20/01/2013

Download Subtitles

Transcript

:01:24. > :01:34.Good morning. The worst hostage In the east Midlands: Ofsted

:01:34. > :01:34.

:01:34. > :40:02.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2307 seconds

:40:02. > :40:12.Should councillors get a pay rise? The speech has been postponed but

:40:12. > :40:18.the debate goes on. Europe, in or out, what do you think? Definitely

:40:18. > :40:21.out. �50 million every day to Europe, for what?

:40:21. > :40:24.Hello, I'm Marie Ashby. Joining me this week, Heather Wheeler, the

:40:24. > :40:31.Conservative MP for Derbyshire South and Gloria De Piero, the

:40:31. > :40:35.Labour MP for Ashfield. Ofsted is sending waves of inspectors into

:40:35. > :40:39.schools in a single area in one go and 11 in Derby of the first to

:40:39. > :40:46.face the inspections. It comes after a report found that schools

:40:46. > :40:52.in the city were among the poorest performers in the country. You are

:40:52. > :40:56.a Derbyshire MP, Heather. Do you feel for the pupils and teachers?

:40:56. > :41:05.feel for the pupils and parents and the teachers have tried their best

:41:05. > :41:10.but there has been a lack of leadership and we are in a

:41:10. > :41:14.ridiculousness. We have been told the school's are improving. Things

:41:14. > :41:19.have genuinely started to get better but we are such a low level

:41:19. > :41:24.that we are failing our children. Will the inspections work? They

:41:24. > :41:29.really well. They are very hard hitters coming in with high quality

:41:29. > :41:34.standards, very experienced people. It will be about getting the health

:41:34. > :41:39.back, the leadership back and getting schools back in the right

:41:39. > :41:46.direction. It sounds quite scary but some schools in this way with

:41:46. > :41:50.Ofsted inspectors. Schools cannot be allowed to fail children. My

:41:50. > :41:56.worry is how long will it take... They do not have the capacity to

:41:56. > :42:00.cover the entire country. Local and central government need to tackle

:42:00. > :42:04.it. We need to make our curriculum interesting so that we engage

:42:04. > :42:10.pupils and that is another worry for me that the government want to

:42:10. > :42:16.make it more academic. Some pupils are academic but why would you take

:42:16. > :42:19.computing, engineering out of the curriculum? The inspectors are

:42:20. > :42:25.going into the schools because there is a problem. They are

:42:25. > :42:33.failing. Absolutely. But I cannot wait and I do not think any area

:42:33. > :42:39.can wait for Ofsted to get around. Tackle in now. We are tackling it

:42:39. > :42:43.now. The results are appalling. Some of my northern parts of the

:42:43. > :42:47.constituency go to school in Derby. This has been a regular element of

:42:47. > :42:53.my postbag and there really glad we are doing something about it.

:42:53. > :42:58.is to blame? Poor leadership? not like playing the blame game.

:42:58. > :43:01.There is no party politics in this at all. The unions... We have been

:43:01. > :43:05.tried to get different schools to become academies and the unions

:43:05. > :43:09.have been jumping up and down. I find it totally unacceptable when

:43:09. > :43:15.the level of quality of the education has been so poor. What

:43:15. > :43:19.are they trying to preserve? How bizarre is that? What is special

:43:19. > :43:23.about our Academy programme is that it required a change in leadership.

:43:23. > :43:28.My concern now is that the conditions do not exist. Becoming

:43:28. > :43:33.an academy was more than just a word and the Labour. I think

:43:33. > :43:38.actually with some new management and new leadership you will see the

:43:38. > :43:42.ship's turning around very quickly. What happens if these schools fail

:43:42. > :43:48.the inspections? It is a crisis for the education system. We are

:43:48. > :43:51.already in a crisis. It underlines how bad things have got. It needs a

:43:51. > :43:57.shake-up. No teachers should be concerned as long as they are doing

:43:57. > :44:00.their best. We should know more in the next few weeks. Thank you.

:44:00. > :44:03.How much should we pay politicians? No, not MPs, but local councillors.

