David Lepper

Labour Party | Brighton Pavilion

BRIGHTON AND HOVE AND THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT

Recent news about how the city benefits from government policies.
There is a wide range of statistical information about the City on www.citystats.org You can find information about Brighton Pavilion on the Labour Party’s website at www.labour.org.uk David Lepper’s website is at www.epolitix.com/david-lepper
EMPLOYMENT
Local figures for unemployment: (Measured by those claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance. August figures are the latest available)
 Brighton Pavilion Brighton Kemptown Hove City total
May 1997 4816 3733 3814    11,967
August 2007  1765 1677 1467    4,909

Unemployment has been cut by 62.1 % in Brighton Pavilion since August 1997

The UK employment rate is at its highest ever – just under 29m or 74.6% of the workforce - the highest among the G7 countries.

COMMUNITY ACTIVITY AND SPORT
The Department for Communities and Local Government will be working with the Tarner and Eastern Road Neighbourhood Management Partnership (part of which covers the current Pavilion) as part of a 3 month trial programme unto March 2008 to develop local charters setting out service standards and priorities for action as well as  community obligations and to help empower communities and make public services more resp0onsive to local needs. 

CRIME

A report from Sussex Police to the City Council’s Public Safety Forum for the period April–October 2007 showed the overall level of crime in the city down 15% on the same period last year. ( 17,135 recorded incidents compared to 20,151.) The biggest single decrease is in thefts from cars down by 26.6% (757 incidents compared to 1,032.)
Thefts from people of mobile phones, bags etc is down 23%;
 criminal damage is down 16.8%;
 vehicle theft down 14.5%;
cycle theft down 16%.

Supt. Graham Bartlett is quoted by the Argus as saying “Violent crime is down because we have been able to work with licensees who have taken more responsibility for their customers since the new drinking laws.” (03.12.07)

EDUCATION

Figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families released in November 2007 show funding per pupil in real terms in Brighton and Hove between 1997 and 2005 increased by 34% (£1100 per pupil).

With the introduction of the Dedicated School Grant  in 2005 funding on schools in Brighton and Hove rose by 6% per pupil in real terms between 2005 and 2007. (£238)

Over the period 2008-2011 guaranteed funding per pupil is set to rise 12.4% from £3936 in 2007 to £4424 in 2010).

ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND FUEL PEOVERTY

The City Council has been awarded “151,800 from the governmnets Community Energy Efficiency Fund Inititaive to finanace the initial stages of developing and launching an enhanced energy efficiency/ fuel poverty scheme to be run jointly with Climate Energy and EDF.

HEALTH

Revenue funding for Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust for 2007-2008 will increase by £20.9 million to £403 million.

Figures for 17th Sept 2007 – 21st Oct show 99.7% of patients coming to Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust A and E departments were seen within the government’s 4 hour period. From January – the end of October 2007 the average was 97.36% of patients.

TRANSPORT

Transport Minister Rosie Winterton speaking at a conference in Birmingham praised Brighton and Hove’s role as one of the 6 “cycling demonstration towns” receiving 3 year funding of £1.5 million from the government for cycling initiatives. She said “Brighton has proved itself a pioneer in cycling promotion, providing an example for other local authorities to follow.” She cited the City’s green travel plans as leading to 500,000 fewer car trips in 2006. and said “This can only help ease congestion locally as well as improving air quality , health and fitness.” Dec 2007)

NEWS FROM THE PAST 12 MONTHS
COMMUNITY ACTIVITY AND SPORT
The Football Foundation has awarded a grant of £250,000 to Brighton and Hove Albion to start a family learning project called Family Matters – Learning Through Sport. The Football Foundation is funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, the FA and the Premier League.
The Department for Education and Skills has allocated £525,460 to Brighton and Hove from the Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds worth £15 million nationally. The Funds, administered by the Council, aim “to give young people control and influence over activities and facilities in their neighbourhood. Through them, young people will have a central role as decision makers and grant givers; project leaders and participants.”  
Adventure Unlimited based in Edward Street received £148,835 from the Big Lottery Fund to develop its project to enable more disadvantaged children to attend outdoor educational training courses and to train 12 unemployed adults per year as qualified instructors. The grant runs for three years from May 2005.
CRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY
Figures now released for 2005 show Sussex Police carried out more drug raids than any police force except the Met and West Midlands. The number of raids in 2005 was 7,176 compared to 2,520 in 1996. Detective Chief Inspector Jones of the Major Crimes Branch of Sussex Police said, “I don’t think this is a case of streets being flooded with drugs but of us dealing more proactively with them. Sussex Police in Brighton link their drugs operations to the decline in burglaries in the city over the last two years.(Nov2007)

