It takes a lot to impress me these days, but a visit this morning to SW Durham Training in Newton Aycliffe really did. The technology, training tools, equipment….incredible.

Four hours looking at what is being done, listening to concerns about the Council and government and a raft of other things was very informative.

What was shocking however was that there are still companies out there crying out for qualified people in a whole raft of engineering and manufacturing areas in County Durham but can’t find them. Indeed nearly all apprentices who go through SW end up working in very good highly paid jobs.

We very clearly have a problem when with rising unemployment we still can’t get young people interested in taking apprenticeships in these industries. I really do think that it is time for schools to start explaning as the representative at SW told us that there are jobs paying £45,000 out there, that welders, high tech machine operatives, designers etc, etc are desperately needed, that the jobs are interesting and that smaller companies in the North East in industry really are doing very well.

I have come to the conclusion that the priority for the Council must be to do all it can to facilitate getting our young people interested in and into these professions. With Hitachi on the way, shortages of skilled workers, and more money coming soon for apprenticeships from the government, this must be the priority.

That said, the government needs to look at the funding, as does the council and realise that it costs more money to take on engineering apprenticeships than other industries because of training costs and materials costs. Equally we must make sure that there is help not just for 16-19 year olds but also for those older than this. It is a crazy situation when the funding for a 20 year old is half that for a 17 year old, when many companies really value young people of all ages.

The County Council must put money in to help with transport issues, help with training funding and help getting Year 10 and 11 year olds from our secondary school to visit places like SW training and other similar organisations. If we continue to tell our young people that there is no future in manufacturing, engineering and electronics, we will reap what we sow.

And the Government must re-analyse how it funds apprenticeships to put more emphasis on these sectors NOW.

Noticed that there are 10 new jobs posted as available at Durham County Council in the last week or so which can be found at:

http://nd.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/vacancy.nsf/vrd?openview&count=999

Over the last few days I have had to report flytipping and littering problems increasing in a large number of areas including:

Potterhouse Lane (again)

A691 from Fram to Witton Gilbert

Sacriston Lane from Sacriston to Witton Gilbert

B6532 heading into Sacriston

Dryburn Road and roundabout.

If there are any areas where you spot flytipping or littering which doesn’t seem to be getting cleared up email hal@durham.gov.uk or get in touch with me.

Had a long meeting discussing various transport issues today at County Hall.

A couple of residents have asked me why when they get a bus ticket on a concession the ticket doesn’t say the right end location – eg. Leaving Durham to Chester-le-Street but ticket says Newcastle.

I can reassure people that the bus companies are not fleecing the Council in that respect as a set rate per journey has already been agreed in the contracts.

Speaking of contracts, given the past problems with procurement, I have asked if there is any scope for councillor involvement in the upcoming tender for bus services. Unfortunately it looks like the deadlines are very tight, but still worth a try. The biggest bug bear I have is that there appears to be no incentive for bus companies to improve their service within the contracts, rather it is dependent on bad press. I am hoping something can be looked at on this. Also the bus companies in effect self monitor their service, so the Council is somewhat reliant on the companies informing them the correct details of delays/cancellations etc. this is probably the most cost effective way for this to be done, but does make me feel rather uncomfortable – not many examples of selfregulation working well.

I also raised the issue of some buses particularly through villages running within a few minutes of each other as the main companies seek to compete. What this actually ends up doing is giving passengers a choice of two buses for ten minutes and then nothing for 50 minutes – daft and counter productive – one of the problems which goes with bus deregulation!

Spent a few hours in Witton Gilbert this PM with Parish councillors on a walkabout to look at a variety of things.

The pedestrian island on the front street which I have been working to get has finally been installed this week – making it much safer to get a cross the road and also helping to slow down traffic as well.

The new outdoor gym is already being used by youngsters and adults  in Fulforth Park.

And the work I have done with Arnie (Parish Councillor) to get the old bungalow on Front St removed has nearly been completed – this looks much better already.

Plus the WOW – Mobile gym is still in Witton at the moment at Cooper Hall – free access – go along and use it until the 23rd February.

Lots more to report from Witton Gilbert in the coming weeks with plenty of Lib Dem action improving the village.

I was successful today in getting a review of procurement practices and councillor involvement on Durham County Council.

Following the issues about the bin contract, I checked back at the review of what information and access councillors should be getting in relation to contracts and tendering at county hall and discovered that many of the recommendations from two years ago had simply never been carried through. I now have agreement that there will be a full review of this to make sure that councillors get regular updates and can comment on procurement issues, which will hopefully lead to more positive new in the future.

This could include making sure that local companies have more chance of tendering for contracts, or local jobs being part of future requirements in terms. Some of this has already happened. The main problem up to now has been that councillors have simply not had any involvement whatsoever, with no updates on upcoming contracts. I look forward to a positive step forward. It is just a shame that all of these things only seem to get action when there is an embarrassment for the council in the press.

Not all Council Press releases are interesting or importnat but I thought this one was:

Can you welcome Thomas into your life?

Durham County Council’s Fostering and Adoption Service is appealing for a family to provide a loving home to an 11-year-old sporty, football loving boy called Thomas.

He says: “Hi my name is Thomas and I’m 11-years-old.

“I love football, I’m a star player in my local team and Newcastle United is my favourite team in the whole world.

“I love telling jokes and riding my bike. I have many schools friends and my favourite subject is science because I like discovering cool, new things.

(more…)

Further to my mention last week of the 11% cut in the council tax applicable to the Charter Trust for the Mayor of Durham.

The Lib Dem Charter Trustees along with the only Labour councillor to turn up at the budget meeting agreed to reduce the amount paid by a band D household from £4.29 to just £3.80 (That’s all we pay for the whole year! So just over a penny a day.) – an 11.4% reduction, which will still leave over £11,000 in reserves to cater for any contingencies/pressures on the budget. Better for the money to be in peoples pockets regardless of how small the amount, which is why I also support the council keeping the main County Council Council Tax frozen for another year – how many years did we see rises under Labour?

There are currently a dozen jobs advertised on the Councils website, which can be seen at:

http://nd.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/vacancy.nsf/vrd?openview&count=999

AT a seminar today, county councillors were told that the ongoing merging of the benefits systems of the former district councils still means that there was a back log of over 3700 cases to deal with.

The average length of time taken to process a new claim is now 66.5 days.  I honestly believe that whilst officers and staff are working flat out, the political oversight of this process by the leading Labour group has been completely unacceptable. Labour accepts this and should apologise for the continued problems it foisted on this county with Local Government Review (Scrapping the District Council).

The council has to date outsourced the processing of over 4000 cases, allowing it to deal with the backlog, which we are told will take until Mid-March/April to clear up. Due to the way that claims are processed and the information required, it is likely that there will always be around 1000-1500 claims being dealt with at any one time. I look forward to the day when as promised it only takes a few weeks to deal with each case.

This has affected benefit recipients, landlords and social housing providers to the point of being critical. It shows what happens when a Labour administration doesn’t get to grips with things. All credit to the staff and senior officers who have had to work through this and the accompanying political ineptitude.

If anyone in Framwellgate Moor, Pity Me, Brasside, Bearpark or Witton Gilbert is having problems with changes to claims or with new claims, please do get in touch and I will see what I can do to help.