:44:03. > :44:06.A parliamentary select committee has said it could be time to look

:44:06. > :44:09.at allowances for people serving on councils. There's an average age of

:44:09. > :44:12.61 among councillors. It's feared that many people are put off from

:44:12. > :44:15.getting involved in local politics because the pay is so low that it's

:44:15. > :44:21.not worth giving up the time to get involved. Des Coleman's been taking

:44:21. > :44:23.a closer look. They are the people who run vital

:44:23. > :44:28.services across the East Midlands and employed tens of thousands and

:44:28. > :44:34.make decisions every day which affect us all. They can work up to

:44:34. > :44:38.50 or 60 hours a week. How much do they earn? It depends on the size

:44:38. > :44:44.of the council and its responsibilities but that Hinckley

:44:44. > :44:54.and Bosworth district council that figure is �3,275. Let us not forget

:44:54. > :45:02.

:45:02. > :45:05.the 4p! At Derby, it is �9,000. At Nottingham, it is �12,000. This man

:45:05. > :45:09.is leader of Hinckley and Bosworth council and has paid �10,000 a year

:45:09. > :45:12.for running the authority. It is difficult to get people to commit

:45:12. > :45:16.the time to come into local politics because the allowance paid

:45:17. > :45:22.to councillors is quite low and I could not pay my mortgage if that

:45:22. > :45:26.is all I did with my time. Jack Stanton is 27 and a Derby City

:45:26. > :45:30.Council. He fits in council work with a full-time job leading to

:45:30. > :45:35.long evenings and weekends. I am willing to make the sacrifice. I

:45:35. > :45:40.knew when I went in to it that it was what I was letting myself in

:45:40. > :45:46.for. If you want to be in public office, at any level, there is an

:45:46. > :45:50.element of sacrifice and you have to be willing to do it. At 68, this

:45:50. > :45:53.councillor is above average age for a counsellor. He believes his

:45:53. > :45:57.working life as a businessman is good experience for his role in

:45:57. > :46:03.charge of finance and property at Nottinghamshire County Council.

:46:03. > :46:08.People who are elected members today of a mature age because they

:46:08. > :46:11.have already had a working life and are able then to become elected to

:46:11. > :46:16.put something back into the community and give to the community

:46:17. > :46:25.at a later age a knife. When I was young, I did not have the time to

:46:25. > :46:28.be an elected representative -- later age in life. There is one

:46:28. > :46:33.major stumbling block into paying councillors more money and that is

:46:33. > :46:43.you, the public. Do you think councillors should be paid more

:46:43. > :46:50.money? We -- yes. I did not expect that. Do you think councillor

:46:50. > :46:56.should be paid more money? No. Do they get private income? Some of

:46:56. > :47:02.them have private jobs. In that case, no. The retail industry is

:47:02. > :47:07.going down so everything is closing so I do not know why they get paid

:47:07. > :47:11.so much. I would have the impression they get paid a lot for

:47:11. > :47:19.not doing very much. Council has no right now the public would not

:47:19. > :47:23.stand for an increase in their paid -- councillors know. An independent

:47:23. > :47:30.body has been asked to look at allowances and even they have

:47:30. > :47:35.stopped short of asking for a rise. Increasing councillor allowances is

:47:35. > :47:43.still a long way off. What are your concerns on this

:47:43. > :47:48.issue? First three, we do not have a cross section of people on

:47:48. > :47:54.councils -- firstly. Secondly, levels of remuneration. Expenses

:47:54. > :47:59.ought to be covered. It should not be a full-time job, it should be

:47:59. > :48:04.part-time. It is a public service you are giving back. It is bizarre

:48:04. > :48:12.that the district council, the backbench trade, �3,000. The public

:48:12. > :48:16.do not really know. The chief executives, the directors, they get

:48:17. > :48:21.the big sums of money. Not that the councillors. It is the issue about

:48:21. > :48:26.how much time you should give as a counsellor. Whenever we are looking

:48:26. > :48:32.to get candidates for an election, we say to them, it is the amount of

:48:32. > :48:36.time you can give, five hours, 10 hours, up to you. Gloria, you are

:48:36. > :48:41.encouraging people from all sorts of backgrounds to come into

:48:41. > :48:45.politics. If the money was better, maybe they would. I do nothing said.

:48:45. > :48:49.I certainly do not think the time has now. If there is money in local

:48:49. > :48:53.government, it should go directly to providing good services. I was

:48:53. > :48:59.quite interested in what Jack Stanton said talking about the

:48:59. > :49:04.evening meetings and the meeting culture that exists across politics.