The Home Office has awarded £20,000 from the Victims Fund for Hate Crime and homicide to Brighton and Hove’s Partnership Community Safety Team to develop support for victims of hate crime related to race, religion, homophobia, transphobia and disability.

A survey by the Endsleigh insurance company shows Brighton and Hove with the 6th lowest burglary rate in the country. In the last year burglaries have fallen by 29% % and by over 50% in the last 5 years. Across Sussex there has been a 55% drop in burglaries since 1997. Sussex Police attribute the decline to Operation Reduction which targets drug-dealing and aims at getting class A drug users into treatment. (June 07)
                                                                                                                                                                 In February 2005 Brighton and Hove became a Home Office “Together” Trailblazer area running the “It’s your call” scheme, making it easier for people to report anti-social behaviour through a single actionline 0845 605 2222.
                                                         
Useful contacts

Brighton and Hove Partnership Community Safety Team’s headquarters is at 162 North Street – phone 291099. There’s more information on their website www.safeinthecity.net . Funding comes from the Council, Sussex Police and a range of Labour government initiatives including the Home Office Anti-Social Behaviour Unit, Building Safer Communities, Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, the Children’s Fund, Single Regeneration Budget.

The national Domestic Violence Helpline is funded by the Labour government and Comic Relief and provided by Refuge and Women’s Aid. The number is 0808 2000 247.   
                                                     
Southern Crimestoppers Rat on a Rat campaign encourages people to provide information about drug-dealing on an anonymous phone line. 0800 555 111.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency Hotline for reporting road tax dodgers 08000 325 202.
Consumer Direct South East is a Department of Trade and Industry funded scheme offering a consumers advice line to people who feel they have been conned when buying goods and services - ring 08454 040506
THE ECONOMY AND REGENERATION

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears MP announced approval for Brighton and Hove Albion’s application for a Community Stadium at Falmer on 24th July.

The South East England Development Agency has agreed to earmark £23m of government funding for the redevelopment of the Brighton Centre and for the transport infrastructure for the Stadium. Pam Alexander, Chief Executive of SEEDA, said, “ Our support for the Community Stadium in East Brighton….will not only have significant benefits for the local community in terms of infrastructure but will also help to open up other opportunities for investment which will themselves generate further jobs in an area of serious disadvantage, and a gateway to Brighton and Hove.”

Eurostat – the official statistical off ice of the EU - ranks Sussex as 86th most prosperous of the 214 EU Regions. In 1997 Sussex ranked 126th. (June 07)

Across the South East region since 1997 the number of children in relative poverty after housing costs have been taken into account has fallen by 80,000. The number of pensioners helped out of relative poverty after taking housing costs into account is 70,000.
 
“Sussex has outperformed the national economy every year since 1992…it’s true we have Gordon Brown to thank for much of this growth but it’s also down to businesses becoming more efficient.” Mark Froud Chief Executive of Sussex Enterprise, “State of the Nation” event, Hotel Metropole, Brighton 10th
January 2007).

