Wednesday, 25th November, 2015
(Just like) starting over
The announcement last week that councillors tomorrow are to be asked to withdraw proposals for secondary education reform in Haverfordwest led to much criticism and questions asking whether anybody knows what they are doing.
Having already gone through so many different stages including informal and formal consultations, it would seem that such questions over competency are warranted.
Details are unclear at the moment but the change of tune stems from additional legal advice the council has received in relation to repeated representations received over several months from the Tasker Milward and Picton Charity Trust.
The council’s press release last week states: “the procedure followed in relation to the statutory consultation is considered to be challengeable, and that it is advisable to discontinue statutory consultation and recommence formal consultation with the Trustees of the Tasker Milward and Picton Charity prior to commencing a new consultation.”
The public’s critical reaction to yet another consultation was anticipated as the statement also said:
“We are very aware that this is the third time we are seeking to consult on education in Haverfordwest, but we are determined to get this process absolutely right for the sake of our children’s education.”
The irony wasn’t lost on everyone. The council only finds itself in this position because it didn’t get it right – despite being told the error of its ways on more than one occasion.
Learning that the process is to start all over again reminded me of John Lennon’s final hit, (Just Like) Starting Over which immediately went top of the UK and US charts on its release in October 1980, dropping to number 21 just over a month later, before his untimely death on 8th December catapulted the track back up to number one.
The title isn’t all Lennon’s last hurrah has in common with the council’s shambolic handling of Haverfordwest secondary education reform.
The UK’s Christmas number one spot is famously coveted. Many thought the late Lennon was a shoo-in for the 1980 honour, but as so often has been the case, he was beaten by an unlikely act, and had to settle for the almost more famous Christmas #2.
The former Beatle’s solo track was trumped by St. Winifred’s School Choir – never a song in the chart before or since – with their innocent tear-jerker “There’s No One Quite Like Grandma.”
The Stockport-based primary school’s one-hit-wonder toppled the heavyweight much like the county council has been denied its way over the county town’s secondary education reform.
Only in our scenario the county council takes the place of the slain Beatle and the cherubic schoolkids are replaced by the Picton and Tasker Milward Charity trustees.
You see, the story to date in this saga has been extremely tortuous. With so many twists and turns you could call it a long and winding road – and the following potted history shows that the council carried on in spite of all the danger…
As far back as November 2013 and February 2014 preliminary discussions had been undertaken by cabinet of reviewing Haverfordwest area secondary education provision.
Had it not been for a motion brought forward by Cllr. Vivien Stoddart, the whole topic would have remained with cabinet. She successfully introduced a motion in May 2014 which puts big educational proposals like this into the hands of all councillors.
At its 16th October 2014 meeting councillors voted to allow the then education director, Jake Morgan, to appraise a list of options with a view to developing a proposal to come before council in January 2015. He issued several preliminary consultation documents with questionnaires.
Mr. Morgan had left the council by the time it came to report on his exercise. He now works as a director at Carmarthenshire council – whence he came.
On 29th January, with Kate Evan-Hughes as acting director, an extraordinary council meeting was recommended to informally consult on plans to discontinue both Sir Thomas Picton and Tasker Milward schools, to be replaced with a new 11-16 English medium secondary school at the STP site, and create a post-16 sixth form centre in collaboration with Pembrokeshire College.
The same proposals would close Ysgol Glan Cleddau in Portfield, Haverfordwest, and a new 3-16 Welsh medium/bilingual school on the Tasker Milward site with post 16 provision at Ysgol y Preseli.
Additionally, Ysgol Dewi Sant in St. David’s and Fishguard’s Ysgol Bro Gwaun would both close down completely and a new 11-16 English medium school “with significant use of Welsh” would be established at the YBG site, with both schools’ post-16 pupils attending the aforementioned Haverfordwest sixth form centre.
All the great and the good were in attendance for this meeting to smooth the path for the college collaboration. So many in fact that it required reconfiguration of the council chamber to fit them all in (see here also.)
This was where the member for St. David’s, Cllr. David Lloyd, got his reprieve courtesy of a last minute an amendment supported by the leader. It gave the green light for the director’s proposals to go out to formal consultation, but instead of closing St. David’s and Fishguard schools entirely, only their sixth forms would close.
Since this meeting Haverfordwest people’s views were increasingly vocal against the loss of choice for their secondary school pupils, with many hundreds of pupils protesting outside County Hall.
Then on 14th April an extraordinary council meeting consider a proposal from Cllr. Paul Miller.
