Browse content similar to 05/02/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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In the south east: and how thousands of homeowners and flood | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
risky areas could be left high and dry in a stand-off between the | :01:31. | :01:41. | |
:01:41. | :01:41. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1754 seconds | :01:41. | :30:55. | |
I'm Rob Smith and this is the Sunday Politics in the South East. | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
Coming up in the next 20 minutes: Vocational studies on the scrap | :30:58. | :31:02. | |
heap. As an East Sussex skills centre looks set to close, we find | :31:02. | :31:05. | |
out how the Government's new rules on school league tables will hit | :31:05. | :31:11. | |
learning the South East. With me in the studio today are Hastings and | :31:11. | :31:15. | |
Rye MP Amber Rudd and former MP for Gillingham and Rainham Paul Clark. | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
We will get on to schools in a moment, and also take a look at a | :31:19. | :31:23. | |
major row over flood risk and home insurance, but first Pfizer. | :31:23. | :31:27. | |
It is a year since the company announced it was pulling out of | :31:27. | :31:30. | |
Kent, with the loss of 2,500 jobs. It all looked bleak at the time, | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
but now the site is showing signs of life. 650 Pfizer jobs are | :31:33. | :31:36. | |
actually staying on the site, which is now called the Discovery Park, | :31:36. | :31:46. | |
and about to be sold to new buyers. So all's well that ends well? | :31:46. | :31:51. | |
and delighted that clearly 650 jobs will stay there, and a survey has | :31:51. | :31:56. | |
shown that 1,000 out of the 1,500 made redundant have found other | :31:56. | :32:00. | |
jobs. But none of us should underestimate the effect it has on | :32:00. | :32:04. | |
families, individuals, knocking confidence and having to get | :32:04. | :32:13. | |
through that. It is incumbent on all of us in positions to help. | :32:13. | :32:18. | |
enough being done? My thoughts are that it is difficult to see that is | :32:18. | :32:23. | |
the case when you have economic policies leading to even higher | :32:23. | :32:29. | |
unemployment than before. These are very difficult times. This week we | :32:29. | :32:32. | |
have had an announcement of another pharmaceutical company that is | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
shedding a few hundred. Amber Rudd, it is a tough ask to | :32:37. | :32:40. | |
bring top-end science jobs to Kent. Has the Government actually done | :32:40. | :32:46. | |
enough? An enormous amount has been done. It was a devastating blow to | :32:46. | :32:53. | |
the area when Pfizer announced this. But the Sun which task force came | :32:53. | :33:03. | |
:33:03. | :33:04. | ||
together, which has cross-party, and it has been very successful. | :33:04. | :33:07. | |
And it is now under offer for expanding with another business. | :33:07. | :33:17. | |
:33:17. | :33:17. | ||
There is a lot of good news. Find. -- thank you. I mentioned that | :33:17. | :33:20. | |
there is a major row brewing over flood risk and home insurance. In | :33:20. | :33:23. | |
fact something of a stand-off between the coalition government | :33:23. | :33:25. | |
and British Insurers has developed, which could mean that tens of | :33:25. | :33:28. | |
thousands of homeowners in the region will be left without flood | :33:28. | :33:32. | |
cover next year. A number may even lose the value of their homes or | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
breach the terms of their mortgages. Helen Drew went to meet some of | :33:35. | :33:42. | |
those likely to be affected. Flood seems 12 years ago in a | :33:42. | :33:49. | |
village in Kent. A high water mark on the 16th century house is a | :33:49. | :33:55. | |
subtle reminder of those floods. But for the owner of this house, | :33:56. | :34:03. | |
memories are all too stark. started in 1999, Christmas Eve. It | :34:03. | :34:07. | |
is etched in my memory. It is dreadful because you see the water | :34:07. | :34:12. | |
coming in, and you cannot stop it. You have to just wait for it to | :34:12. | :34:17. | |
Galway. And then you're left with half of a river inside your | :34:17. | :34:27. | |
possessions. It may she very nervy, and you're constantly looking at | :34:27. | :34:32. | |
the weather forecast. -- it makes you very nervy. One in six homes in | :34:32. | :34:42. | |
:34:42. | :34:44. | ||
England is at risk of flooding. Kent has the third highest risk... | :34:44. | :34:47. | |
There is also the increasing problem of surface flooding which | :34:47. | :34:51. | |
often happens in our urban areas where street drains are not able to | :34:51. | :34:55. | |
cope with heavy rainfall. This offence Kent more than any county, | :34:55. | :35:01. | |
with an additional 70,000 homes at risk. If things like this happen in | :35:01. | :35:05. | |
the future, there is a chance that homes will not be insured. There is | :35:05. | :35:08. | |
an agreement in place at the moment between the government and the | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