The Labour Government’s Local Authority Business Growth Scheme has awarded £636,000 to Brighton and Hove to help build partnerships with local business and promote long term economic sustainability. (March 07) 
                                         
The Brighton and Hove Arts Commission’s “Making a Difference” project, funded by £750,000 from the Governmnet’s Urban Cultural Programme reports that it has involved 13,000 local residents, brought environmental improvements and new opportunities for employment and training, boosting artists’ earnings by £500,000 (Feb 07)

Plans have been unveiled for a £10m revamp of the Open Market as part of the work being carried out by the City Council and the market traders with funding from the Brighton and Hove and Adur Area Investment Framework planning to regenerate London Road. The scheme was one of those studied by Barry Quirk, Chief Executive of Lewisham Council, for his report on community management and ownership of assets commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

The Business Improvement District in the Lanes and the North Laine (set up under a procedure traders can use as part of the 2003 Local Government Act ) is now employing its own security staff using headset video cameras to combat illegal trading, begging, drug abuse and deal with general public safety issues. This is in conjunction with the award winning Brighton Business Forum Crime Reduction Partnership. Andrew Fisher, BID Board Chair said, “ BIDS in other cities have had a real impact on trading… and reducing anti-social behaviour. This is exactly the outcome we hope to achieve in the Brighton BID area. Our patrol officers are ensuring a safer, cleaner, trading district and this can only be a good thing for businesses and visitors alike.”  (Feb 07). (Nationally I chaired the steering committee for the first 20 pilot BIDs.)
                                                       
Brighton and Hove receives further Neighbourhood Renewal Funding for 2006/7 –2007/8 of nearly £4m in total with funding from the Neighbourhood element of the Safer and Stronger Communities Fund. This is targeted at areas with high levels of deprivation. Tarner is one area which will benefit. (Autumn 2005)

EDUCATION

The following City schools were listed as “outstanding” in the Ofsted Report for 2006/07 by the Chief Inspector for Education –

Balfour Infants and Balfour Juniors
Downs Infants
Hillside Special School
St Luke’s Infants
Stanford Infants
St Andrews
Tarnerland Nursery
Woodingdean Primary
One World Nursery
Oak Cottage Nursery

In this summer’s GCSEs the first Patcham High student to take GCSE Latin achieved grade A. 

The Chancellor’s Pre-Budget Statement included nearly £43m for Brighton and Hove Schools from a national fund for refurbishing or building new primary schools, the extended schools programme.

The new Children’s Centre at Rudyard Kipling School Woodingdean was opened on 22nd June. This is the first of 3 new Children’s centres – the others will be at Carden Primary School, Patcham and Goldstone School, Hove.

The Young Peoples Centre in Ship Street received £9,000 for redecoration and new furniture from the Youth Opportunities Fund. (Summer 07)

Carlton Hill School has gained the Basic Skills Agency’s Primary Quality Mark. (summer 07)

Varndean School earned a “Good” in its Ofsted Report and was described as “a vibrant learning community, eager to embrace change and innovation to reach its goals.” (Summer 07)

Stanford Infants School earned an “Outstanding” in its Ofsted Report with “Excellent Leadership and management.” (Summer 07)

Dorothy Stringer High School and Balfour Juniors have been awarded the Arts Council’s Gold Artsmark Award. DSHS has also been awarded £5,843 from the Football Foundation to start the Football Development project and develop female involvement in football. (Summer 07)

Dorothy Stringer High School has once again been designated as a Sports School under the government’s Specialist Schools programme. Specialist Schools have a commitment to collaborate and share best practice with other schools and the wider community. (May 2007)

The government has been targeting school truancy and Brighton and Hove is one of 4 areas where school attendance rates improved last year. Significant improvement was made by St Joseph’s Roman Catholic Primary School in Hollingdean.  (Feb 07)

Brighton and Hove receive just over £21,000 from the government Publicising Positive Activities Grant for 2007-2008 to promote up-to-date information locally about activities for young people.
                                                           
Capital Spending on schools since 1997 show increases in funding each year from 1997 when it was £3.9 million. The 2005-06 figure was £5.5 million.
In two years there have been major one-off investments related either to PFI schemes or other targeted projects. (2001-2002 - £29.2 million and 2004-2005 £13.4 million.) 