He proposed that the acting education director should re-investigate all options for a secondary school-based sixth form alongside the proposals for the new centre.
As the matter had become so charged with opinion there were some rumblings at the time that, with the parliamentary election so close, it was perhaps not the best time to have called the meeting.
Indeed, the chairman read out a statement at its commencement reminding members “that the Council had an obligation at an election period, when undertaking Council business, not to provide any support to a political party, a particular candidate or political manifesto.”
Days beforehand councillors had been sent a letter by Mr. Maurice Hughes, former councillor and leader of the county council, in his capacity as Chairman of the Trustees of the Tasker Milward and Picton Charity.
Mr. Hughes’ letter said that the council’s officers “were under a misapprehension as to the ownership of the land at the site of Tasker Milward School” – the proposed site for the Welsh medium school – and that they mistakenly believed it “was in the ownership of the Council.”
He informed councillors that “both sets of buildings that formed the old Taskers school and the old Haverfordwest Grammar School and the land on which they stand (together with other land) are owned by the Charity” and that “the Council’s officers and solicitors have now acknowledged this to be the case.”
Aside from the obvious clanger – that the council thought it owned land it didn’t – his key point was that, according to the law: “any proposals which the Council may have to utilise some or all of that land and buildings will need the consent of the Trustees and the Charity Commission.”
And that as a result, the necessary consultation “would be a matter for the Trustees who would need to consult widely with those affected.”
The charity’s chairman said that there were “further legal difficulties” in that the proposals on the table “would require the use of the Charity’s assets to benefit the whole of the County” whereas the trust’s remit was restricted to the provision of Haverfordwest education, and: “Furthermore, it is not permissible to use the Charity’s assets for the fulfilment of the statutory obligations of the Local Authority.”
Mr. Hughes then referred to trustees’ efforts to engage with officers over the matter but said “attempts to do so have been rebuffed,” and that “External solicitors acting for the Council have unhelpfully written to the Trustees to say that no discussions can take place until September.”
It is worth reproducing the end of Mr. Hughes’ letter to councillors – which was of a conciliatory tone – in full:
“It may be that these issues are incapable of resolution in a way that accommodates the present proposals which are out for statutory consultation. Even if they can be resolved, the discussions and negotiations and the subsequent consultations and preparation and approval of the scheme by the Charity Commission are likely to take a considerable amount of time. It is unfortunate that six months will have been lost due to the unwillingness of the Council’s Officers to engage with the Trustees.
It would have been preferable for the Council and the Trustees to have a common set of objectives for secondary education in the Haverfordwest area rather than the Trustees having been excluded from the negotiations between the Council and the Pembrokeshire College. It is in our view not too late for the Council to rectify this, but that does require the withdrawal of the present proposals and inclusive discussions between all interested parties.
Yours sincerely,
Maurice Hughes
Chairman of the Tasker Milward and Picton Charity”
With this letter fresh in our minds, Cllr. Stan Hudson (1 hr 39 mins into the webcast) and I (2 hr 36 mins in) both raised our concerns over its content, which, to us, seemed worthy of being treated seriously.
I pushed for members to be provided with a response to the trust’s contentions by the council’s legal officer.
Reading from a pre-prepared statement the head of legal services said that the continuation or otherwise of the school is a matter for the council, not trustees, and that the council was unable to address the issue of the site’s future use.
It didn’t really address Mr. Hughes’ contentions that the council had failed to engage with the trust when it should have. Soon afterwards, Cllr. Miller’s motion was defeated, 22-29.
This was the occasion where, despite having recorded a prejudicial interest in the matter, Cllr. Tom Tudor voted to support the motion, refusing to retract it when reminded of his obligations by the then monitoring officer, Laurence Harding.
The statutory consultation continued and, in May the council caused some controversy when it inadvertently closed down the consultation on the council’s website a few days early. In response to the error – blamed on a “technical problem” the consultation window was extended.
It wasn’t until July that the matter came before councillors again, when the results of the statutory consultation were presented to the regular council meeting, on the 16th.
The acting director reminded councillors of the reasons for reform, chiefly: improving educational attainments, addressing the problem of surplus places, and the state of some of the school buildings, before recommending that the plans on the table be amended.
Part of the plans involved a switcheroo – the Welsh school proposed for STP and English school for the Tasker Milward site were swapped, council agreed to properly engage with Picton trustees, all of which was to be reported back in September.
September came, and, at an extraordinary meeting on the 10th it became apparent that councillors had been compromised into supporting the college sixth form campus.