insurance industry which means companies have to provide insurance | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
for the vast majority of flood risk properties. In return the | :35:15. | :35:22. | |
government provides love -- flood defences. The agreement ends next | :35:22. | :35:25. | |
year. Insurers say they might not insure certain homes without | :35:25. | :35:29. | |
government support, especially considering that spending on flood | :35:29. | :35:34. | |
defences fell by 27% in the first year of the coalition government. | :35:34. | :35:38. | |
We have to be clear that if no agreement is put in place, there | :35:38. | :35:42. | |
could be 200,000 people across the country, including many in Kent and | :35:42. | :35:52. | |
south-east, he struggled to access insure and -- on acceptable terms. | :35:52. | :35:56. | |
Insurers to have to price risk as accurately as the camera will find | :35:56. | :36:01. | |
it difficult to produce premiums which are affordable to people and | :36:01. | :36:04. | |
at the highest risk of flooding. Insurers have to make a profit, and | :36:04. | :36:14. | |
:36:14. | :36:15. | ||
have to charge prices that affect This house has been flooded twice | :36:15. | :36:22. | |
in the last 12 years, at a cost of �130,000. Its owner, who has since | :36:22. | :36:25. | |
joined the National flood for them, was insured, but she is worried | :36:25. | :36:29. | |
what would happen if she could no longer get cover. It would be a | :36:29. | :36:33. | |
real worry in many ways. First of all I would feel very vulnerable if | :36:33. | :36:37. | |
the house for the -- flooded. How could we call with putting it back | :36:37. | :36:44. | |
together? That in itself is a very serious worry. But there are other | :36:44. | :36:49. | |
implications. Our mortgage requires us to have buildings insurance in | :36:49. | :36:53. | |
place, but if we do not have it in place, have we defaulted on the | :36:53. | :37:02. | |
lending terms? What would it mean if we want to sell the home? One in | :37:02. | :37:05. | |
six homes are at risk of flooding, and it could have a huge impact on | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
the whole property market. The end of the existing insurance agreement | :37:08. | :37:13. | |
could mean a growing torrent of people cannot claim for fun -- | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
flood damage. Or worse than that, they may be in breach of their | :37:17. | :37:20. | |
mortgage terms without an insurance policy. If the Government prepared | :37:20. | :37:29. | |
for this? Joining us is the MP for Dartford, | :37:29. | :37:34. | |
Gareth Johnson, who has over 300 floods -- flood risk homes in his | :37:34. | :37:39. | |
constituency. Who should cover the risk of flooding? There is a | :37:39. | :37:43. | |
collective responsibility here. The government has his role to | :37:43. | :37:47. | |
negotiate. I understand the negotiations are ongoing with the | :37:47. | :37:51. | |
Association of British Insurers, so a deal that can be found between | :37:51. | :37:59. | |
insurance companies and governments will be can insure people living in | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
flood risk areas. There is no reason at we cannot make sure there | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
is affordable insurance available for each of the households. How can | :38:06. | :38:10. | |
you do that? We could come to an agreement with insurance companies. | :38:10. | :38:16. | |
We are working with private companies with local councils and | :38:16. | :38:26. | |
:38:26. | :38:35. | ||
the environment agency to make sure these things are in place. You | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
mentioned Pfizer, and they are investing �30 million in Kent on | :38:40. | :38:46. | |
flood defences. But this is a private company. There is a | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
collective responsibility. There is opportunity for Pfizer to | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
contribute, which they have decided to do with the Kent County Council, | :38:55. | :38:57. | |
and central government who are putting in the lion's share of this | :38:57. | :39:02. | |
amount of money. It should be public money that under rates all | :39:02. | :39:05. | |
this. I have always taken the view that there is a collective | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
responsibility when it comes to flood defences. We will have a role | :39:08. | :39:12. | |
to play. I accept the central government has the lion's share, | :39:12. | :39:17. | |
and that is why we are putting in the lion's share of money. Why is | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
there an impasse at the moment? Could the government just trying to | :39:20. | :39:27. | |
save some money? The Association of British Insurers and answerable to | :39:27. | :39:29. | |
the insurance companies. The Government is trying to do the best | :39:29. | :39:38. | |
for householders, and that is what we want to concentrate on. There | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
are negotiations going on, and we are optimistic that an agreement | :39:41. | :39:45. | |
will be reached in those negotiations. We are hopeful that | :39:45. | :39:51. | |
