:01:36. > :01:40.The Conservative council leader who is accusing the Government to tax
:01:40. > :01:50.and local authorities to fund academies. Has he got out case?
:01:50. > :01:50.
:01:50. > :31:18.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1767 seconds
:31:18. > :31:22.Hello, I am Marie Ashby. Coming up: The Conservative council leader who
:31:22. > :31:28.is accusing the Government of taxing local authorities to fund
:31:28. > :31:32.his Academy's programme. In some sense -- some sense as bid talk to
:31:32. > :31:42.the Secretary of State. We speak to the MP of Loughborough and poll
:31:42. > :31:45.
:31:45. > :31:54.homes. Nicky was a solicitor before entering Parliament,. First,
:31:54. > :31:59.trouble A1 of her presence. -- prisons. It is not just Nottingham.
:31:59. > :32:03.Nicky Morgan, we have 80,000 prisoners and more violent ones
:32:03. > :32:10.than ever before. Officers say they do not have the time to form any
:32:10. > :32:13.kind of relationship with them. What are you going to do? It is
:32:13. > :32:19.something the Minister of Justice will have to consider. People want
:32:20. > :32:25.is the hardened criminals in prison. People in prisons who work there
:32:25. > :32:28.need to work with them. Officers and their early twenties are having
:32:28. > :32:37.to retire on medical grounds because of the injuries they have
:32:37. > :32:41.sustained. Something has to be done. There are nasty criminals and there.
:32:41. > :32:51.It is a nasty environment. We lock up more people than anywhere else
:32:51. > :32:51.
:32:51. > :32:55.in Western Europe. The Government's changes to disability benefit have
:32:55. > :33:02.also been in the news. The coalition have survived a number of
:33:03. > :33:10.amendments by the skin of its teeth. 0.5 million people will not receive
:33:10. > :33:14.it. If people need it, they should be given it. I feel the way that
:33:14. > :33:21.the current situation now is, disabled people need more help than
:33:21. > :33:25.ever before. I think the Government Sion it reduce it because disabled
:33:25. > :33:34.people need it. -- should not. There are too many people using and
:33:34. > :33:40.abusing the system when they should not be. People who are getting
:33:40. > :33:45.benefits, those who should know, it is those issued Hett. Those with
:33:45. > :33:50.disability does not compare with the number of tax dodgers in
:33:50. > :33:55.business and banks that they raise. Are the Government's reforms
:33:55. > :34:00.justified or are they just plain unfair. Sympathy For disability
:34:00. > :34:05.claimants, but also a feeling that the system is being abused. A
:34:05. > :34:09.system is being abused by a small number of people. The general
:34:09. > :34:15.thrust of what the Government is doing well be a big step forward.
:34:15. > :34:23.But penalising people on disability living allowance will takes about 5
:34:23. > :34:33.million people of, that is not based on a national -- rational
:34:33. > :34:33.
:34:33. > :34:37.need. -- 0.5 million. You have a proper assessment system. There are
:34:37. > :34:42.people who have been on disability living allowance for a long time.
:34:42. > :34:46.They have been asked, could you work? There are people who want to
:34:46. > :34:51.work. They have not got the support to be able to do that. That is what
:34:51. > :34:56.we are changing. It is about helping people to be as independent
:34:56. > :35:00.as they can be. It seems incredible that many claimants do not have
:35:00. > :35:05.that face to face contact to talk about the situation they are in.
:35:05. > :35:15.is not a proper assessment system. They have said they're going to cut
:35:15. > :35:18.
:35:18. > :35:25.of 20% of the Bill. That is before you do an assessment. If you do
:35:25. > :35:28.proper fist of his assessments, -- if you do a proper face to face
:35:28. > :35:34.assessments, do them. There were 60 presenter people who appealed
:35:34. > :35:39.against their decisions. They take a few boxes and do not do a full
:35:39. > :35:44.medical assessment are told. have heard that half of those who
:35:44. > :35:49.were denied the new benefit have had a reinstated on appeal. If that
:35:49. > :35:53.does not show the need to tread carefully, what does?