Cllr. Tessa Hodgson managed to get out of the leader that work on a separate campus at Pembroke School had already begun, approved not by councillors but an overwhelmingly unelected panel. Whether they had the power to do so is a separate matter of debate.
However, the college’s Pembroke campus was, ostensibly, a large part of the same case for the sixth form collaboration to be built between the council and the college in Haverfordwest – if the Pembroke campus went ahead the college would lose hundreds of its pupils, which would be balanced by the extra pupils coming in from the closure of both Haverfordwest sixth forms.
Meanwhile, councillors at the same meeting were recommended to approve a formal consultation be undertaken to close school Fishguard and St. David’s school sixth forms, with post-16 provision for both at the Haverfordwest sixth form centre – further plugging the hole created by the opening of the Pembroke campus.
It led to Cllr. Mike Stoddart proposing an amendment which, instead of committing the council to the college sixth form collaboration for St. David’s and Fishguard pupils, a further determination over their post-16 education would be made following further consultation.
His argument was that, if the council consulted on plans for St. David’s and Fishguard pupils to go to a new sixth form campus in Haverfordwest, if it was approved the council would effectively be bound to close down both Haverfordwest school sixth forms and send pupils there, leaving little option to consider providing a school-based sixth form provision which students and parents clearly desired.
It was defeated by 22 votes to 24, and council subsequently voted to agree to the director’s recommendations and undertake further discussions with the Tasker Milward and Picton trust.
We are nearly up to date, as we arrive at the most recent meeting. The discussions between the council’s officers and the trust were reported to the regular meeting of council, on October 22nd.
The report to members discussed the merits of the proposals – noting that there would be “no proposal that satisfied all stated preferences” – but didn’t really address the trust’s previous contentions that the council had ignored the law rendering the whole process legally defective, only stating “the scheme requires due process to be followed that in itself could deny the potential to develop a proposal on the Tasker Milward site.”
The council meeting resulted in the acting education director being given approval to go out to statutory consultation on discontinuing Sir Thomas Picton and Tasker Milward schools, create a new English medium secondary school in an unspecified location in Haverfordwest, and provide post-16 education for the schools’ pupils at the new college sixth form centre.
The results of this will not now be considered following the announcement that tomorrow’s meeting councillors will be asked to scrap the current statutory consultation and start a new one, due to the fact that it could be legally challengeable.
Details are sketchy about the legal challengeability, as the meeting’s agenda makes no further reference than the press release.
The proposals which councillors are recommended to put out to statutory consultation tomorrow are thought to be the same, but with a little something to appease those opposed to the removal of school-based sixth form from Haverfordwest.
The sixth form centre proposal now has tacked onto it the words: “with some accommodation co-located on the site of the 11-16 school” – however, objectors shouldn’t get too excited as this is thought to refer to nothing more than a common room.
I’m sure there’ll be many Haverfordwest pupils and parents proud of the trust for refusing to be bullied when they knew they were right.
And now we find ourselves doing exactly what the charity’s chairman suggested – but six months later.
Of course, whether the trust’s intervention will make a difference to the outcome is another matter – the council’s policy on education provision is in the hands of elected councillors, not officers or the trustees.
Nevertheless, depending on which way things go, future generations may revisit the 1980 Christmas number one, which includes the verse:
And one day when we’re older,
We’ll look back and say:
“There’s no one quite like Grandma,
She has helped us on our way!”
As for who grandma is in this sorry saga, that’s anybody’s guess…
❏Tomorrow’s council meeting will be webcast from 10am at the following link.
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I think you will find that the trustees of the charity are very much in charge, as they are legally bound, by statute, to maintain the assets of the trust for the stated aims of the trust.
Given that PCC are not the legal owners, does this bring into question the competence of the legal services department of PCC, as well as the head of education, as surely the ownership of the proposed site should have been ascertained prior to such proposals being pursued?
Also, given that substantial costs no doubt have been expended in getting us this far, who is responsible? But, I suppose it will not be long before we get the old head of education back when we become Dyfed again.
And I thought I had given up reading fiction…
When pressed by, I think, Cllr Paul Miller during a distant webcast, I seem to recall hearing the Leader say that 21st century schools funding for a new Pembroke School, contingent upon north of the county schools giving up their sixth form provision, was agreed as far back as 2009. This would suggest a truly forward thinking cabinet, with great vision for what is best for Pembrokeshire education.
Kate Evan-Hughes and her team would have done well to talk and listen to folk like Mr Peter Lewis and Mr Maurice Hughes before formally embarking on these exercises!