:49:04. > :49:09.I was talking to women councillors last night and they were talking

:49:09. > :49:12.about the number of meetings. You can go to meetings five nights a

:49:13. > :49:18.week. Wouldn't it be better to change the way we do politics so

:49:18. > :49:25.the commitments you make are there to serve the community rather than

:49:25. > :49:29.sit in a meeting. You should be paid for that. You have to take the

:49:29. > :49:33.time to do it. There is a misconception about what

:49:33. > :49:38.councillors and. People are surprised. I was surprised when I

:49:38. > :49:44.heard. The leader of the Hinckley and Bosworth gets just over �10,000.

:49:44. > :49:53.It is not much of an incentive. leader of the Council compared to a

:49:53. > :49:58.backbencher on Derby City Council... Your husband is a leader. He and

:49:58. > :50:01.�17,000. As the leader of the council? Absolutely. The

:50:01. > :50:05.Independent renumeration panel, that was part of our findings, they

:50:05. > :50:12.will set a local price. In South Derbyshire, they reduced the amount

:50:12. > :50:17.the leader got. How many hours is he doing? Over 40 hours but it is

:50:17. > :50:23.his choice. In my community are come across people all the time...

:50:23. > :50:28.Earlier this week, I was with a couple of people who have been

:50:28. > :50:35.bidding for lottery funds to help young people with challenging

:50:35. > :50:39.behaviour. A group of mums, they set up a cheerleading session.

:50:39. > :50:44.There are people who desperately want to do things for the community.

:50:44. > :50:49.They do not do it for the money. I would like to open it up so that

:50:49. > :50:53.more people could get involved. do not have to be a counsellor to

:50:53. > :50:56.get involved in your community. Parish councillors do not take any

:50:56. > :51:00.money. Chairman's are allowed to put in expenses but parish

:51:00. > :51:06.councillors do not take money. There are plenty of councillors are

:51:06. > :51:10.out there who are doing it 100% for public service. When you get to a

:51:10. > :51:14.district council and county council level, the budgets are massive,

:51:14. > :51:19.absolutely massive. You need a quality of person to do the part-

:51:19. > :51:24.time amount of hours... That comes with experience and when you

:51:24. > :51:30.started you were only 22. Is that old enough, no offence, but did you

:51:30. > :51:36.have enough life experience? I was lucky. I finished my A-levels and

:51:36. > :51:40.went straight into the City. I had been working for four years in the

:51:40. > :51:44.City. The meetings were in the evenings. It did not impinge on my

:51:44. > :51:49.work live at goal. But I did three nights a week and most of the

:51:49. > :51:54.weekend's but it was my choice -- work life at all. Coming to the

:51:54. > :52:00.Midlands, I did 15 years on the council. We did afternoon meetings.

:52:00. > :52:05.For a mum, it was fabulous. What we do say, both of you, to people

:52:05. > :52:10.thinking of coming into council politics? If you have got a passion

:52:10. > :52:15.for standing up for your community, do it. We need to open ourselves up

:52:15. > :52:22.as political parties to enable you to do it. We need to get political

:52:23. > :52:26.groups, councils... All you need is a passion to stand up for your

:52:26. > :52:31.community. One of our viewers Phil Greasley has said that councillors

:52:31. > :52:36.should retire at 65. Has he got a point? That would be lovely but do

:52:36. > :52:41.not forget there is a value in corporate memory. We are going the

:52:41. > :52:45.wrong way in age. The average age is going up not down.

:52:45. > :52:49.Now, the speech may be delayed, but the issue won't go away. Europe, in

:52:49. > :52:51.or out? It's going to be one of the biggest debates for years. But what

:52:51. > :52:55.does it mean here in the East Midlands? BBC Derby's political

:52:55. > :53:00.correspondent Wesley Mallin has been finding out what you think.

:53:00. > :53:06.We should stay in Europe. There are no benefits to leaving. Same

:53:06. > :53:11.question, in or out? Not bothered. I think there is a future in the

:53:11. > :53:15.European Union but I am much more generous -- but are more generous

:53:15. > :53:21.terms. There should be a debate. Every country is part of Europe.

:53:21. > :53:26.Travelling, passports, it make small sons. Definitely out.

