Jim McGovern tables parliamentary motion condemning University merger

29 September 2011

Jim McGovern, MP for Dundee West, has submitted an Early Day Motion to the House of Commons calling on the SNP to abandon plans to force Scottish universities to merge, particularly highlighting concerns surrounding a proposed forced merger between Dundee and Abertay universities.
The motion will be published after the party conference recess and will state:
That this House condemns proposals put forward by the SNP administration in Holyrood to force Scottish universities to merge and in so doing undermining their academic and administrative independence and calls on them to abandon these proposals; and is particularly concerned that this will have a damaging effect on Dundee and Abertay universities, undermining the distinct cultures and approaches in each, as well as harming a long history of innovation, independence and success in these universities, and creating a potential loss of 500 jobs at Abertay.
This comes as Cabinet Secretary for Education Mike Russell indicated that a merger between Abertay and Dundee universities was not ‘inevitable’.
Mr. McGovern has also signed the ‘Hands of Abertay’ petition, which has so far attracted 991 signatures.
Jim McGovern said,
"It is important that the SNP listen to the outrage expressed by both the public and academia about this half baked proposal, that is why I have written to Mike Russell and I have now tabled this motion.
"It simply isn’t good enough to say that a merger would not be ‘inevitable’.
"He should rule out any forced merger altogether.
"The future of both universities must be decided by them alone, not by government diktat."
Mr McGovern concluded,
"I have yet to receive a response from Mike Russell, but I hope his acknowledgement that a merger is not certain will soon become a complete u-turn.
"It is only right for the good of Dundee and Abertay universities, and for the city, that this mistaken proposal is overturned as soon as possible."

Jim McGovern condemns SNP's new Director-General for Independence

Jim McGovern condemns SNP’s new Director-General for Independence

28 September 2011

Jim McGovern today called on the SNP administration in Holyrood to scrap plans to introduce a new Director-General of Strategy and External Affairs.
The new role is widely considered to be charged with paving the way for a proposed independence referendum, and will pay between £101,500 and £208,100 annually.
Jim McGovern said,
"It is outrageous that at a time when public sector pay is frozen and hard working staff like nurses and police officers fear for their jobs the SNP should decide to pay a 6-figure salary for an unnecessary new position.
"This new job is clearly intended to pave the way for independence.
This is not an essential role for the good of Scotland, but a political role for the good of Salmond and the SNP."
Mr McGovern concluded,
"This money would be better spent keeping nurses, police officers or other essential staff in work, not promoting the political vanity project of independence being pursued by Alex Salmond."

Councillor Laurie Bidwell : The Proposed 33 period week for Dundee Secondary Schools

Laurie Bidwell

22 September 2011

(Commenting on the item before the Education Committee of the City Council on Monday 26 September 2011, Consultation on the Implementation of the Thirty Three Period Week in Secondary School)

I think a proposal that would lead to a change in the the start and finish time of the school day in all nine of our Secondary Schools will be of great interest to pupils and their teachers as well parents and carers.
In fact parents' and carers' first thoughts may be about the potential inconvenience of juggling working hours and out of school care and getting used to earlier finish times on two afternoons a week.
I think we will all want to be convinced that the disruption from this change will have a worthwhile educational benefit.
I met the Director of Education on Tuesday morning and gave him notice that at the Education Committee on Monday night I will have some questions for him about identifying the benefits and potential drawbacks of the proposed new timetable and its possible effect for good or bad on teaching and learning in our secondary schools.
I note that this is a proposal at this stage.
The Director of Education is asking approval to go out for consultation throughout the Autumn with a report coming back to the Education Committee early next year.
On Monday night, I shall also be proposing that we widen the consultation net.
While I welcome the planned involvement of the City Wide Pupil Council, I think it would be unduly restrictive to exclude the voices of our 6000+ Secondary School pupils as well.
I shall also propose the addition of a online survey for parents and carers.

Councillor Richard McCready : Time for a solution to St. John's High School Bus Issue

Councillor Richard McCready

22 September 2011

It's time for a solution to be found to the on-going concerns about the failure of the City Council to ensure that there is a bus service taking pupils from the West End to St John's High School.
The City Council needs to pull out all the stops to find a solution to getting a bus service to St John's from the West End.
The bus companies say such a service is unprofitable, and that may well be the case.
I think that there should be more regulation on bus companies.
Bus companies should have to offer a bus service and not just pick profitable services.
However, this will not solve the problem in the short term.
I believe that the City Council has the power to solve this issue if the will is there.
There are examples of other bus services which are supported by the council.
I also think that they could look at alternative arrangements.
It is clear that a solution is required before bad weather and dark nights and mornings come in.
The City Council should listen to the concerns of parents in the West End.