After THREE consultation exercises, everyone should be VERY fit-to drop! She does not appear to have had an inkling of the strength of opposition amongst many, especially sixth form pupils from Haverfordwest, for the removal of sixth form provision, or at least, choice in that.
The recent inclement cold weather has been a rude awakening that winter is almost upon us. Discontent is gathering, and must affect the mood in the chamber, surely, somewhat already rankled before this extraordinary meeting. (I’d consider taking a sturdy umbrella to deflect whatever the county might throw at the cabinet tomorrow). How can the Alison sLeaze story not detract from the seriousness of the debate?
I hope the legal team have cobbled together a really good explanation, and that everyone has a good night’s sleep tonight so they might have a reasonable chance of understanding the misunderstandings.
And with that wishful thinking, plus relief that I didn’t waste too much time engaging in the suspect consultations thus far, a sincere expression of regret that I shan’t be able to follow the extraordinary proceedings tomorrow. And so, to set the scene for the proceedings, with apologies to my English teachers over the years, a rushed attempt to lighten our heavy hearts:
Surely questions have to be asked about the director of education’s position.
“External solicitors acting for the Council have unhelpfully written to the Trustees to say that no discussions can take place until September.”
Wonder what their fee was?
Methinks PCC legal team is all at sea.
Good to see a few grammar school old boys widdling in the council’s whiskey though.
Billy Thomas must be laughing in his grave and composing a witty ditty in Latin right now.
So, watching the meeting it became apparent that the council’s chairman, CEO and legal officer are all unaware of the council’s correct procedure for dealing with amendments to motions.
I wonder what will be built within the allowable deadline for spending the money and what options will be sidelined due to time constraints in building the business case.
Does the time constraint apply to any necessary works at the college, or are these exempt?
Watched the final half hour of the debate today.
I missed the presentation but watched the debate long enough to doubt whether the legal section is fit for purpose, to discover that the Chief Executive doesn’t seem to know the rules of debate and the Chairman is easily confused.
God help us all…bring back Dyfed, they can’t be any worse…or can they?
With regard to the proposal to transfer Solva to the Church of Wales as a VA school, I am sure that the proposals made were not in the consultation and require fresh consultation.
As the Council’s mighty legal brain doesn’t seem to have read the relevant statutory guidance, I have.
Here is what it says:
“Modifications CAN ONLY include changes to matters related to implementation such as changes to admission numbers or to the timing of implementation. The local authority MUST NOT make modifications that would, in effect, substitute a new proposal for the proposal which was published.”
I do believe this isn’t the first time that PCC legal has tried to sell a school they don’t own. Learning difficulties perhaps?
The argument for sixth form centres based on colleges versus schools is one going on all over the country. Colleges are invariably cheaper, look at how they employ staff – schools employ qualified teachers engaged in a long term career, and teaching A level is valued.
The council will prefer college based options simply because it’s cheaper – that is the bottom line.
North Pembrokeshire though has small schools by today’s-standards, therein lies the dilemma.
The council finds itself in this position because it didn’t get it right, again. The officers and cabinet members are in cahoots on this and it’s not for the betterment of the children they represent. Whilst decisions made by the 21st Century Schools panel with no legal recourse to start building the Pembroke Campus are high profile, the accountability must lie with the chairman of that committee.
Ivor Whistle discusses the competence of the Legal Services department of PCC, as well as the Acting Head of Education – rest assured that in the private sector their services would have come to an end a long while ago.
The college’s involvement in this process (a charity, remember) is also questionable as rumours abound of their impending financial difficulties. Pembrokeshire seems to be the only further education college in Wales who haven’t published last year’s A Level results and the cynics may well be adding 2 and 2 together and making 4 with the presumption they didn’t match up to the two Haverfordwest schools whose sixth forms are intended to be closed down.
From 2009, a number of our elected councillors have sought to see through educational change without a clear vision, understanding or development plan.
Cllr. Vivien Stoddart introduced a motion after the Hakin/Hubberston saga in May 2014 which thankfully put big educational proposals before full council, although many of those councillors have ignored the weight of feeling for an 11-19 school in Haverfordwest.
Unlike Gwylan, many people it seems have spent hours at meetings and submitting their views on the ditched consultations and none of the previously submitted views will be allowed in the new consultation. The cynics amongst you are again getting the abacus out to add 2 and 2.
A pragmatic development from the failed consultations would be to offer a specific proposal which the trustees, parents and children of Haverfordwest have requested – an 11-19 school. There would be no further delay as all aforementioned parties would fully support this transformational change, although the officers may have some work to do to present a business case if they haven’t got a contingency in place already.