it can be reached by the spring. There should be some sort of | :39:51. | :39:54. | |
protection to householders on living flood plains, and we have to | :39:54. | :40:00. | |
make sure we're able to have some sort of security in their hands. | :40:00. | :40:04. | |
Let us turn to the guests and the studio. The last thing people need | :40:04. | :40:10. | |
is uncertainty over what is going on. Of course. But we also cannot | :40:10. | :40:14. | |
be pushed around by the Association of British Insurers, they are a | :40:14. | :40:19. | |
lobby group. We do not want the taxpayer just rolling over | :40:19. | :40:26. | |
effectively and saying, OK, we give in, the it is absolutely right that | :40:26. | :40:30. | |
the government should negotiate and be cautious with taxpayers' money. | :40:30. | :40:40. | |
:40:40. | :40:42. | ||
But if you wait too long and looked at Lewes, it cost �80 million to | :40:42. | :40:48. | |
put right, but it only cost 3 million to put the flood defences | :40:48. | :40:54. | |
of. We are not rushing into an agreement with the lobby group in | :40:54. | :41:03. | |
order to appease everyone. We are going to get the best deal. I agree | :41:03. | :41:07. | |
that government should rightly negotiate and agree on a statement | :41:07. | :41:13. | |
of principles that we introduced with the insurance industry, back | :41:13. | :41:18. | |
in 2009. Of course I should be negotiated, but you cannot cut and | :41:18. | :41:22. | |
make cuts that go too deep and too quickly, because that is what this | :41:22. | :41:32. | |
:41:32. | :41:39. | ||
is about. The Environment Agency, the Government's own body, in 2009, | :41:39. | :41:45. | |
said that they would need and 9% increase between 2011 and 2015 to | :41:45. | :41:49. | |
maintain the flood defences that are required to protect the | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
household you are talking about. Let us go back to Gareth Johnson. | :41:53. | :41:56. | |
Ultimately, whether it is through taxation or higher premiums we are | :41:56. | :42:01. | |
going to have to pay extra to sort out this problem? The Environment | :42:01. | :42:06. | |
Agency has said they can continue particularly with the capital | :42:06. | :42:09. | |
programme that they're going to be able to protect householders. The | :42:09. | :42:13. | |
government has a duty of care to those people who do not live and | :42:13. | :42:16. | |
flood plains, who do not want to subsidise those households that do | :42:16. | :42:21. | |
live there. We need to have a balanced approach to ensure the | :42:21. | :42:24. | |
government is playing its role, and have to ensure that the taxpayer's | :42:24. | :42:31. | |
interests are looked after, a whether they come from flood plain | :42:31. | :42:41. | |
:42:41. | :42:49. | ||
a real sorry elsewhere. -- areas or elsewhere. | :42:49. | :42:52. | |
In the week Education Secretary Michael Gove announced that more | :42:52. | :42:54. | |
than 3,000 vocational qualifications will no longer count | :42:54. | :42:56. | |
towards school league tables, the Sunday Politics South East has | :42:56. | :42:59. | |
learned that Wealden Skills Centre which provides vocational training | :42:59. | :43:02. | |
for a group of schools in East Sussex, faces closure through lack | :43:02. | :43:04. | |
of funding. Is the Government right to focus on academic performance | :43:04. | :43:07. | |
over practical achievement? And what impact will this change of | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
emphasis have on education in the region? | :43:09. | :43:11. | |
Paul Clark, we do not need educational facilities closing at | :43:11. | :43:13. | |
the moment. Absolutely not. No one is arguing that there should not be | :43:13. | :43:20. | |
a review or revaluation of this. Their head teachers I have spoken | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
to agree. But what this message sent out is that actually the | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
courses that many of the young people are doing today are going to | :43:29. | :43:33. | |
be sitting exams and being assessed for, are worthless. That is what | :43:33. | :43:39. | |
the Government is saying. In all the coverage, I saw things like | :43:39. | :43:45. | |
fish husbandry picked on. I had a quick look to see how many fish | :43:45. | :43:49. | |
farms there are in Kent. There are 15, they are providing jobs, | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
employment, sustainability, environmentally and hands and. I'll | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
be going to throw all of those out? Those are worthless, according to | :43:56. | :44:02. | |
the Secretary of State. He is trying to go back to a 1940 sh | :44:02. | :44:10. | |
vision of what education should be. Absolutely not. It is what it is. | :44:10. | :44:14. | |
It is not GSEE equivalent when it something says it is. Let's call | :44:14. | :44:24. | |
:44:24. | :44:26. | ||
GSEE -- GCSEs what they are. Fish husbandry is not equivalent to | :44:26. | :44:29. | |
three GCSEs. But if you want to employ someone as a nail technician, | :44:29. | :44:34. | |
you do not worry too much of they have a fine grasp of Tudor history, | :44:34. | :44:39. | |