:35:53. > :35:57.Government recognises there is a need to tread carefully. We have a
:35:57. > :36:05.difficult economic situation. We know the benefits bill has grown
:36:05. > :36:08.and grown. When I go out, people say to me, how is it that I am
:36:09. > :36:14.working very hard and saving, yet the people down the road appear to
:36:14. > :36:19.be getting money in and have a better lifestyle than me? There is
:36:19. > :36:23.an and furnace at the moment. If we as people on low salaries, we have
:36:23. > :36:30.to make sure that people are getting the benefits are entitled
:36:31. > :36:36.to. It was shown to be working in some areas of the country. There
:36:36. > :36:41.has been some refinements which looked at the benefit of people
:36:41. > :36:46.with health and mental conditions. There is also -- or was going to be
:36:46. > :36:51.changes. There is a need to attack the system. What is your advice to
:36:51. > :36:57.the Government? If you are doing a proper assessment, why announce in
:36:57. > :37:07.advance that you are going to find 20% of people who will no longer
:37:07. > :37:09.
:37:09. > :37:17.get the benefit. You should do proper assessments. We had a very
:37:17. > :37:23.good version. MH is a Lords tomorrow. We will be watching. --
:37:23. > :37:28.it will reach the Lords tomorrow. Academies Act - it they are already
:37:28. > :37:32.controversial. Now the Conservative leader in Leicestershire is
:37:32. > :37:36.accusing the Government of taxing local authorities to fund them. He
:37:36. > :37:39.is demanding action. It is a central plank of the
:37:39. > :37:44.Government's education policy - persuading schools under the
:37:44. > :37:47.control of local authorities to convert to academy status. State
:37:47. > :37:51.maintained but independently run, academies have more freedom to
:37:51. > :37:57.manage their own affairs. If Education Secretary Michael Gove
:37:57. > :38:01.has his way, they will become the norm. We have lots of excuses who
:38:01. > :38:05.do not believe in giving children a better education. It is time to
:38:05. > :38:12.call them what they are - ideals. Change is coming and to those who
:38:12. > :38:16.want to get in the way, I have just two words - hands off. But the old
:38:16. > :38:20.system of council control schools seems to be serving Leicestershire
:38:20. > :38:26.very well. The county has a higher percentage of outstanding schools
:38:26. > :38:31.than anywhere else in the country. Leicestershire's Conservative
:38:31. > :38:35.leader has announced reservations about the past and he backs the
:38:35. > :38:41.idea and was so well but see it is concerned about the financial
:38:41. > :38:46.implications. Effectively there is �100 tax a local authority for
:38:46. > :38:52.every pupil that goes into an academy. That equates to about �10
:38:52. > :38:56.million a year on a budget. In times of economic strength, that is
:38:56. > :39:01.a lot of money. A 11% of schools and Leicestershire are academies or
:39:01. > :39:07.applying to be. Academies are less popular in Derbyshire where the
:39:07. > :39:13.figure is 6%. In Nottinghamshire 13% of schools are poor want to be
:39:13. > :39:19.academies. And Lincolnshire has the highest proportion - around 20%.
:39:19. > :39:25.Academy status is clearly a highly sensitive issue. We found it very
:39:25. > :39:29.hard to pin their local authorities on what their official view is.
:39:29. > :39:34.Individual schools are especially reluctant to peak -- speak out. One
:39:34. > :39:38.head teacher told us academy status would be a tragedy for the pupils
:39:38. > :39:43.of Leicestershire. But later pulled out of an interview he had agreed
:39:43. > :39:50.to give us. But the Executive principle here at Melton Vale Post-
:39:50. > :39:54.16 Centre has said he would speak to us. We have registered an
:39:54. > :39:59.interest with the Department for Education which is the first that.
:39:59. > :40:03.The governors have a meeting next week where they will be considering
:40:03. > :40:08.where they want to take things forward. What is your own view of
:40:08. > :40:13.academy status? I think it is a great shame. We were stronger by
:40:14. > :40:19.being together. What the world has changed, the local authorities made
:40:19. > :40:23.that clear that they can no longer fulfil that role. And we need to
:40:23. > :40:28.become an academy. Do you feel as if you have been left with no
:40:28. > :40:32.option? Yes, absolutely. challenge now is to ensure that
:40:32. > :40:36.schools that prefer the status quo are not financially penalised.
:40:36. > :40:42.Leicestershire council is working with local MPs to press the
:40:42. > :40:48.Government for a fairer funding. Ian Lever from the National Union
:40:48. > :40:57.of Teachers has joined us. You were one of the MPs who met David
:40:57. > :41:01.Parsons this week. Has he got a kiss? A Yes, he has a case. Any
:41:02. > :41:07.local authority... And that is what the MPs are there for her. There is
:41:07. > :41:11.a lot of detail cut up in it. There is the underfunding of
:41:11. > :41:15.Leicestershire Schools which is contributing to this problem.