There hasn’t been an answer to Cllr. David Simpson’s question asking who authored the report leading the business case to support the sixth form centre, but knowing the history of this council leaves me with no doubt from where it came.
The Pembroke Learning Campus is an obstacle which may have to be addressed, but the college have become game changers over the St David’s peninsula recommendation and they may well be persuaded to do so over the Pembroke development also.
At the last count over £5.4 million was outstanding on the two Haverfordwest schools for repairs and maintenance. That is a significant sum which will have to be invested in retaining the status quo if these proposals don’t run smoothly. With the return of Dyfed looming, is Cllr. Adams aware of some behind closed doors manoeuvring which could see the current STP site earmarked as the Dyfed HQ hence his U-turn that Tasker Milward is the preferred site?
The corridors of the legal department should be awash with concern as to the validity of the claims posted here by Dimly Fiendish and Timetraveller, with regard to the legality of Solva becoming a VA school.
Strong leadership and good teaching is required, not only to our students but also unfortunately to our educational and legal officers as well as IPPG members. There is undoubtedly a place for Pembrokeshire College on the 16-19 agenda, with their board of governors acutely aware of what they can offer.
Cllrs. Michael John and Jamie Adams called for compromise to avoid a debacle which could see no change. It needs a respected independent chairman (Vivien Stoddart?) to add vigour and purpose within a short time scale to this process. The earliest the council can offer a proposal for consultation on educational change in mid Pembrokeshire in my reckoning would be 3/1/16, although any fall back on the St David’s VA recommendation would alter that for the worse.
The silence of many councillors for Haverfordwest and surrounding areas on Thursday was surprising and disappointing. I would be urging any councillor who have previously declared prejudicial interests to follow the lead of Cllr. Tom Tudor at a previous meeting and vote on the forthcoming proposals. Let the Ombudsman deal with it after. At least our children will remain proud of their actions, their parents’ support and the trustees in stopping Big Brother bullying them into submission.
Cllr Adams was forthcoming in his statement that he was an LEA governor at Roch School. Research shows he has also been active in such a role at Tasker Milward. Those with the abacuses out may well be wondering if there is any correlation between his resignation as a Tasker Milward governor and the school’s fall from grace within Estyn and the rumblings of a proposed sixth form centre.
The analogy made by Cllr. Adams to snakes and ladders is not lost on everybody and the quicker those councillors elected to post realise this the quicker a pathway of development can be obtained. Brian alludes to Billy Thomas who must be laughing in his grave and composing a witty ditty in Latin right now. This unfortunately is not a laughing matter.
Timetraveller, I think you hit the nail on the head there. Pembrokeshire College had something of a reputation for being a nest of vipers.
Apart from a favoured (well paid) few, much hiring and firing was done on short term contracts to meet requirements that were flavour of the month. Hence the proliferation of courses in ‘tree climbing and animal noises’ taught by people who could bullshit that they knew something about it
Courses ran on the basis of whether they thought they might fill them. Bums on seats generates revenue even if the knowledge imparted to students is of use or not.
I would fear a step diluting the quality of teaching at A level standard for proper subjects.
With the council looking for suggestions to save cash, having watched the Muppet Show at the Kremlin yesterday it would seem that we can do without the services of certain senior officers.
It seems there is a lot of wasted money on preparing documents that they would have realised was a non-starter if they had listened to people who know.
As a parent of a child in STP (and one who has passed through there and Pembrokeshire College) it is becoming more apparent that standards of teaching have diminished in the past few years.
The prime mover for ‘education’ in Pembrokeshire is certainly driven by pound notes! Courses run at Pembrokeshire College are driven by ‘bums on seats’ to provide funding for PCC. The same is dictated to by WAG.
The pursuit of ‘ticks in boxes’ is delivering to the county a generation of youngsters who have been failed by the system. By all means go and fail your own system, but don’t impose it on our youth.
In an ideal world we would educate our youth, not just the top 10% to make us look good. It’s about time someone looked at the whole picture, and used ‘joined up thinking’.
I’m afraid though, that anyone in a position of power is unable to do this, as they are only looking after number one. And we all know that after number ones come number twos…
Faux Espoir, a very good piece. Thank you.
In case anyone is interested the WT is letting people comment on Jamie Adams’ eternal quest. Have a free shot here, get in quick as these tend to disappear sooner rather than later: http://www.westerntelegraph.co.uk/news/14108903.5__rise_in_Council_Tax__Paying_more_for_school_dinners__How_should_council_save___40M_/
Faux Espoir raises a good point about the number of Haverfordwest councillors who were either silenced, or silent, during the debate.