Brighton and Hove is one of the Pathfinder Areas for giving all junior school children the opportunity to learn a second language by 2010.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The pre-Budget statement for 2006 allocated £6.3 m in England to improve the effectiveness and co-ordination of Warm Front and Energy Efficiency Commitment delivery. From this a Community Energy Efficiency Fund was established to ensure that 300,000 vulnerable households in England were assisted. Brighton and Hove City Council has received funding from this fund to set up and deliver or assist with and expand existing projects in 2007/08.

Figures from the government funded Warm Front Scheme to promote and install energy saving and efficiency resources in homes show for June 2000- June 2007: 

272 households with children aged 0-4 helped
 
367      ..              ..        ..          ..     5-16 helped

393         ..       receiving Disability Living Allowance helped

1259        ..       with someone over 60 helped

£1,517,252 invested by Warm front in either insulation or heating efficiency measures in Brighton and Hove homes.

106 homes since 203 not previously receiving a benefit which entitled them to a Warm Front grant now receiving an average weekly increase in income of £15.88.
ENVIRONMENT
The Royal Pavilion Gardens, Preston Park and Hove Lawns have been awaded Green Flags as part of the Department for Communities and Local Government’s scheme to improve standards in community managed open spaces. The National Audit Office report “Enhancing Urban Green Spaces “shows how nationally urban parks and green spaces have improved dramatically over the last five years. You can find more about the Scheme on www.greenflagaward.org.uk (Aug 07)

As part of the BBC Breathing Places project in partnership with statutory agencies Natural England and the Forestry Commission schools in Brighton and Hove have been awarded funding for environmental projects. Dorothy Stringer High School is planning a £10,000 butterfly haven; the Dharma School in Ladies Mile Road is planning a bamboo garden with fruit trees and woodland plants. In Hollingdean, Hertford Junior School receives £10,000 for tree planting. The school has recently planted 600 trees and 3,000 in total are planned to enclose the hill top site of the school. St Bernadette’s RC Primary will create a walled orchard with a pond and wildlife. Downs Juniors will also develop gardens and wildlife sites. A £9,000 + grant also goes to Stanmer Organics in Stanmer Park. (Summer 07)

Using powers under the Labour Government’s Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005 and funding for advertising from the Government’s Chewing Gum Action Group to combat chewing gum litter in August and September. Penalties can be up to £2,000 but for first time offenders there is the option of a £50-£80 fixed penalty fine.

West Street and Hove Lawns beaches have received the Encams Blue Flag status in recognition of cleanliness and water quality. (May 2007)

A report by the Carbon Trust published at the beginning of June 2007 shows businesses in Brighton and Hove contribute 33% of the city’s CO2 emissions compared to a national average of 40%.

The City Council has launched “Tackling Climate Change Together” – a programme of projects and events to raise local awareness of climate change and providing information to residents about combating it. Included are information for businesses, a Climate Change Ambassadors Scheme for schools and colleges, “beach greenhouse” information points for the summer, a climate change expo, an annual Climate Change Award and Neighbourhood Action on Climate Change. The Council is working with Oliver Heath the governmnet’s climate change champion for the south east. (Jan 07
EQUALITIES
The Chinese Educational Development Project received £156,892 from the Community Fund to help combat disadvantages faced by people of Chinese ethnic origin in the City by accessing education, training and employment opportunities. The grant is to pay for a full-time project worker, production of information etc over 3 years.
HEALTH
The new £36m children’s unit on the Royal Sussex County Hospital site to replace the Royal Alex Children’s Hospital was officially opened by Princess Alexandra on 24th October 2007. The 9 storey building has 100 inpatient beds, 3 operating theatres, diagnostic and treatment facilities including X ray, an intensive care unit, a cancer care day centre, parents’ accommodation, indoor and outdoor play areas.

Sussex Partnership NHS Trust has been assessed as “Good” for both Quality of Service and Use of Resources by the Healthcare Commission for 2006/07.