:41:15. > :41:20.it should be run the council should subsidise academies. That is right.
:41:20. > :41:25.That is why the figures have got to be looked at. If it is part of a
:41:25. > :41:29.bigger debate. Here we are in a position a change, or only 40% of
:41:29. > :41:31.Leicestershire Schools are academies. We are in that
:41:31. > :41:37.transitional period. That is why the Secretary of State will want to
:41:37. > :41:44.hear the argument. Should Michael Gove give Leicestershire and other
:41:44. > :41:48.councils the money they are losing? He will do because that is the aim
:41:48. > :41:55.of the programme, to get schools to compete with one another. To do
:41:55. > :42:00.that is to get along some. Why it a Conservative council is surprised
:42:01. > :42:07.by that I do not know. One schools opted out in the 1980s, that is
:42:07. > :42:12.what they were based UN. That is what academies are based on now. -
:42:12. > :42:17.back based on. What do you think? share the view that it is baffling
:42:18. > :42:22.to me that this is some surprise. If you encourage schools to leave
:42:22. > :42:27.the local authority, Take That lump of money with them, the local
:42:27. > :42:31.authority has less money left. is simple mass! Every teacher will
:42:32. > :42:35.tell you that the best teaching is done by teachers working together.
:42:35. > :42:39.The best schools are those the work with other schools in the area and
:42:39. > :42:43.have the support of a local authority that is properly funded
:42:43. > :42:46.so it is able to supply all the support it needs. If you take-away
:42:46. > :42:51.the money when budgets are being cut anyway, they will not deal to
:42:51. > :42:59.afford it. They're all saying you are missing something on this one.
:42:59. > :43:05.They should have seen this coming. They have hysteric underfunding. --
:43:05. > :43:11.historical. That is one issue. We have to check the 50 pound figure
:43:11. > :43:15.that David Parsons has used. We are waiting for details of that. I was
:43:15. > :43:19.whether Ian up until he was worth it has to be under local authority
:43:19. > :43:24.control. My schools are working collaborative, they are working on
:43:24. > :43:29.curriculum. They have converted most of them and their working well.
:43:29. > :43:34.It is a positive thing for pupils. It was mentioned twice in the film
:43:34. > :43:38.as well and it is bandied around the whole time. Schools are not
:43:38. > :43:43.under local authority control. Schools receive support from local
:43:43. > :43:49.authorities. One of the big carrots for schools to be able to opt out
:43:49. > :43:52.of local a 30 control, what they're doing it is moving away from the
:43:52. > :43:58.support that the local authority offers them. We need to try and
:43:58. > :44:03.move away from that terminology because it does not hold any water.
:44:03. > :44:11.Does not hold any water. I am not sure about that. When the money has
:44:11. > :44:16.come from the local authority, they have got control. The schools can,
:44:16. > :44:21.we have to look at whether the local authority can provide support
:44:21. > :44:26.which the schools can buy back from a local a 30. My schools are saying
:44:26. > :44:31.they can get things cheaper from another provider. -- local
:44:31. > :44:38.authority. It is not just the local a 30, one person sitting in an
:44:38. > :44:42.office deciding how money will be allocated. -- and authority. There
:44:42. > :44:47.are groups sitting together who decide how the money is allocated.
:44:47. > :44:56.There is Nahla -- accountability there that is not there. You will
:44:56. > :45:03.have a free-for-all where all schools do what they our doing --
:45:03. > :45:09.do what they want to do and there is no control. If you are competing
:45:09. > :45:13.together a working together they can raise standards. We have the
:45:13. > :45:17.head teacher more in control in terms of teaching and discipline
:45:17. > :45:25.and the curriculum. My schools are saying they can offer a broader
:45:25. > :45:32.curriculum because they can work together. This is nonsense. When I
:45:32. > :45:37.was first working in Derbyshire in the 1980s, the local education
:45:37. > :45:46.authority left to make a manager schools. That ended in the 1988
:45:46. > :45:53.Education Act. Michael gold manages was schools are doing not local
:45:53. > :45:58.authorities. -- Michael Gove. In Sweden where they have gone down
:45:58. > :46:02.this road, they found that they have had a drop in attainment. If
:46:03. > :46:06.you have schools competing in a free-market which the ideological
:46:06. > :46:09.approaches, then you have winners and losers instead of a
:46:09. > :46:15.collaborative approach. Academies are shown that standards are going
:46:15. > :46:20.up. No, academies have not shown this. There is no truth in that it
:46:20. > :46:25.off. You cannot say local authorities control schools are
:46:25. > :46:28.Michael Gove does. You cannot have it both ways. You cannot say there
:46:28. > :46:32.system we had was perfect and now we are have not got one there is.
