BRIGHTON AND HOVE AND THE LABOUR GOVERNMENT
EMPLOYMENT
Local figures for unemployment: (Measured by those claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance. September figures are the latest available).
Brighton Pavilion
May 1997 – 4816 : Sept 2008 – 1700
Brighton Kemp Town
May 1997 – 3733: Sept 2008 - 1778
Hove
May 1997 – 3814: Sept. 2008 - 1562
City Total May 1997 11,967 City Total Sept 2008 5,040
In Brighton Pavilion unemployment has dropped by 61% since September 1997.
Nationally
• Since 1997 the number of people in work has increased by 3.1 million.
• The number of people in work between April – June 2008 was 29.6 million
ARTS COUNCIL AND LOTTERY GRANTS
Recent Big Lottery grants include Preston Park Youth Cycling Club, Skoolz Art Group and Brighton Peace and Environment Centre. (Sept-Oct 08)
The Brighton based Oska Bright Film Festival has won a National Lottery Award in the Best Arts Project category, voted for by BBC viewers. The Festival was first set up in 2003 by Carousel and Junk TV and is the first film festival in the world run by and screening films by people with learning difficulties. (Sept 08)
The following schools have received Artsmark awards from the Arts Council for providing access to a wide range of experiences of dance, drama, music and design. Gold Award – Balfour Infants, Hertford Junior, Middle Street, Patcham Junior, St Bernadettes, Varndean, Westdene. Silver Award – Patcham Infants, Stanford Juniors. Artsmark Award – St Paul’s.(July 08)
COMMUNITY ACTIVITY AND SPORT
The City Council has applied for government grant towards free swimming for those aged 60 and over and has expressed an interest in a similar scheme for under 16 year olds. Both are recent government schemes.
EDUCATION
This summer’s GCSE results show the % of students gaining A* - C grades in English and Maths as Dorothy Stringer HS 63 % (same as last year), Varndean 57% (up 7% on last year) , Patcham 27% (up 4% on last year.)
HEALTH
In November 75% of patients in the City were registered with a GP surgery offering extended opening hours in line with government policy.
Since April the Royal Sussex County Hospital has been the top performing hospital in England for meeting the government’s target for all A and E patients being seen within 4 hours.
The Health Care Commission has ranked Brighton and Sussex University NHS Trust’s maternity services 3rd best in England and the Special Care Baby Units have the best survival rates in the UK.
The Commission’s October Annual Healthcheck of NHS services gave BSUH Trust “Excellent” for the quality of its services.
TRANSPORT
Brighton Station has been re-accredited for the next 2 years under the Department for Transport’s Secure Station Scheme
NEWS FROM THE PAST 12 MONTHS
ARTS COUNCIL AND LOTTERY GRANTS
In 2007-2008 £335,458 was invested in the arts in Brighton Pavilion by the National Lottery, Across the region 2309 loans to a value of £1.5 m have been made to people from the Arts Council’s “Take It Away” fund to buy musical instruments with pay-back by instalments interest free over 9 months. 28.6 % of the grants are to young people. (July 2008)
Kidzone, a group providing art-based workshops for 5-12 year olds and their parents and carers, receives £4,910 towards running an after school art club.
(July 2008)
Gold Arts Mark awards have been given to Balfour Juniors, Dorothy Stringer, Downs Juniors, Stanford Infants, Westdene Primary. Silver awards have been made to Balfour Infants, Carden Primary, St Mary Magdalene , Varndean. There’s a full list of regional funding decisions on www.artscouncil.orgh.uk/funding/regularfunding.php
Organisations and schemes based in the Constituency which have recently won awards include: the Migrant English Project, St Mary Magdalene Church to improve disabled access and refurbish toilets; and Hertford Infants and Nursery School to run free lunch time yoga to improve students co-ordination, concentration and confidence.`
Following the recent review of Arts Council Funding, Carousel, the Brighton organisation working with people with disabilities will receive a 400% uplift in its funding, one of the largest increases in the country. Lighthouse Arts and Media Training Ltd, South East dance, Brighton Dome and Festival Ltd, Photoworks and Fabrica are other local organisations which receive continuing funding.
COMMUNITY ACTIVITY AND SPORT
Brighton Street Stormers League Skater Hockey Club receives £9,240 from the Big Lottery to help provide free weekly hockey sessions to young people. ( Aug 08)
Brighton and Hove Council has been awarded £1.34 m over 3 years 2008-2011 from the Government’s Positive Activities for Young People, Youth Opportunity and Youth Capital Funds and has the opportunity to bid for additional funding from a new scheme – the myspace programme which aims to provide places for young people to go. (There’s more in a press release on my website.) June 08)
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.
