Wednesday 27th May 2015

[tinyclanger2]

What scams have they pulled - Ohso - you've got a list. Can you stick it up again?

Like I say will have more time at the end of next month (and will deliver spreadsheet on EU then too). But if you put the list up I'll start having a think.

[rebeccariots2]

The people of Wales told us they wanted a parliament so don't doubt our commitment to deliver devolution, says Welsh Secretary Stephen Crabb
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales ... nt-9341604" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

... When asked what powers due to be devolved to the Scottish Parliament could also go to the Assembly, he said “some aspects of welfare policy” such as Jobcentres plus responsibility for road signs – “That sounds insignificant; it isn’t, actually” – could be considered.

He added: “[We] shouldn’t run further than where Welsh public opinion is at.”...

Mr Ambition eh. And that's my MP. Head on desk in despair. He has such a high opinion of Wales and its people.

[AngryAsWell]

The Charter for Deception?
Daniel Johnson, Labour’s candidate in Edinburgh Southern in next year’s Scottish election, says a central plank of the SNP’s attack on Labour has been exposed as baseless, by Nicola Sturgeon herself. He says she must now explain why she and her party knowingly misled the public during the general election.

http://www.labourhame.com/the-big-lie-h ... sh-public/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Eric_WLothian]

The Charter for Deception?
Daniel Johnson, Labour’s candidate in Edinburgh Southern in next year’s Scottish election, says a central plank of the SNP’s attack on Labour has been exposed as baseless, by Nicola Sturgeon herself. He says she must now explain why she and her party knowingly misled the public during the general election.

http://www.labourhame.com/the-big-lie-h ... sh-public/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Look on the bright side. Sturgeon said that Alistair Carmichael should resign for (allegedly) lying, so she will be sacking the 56 SNP MPs who similarly lied
... won't she?

[WelshIan]

The Queens speech in full
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... g-pack.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for this, plenty to be concerned about in there. One thing which will likely get overlooked is this on adoption, in the Education and Adoption Bill (my bold):

Adoption
• The Bill would give the Secretary of State a new power to direct one or more named local authorities to make arrangements for any or all of their adoption functions to be carried out on their behalf by one of the local authorities named or by another agency. In practice, this means that the Secretary of State can direct a number of local authorities to have adoption functions carried out on their behalf in order to create regional adoption agencies.

• When directing local authorities, the Secretary of State can list which adoption functions the arrangements should relate to. The functions which can be specified in a direction are functions in relation to: the recruitment, assessment and approval of prospective adopters; decisions about which prospective adopters a child should be matched with; and the provision of adoption support services.

Outsourcing/privatisation of adoption services - the most likely of the 3 would be recruitment, assessment and approval of prospective adopters and provision of adoption support services as run of the mill stuff can be done quite cheaply. You can therefore almost forget about the intensive, personalised support that the most difficult adoptions need.
Nothing on why/when the Secretary of State would intervene directly in the operation of this service in LAs, which is also a concern.
I have nothing against the stated purpose of regionalisation of adoption and it is a service that would benefit from this (a wider pool of prospective adopters and a wider area for children to be placed away from potential harm), but the wording above is not just about regional working.
Also, why is it lumped in with Education? There is no direct link between the 2.

(my bold)
To make it harder to repeal.
Untangling legislation is the devil to alter when it's attached to something else.

Yes, the other thought I had regarding putting them together was that there would be far less scrutiny given to the adoption measures because the focus would be on education.

The Welsh Government created regional adoption agencies in November last year, and in that legislation (the Social Services and Well Being (Wales) Act 2014) they only referred to local authorities being directed to work with each other. There is no need for 'other agencies' to be specified to create regional adoption agencies.

[Eric_WLothian]

The Welsh Government created regional adoption agencies in November last year, and in that legislation (the Social Services and Well Being (Wales) Act 2014) they only referred to local authorities being directed to work with each other. There is no need for 'other agencies' to be specified to create regional adoption agencies.

I would guess that most other adoption agencies have a wider sphere of operation than local authorities anyway. Forcing a 'one size fits all' system on all agencies may have a detrimental effect on adoption opportunities overall. (I'm thinking of the (Catholic?) church adoption agency which said it would close rather than place children with gay couples).

[citizenJA]

Carswell's a candy-ass.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/201 ... t-52883793" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[citizenJA]

Goodnight, everyone
Including you, Carswell Candy-ass
love
cJA

[RogerOThornhill]

I'll save it for the morning but I have grave doubts (shocked, shocked!) about this £20bn of welfare cuts that they've apparently achieved so far...certainly doesn't look that way from the 2010 Budget forecasts and the annual outturns. Probably some dodgy "Yeah, stick that in...and that...and this" kind that people indulge in when trying to justify a policy.

[LadyCentauria]

Goodnight @cJA Sleep well.

[thatchersorphan]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 79269.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://speye.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/ ... l-housing/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; table which gives these figures and also includes columns showing the maximum amount of housing benefit each household size will get if the cap is at £23,000 per year Social landlords cannot afford the financial risk of any 2 parent 3 child household – existing tenant or prospective new one – and even if they are working as should they job be lost then this household becomes a financial risk too far for the landlord given HB will not cover the rent in a low rent area for the cheapest form of rented housing!

[LadyCentauria]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/po ... 79269.html

https://speye.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/ ... l-housing/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; table which gives these figures and also includes columns showing the maximum amount of housing benefit each household size will get if the cap is at £23,000 per year Social landlords cannot afford the financial risk of any 2 parent 3 child household – existing tenant or prospective new one – and even if they are working as should they job be lost then this household becomes a financial risk too far for the landlord given HB will not cover the rent in a low rent area for the cheapest form of rented housing!

Thanks for the links, thatchersorphan. I've been looking for the words to respond to those figures and can find only one: stark.