Jim McGovern MP and Jenny Marra MSP visit Dundee Remploy factory

19 September 2011

Jim McGovern, MP for Dundee West, and Jenny Marra, MSP for the North East Region, visited the Dundee Remploy factory today.
This visit comes as pressure increases on the UK government to reconsider the recommendations made in the Sayce report to end government support for the historic company.
Jim McGovern last week called on the Secretary of State for Scotland to do all he could to support the company’s operations in Scotland, and in June this year Mr McGovern met with Peter Luff MP, Minister for Procurement and Equipment at the Ministry of Defence, about the future of defence contracts to Remploy.
The Dundee factory primarily produces protective clothing for the armed forces.
Jim McGovern said;
"Today’s meeting was very productive.
"It was great to be able to meet with the management team, trade union representatives from the GMB and Community unions, as well as the fantastic workforce.
"It is clear that there is a consensus amongst all those involved that if the UK government follows the recommendations made in the Sayce report then jobs are likely to be lost.
"Given the important opportunities and jobs offered by Remploy, as well as the current economic situation, this would be unacceptable."
Mr McGovern concluded,
"When parliament returns after the conference recess I will be calling for the Remploy parliamentary group of MPs to meet as soon as possible, so we can co-ordinate our efforts with the company and the unions in order to save Remploy jobs across the UK."
Jenny Marra MSP said,
"Today I saw how valuable Remploy is for the people that work there.
"We cannot afford to be closing supported workplaces at a time of recession when the employees will struggle to find jobs elsewhere.
"I will continue to work with the staff and employees of Remploy to highlight the dangers of job losses implied within the Government’s Sayce report, and I will do everything I can in the Scottish Parliament to save Remploy in Scotland."

Councillor Kevin Keenan : Number of young adults unemployed in Dundee now equals the total number of people unemployed in Dundee in mid 1960s

Councillor Kevin Keenan


The number of young adults unemployed in Dundee is now the same as the total number of people unemployed in the city in the mid 1960s


Councillor Kevin Keenan has commented on the latest unemployment figures (August) showing that the number of young adults in the 18-24 age group now unemployed in Dundee is now at the same level as it was for all of those unemployed in the city in the mid-1960s.
Official figures show that the number of people in the young adult age group without a job last month was just over 1,900.
That's the same number provided by further official figures of the total number of people unemployed in Dundee in March 1966.
Kevin Keenan said,
"It’s bad enough that the number of young adults unemployed in Dundee is now the same as the total number of unemployed in Dundee in the mid 1960s.
"What makes the comparison even more depressing is that in the mid 1960s, the population of Dundee was around 182,000. Today it stands at 144,000.
"That’s around 40,000 less Dundonians nowadays than there were back in the 1960s.
"Older Dundonians will have their own memories of the 'Swinging Sixties'.
" I’m sure that one memory will be that these were more secure times for themselves, and that the problem of unemployment was nothing approaching the magnitude that it is today.
" We need to invest in our young people today with the same priority as they did in the ‘60s.
"This is why Labour has, for example, called on the UK Government to raise £2 billion from the same bank bonus tax as was done last year which would help fund putting young adults back to work .
"The best way to find our way out of this economic downturn is to invest in our young people, who are the future of our city."
Unemployment in Dundee rose again last month and now stands at 5,899 ( 6.2 per cent, compared with a Scottish average of 4.3 per cent.)

Marlyn Glen - Girls outperform Boys at school - so why is the Gender Pay Gap still there?

Marlyn Glen writes :

In my previous piece ( link ) I looked at explanations of why girls generally perform better in education than boys, and the belief for some that Margaret Thatcher was a suitable role model for girls to emulate in adult careers.

While there was little evidence of this from her polices and her lack of identity with women and their needs as a group, Thatcherism, the term that came to describe her politics, certainly had its effect upon males.
Thatcherism directly challenged male identity in working class areas with traditional industries.
As life and jobs were stripped out of communities across the country, and millions were sent to the dole queues, the identity of men with their work was broken.