CRIME AND PUBLIC SAFETY
“Sussex Police has achieved real and continuing performance improvements over recent years. Not only have detection rates risen, but crime numbers have fallen. More than 13,000 fewer people became victims of crime in Sussex last year as a result. Burglaries from people’s homes have more than halved over the past 10 years and are running at historically low levels.” Martin Richards Chief Constable of Sussex. (Argus 17th June 2008)
Chief Supt Ian Taylor told a Brighton and Hove Chamber of Commerce State of the Nation event at the University of Brighton on 12th June violent crime had dropped by 14% last year and that the city could generally be considered a lot safer. (Argus 17th June 08)
Brighton and Hove has one of the 98 Specialist Domestic Violence Courts based at the Magistrates Courts set up with the aim of improving support and care for victims of domestic violence with, among other things, separate entrances for victims and accused.
Figures published in April 2008 show reported crime down by 15% in Brighton and Hove – compared to a national figure of 12%. The fall in car crime over a year has been 20% and in robberies and violent crime the drop is 12%.
Nationally the British Crime Survey, which measures the experience of crime of 40,000 people each year, shows that the fear of crime has fallen to 23% - the lowest figure since the survey began in 1981, with smaller falls in the numbers of those who were very worried about violent crime and those anxious about burglary and car crime.
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)
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 Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform 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
Working Links has received a share of £80m. a year funding from the European Social Fund for a programme in the Surrey and Sussex area to help those with multiple barriers to returning to work. There’s more on the Department for Work and Pensions website www.dwp.gov.uk .Follow the links to European Social Fund. (July 2008)
Brighton and Hove will receive £140,000 from the government’s Local Authority Business Growth Incentive by which Council s are allowed to keep a portion of the business rate for local priorities. Some of the funding will support preparatory work on redeveloping the Brighton Centre. There is also cash for training young people in the construction trades, tourism and digital media industries. This year so far local businesses have been allocated £1.4 million in support funding.
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.
EDUCATION
Workers involved in City Clean’s on-site Learning Centre at the Hollingdean Depot set up 2 years ago have won 6 national adult learning awards. The Centre runs courses in literacy, numeracy, basic IT, higher level IT, European driving licence and Makaton (May 2008)
If all the bids being made by the City’s 3 further education colleges are successful, a major expansion of the City’s further education between now and 2011 could be made possible by a proposed £172 million of government funding through the Learning and Skills Council to enable refurbishment and new building plans by City College, Varndean and BHSVIC to go ahead over the next few years. (Feb 2008)
Brighton and Hove medical school based on the Sussex and Brighton campuses and the Royal Sussex County Hospital is one of the most popular in the country. 2300 people have applied for 128 places available in the next academic year. The school is one of the new schools opened by the Labour government in 2003 to help deal with the chronic legacy of under investment in medical education and training by the last Tory government. (Feb. 2008)
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 in the City’s schools is set to rise 12.4% from £3936 in 2007 to £4424 in 2010).
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
Figures from the government funded Warm Front Scheme run by EAGA to
promote and install energy saving and efficiency resources in homes show for June 2000- March 2008:
294 households with children aged 0-4 helped
397 .. .. .. .. 5-16 helped
460 .. receiving Disability Living Allowance helped
1377 .. with someone over 60 helped.
£1,801,272. has been invested by Warm Front in either insulation or heating efficiency measures in Brighton Pavilion homes.
119 homes since 2003, not previously receiving a benefit which entitled them to a Warm Front grant, now receiving an average weekly increase in income of £30.65
The announcement in the Budget that this year only the Winter Fuel Allowance will increase to £250 benefits 13,350 pensioners in Brighton Pavilion and 49,130 across the City. The one year increase for those aged 80+ to £400 benefits 3,330 people in Pavilion and 12,420 across the City.
The City Council’s Warm Homes Scheme made possible by a Labour Government fund of £6.3 m in England to improve the effectiveness and co-ordination of Warm Front and Energy Efficiency Commitment delivery was launched on 8th January 2008. EDF Energy is a partner in the scheme. Government funding comes from DEFRA’s Community Energy Efficiency Fund and the project will be managed for the Council by Climate Energy. It will include – mail-shots followed up by trained assessors, publicity, benefit entitlement checks, poverty surveys and the organisation of energy efficiency measures. The Scheme can be contacted on Freephone 0800 048 0727.
(Background.Labour’s 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. The City Council has been awarded £151,800 from the government’s Community Energy Efficiency Fund Initiative to finance the initial stages of developing and launching an enhanced energy efficiency/ fuel poverty scheme to be run jointly with Climate Energy and EDF)
ENVIRONMENT
As part of the Department for Communities and Local Government Green Flag Scheme to encourage care of our parks and open spaces, Preston Park has been awarded a Green Flag for the 9th successive year. (July 2008)
EQUALITIES
The Gender Trust working with transgender people receives a grant of £5,000 from the Big Lottery Fund to computerise its helpline to give a better service and improve the website so that it can be used to sell publications as e-books.
HEALTH
The RSCH has been approved as the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme Centre for Sussex.
The Board of the Strategic Health Authority has approved the Strategic Outline Case for the development of the RSCH as the regional tertiary and trauma centre. The next step is the production of an Outline Business Case over the next 9 months.