you want them to be trained in what they're going to do if. But you | :44:39. | :44:42. | |
must be expecting them to have English or maths the stock no one | :44:42. | :44:52. | |
is suggesting that English or maths should not be there. We're saying | :44:52. | :44:57. | |
you cannot send out the message to people studying in those areas. | :44:57. | :45:01. | |
There are 3,000 of them which have been wiped off the face of | :45:01. | :45:05. | |
importance for young people and for the country, and not important as | :45:05. | :45:11. | |
much as studying with its ancient history on economics. Half of the | :45:11. | :45:15. | |
schools in my constituency, less than 10% of the young people do a | :45:15. | :45:19. | |
modern language. I want to see that going back up. History and | :45:19. | :45:22. | |
geography have fallen off the cliff, and we have to be clear that these | :45:22. | :45:27. | |
are more rigorous subjects that people could benefit from. But if | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
you make vocational qualifications seem worthless, people will not | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
want to do a them. No one is saying they are worthless. But that is the | :45:35. | :45:42. | |
message. It is a message you keep on saying. It is a message that | :45:42. | :45:46. | |
keeps on being sent out, and I have spoken to teachers who say that the | :45:47. | :45:54. | |
message going out to both them as professional people to youngsters, | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
is that doing these are worthless. In the eyes of the government, you | :45:58. | :46:02. | |
will not recognise them in any shape or four. They are not | :46:02. | :46:06. | |
recognised when going on to college or university, and some people have | :46:06. | :46:09. | |
to wake up to the truth at that stage. We need to be honest with | :46:09. | :46:15. | |
them that what they're getting could give them a career, but not | :46:15. | :46:24. | |
College. How do you differentiate between academic and vocational? | :46:24. | :46:29. | |
Some people are not academic. not agree with that. Even if you | :46:29. | :46:32. | |
want to going to fish husbandry, you need to make a good curriculum | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
vitae, you need to have good maths or French or German. You need to | :46:36. | :46:39. | |
aim higher for the young people even if they wanted want to | :46:39. | :46:43. | |
vocational training. But that is another point put to me. There does | :46:43. | :46:47. | |
seem that as far as the Secretary of State is concerned, if you | :46:48. | :46:53. | |
cannot actually have a written test on a subject or that is not the | :46:53. | :46:58. | |
prime way of testing, then it is not of any value. It is not because | :46:58. | :47:03. | |
we know that many people are best judged through continuous process | :47:03. | :47:13. | |
:47:13. | :47:13. | ||
and practical exercise. That is as important as it is in having an E | :47:13. | :47:17. | |
grade GCSE in modern history, economics or what to do. I do not | :47:18. | :47:27. | |
:47:28. | :47:32. | ||
agree with that. At GCSE in history or geography is more valuable. | :47:32. | :47:38. | |
is not when you are contributing to the coffers of our country. This is | :47:38. | :47:45. | |
an argument we can keep coming back to! Let us get a 62nd round-up of | :47:45. | :47:55. | |
:47:55. | :48:00. | ||
events in the region. -- 60-second. Amber Rudd praised her local | :48:00. | :48:04. | |
council's housing policy. Even though it isn't done by the | :48:04. | :48:10. | |
opposition. They are encouraged to tackle derelict buildings, which we | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
are doing well, despite having a Labour council. | :48:13. | :48:23. | |
:48:23. | :48:29. | ||
No such loving among some of the members of her own party. What | :48:29. | :48:39. | |
exactly has he vetoed? Another MP thanked him for saving | :48:39. | :48:49. | |
:48:49. | :48:49. | ||
Pfizer. After a complaint this beer was | :48:49. | :48:59. | |
:48:59. | :49:07. | ||
Amber Rudd, you gave some unusual praise to your label councillors | :49:07. | :49:11. | |
the stock yes, it followed someone else talking about the Conservative | :49:11. | :49:17. | |
council. I have been pleased that the weary council has taken the | :49:17. | :49:20. | |
opportunity to get funds for the new homes bonus, which is paid when | :49:20. | :49:27. | |
you bring old homes back into use. In Hastings we have been doing that. | :49:27. | :49:36. | |
I am delighted that Amber has seen the importance of Labour council. | :49:36. | :49:42. | |
Will there be a Labour conservative coalition? I do not think so! | :49:42. | :49:45. | |
Mark Reckless was talking about the Brussels treaty. What did you make | :49:45. | :49:52. | |
of that? He had his great leader coming back just before Christmas | :49:52. | :49:58. | |
to say, I have told the European leaders exactly what I think we're | :49:58. | :50:04. | |
going to veto proposals, there are not going to use institutions, and | :50:04. | :50:07. | |
they're not going to happen. One month later he came back to say, | :50:07. | :50:15. | |
with an agreement that has signed up by 25 countries, the European | :50:15. | :50:22. |