With regard to prejudicial interests, I did raise this issue at the meeting in January when these reorganisation proposals were first debated (3.50 mins et seq).
You will notice that the Monitoring Officer concentrated his replies around the definition of “close personal relationships”, though, as I pointed out, nobody was disputing that Cllr David Bryan had a close personal relationship with his wife, or Cllr Rob Summons with his employer – fellow councillor Mark Edwards.
In the case of Cllr Summons we have the bizarre situation that he is deemed to have a prejudicial interest while the person through whom the interest flows (Cllr Mark Edwards) has a mere personal interest which allows him to speak and vote.
Of course you may wonder why these two members should so easily surrender their right, duty even, to represent their constituents on such an important matter.
As for the rest of us we have been denied the chance to see which way they would jump when faced with the choice between following their constituents’ wishes and those of the Leader.
However, the Code also requires that a decision on the matter under consideration should affect “the financial position or wellbeing” of either the member, or someone with whom they have a close personal relationship.
As school governorships are unpaid, it is difficult to see how either Cllr Bryan or Cllr Summons came within the provisions of the Code.
Unfortunately, I was unable to pursue this crucially important matter to its conclusion because the chairman and Leader both wanted to move progress.
Educational changes will always be controversial but there is no doubt that county council secrecy at the very start of this process has engendered deep mistrust, which will be very hard to dispel.
Poor leadership and even poorer legal advice has made things worse.
What has to be acknowledged though, is that the drift towards more A level students at the college is already in progress.
The college has double the amount of A level students this year than they anticipated. So while some students vocally support their schools retaining their sixth forms many others are quietly voting with their feet.
At long last this council may be engaging in real debate. It is very easy for the director of education to say that she is putting pupils first, any preference for Pembrokeshire College would suggest otherwise. This is PCC’s administration and costs always come first, unless councillors determine otherwise.
In some areas these are matters of cooperation, colleges teach vocational subjects and schools teach A level. I’ve known colleges/sixth form centres to pack 30 or more into an A level class, plenty of room for any stragglers to hide in the corners – they don’t necessarily fail, as realising the inevitable, they drop out and do something else.
Many schools are uncomfortable if such classes go beyond 15 or 20, although the obvious financial pressures are on. If we accept one of these lower numbers as a limit, even the smaller schools in the north of the county can possibly find a quorum for the more popular subjects (and economically justify retaining a sixth form.) The bigger Haverfordwest school(s) could offer a fuller range for less popular A levels, bussing (taxi) in pupils from other schools.
This is dearer and councillors will have to be realistic about voting for it and not the usual gerrymandering of finances the authority engage in. However it is affordable.
I am sure that quite a few IPPG members would benefit from a good education, but then they would have no trouble voting themselves whatever resources they felt they needed, perhaps they should do the same for our A level students.
Mike raises a crucial point about the former monitoring officer’s advice regarding the ability of Haverfordwest county councillors to participate and/or vote in the debate about the future education in the town. I suspect that the citizens of Haverfordwest, for one personal/prejudicial interest or another, have been denied representation by an official ruling.
Does any dispensation, ruling, or appeal have to go through the Standards Committee, or does a “contentious legal decision”, to use the WAO’s phrase, rest solely with the monitoring officer?
It would be helpful to have full disclosure of the reasons why our councillors have been dissuaded from participating. We could then judge whether their narrow personal reasons outweigh the wider public interest of them representing us.
I have just sought the view of the Ombudsman about the validity of these rulings when set against the wider public interest.
Pembrokeshire County Council do not even know who owns the freehold of land/buildings of schools that they administer. When challenged they seem to have to seek, yet again, external legal advice. Can anyone explain why?
As someone who has spent a lifetime in education I profess to having the welfare of animals at heart. Would any farmer, on the county council, having a herd of pedigree animals allow me to determine/dictate what is best for their animals?
Parents in England have the right to apply to establish “Academies” (schools which operate outside of the control of the local authority). Is it not time that Pembrokeshire parents enjoyed the same right?
The 1944 Education Act established the right of every child to receive an education suitable to his age aptitude and ability – it was one of the greatest pieces of legislation passed. Political interference in the intervening years has ruined an educational system that was the envy of the world.
Control of education must taken away from those who profess to have the interest of the pupil at heart and be returned to the educational professional who does have the best interest of the pupil at heart.
