottish Liberal Democrats want to help the local police and people work together to cut crime. However, under the plans supported by Labour, the SNP and Conservatives every police officer would be allocated according to national directions not local policing need. That could mean your local police seeing dozens of officers sent to support other areas hundreds of miles away.

I’m concerned that by creating a single national police force, the chief constable will come under the political control of a government minister who will tell them what to do and will lose their links with local communities.

For 150 years people in this democracy have worried about the government gaining political operational control over policing. We need a police service that is responsive to local needs not one which is subject to central diktat and centrally imposed targets.

The Scottish Liberal Democrats want to keep policing local, help the local police to work with the local community and to keep the number of officers high.

For more information check out the campaign on Facebook.

Solutions for Glasgow and for Scotland

Today the Scottish Liberal Democrats launched our manifesto for the Scottish Parliamentary elections. Its a manifesto which offers real solutions to the problems facing our communities and our country. Scottish Liberal Democrats have a proud record in Scotttish Government. It was the Scottish Liberal Democrats who scrapped the tuition fees which Labour had imposed on Scotland and it was Scottish Liberal Democrats who introduced Free Personal Care for the Elderly.

The main themes of our Scottish manifesto are:

Excellence in education 

Raising standards in schools by giving head teachers more power, so that teachers spend more time teaching your children, not filling in government forms.

Giving every child a fair start in life with an Early Intervention Revolution so that no child is left behind.

Supporting colleges and keeping Scotland’s universities globally competitive by investing in science and research, modernising the sector and improving student support. 

Working with other parties to keep higher education free – no fees and no graduate contribution.

Jobs and economic growth

Creating the conditions for 100,000 new jobs, supported by at least £1.5 billion of investment freed up by reform to Scottish Water.

Getting money to small businesses where the greedy banks have failed and bringing them together with colleges to provide the skills our economy needs.

Cutting energy bills and boosting the green economy with new help to pay for insulation in your home or business and new investment in renewable energy.

Helping Scottish business compete internationally by boosting exports, cutting regulation and making Scotland the most digitally connected economy in Europe.

Keeping services local

Cutting crime by keeping the police local, helping them tackle local problems and making offenders pay back to your community for the damage they’ve done.

Supporting less well-off pensioners by reforming the unfair council tax so they pay nothing at all.

Helping to protect local jobs and services by cutting high pay and bonuses at the very top, listening to frontline staff and driving out waste.

Improving out-of-hours care across Scotland by putting local GPs back at the heart of the service.

You can download the full manifesto here.

Good news for Glasgow’s Pensioners

The Scottish Liberal Democrats launched our plans to make the council tax fairer on Wednesday 30th March.

Our proposal is to exempt less well off pensioners from council tax. A pensioner on an income of less than £10,000 will pay nothing at all in council tax. Our proposals will mean a saving of up to £400 from a typical Band D bill.

Pensioners often pay hundreds of pounds in council tax. But Liberal Democrats have solutions for Scottish pensioners, whose income is just above the state pension.

A third of Scottish single pensioner households have incomes of less than £10,000. That’s less than £200 a week. Under the current system, a single pensioner living in a Band D house gets some help, but still has to pay out £406 annually. That’s over £40 a month out of an income of less than £800 when she has to feed and clothe herself and heat her house too. Under the Liberal Democrat plans she would pay nothing in Council Tax.

How does this compare to the SNP and Labour policy of a Council Tax freeze?

The SNP and Labour council tax freeze will save the pensioner £22 on her £800 bill. Under our plans she saves up to £406. 

What about the Conservatives policy?

The Scottish Conservatives have said they will cut the council tax bill by £200 for any household containing a pensioner.

The pensioners on £7k, £8k and £8.5k will pay nothing under either party.

The pensioner on £9k will pay nothing under the Lib Dems but £55 under the Conservatives.

The pensioner on £9999 will pay nothing under the Lib Dems but £206 under the Conservatives.

Very wealthy pensioners – such as Annabel Goldie and other Conservative MSPs – will not benefit from our policy but will benefit by £200 under Conservative policy.

What about Local Income Tax?

We are still in favour of local income tax. We have made the judgement that it will be best to wait until 2016 to begin to introduce it. That way we can learn lessons from the introduction of the new Scottish income tax following the new powers in the Scotland Bill that came from Calman. Under those powers the Scottish Parliament will have control of 10p of income tax from April 2015. That will be preceded by an enormous amount of work from the HMRC to set up the systems. It is a significant moment in the development of a federal structure for the UK – two governments sharing responsibilities over the HMRC. It makes sense to gain the benefit of that experience.

Glasgow Liberal Democrats set for Holyrood

Right to left, Natalie McKee, Kenneth Elder, Katy Gordon, Robert Brown, Eileen Baxendale, Paul McGarry.

Well the Scottish Elections are now officially off the starters blocks and I thought I’d share my colleague Andrew Reeves’ post on some of the Liberal Democrats achievements so far. These achievements have improved people’s lives and that’s why I’ll be working hard for my colleagues who are standing in May’s elections to continue this good work.

“Let me just mention four of the achievements made by the new coalition government because of the Liberal Democrats being part of it (in no particular order) in just ten months;

1. The link between pensions and earnings, scrapped by Margaret Thatcher, was restored in the Coalition’s first budget. The annual increase in the state pension will be protected by a ‘triple lock’ – the rise will be in line with earnings, prices or a 2.5% increase, whichever is the greater.

2. We have scrapped the ID card programme. The ID card database was publicly destroyed on 11th February 2011.

3. In June’s emergency budget we increased the rate of Capital Gains Tax to 28% for higher rate taxpayers while keeping it at 18% for basic rate taxpayers. This will raise an extra £1bn and end the disgraceful situation of bankers paying a lower rate of tax than their cleaners.

4. In June’s emergency budget, we raised the tax threshold by £1,000, lifting 880,000 low earners out of tax completely (from this April). It will increase each year of the Coalition Government until it reaches £10,000, which will lift an additional 3 million people out of tax altogether.

In Scotland Tavish Scott fought for local Post Offices to receive over £1million support, last year 50 of Scotland’s Post Offices developed their business thanks to the Post Office diversification funds, a further £1 million has gone into the fund for this year.

Other concessions made to the Liberal Democrats in the Scottish Parliament budget include:

· Additional funding for FE bursaries of £15 million, spread across 2010-2011-12 to provide additional student support for current student numbers.

· Additional funding of £8 million in 2011-12 that would support an additional 1,200 college places and associated student support.

· 1,500 additional Modern Apprenticeships, including 500 places for the renewables sector, at a cost of £2 million

· 2,000 additional flexible training opportunities

That is what the the voters of Scotland are looking for, Solutions for Scotland .”