:53:26. > :53:30.Absolutely. -- it makes more sense. �50 million every day to Europe for

:53:30. > :53:35.what? You tell me. The debate continues on the streets of

:53:35. > :53:40.Nottingham as it does in the media and in Parliament. What is the

:53:40. > :53:45.debate doing for the businesses that rely on Europe? Just down the

:53:45. > :53:50.road is a communications and technology firm whose boss is in no

:53:50. > :53:56.doubt about the value of staying in the European club. We employ a lot

:53:56. > :53:59.of people from Europe. 15% of the people in our head office are from

:53:59. > :54:09.mainland Europe. They are not taking British jobs, they are

:54:09. > :54:10.

:54:10. > :54:14.coming to help us been -- build an export led company. If you had an

:54:15. > :54:21.opportunity to put MPs on the spot over their position in Europe, what

:54:21. > :54:24.would your Christian be? -- what would your question be? When are

:54:24. > :54:29.you going to resolve the debate because the uncertainty is almost

:54:29. > :54:33.as dangerous as leaving itself. What are you going to do to help

:54:33. > :54:39.business expand into Europe? It is clear we have to grow into Europe,

:54:39. > :54:43.what are you going to do to help us? You are a Eurosceptic, Heather.

:54:43. > :54:48.Shouldn't we get the vote out of the way because if we don't your

:54:48. > :54:54.party is going to be going on about it and it will never get result?

:54:54. > :55:00.is cross-party. There are Labour politicians who have the same view

:55:00. > :55:05.as me. Clearly, I wish we could do it in a month's time. But we are

:55:05. > :55:10.not there yet. The euro crisis has brought things to a head. It is

:55:10. > :55:15.just the best opportunity to renegotiate. Let us have a decent

:55:15. > :55:20.referendum and renegotiate and then the public will speak. Pro Europe,

:55:20. > :55:26.Gloria? If it is in Britain's interests. Jobs is the number-one

:55:26. > :55:29.issue for me, the number one issue when I knock on doors. Do I want my

:55:30. > :55:35.leaders to be going around the country talking about Europe now?

:55:36. > :55:42.No, I want them to solve the jobs crisis. We heard that business so

:55:42. > :55:47.they want an end to the uncertainty. It is damaging. That was the party

:55:47. > :55:51.line from the Labour Party. cannot say that two businesses.

:55:52. > :55:57.That is not what the businesses say to me in South Derbyshire because

:55:57. > :56:03.we export to China and Brazil and America. 50% of our trade is with

:56:03. > :56:07.Europe. They cannot do without us. We can't do without them it is what

:56:07. > :56:12.the businesses so. We have a free- trade agreement with South Korea.

:56:12. > :56:17.We're working on one with Japan. We will have a free-trade agreement

:56:17. > :56:22.with Europe. What would the businesses you know say about that?

:56:22. > :56:28.I am a constituency MP. My belief is that we should take a more

:56:28. > :56:33.active role in Europe and not sit on the sidelines. That is what one

:56:33. > :56:39.of my constituents said. Being a member of the EU, another one, it

:56:39. > :56:43.helps us being able to access the markets and compete with local

:56:43. > :56:49.suppliers. What do you say to the businesses who say it is vital to

:56:49. > :56:52.have access to Europe? Absolutely. Just like Norway and Switzerland

:56:53. > :56:58.and South Korea... Are you really telling week we will not be able to

:56:58. > :57:02.export? South Korea has a free- trade agreement, we will have one.

:57:02. > :57:07.Politicians are not that popular at the moment but why is it that the

:57:07. > :57:14.CBI, the trade union movement, even taking politicians out of it, they

:57:14. > :57:19.say... This is where at destiny lies, not because of anything else

:57:19. > :57:24.but because that is good for jobs and economy. What is best for the

:57:24. > :57:30.British economy is exporting to places like India. I have the JCB

:57:30. > :57:37.engine plant in my patch. We have 350 people there who were not there

:57:37. > :57:44.three years ago. They are exporting. There is a global market too. UKIP

:57:44. > :57:48.have got something to say on this not surprisingly. The EU has never

:57:48. > :57:54.done anything we could not have retrieved through a simple free-

:57:54. > :57:58.trade agreement except for what it has done has been damaging -- we