Pembs Exile, I was born on 1 Feb 1940, so when I started school just after Easter 1945 I became one of the first batch of children to be wholly educated under the 1944 Act.
Even after so much time, I still marvel at my good fortune to have been born in a country that could find time to pass such an enlightened piece of legislation while still engaged in an existential struggle with the Nazis.
Jacob, please don’t give up your role as a councillor to become a DJ after your choice of song. I’m leaning towards ‘(Something Inside) So Strong’, the lyrics certainly hit the nail on the head in relation to the Kremlin dictatorship.
Farmer Adams is committed to hosting an open forum on the establishment of a sixth form, inviting in other authorities who have experience of running such education. My conclusion is it would have to be at an outdoor venue, probably the county showground as those wanting a free ticket may well outnumber any attending a meeting hosted by the famed politician Desmond Donnelly.
I can see the venue awash with vigilantes, the tarmac a pulpit for some divine intervention from Maenclochog and the heavies deployed by Snoopdog Summons unable to silence the assembled throng from lynching the farmer and his cronies although the Deputy Dawg Rob ‘ICT’ Lewis will be on patrol.
Previously the college has been very quick to shout out its A level successes. Its reticence now can’t be accidental.
More people doing A levels at the college only has meaning if fewer are doing them elsewhere. And are they people who are best suited to A level or encouraged on to them for reasons of funding?
I overheard a college student talking about their photography A level. Sitting around for days, then a couple of hours in the dark room. Much more fun than being expected to work at school. That surely is the issue.
Using/sharing college facilities could make some sense and part of the answer may well be collaboration, but who will manage and importantly evaluate the centre?
Qualified educationalists who see the value of regular and sufficient structured class contact to guide learning? Or highly paid business managers who see only the potential for occasional class contact supplemented by self learning activities to improve the bottom line in the short term not to impair learning outcomes in the longer?
On learning outcomes it would be instructive to see some research as to where people go afterwards, which provides the route to rigorous degree programmes at the better universities, and which to the different, perhaps softer, options at the old polytechnics.
In truth both routes may be equally valid relating to the individual. And that is why choice, the choice of school or college, is important.
Clive Davies, this excellent website gives you detailed analysis of the performance of our schools:
http://mylocalschool.wales.gov.uk/
Unfortunately the A level performance of FE colleges falls outside its remit so, conveniently, you can’t benchmark.
I have tried to ignore Faux Espoir’s presumption that Gwylan did not attend meetings or participate in consultations, but I feel bound to respond!
Just to illustrate that even a “very good piece” can add 2+2 and err…Gwylan attended meetings and responded to two other education consultations not on Faux Espoir’s patch, amongst a raft of other meetings which presumably did not concern the understandably concerned Faux Espoir.
As asserted in the previous post, Gwylan did not submit a written response to the Haverfordwest consultation, but left this to the obviously better informed parents, governors, pupils, trustees from that area, plus any other interested parties with ink left in their cartridges…whilst following with interest and empathy in some instances, the concerns of the directly affected parties.
There’s enough sniping amongst the 60 we pay to represent us, without carelessly/unjustly adding to it. Having watched the webcast retrospectively, considerably less than half of these contributed. Assuming that the remainder’s silence was a requirement from “above”, or a requirement due to conflicts of interest, might be overgenerous.
As Tessa Hodgson has previously posted, many have yet to make any significant contribution to debate in the chamber, and appear to be confined to limply raising an arm when the strings are pulled. The fact that they are housed in a very fine building has done little to raise the tenor…strong leadership and great teaching is critical before the shrunk shanks of key stage 6.
In these dire circumstances, I urge those who like to indulge in conjecture e.g. the relationship between Taskers, Estyn and Cllr Adams; reasons for delay in publishing college “A” level results; rumours about college financial problems, to be charitable and allow a little humour (don’t be silenced, Brian!) to balance the absurdity of this latest situation.
Well conceived “comedy” is cathartic and can be very effective against hypocrisy and pompous rhetoric. A serious situation? Without question – but if an 11-19 option with supporting business case could be made, then we might yet have the makings of a comedy of errors, with an outcome acceptable to most.
Moving on to the next consultation…my first suggestion for authority savings might involve a discussion of the merits of totally outsourcing legal representation. We are surely half way there already!
I see from the six-monthly return of contracts, just reported to Cabinet, that a contract from the National Procurement Legal Services Framework, has been let.
This is to be provided by 14 firms of solicitors, for £900,000 over the period 1 September 2015 to 31 August 2018.
