04 October 2002
Improve transport, councils warned
The government could penalise councils that do not spend funds to improve local transport systems, Alistair Darling has warned.
During a more relaxed session, billed as 'The Fireside Chat', the transport secretary said cash not being spent on meeting local transport needs was becoming a particular problem.
Darling told delegates that he was considering rewarding councils that did improve transport. 'Those councils performing very badly simply won't get the money,' he warned.
He said the government needed to send a strong message to failing authorities. The move, if agreed, would take effect in the next spending round.
Prescott moots 'right to buy' reform
A Housing Bill to reform the right to buy and to crack down on rogue landlords could be announced by the end of this year.
During his speech at the Labour conference, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott conceded that the right to buy continued to undermine social housing in areas of 'designated housing crisis'.
'Where the right to buy undermines the right to live in decent conditions, it would be irresponsible not to act,' he said on September 30. It is likely that areas such as the Southeast will be exempted from the scheme.
Prescott is also understood to be considering some form of list or licensing system for landlords in an attempt to stem the growth in housing benefit fraud.
Sources told Public Finance that the bill is expected in December. Prescott will follow this with a 'vision statement' in January that will set out funding from the Spending Review and further moves to reform the planning system.
Prescott also announced that the new housing inspectorate will combine inspections for both council and housing associations under the auspices of the Audit Commission.
Morris promises shake-up for schools
Estelle Morris signalled yet more upheaval for education this week with an end to the 'one size fits all' approach and the extension of specialist schools to meet 'individual pupil needs'.
In a speech on October 2, strongly echoing that of Tony Blair the previous day, the education secretary said the comprehensive system had failed to deliver 'everything I wanted'.
She went on: 'It hasn't achieved all that we campaigned for. I thought it would break the link between poverty and achievement. It hasn't.'
She told delegates in Blackpool that the 'courage to reform' was needed. 'New Labour is doing a lot. Bold Labour is doing even more.' Morris said it was now a 'post-comprehensive era' and over time every school will become a specialist school to develop 'centres of excellence'.
More schools will be given advanced status to lead others. There would also be an increase in city academies as a new model of school that had 'succeeded where everything else had failed'.
She reiterated her push for teaching assistants to do more in the classroom, but was reminded by Unison of the dangers of a two-tier workforce for school support staff. The union called for holiday pay and improved conditions for dinner ladies and support staff.
On the same platform, Home Secretary David Blunkett came out fighting against critics of his policy to encourage ethnic minority families to speak English at home. He said it would prevent minorities being 'trapped in the home'.
He also announced a new target for police numbers – 132,500 on the beat by 2004 – and frontline officers to be rewarded with 'priority payments'.
The sex offenders' register will also be tightened. Criminals will have to register annually and there will be frequent checks on their locations.
On asylum, he said he would make the case for 'managed migration', doubling the number of work permits to 175,000. 'We are offering centre-Left solutions, fighting off the threat from the far Right, not occupying their ground,' he told delegates.
See 'Blair offers two-tier reform in return for union co-operation over the PFI
PFoct2002
