Wirral News letters: March 16

Mar 16 2011 Birkenhead News

Divert cash to front line

THE NEW council budget demonstrates what happens when funding decisions are made for political reasons and in the face of objective evidence.

On the one hand, desperately needed care and respite homes are to be closed. On the other, Sure Start is to be protected.

Yet all the formal assessments of Sure Start show a bloated, bureaucratic leviathan which still does not meet its objectives after several years in place.

It is also clear that Sure Start is not reaching the most disadvantaged families, their primary target. Ofsted says: “Half the centres visited were finding it problematic to reach out to the most vulnerable families. The centres were successful in involving many aspiring and motivated parents from minority ethnic groups, including East Europeans. They were less successful in gaining the confidence of White British families in disadvantaged communities”.

If Sure Start centres are often not reaching the most vulnerable and there are no benefits in “school readiness” for the children who are reached, why are we spending a fortune on these schemes?

Why is Frank Field still supporting Sure Start?

By contrast the recent Allen Report identified several, practical interventions which are proven to work on the basis of formal, scientific trials.

These include nurse home visits and nurture groups in primary schools. Why not give up the “grand schemes” of social engineering and divert the funding to the 'front line' and to proven techniques to help the most disadvantaged and vulnerable families in our area?

Professor D P Gregg (retired)

Spital

MP wrong on tax

ESTHER McVey is economical with the truth about social mobility.

As numerous international studies show (e.g. the OECD’S “Going for Growth” report 2010), the UK now has the lowest social mobility in the developed world, somewhere in the region of 12% today as compared to 35% in the 1950s and 60s, and the decline did not begin 10 years ago but can be precisely dated to 1979.

What these studies also show is that the major determinant of social mobility in any country is not its position in a reading league but the fairness of its income distribution. Put simply, countries in which the more you earn the more tax you pay are more socially mobile than countries like the UK where the less you earn the more tax you pay. Tax is not just Income Tax, it is VAT, road tax, fuel tax, council tax, etc., etc. Add all these taxes together and they eat up a far higher proportion of the income of someone earning say £20,000 than someone earning £100,000.

If Ms McVey is truly interested in increasing social mobility she will recommend to Parliament a taxation system that reduces tax on the lower paid and increases it progressively on the rich.

Jed Collins

Via website

Youth group bid

CALLING all youth group organisers.

Do you run a dance group, trampoline group, gym group, Sea Scouts, Guides, or any voluntary group for young people aged 13 to 19?

Wallasey District Youth Providers is trying to compile a list of all youth organisations in Wallasey, Leasowe and Morton who provide a service for young people aged 13 to 19.

They are trying to compile a full list of all the activities available for the young people showing where and when they run, with the aim of a newsletter publicising the groups.

If you run a youth group for the young people aged between 13 & 19, can you e-mail Jo at wallaseyymca@hotmail.com giving details and the providers group will get back to you.

CAROLE PAGETT,

Name and address supplied

Join the debate

WEDNESDAY March 9 was a big day for all of us associated with special education needs with the publication of the long awaited government Green Paper.

At the time of writing I’ve yet to get my head around what it means to me as Chair of Governors of a special school, for my fellow Governors or more importantly the young people at my school and the impact on parents, carers and teachers. I hope it will improve and simplify the all round provision for those young people in my and the other excellent special schools here on the Wirral and elsewhere.

With current legislation and guidance so out of date, and which didn’t even address some disorders schools now have to provide for, I have my hopes high.

What is important is the consultation period during which anyone with a view can respond to the Green Paper and I encourage all interested parties to engage in this process. This is our opportunity to make the system work for us and to give every child the opportunity to reach their full potential. Every child matters.

Geoff Gubb, Chair of Governors, Meadowside Special School, Wirral.