I expect that the final bill will be dependent on actual workload. Plus of course QC opinion costs.
Gwylan, I have never intended to dismiss anyone’s viewpoint and the analogy made was solely to highlight the fact that the council was ready to ignore all the replies previously submitted.
The consultation papers received by councillors and officers on the education reform in mid Pembrokeshire had responses which ran into reams, with over 90% favouring an 11-19 school, so it’s little wonder the Director with responsibility for this service area is on leave of absence.
A rhetorical question to be digested for the entire website readers: will any of those councillors unable to speak and/or vote on this contentious yet important proposal do so at the next opportunity? If not they must be questioned as to why not? If a cabinet member gets suspended for just two weeks for falling foul of the Ombudsman for coordinating the IPPG strategy at elections using council equipment, then any councillors speaking ad voting on this having declared an interest should get just an hour’s detention.
The news from the cabinet this week sees them saving £83k by getting householders to pay for their black bags. A budget driven decision one would imagine but then in the same meeting they supported a community interest company led by Labour group leader Cllr. Paul Miller with £250k.
This does confirm the lunatics are running the asylum although the abacus is out again counting the number of Labour leaning councillors who sit on the cabinet.
John Hudson informs us that the county council has budgeted almost £1 million for outside legal services for the financial year when we have a legal department with highly paid solicitors who should be more than capable of giving such a service.
At the same time the same council is trying to save £1.60 a household each year by not providing black bags for rubbish leaving householders to buy their own.
There were wiser people in Bedlam.
If this were a ‘business’, the vested interest so-called ‘legal department’ would be dissolved and proper advice bought in.
I would suggest that the cost savings would exceed the cost, as it appears that many of the failings of this council, over the past years, have ‘legality’ at their heart.
I note the concern about the £250,000 for Neyland community interest company. It’s a lot of money but it is match funding for other grants the company hopes to raise.
As an outsider this project looks like a fantastic step forward for the people of Neyland who need community facilities like this. If a council doesn’t work for the benefit of the community – why is it there?
Phil, a point I’m sure, not lost on the community of Hubberston.
I am hopeful the Neyland community interest company goes well but am a little dubious about this current fad for CICs sweeping the land.
Seems to be a method for local authorities to walk away from existing responsibilities leaving (cheaper) mechanisms in place that still oversee the expenditure of public funds but with highly variable standards of governance.
I predict a wave of high profile scandals to follow in the next few years with politicians just standing on the sidelines tutting like the rest of us.
I note you mention that Cllr Tudor voted on the matter, despite being advised not to. The decision on whether to vote or not is down to the individual councillor, which, in this case, was eventually backed up by the decision of the ombudsman following an investigation, after Cllrs Adams and Pepper complained to him. Cllr Adams has some front, fair dos.
I thought, having followed the antics of local politicians in both your and that other column, that the twisted culture of the Kremlin-on-Cleddau had simply arisen following the troublesome birth of the IPG.
It now appears to me, following research into a separate topic, that it goes back to at least 1958, is well illustrated in an official parliamentary report (“Hansard”).
During the passage of the Milford Haven Conservancy Bill in the House of Lords, a speech in Committee by Lord Ogmore (25th March) revealed his unease at the likely impact upon the south of the county as a result of the bulk transport of oil to Milford Haven.
He related that he had been contacted by the then Chairman of Pembrokeshire County Council, following interviews he had given to both the “Western Mail” and the “South Wales Echo” in the autumn of the previous year.
He had suggested in their columns, that the Minister for Welsh Affairs should issue a White Paper before allowing the port’s huge development to go ahead in order to explain: “to the people exactly what it was about and how it would affect them”, to “avoid misunderstanding and bitterness”.
Ogmore, who was actually in favour of the development, then spoke of his subsequent contact by the Chairman of the County Council, “a local tradesman”, who “took him seriously to task”.
This individual, in an attempt to silence the meddlesome peer, stressed “there was no need for any such disclosure to the public; that the scheme would be of great benefit to Milford Haven (particularly to the tradesmen); that all the sellers of the land were only too willing to sell; and that, furthermore, the community was not Welsh-speaking”.
Having listened to this list of objections, especially the final one, he concluded: “in other words, as the tradesmen and owners of land in Milford Haven were satisfied, why should anybody else bother his head about it?”
Much troubled, he demanded to know in his peroration: “who was looking after the interests of beauty, of the countryside and of posterity—evidently not the Pembrokeshire County Council”.
Plus ça change, c’est la même chose, eh?