 “The Inpatient National Patient Survey” for 2006 has been published. (Spring 2007) Patients were asked to rate a number of aspects of their care while in hospital. For the Royal Sussex County Hospital in their overall rating of the care they received:
45% of patients responding to the survey rated the hospital as “Excellent” against a national average of 41%
36% rated it as “Very Good” (nationally 36%)
12% rated it as “Good” (nationally 15%)
4% rated it as “Fair” (nationally 6%)
2%  rated it as “Poor” (2% nationally)

Seaside View, a new centre for child development and disability services, has opened at Brighton General Hospital backed by the South Downs NHS Trust and the City’s Children and Young People’s Trust. This includes staff from the former McKeith centre and community paediatricians from Morley Street Clinic and Conway Court.

MIND in Brighton and Hove received £194,739 grant funding from the Big Lottery Fund over 3 years from 2005-06 to fund a specialist mental health advice and information project to encourage service user involvement and mental health awareness training to local agencies and employers.  

HOUSING
The South East Regional Housing Board recommends that government invest £1.3 billion to create 10,550 affordable home for people on low incomes in the South East Region each year between 2008 -2011
Brighton and Hove City Council’s allocation by the government of funding for private sector housing renewal is £3,227,800 for 2007/08.                                                             
Brighton Housing Trust received a Big Lottery Fund grant of £91,788 over 3 years for a Private Tenant Participation Worker who will match homeless people or those threatened with homelessness and who are not the Council’s responsibility with private landlords.
Brighton and Hove City Council has exceeded government targets 3 years running by bringing 400 empty properties back into use.

INTERNATIONAL LINKS

The Rwandan Youth Information Community Organisation based at Community Base in Queens Road has received Big Lottery funding for an art exhibition. (July 07)

Locally based Target Tuberculosis has been awarded £454,238 as part of the Big Lottery’s International Communities Stage 2 Programme for its work with a Zambian partner in local communities in Zambia to prevent and help people get treatment to deal with TB. (Aug 07)

The Big Lottery also awarded £10,000 to celebrate the City’s 20 years as a UN Peace Messenger City – a designation awarded during the first year of the Labour administration Brighton. (Summer 07)

Ken Browne, assistant Head and International Co-ordinator at Dorothy Stringer High School has been appointed a Learning Together Ambassador to encourage partnerships between the schools in the South East and Europe. This is part of the government’s Learning Together project run by the British Council, the Foreign Office and the Department for Children, Schools and Families to mark the 50th anniversary of the European Union. DSHS already has links with a school in Cameroon through a scheme backed by the Department for International Development. (Aug 07)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT

The City Council’s General Satisfaction Survey of 1,835 residents carried out as part of the Labour Government’s Best Value programme showed :

• 68% of residents satisfied with doorstep recycling (Up 18% since 03/04).
• 71% satisfied or fairly satisfied with libraries. (Up 17% on 03/04)
• 73% believed the Council treats all types of people fairly.
• 67% believe the Council is working to make the city cleaner and greener.
• The number of people who think abandoned or burned out cars are a problem in their area is down by 22% since 03/04.

Under the last Labour administration Brighton and Hove City Council has been praised by Lord Sandy Bruce-Lockhart, Tory Chair of the Local Government Association for being among the 79% of local councils which now have a 3 or 4 star rating. Brighton and Hove has a 3 star rating and is characterised as “improving well”. Lord Bruce-Lockhart says, “This is a ringing endorsement of your council’s commitment to driving up standards and improving its performance to deliver better services for local people…I am sure that you too will wish to congratulate your council on its achievement” (Letter to DL 22nd February 2007.) 

Brighton and Hove Council’s Cultural Services including libraries, leisure and sport, arts and creative industries development, tourism, open spaces, Royal Pavilion, galleries and museums has been praised by the Audit Commission.
The Inspectors found that: “Lifelong learning activities are having a positive impact on the lives of some local people. Work in areas of deprivation provides opportunities for local people to participate and benefit from targeted arts development activities. The Council has been very effective at securing funding from a range of sources to support its work and is good at working with other organisations.”  The Jubilee Library had previously won the Prime Minister’s Award for Better Public Buildings, the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals award for best partnership working on a library scheme and the CILIP delegates’ award for the best new library. Judges were particularly impressed by its high rating on sustainability with low energy consumption, eco-friendly materials and use of recycled rainwater.