:46:32. > :46:36.There is the danger year there once schools have elected to become
:46:36. > :46:43.academies, there is no going back. So ever goes back, it goes wrong
:46:43. > :46:46.beg. There is no going back and that is deliberate. They do not
:46:47. > :46:52.want people to go back. One of the other points that was touched on,
:46:52. > :46:56.schools could still buy these local a authority services. Local
:46:56. > :47:03.authority Kate's back eight per 10% of the money to provide services
:47:03. > :47:06.for Deaf children, that sort of thing. If you have a school in a
:47:06. > :47:14.Naphill an area that has long it took -- special educational needs
:47:14. > :47:19.and has no problem pupils, that money will not be there. It is a
:47:19. > :47:23.very divisive process. One thing that does worry people is what does
:47:23. > :47:27.happen in a situation when something goes wrong. Say an
:47:27. > :47:32.academy has financial problems, you could end up with a horrible
:47:32. > :47:37.scenario like the crisis of the Southern Cross old people's homes.
:47:37. > :47:42.Then the Government came men. They would come in, would work with
:47:42. > :47:48.management and centre in a school improvement team. That is what the
:47:48. > :47:52.CFE would do. Which was the money which the council used to provide.
:47:52. > :47:56.There is no great enthusiasm for this and Leicestershire. There is
:47:57. > :48:00.no enthusiasm from parents. A lot of it is rushed through and it was
:48:00. > :48:03.speeded up by Leicestershire County Council were saying you need to go
:48:03. > :48:08.for it now because if there will be not any services provided for you
:48:08. > :48:13.and 12 Munster. Our some principles they used on a report, they feel
:48:13. > :48:16.they have no option but to become academies. They are being pressured
:48:16. > :48:21.into it. There is strong encouragement. Leicestershire
:48:21. > :48:26.County Council does encourage it. They have an option, they can just
:48:26. > :48:31.say no. It is up to the governing bodies. They work with the head
:48:31. > :48:34.teachers at the end of the day. It is the right way to go. I can say
:48:34. > :48:38.locally it is an exciting time for my local schools, in terms of the
:48:38. > :48:43.way they are running themselves. I am delighted. It is great to be
:48:43. > :48:48.working with them. They are taking education forward. Deeply insulting
:48:48. > :48:53.to hear Michael Gove saying that those of us who have been teachers
:48:53. > :48:58.for many years not caring about the education of children. That is very
:48:58. > :49:07.insulting. Thank you for joining her debate. Time For A round-up of
:49:07. > :49:10.the political weaken the East Midlands in 60 seconds. --
:49:10. > :49:15.political week in their East Midlands.
:49:15. > :49:20.Fry's Crimestoppers now a group of Leicestershire residents wants the
:49:20. > :49:24.Government to help -- set up health cover so people can voice their
:49:24. > :49:29.concerns about feelings and the NHS. Shopping ways -- shopping around
:49:29. > :49:34.for ways to have revitalise our eyes streets. Some people say we
:49:34. > :49:39.should converter NT shops and housing. Patients should be allowed
:49:39. > :49:43.access a new cancer drug. She says it is the biggest breakthrough for
:49:43. > :49:46.treating advanced melanoma has in the last 30 years. Dennis Skinner
:49:47. > :49:51.wanted to know when the Prime Minister will be giving evidence to
:49:51. > :49:57.the Levenson acquire it. Doesn't he agree that the British people
:49:58. > :50:03.deserve an answer as to why he appointed one of Murdoch's toddler
:50:03. > :50:11.tenants, Andy Coulson, to the heart of the British Government. --
:50:11. > :50:15.lieutenant. As I say to my children, do not go to the museum to see a
:50:15. > :50:23.dinosaur. Come to the House of Commons.
:50:23. > :50:27.Ouch! He's in trouble again about being ageist. I think he was a
:50:27. > :50:35.clear that attitude. It was nice to see a politician to say what he
:50:35. > :50:45.thinks. PMQs is not representative about the whole of the weekend
:50:45. > :50:47.
:50:47. > :50:51.Westminster. A bit of fun? Dennis Skinner's views have not changed
:50:51. > :50:59.since the miners' strike. He cannot take offence because it is what he