The Flag in the Wind

[Alastair]

CAMPAIGNING FOR SCOTLAND
(Owned, Edited and Printed in Scotland since November 1926)
"Promoting all that is best in Scottish Nationalism and all that is best in Scotland."
Content of the Flag in the Wind Web Site is the copyright of the Scots Independent Newspaper.

[ Issue 557 - 4th February 2011 ]


Compiled by Jennifer Dunn

Another Brick In The Wall
This week’s Flag is mainly going to be talking about school estates. This is a big issue in Glasgow as we’re halfway through the consultation on the proposals for the school estate strategy at the moment. There are 21 different proposals up for consultation, affecting schools across the city. Glasgow isn't unusual in having to make decisions about educational facilities – the school estate is an important issue across Scotland.

School estates are one of the most important issues councils can deal with. I’ve met very few parents who are unhappy with the teaching at their local schools, particularly primary schools, which I think is testament to the quality of teachers in Scotland at the moment. School buildings are another issue – in Glasgow and other parts of the country, school buildings have been neglected.

The majority of schools in my ward, and for much of the city, are housed in Victorian schools. They’ve lasted really well, but no building can go on indefinitely without investment. Nearly all of them need some sort of repair work – at the least, nearly all of them have a problem with leaks in the roof or windows. At the extreme end of the scale, a school in Dennistoun had to be emergency evacuated a couple of years ago for health and safety reasons as the building’s structural problems had been ignored for such a long time that it became unusable, even dangerous. By failing to maintain schools and spending on projects like the Transport Museum, the council have stored up decades’ worth of problems for Glasgow schools.

As well as the issue of building maintenance, there’s also an issue of changing demographics. There aren’t as many children around as there used to be, and there’s a trend for families to move out of the city to suburbs and dormitory towns. School mergers and closures are always painful and stressful times for the school communities, but council’s can’t ignore the fact that communities are changing.

You could argue that councils aren’t entirely blameless for the changes. One senior Labour councillor recently argued that parents, rather than councils, shut schools by voting with their feet and placing their children in other schools. Which is true up to a point, but the city doesn’t exist in a bubble. One of the reasons that school rolls in Glasgow are dropping is that some parents compare attainment levels in Glasgow schools with those outside the city, and decide their children will do better if the family moves or puts in a placing request to a different authority.

This desire to place children in schools outside Glasgow creates problems for other authorities as well. My sister moved outside Glasgow when she started a family. Registering my niece at her local primary apparently required an epic amount of paperwork including mortgage statements; this was all to prove that she was genuinely local and wasn’t just renting a house for a few weeks to wangle a place in a “nice” school.

There’s also the issue of housing; in Glasgow, there’s a frustrating lack of family sized houses – much of the residential space that’s been approved in recent years is one and two bedroom flats. Finding a three bedroom house for a council constituent is like trying to find a four-leaf clover, there’s also a lack of private housing available. Lack of family sized housing combined with lower than average exam results create a vicious circle of reducing demand for places in Glasgow schools.

Another obvious element to this is the recession. Everyone is affected by the credit crunch and the decisions Westminster has taken over how to deal with it; the Scottish Parliament will get less money and so will the councils.

However, the current financial situation and SNP government can’t reasonably be blamed for under-investment before the last election and when the economy was in a better shape.

In the council, much has been said about the state of finances and models of investment. From the Labour benches, there has been much made of the vagaries of the Scottish Futures Trust, and complaints that the council is prevented by the government from using PFI/PPP. However, the same councillors were proud of refusing to use PFI/PPP for it’s last round of new build primary school estate. Secondary schools built in the using PPP/PFI have been far from problem-free; the council recently had to spend £8 million bailing out the commercial contractors involved with these schools as the ventilations systems that had been installed didn’t work.

So, the Labour administration have largely chosen to consult on closing schools or cohabiting them with others in existing building to solve the problem, rather than building new structures. Some of the proposed changes make sense, others less so. Of particular concern to local members are plans like the closure of St James’, which proposes to move pupils to another school more than a mile away, with no obvious public transport route between the two establishments.

Another concern is that the current proposals don’t address five of the worst school buildings in Glasgow. School buildings are categorised from “A” and “B” which are buildings in relatively good condition, from “C”, which is a building that needs improvement, to “D”, which are buildings that need a lot of work done to them. Five of the buildings in condition “D” are ignored in the administration’s proposals; an SNP amendment to refurbish these schools was voted down by the Labour party.

There's still another few weeks before the consultation proposals are voted on. The fight goes on to argue down the unacceptable consultation proposals and argue for a bigger slice of the funding pie for education in Glasgow.


Cell Block Vote

This Scottish Parliament election could be the first in which prisoners are allowed to vote. Currently, the UK government is in breach of EU rules by refusing to allow inmates to take part in the electoral process. Two possible test cases are looming, with one expert saying that a "crunch point" is coming up, with government either having to extend the franchise or face protracted legal action.

Generally, there's not an enormous amount of sympathy for those who have committed serious offences who wish to vote. This is a sentiment shared across political parties in the UK (apart from the Lib Dems), and with the general public. There are all sorts of arguments why prisoners shouldn't be able to vote; however, it looks like the UK government will have to fall into line and allow them to, both for Westminster and Scottish Parliament elections.

Personally, I've got a direct interest in how voting in prisons; Barlinnie is in my ward. I've also recently come off a stretch on the Barlinnie Prison Visiting Committee. SO how is it going to work?

It's probably fair to guess that most prisoners don't vote, but probably come from traditionally hard-line Labour areas. It may be unlikely that many would bother. However, I guess that being able to vote would have a novelty factor and, possibly, be something that prisoners could use to break up an otherwise boring day.

Also, the institution and the way it's organised may play a factor; anecdotally, prisoners in Barlinnie are less likely to complain to the VC about conditions than other prisoners (the VC effectively operates like a councillors' surgery for concerns and complaints, apart from those connected with legal matters like sentencing).

Likelihood of voting could depend a great deal on which jail prisoners are in, and how voting is organised - will prisoners have to make a particular effort to ask to vote? Would prisoners all register for a postal vote, thus getting around problems of moving them about on the day?

Then there's issues within the prison service itself; prisoners can get moved between jails at fairly short notice, or moved from being out on licence back into jail. Keeping on top of all this and ensuring access to voting is likely to provide a headache for all concerned.

Then there's campaigning. Logistics prevent the usual door to door (cell to cell) campaigning employed outside. For a VC member to get into a prison, they need to be on an approved list. To get around a prison - and Barlinnie is a big place - they generally need to be accompanied by a guard. I can't see either activists or prison guards being happy about canvassing runs within a jail; lets face it, very few people actively enjoy canvassing at the best of times. I doubt an e-mail out saying "7pm, meet at Barlinnie, bring your clip boards and day-glo vests" would have an enormous response. Particularly from parties who believe that prisoners shouldn't vote in the first place.

Although, things would get a whole lot more interesting in the event of prison being part of a closely run by election or marginal constituency - when parties get very pushy about contacting every single voter.