:57:58. > :58:04.could not have achieved. It has been damaging. Businesses say, why

:58:04. > :58:10.do we have so much regulation? What are the rules for? Arguably, it has

:58:10. > :58:20.done more harm than good. This is what it is about, you are worried

:58:20. > :58:22.about UKIP, D UKIP vote, a Heather. There are plenty of people who find

:58:22. > :58:27.politicians hedging around questions and it drives them up the

:58:27. > :58:32.wall so they will vote for anyone but the others. At the minute, UKIP

:58:32. > :58:36.are the recipients of those votes. We need to be straight talking and

:58:36. > :58:43.tell people how it is and what is in the best interests of the

:58:43. > :58:52.country. When does that start? 2010, I was elected then, I have

:58:52. > :58:58.never been anything other than straight talking -- in May, 2010.

:58:58. > :59:02.The cap was let out of the bad there by Roger Helmer and I suspect

:59:02. > :59:06.that lots of Conservatives would like to talk how he does. I fear

:59:06. > :59:11.they want to bring back when they are talking about regulation...

:59:11. > :59:15.They are talking about rights like maternity pay, for weeks minimum

:59:15. > :59:19.holiday a year... These are the ghastly things that have come out

:59:19. > :59:25.of Europe. Should we pull out of Europe and walked slowly towards

:59:25. > :59:29.the exit door? Not slowly. Should we be running towards it? We should

:59:29. > :59:32.use this opportunity to renegotiate. Should we pull out of Europe?

:59:32. > :59:36.Europe needs to understand we cannot afford to give them the

:59:36. > :59:41.amount of money they have been having. Huge amounts of regulation

:59:41. > :59:48.on our businesses. It is not in the best interests... Do you want to

:59:48. > :59:53.renegotiate the terms or pull out of Europe? Personally, I would be

:59:53. > :59:58.out. We have got fantastic relationships with our Commonwealth

:59:59. > :00:04.countries. It is the growing economy from those countries...

:00:04. > :00:08.Tremendous. Music to UKIP's ears. Not your leaders. This is a

:00:08. > :00:12.completely different position. party will work towards the

:00:12. > :00:18.referendum, I am absolutely convinced. Not all of your party

:00:18. > :00:21.says the same things. Fellow East Midlands MP Ken Clarke says it is

:00:22. > :00:27.irresponsible to even be having this debate at this time. He says

:00:27. > :00:31.that it is folly and any vote on this is a gamble. I do not know the

:00:31. > :00:37.answer to that and I do not know why he said that. He believes it.

:00:37. > :00:43.He believes it from the 1970s. He was part of the project in the

:00:43. > :00:47.first place. My brilliant businesses are not from the 70s. If

:00:47. > :00:52.they tell me that helping them is being a member of the European

:00:52. > :00:57.Union, I am very happy to take their word for it. You sit in the

:00:57. > :01:00.committees, you cannot vote against something. By that point, all of

:01:00. > :01:05.the competencies have been sorted and you have been stitched up.

:01:05. > :01:08.will go on for a long time this one. Time now for our regular round-up

:01:08. > :01:15.of some of the other political stories in the East Midlands this

:01:15. > :01:18.week in 60 seconds with our political editor John Hess.

:01:18. > :01:26.Leicestershire County Council is asking for views from the public on

:01:26. > :01:32.plans to cut �79 million from its budget which could see 1100 jobs go.

:01:32. > :01:35.They are hoping to limit council tax rises in the next three years.

:01:35. > :01:40.Job losses at Derby City Council which is warning it might have to

:01:40. > :01:45.cut 200 posts. The council leader says the job losses are needed

:01:45. > :01:47.after the council failed to reach its target for voluntary

:01:47. > :01:56.redundancies. Rutland Handicap saw is also

:01:56. > :02:01.expecting to agree a council tax freeze -- well and can will stop

:02:01. > :02:06.the region's newly elected police and crime commissioner is drafting

:02:06. > :02:10.the plans for the next four years. The Leicestershire and Rutland PCC

:02:10. > :02:20.says he is hoping to maintain the levels of uniformed police officers

:02:20. > :02:22.

:02:22. > :02:27.while making efficiency savings Do not forget that we want to hear

:02:27. > :02:36.your views on politics in your area. You can get in touch with us on our