Broken too was the link between boys striving to be academically successful at school to ensure a good start in adult working life.
There were simply not such jobs in these communities, and hence the value of education for boys' future fell.
Coming back up to date, the hope that the higher levels of success displayed by girls and young women as opposed to boys and young men at national exams would have ushered in the beginning of the end for the gender pay gap has yet to be borne out.
This year and last , two heavyweight institutions, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Home Office found that this permanent reminder of inequality was still as spacious as ever and that progress to close it was " grinding to a halt".
The HRC declared,"Despite women now doing better than men in every aspect of educational qualification, the mean gender pay gap for women and men working full time was 16.4% in 2009. "The gap is lowest for the under 30s, rising more than five-fold by the time workers reach 40, when women earn on average 27% less than men of the same age."
The Home Office report on "Women and work" noted that almost half of this country’s workforce are women, but that "evidence from a range of studies suggest our labour market is still failing to make the best use of people’s talents.
"In particular, pay levels for women, while improving, still do not reflect their qualification levels.
Last month , the EHRC published "Sex and Power" which estimated that over 5,000 women were missing from the top positions of power in the public and private sector.
It reported that while women graduates on average had higher degree passes than men and the number of women graduates continues to grow, this is not reflected in their numbers in senior management categories in employment after graduation.
The percentage of women in positions of influence included :
22 per cent of MPs
17 per cent of the Cabinet
13 per cent of local government council leaders
22 per cent of local authority chief executives
14 per cent of university vice-chancellors
10 per cent as national newspaper editors
The dearth of women in top positions resulted from factors such as the "outdated" culture of long-working hours and "the unequal division of domestic responsibilities"
EHRC emphasised that , "If Britain is to stage a strong recovery from its current economic situation, then we have to make sure we’re not wasting women’s skills and talents."
The reluctance to tackle this significant division of priorities at the centre of women’s working lives, which is virtually absent from the lives of many men, between the needs to earn to bring up a family and the dependent needs of those same family members has its consequences for the economy.
Many women choose part-time work to resolve these competing demands.
The TUC has reported that the Gender and Employment in Local Labour Markets study recorded 54 percent of women working part-time as being ‘employed below their potential’ – the equivalent of 2.8 million women.
The TUC emphasised , "What this means is that previously they had worked in jobs that demanded higher qualifications/skills or more responsibility than the jobs they now did.
"If employers offered more high status and better-paid jobs on a part-time basis or with other flexible arrangements these women would be able to apply for these opportunities."
So while some progress has been made through women gaining better educational qualifications, the gender gap remains firmly in its place.
Shifting the work-life balance more in favour of women now takes on a new importance.
This means that that many employers must be made to recognise that :women would be better employees if their ( unpaid) domestic and caring duties could be integrated more harmoniously with their ( paid) work.
Women face considerable obstacles in career progression as the standards set for such advancement were made initially by men to accommodate men’s working needs.
Women’s work is consistently undervalued compared with that of men, and that their work is rewarded accordingly.
Girls and young women have come a long way in education in a relatively short time.
If we want to close the gender gap significantly, then employers must also make a similar journey in a much shorter time scale.

Councillor Laurie Bidwell - How sustainable is the new Dundee Education Department structure?

Councillor Laurie Bidwell writes :

The revised blueprint for the management of the Education Department has been considered by the Policy and Resources Committee of the Council.
Significantly, it's another vital set of issues about schooling in Dundee that will bypass the Education Committee of the Council.What are we to make of the new Education Department structure?
At first glance it is clear that many posts have been lost by the non replacement of staff granted early retirement over the last year or two.
This approach to the management of change seems to be characterized by shaking the education tree and seeing what falls off; then reorganizing around those posts and people you have left. The recent crop of education cuts has been focused mainly on reducing posts in the management of schools and the Education Department, particularly 'depute head teachers', 'directorate' and 'improvement and education officers'.
We have been warned that the Council's anticipated budget reduction for 2012/13 will be £10 million.
When Labour led the coalition that ran the council up to April 2009, we protected Education from the full force of budgetary reductions.
Judging by the SNP's apportionment of cuts this year, and the Education Department's share of the overall council budget, up to £5 million more may be removed from the Education Department's budget next financial year.
It's difficult not to conclude that next time more teachers and other front line staff will have to go.So this new structure, for the Education Department, may unfortunately be short lived. I fear that the attrition of cuts, year after year, will turn the management of education into last man or woman standing.
This hardly inspires confidence we are really changing for the future.