THE LOTTERY AND AWARDS FOR ALL

Recent local grants include funding for –

A peer-mentoring project by Brighton Body Positive which works with people with HIV/AIDS; the Artreach Project, a performing arts group for young people; Queen’s Park Community Association; The Grace Eyre Foundation working with people with learning disabilities; Brighton Unemployed Centre Families project; Downs junior School gymnastics club; the British Epilepsy Association’s Brighton and Hove Branch.                                                            
NATIONAL MINIUMUM WAGE
In October 2007 the government launched a campaign to improve awareness among workers and employers of the NMW with a focus on the hotel industry. You can download leaflets on the NMW and wider employment issues for the sector from –
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file41551.pdf
http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file41467.pdf

If you think you should be entitled to the NMW are not receiving it, ring the Helpline on 0845 6000 678. 
900,000 workers in the South East benefit from the October 2007 increase in the National Minimum Wage to – £5.52 ph for those aged 22 and over,
                                                £4.60 ph for 18-21 year olds
                                                £3.40 for 16-17 year olds                                              
PENSIONERS

Households with someone aged 60 or over continue to receive the £200 winter fuel allowance.

Pension Credit

Currently nearly 4,000 individual pensioners in Brighton Pavilion are receiving Pension Credit.
For information about claiming the Pension Credit ring 0800 991234
TACKLING POVERTY AND ECONOMIC INEQUALITY      
From October 2005 Brighton and Hove is one of the 6 areas in the South East to run the new In Work Credit Scheme for Lone Parents designed to help Lone Parents move from benefits to full-time work by providing £40 per week non-taxable in addition to tax credits and befits during the first year back in work. 
Child Tax Credit
5,500 families in Brighton Pavilion and 16,500 across Brighton and Hove benefit from CTC and other Tax Credits. You can find out about entitlement to it on 0845 300 3900.

Child Trust Fund

Every baby born since 1st September 2002 receives at least £250 to invest in a child trust fund for their future.

TRANSPORT

The City Council’s Travel Plan Project funded by the Labour government through Cycling England has involved visits to 10,000 households in Portslade, Hangleton and West Hove to help people consider their travel options. It runs in conjunction with the Council’s Journey On campaign to encourage walking, cycling and public transport use. Results show a cycle use doubling, walking up by a third and car journeys down 6%. The scheme runs for a further 2 years aiming to visit 15% of the City’s households. You can create your own travel plan by emailing travel.planning@brighton-hove.gov.uk and there is information about travel options on journeyon.co.uk There’s more about Brighton and Hove as a Cycling England demonstration city in News From The Past 12 Months. 

Figures from the Association Of Train Operators show a 46.3% increase in passenger kms travelled on trains run by operators in London and the South East compared to 1994/95. Nationally the growth in rail use has been the greatest in Europe over that period.

In June 2007 the Department for Transport announced that from December 2008 the new-style Gatwick Express service will ensure that at the busiest times of the day the service will extend to Brighton, doubling the number of fast trains between Brighton and Victoria at peak times.

Southern has introduced a new hourly direct limited stop service between Brighton and Southampton in December 2007.

Following approval from the Department for Transport CCTV cameras to help keep cars out of bus lanes in Western Road, Dyke Road, Queen’s Road and North Street come into operation from 15th March 2007. This should help to enforce the use of bus lanes only by buses, taxis and cycles and speed up journeys by public transport. In 2005 the government made it possible for local councils to take over bus lane enforcement from the Police. A similar scheme in Croydon saw bus lane infringements fall from 3,750 to 127 in six months.

The City Council’s General Satisfaction Survey of 1,835 residents carried out as part of the Labour Government’s Best Value programme showed a 81% satisfaction rating with local bus services and 78% with transport information compared to national average ratings of 62% and 54%. This placed Brighton and Hove’s bus service ahead of any other in the country.

Brighton and Hove has been chosen as one of Cycling England’s “cycling demonstration towns”, following a bid by the City Council. The City will receive £1.5m over 3 years to promote cycling initiatives. There’s more information about Cycling England on www.cyclingengland.co.uk (October 2005)