The Sussex Partnership NHS Trust – responsible for local mental health, learning disability and substance misuse services - became a Foundation Trust on 1st April with 21 elected public governors, 6 elected staff governors and 14 appointed governors from local partner organisations. I am one of the 8,000 + members of the Trust. You can find out more about membership on FT@Sussexpartnership.nhs.uk
Quite separately the Trust has been awarded Teaching Trust status.
The Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has appointed Professor Aidan Halligan as its first Chief of Safety. Prof Halligan is the former Director of Clinical Governance for the NHS and Deputy Chief Medical Officer. (May 2008)
The RSCH’ s GI Endoscopy Unit has been awarded Joint Advisory Group accreditation for 5 years marking. The Trust now plans to become a Bowel Cancer Screening Centre by the end of the year. (May 2008)
The Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust Patient Safety Team and the clinical team on Royal Sussex County’s Howard 1 Oncology Ward won awards at this year’s Regional Best of Health Awards. (Spring 2008)
The Patient Safety Team won the Safety in Care category for ‘Just Ask’, a new, short film to show patients all the arrangements we have in place to help keep them safe during their hospital stay.
The team from the cancer unit won the Improving Access category for their work with the Sussex Cancer Network to improve the way the Trust admits and discharges patients on Howard 1 and patients with cancer on other wards. The outcomes of this include less stress and anxiety for patients and a more efficiently run ward.
In the 12 months to April 2008 –
As part of the national NHS “Deep Cleaning” project to combat MRSA and other hospital-based infections Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust has:
• introduced Chlorine Cleaning throughout high risk areas and a deep clean of all clinical areas;
• opened a new ward for the exclusive care of patients with Clostridium difficile. Grant Ward is on the Royal Sussex County Hospital site in the Jubilee Building because prompt isolation is one of the best ways of managing symptomatic patients and minimising the risk of the infection being passed on to others;
• introduced a new Antibiotic Policy to provide clear guidance for clinicians and is removing some antibiotics from general ward stock because inappropriate use of certain antibiotics is one of the primary causes of C.difficile;
• introduced a new uniform and dress code, including no jackets or ties; short or rolled up sleeves, no wrist jewellery including watches, and minimal hand jewellery; scrubs to be worn on site only;
The number of MRSA cases fell by 37% and of C difficile by 22%;
Cancer surgery survival rates exceeded national and European standards;
GUM patients are offered an appointment within 48 hours:
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust - The Trust has implemented a deep cleaning programme of all stations andvehicles. Every vehicle (cars and double manned ambulances) will have been deep cleaned at least once by 31 March 2008, and will be deep cleaned every six weeks thereafter. Every ambulance station has now
Revenue funding for Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust for 2007-2008 will increase by £20.9 million to £403 million.
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 Department of Health has awarded a £1 million grant to Brighton and Hove City Council to develop Vernon Gardens into a 10 unit extra-care housing scheme. The Council will work with the Guinness Housing Trust. (Aug 08)
Brighton Housing Trust has received £600,000 for First Base Day Centre and £350,000 for the Palace Place project from the Department for Communities and Local Government Places for Change Programme to improve services available fro rough sleepers and to help them make the transition into a settled home. A major target is to help people into education and employment. (June 08)
The City Council has been awarded a further £950,000 by the Labour government to improve the chances of helping vulnerable people find work, homes and independence.
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 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.
INTERNATIONAL LINKS
The Brighton and Hove based HIV/AIDS Alliance is one of 26 organisations which the Department for International development will now fund on a longer term, strategic basis, rather than project by project. This will give the Alliance a major role in delivering the Government’s forthcoming revised HIV/AIDS strategy internationally and is a mark of the high regard in which the Alliance is held. The funding to the Alliance 2008-2011 will be nearly £12m. (April 08) You can find out more about the Alliance’s work on www.aidsalliance.org/contacts.
NATIONAL MINIUMUM WAGE
The Government raisd the NMW to £5.73 in October 2008. The rate for 18-21 year-olds is £4.77 and for 16-17 year olds is £3.53.
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
On 21st February 2008 Transport Minister Rosie Winterton MP announced an
Additional £119,500 government funding for the City’s Cycling Demonstration Town project, bringing the total funding committed to £1,628,500 between November 2005 and October 2008. But the Government has also said that it is willing to extend the project until March 2011 dependent on the programme of work submitted by the Council.
(Background story - Brighton and Hove is one of Cycling England’s “cycling demonstration towns”, following a bid by the City Council under the last Labour administration. There’s more information about Cycling England on www.cyclingengland.co.uk
Transport Minister Rosie Winterton speaking at a conference in Birmingham in December 2007 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.”
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
Preston Park Station has been accredited by the Department of Transport Secure Stations Scheme for its standards in station, passenger and staff security. Accreditation lasts for 2 years. (December 2007)
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.
YOUNG PEOPLE
From 1st September there will be 8 Connexions Plus advice centres for young people across the City offering help on health, careers, training, money and benefits for 13-19 year olds. In Brighton Pavilion they will be at The Dip, 13 Hollingbury Place in Hollingdean 295812, YPC, 69 Ship Street 0845 450 6071 and Patcham Youth Centre, Ladies Mile Road 293638.