Lesley McMahon - Dundee’s duality: The ratchet effect and super commuters

Lesley McMahon writes :

Travelling across the country, I meet people from all regions and backgrounds.
One topic that reoccurs is the increasing nervousness regarding future job security given the impact of government – UK and Scottish – spending cuts.
In Dundee, people are less optimistic as job market opportunities are less plentiful; unsurprisingly, with the 55% increase in Job Seekers Allowance claimants since November 2007 (Nomis, 2011).
Furthermore, the short-run prospects do not look any brighter either with three of the city’s six largest employers – the City Council, NHS Tayside and University of Dundee – facing direct and continuing reductions to their budgets due to cuts in government spending.
In May, Dundee University announced another 130 job losses.
Last year, NHS Tayside stated 500 fulltime equivalent jobs were to be lost in order to meet its budget, and DC Thomson closed its bookbinding and printing operation, which brought to an end another 350 jobs.
Moreover, other organisations will be affected indirectly.
Job seekers, therefore, are plentiful; officially, there are 6.4 unemployed people to every vacancy (Dundee Economic Profile May 2011, p6).
It is important to remember that this figure only gives a partial glimpse of the volume of people seeking work as some people will have had to reduce their work hours – so, although they are employed, they may be underemployed – others may be working below their skill level and some will have simply given up looking.
Employers, however, have their pick of applicants.
Moreover, around 15% of the working age population in Dundee are not working but wish to work (NOMIS, 2011).
In trying to understand that figure, it is important to recognise the proportion of Dundee’s residents who have no qualifications is 14% (NOMIS, 2011) and the collapse of Dundee’s manufacturing base over the last three decades.
Dundee’s worklessness problem needs to be addressed.
Policy makers need to heed the warnings from the USA where economists are describing a ratchet effect among the least qualified of the community (The Economist, 28 Apr 2011).
This effect describes the concerning trend where the proportion of low or unqualified workers employed falls during a recession and this lost ground is not regained when the economy recovers.
Thus, over time, more and more people in this group in Dundee could remain unemployed if effective interventions are not implemented.
Another consequence of Dundee’s weak labour market relates to those workers who face redundancy or have been made redundant.
Facing difficulties in securing employment locally, especially home owners who cannot afford any period of unemployment, some members of this group are seeking employment outwith the local area and deciding to apply for posts in the south east of England.
However, with housing costs so much higher there, many families are deciding not to relocate. This new group of super commuters include professional, skilled and semi-skilled workers such as accountants, electricians, shop fitters, bus drivers, and teachers.
Many of these super commuters hope the local economy will pick up so that they can find a job closer to home.
Although, super commuter households may face difficulties, they do not face the levels of hopelessness experienced by the long term unemployed, who are the real losers of the recession and the governments’ cuts.
So what can we do?
*Tap into and exploit our local networks by working closely with Dundee’s two universities and its further education college to develop and implement cost-effective systems for raising educational attainment for our most disadvantaged members of our community.
*Create an environment for more local entrepreneurs. An economy built on hundreds of small and medium size businesses creates a more sustainable economy. A local entrepreneur set-up and runs the personal development company Insights. This company runs its international operations from the city.
*Attract more head quarters of national and international businesses. Dundee is home already to lots of vibrate employers such as Tesco Customer Service which employs 850 people in its head office in the city.
*Create opportunities for the long term unemployed to gain real work experience and support them back into work.
Policy makers in Dundee need to ensure a sustainable and equitable economy and continue to have the vision that championed the bold Waterfront project, which attracted the exciting V&A museum.
Confidence is already to beginning to build with respect to Dundee’s future as illustrated with Malmaison’s plans to rejuvenate the Tay Hotel.
This success and confidence must be translated into real jobs for all especially the long term unemployed.

Bringing the future of football to Dundee - Jenny Marra MSP

Jenny Marra MSP has launched a campaign to bring the new National Football Academy and the new National Indoor Football Academy to Dundee.
She said, "I have written to Shona Robison the Sports Minister asking her give serious consideration to putting the new National Football Academy and the new National Indoor Football Centre in Dundee.
"The SNP pledged a new National Football Academy and indoor centre in its manifesto.
"Shona Robison repeated this promise in the chamber of the Scottish Parliament last month.
"I think Dundee is the ideal place to host the National Football Academy and the new indoor facility.
"Dundee has a long and proud history of footballing excellence, in the professional clubs, juniors, amateurs and schools.
"Our clubs' glory days are known throughout Europe.
"With the Commonwealth Games investment based in the West, it is only fitting that Dundee gets a slice of the sports investment.
"I would ask anyone who supports this to sign up to the campaign on my website.
"Dundee is the ideal place to train football stars of the future.
"We have two great clubs with a proud record of training and development in our community.
"I have no doubt that the whole city would welcome the National Academy with open arms, be generous hosts to young footballers coming here to train, and make a great success of this exciting national initiative.
"I am urging the Sports Minister Shona Robison to deliver for her own city and bring the future of football home to Dundee."
Members of the public can sign up for the campaign by visiting www.jennymarra.com/nfa

Councillor Richard McCready - St Johns High School Bus Service

Councillor Richard McCready writes :



The underlying factor in the problems faced by St John's pupils trying to get from the West End to their school and back is that bus companies are under no obligation to operate non-profit making services.
Both bus companies in Dundee can focus on profitable routes and they do not have to provide a social service to anyone.
This is a legacy of bus deregulation implemented in the 1980s.
I think that this issue along with a number of other issues, such as the inability to go by bus from parts of the West End ward to Lochee High Street, make the case for more regulation of buses.
I think that in return for licences to run profitable services there should also be an obligation to provide socially useful services such as a service to St John's and services for many areas with an elderly population.
The City Council, though, needs to act and find a solution for those pupils who are at St John's just now. These pupils generally live within the catchment area of the school, they generally attended one of the feeder primary schools for St John's, namely St Joseph's Primary.
The lack of an adequate bus service is making many parents question whether they would want to send their children to St John's.
To replace the number 4 service which National Express Dundee withdrew the City Council replaced this with a subsidised bus service the number 204.
This service does not include services to St John's at the beginning and end of the school day. The Education and City Development Departments should look at this issue.
Subsidised bus services run to St Paul's Academy, as the council report from June points out, and parents of pupils at Harris Academy have rightly been promised that when the school decants to the Rockwell site during the rebuilding of Harris Academy that buses will be provided from the West End, and elsewhere, to the Rockwell site.
I do not see what the difference is here.
Parents and pupils at St John's should receive the same consideration.
I am pleased that my colleague Jenny Marra MSP, herself a former pupil at St John's, has made clear her support for West End parents who are concerned about getting their children to and from St John's High School in a reasonable time.

Jim McGovern MP calls upon the Government to back Remploy

Jim McGovern, MP for Dundee West, has asked the Secretary of State for Scotland to back Remploy and protect the jobs in the Dundee factory.
This question was the first in Wednesday’s questions to the Scotland Office, and was supported by Tom Greatrex MP, the Shadow Scotland Office Minister.
The question comes after Mr McGovern met with Peter Luff MP, Minister for Procurement and Equipment in the Ministry of Defence in June this year, about the future of MOD contracts to Remploy.
At the time the Minister confirmed that there would be some contracts made, but he could not go into details.
Recently the Sayce report has been published, which has made recommendations for future work opportunities for disabled people.
This report recommends ending government involvement with Remploy.
There are fears within the company and those who work for Remploy that this will lead to job losses.
Jim McGovern said;
"Remploy is an important company that provides much needed jobs for disabled and non-disabled people alike in Dundee.
"They produce high quality products for the Ministry of Defence, for good value for money."
"It is clear that the Sayce report could lead to job losses, as government contracts are an important part of Remploy’s work.
"This is particularly so in Dundee.
"Given the economic situation across the country, the government should not be acting in a way that will mean fewer jobs."
"The Minister was correct in saying that the consultation to the Sayce report is on-going, which makes this the best time to make clear the concerns of Remploy and their employees."
Mr McGovern concluded;
"I very much welcome the support of the Labour front bench. It is clear that there is support across the House for Remploy.
"I hope the government listens to that and they opt not to follow the Sayce report, so the future of Remploy and these important jobs are protected."