Browse content similar to 20/01/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Good morning. The worst hostage In the east Midlands: Ofsted | :01:24. | :01:34. | |
:01:34. | :01:34. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2307 seconds | :01:34. | :40:02. | |
Should councillors get a pay rise? The speech has been postponed but | :40:02. | :40:12. | |
the debate goes on. Europe, in or out, what do you think? Definitely | :40:12. | :40:18. | |
out. �50 million every day to Europe, for what? | :40:18. | :40:21. | |
Hello, I'm Marie Ashby. Joining me this week, Heather Wheeler, the | :40:21. | :40:24. | |
Conservative MP for Derbyshire South and Gloria De Piero, the | :40:24. | :40:31. | |
Labour MP for Ashfield. Ofsted is sending waves of inspectors into | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
schools in a single area in one go and 11 in Derby of the first to | :40:35. | :40:39. | |
face the inspections. It comes after a report found that schools | :40:39. | :40:46. | |
in the city were among the poorest performers in the country. You are | :40:46. | :40:52. | |
a Derbyshire MP, Heather. Do you feel for the pupils and teachers? | :40:52. | :40:56. | |
feel for the pupils and parents and the teachers have tried their best | :40:56. | :41:05. | |
but there has been a lack of leadership and we are in a | :41:05. | :41:10. | |
ridiculousness. We have been told the school's are improving. Things | :41:10. | :41:14. | |
have genuinely started to get better but we are such a low level | :41:14. | :41:19. | |
that we are failing our children. Will the inspections work? They | :41:19. | :41:24. | |
really well. They are very hard hitters coming in with high quality | :41:24. | :41:29. | |
standards, very experienced people. It will be about getting the health | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
back, the leadership back and getting schools back in the right | :41:34. | :41:39. | |
direction. It sounds quite scary but some schools in this way with | :41:39. | :41:46. | |
Ofsted inspectors. Schools cannot be allowed to fail children. My | :41:46. | :41:50. | |
worry is how long will it take... They do not have the capacity to | :41:50. | :41:56. | |
cover the entire country. Local and central government need to tackle | :41:56. | :42:00. | |
it. We need to make our curriculum interesting so that we engage | :42:00. | :42:04. | |
pupils and that is another worry for me that the government want to | :42:04. | :42:10. | |
make it more academic. Some pupils are academic but why would you take | :42:10. | :42:16. | |
computing, engineering out of the curriculum? The inspectors are | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
going into the schools because there is a problem. They are | :42:20. | :42:25. | |
failing. Absolutely. But I cannot wait and I do not think any area | :42:25. | :42:33. | |
can wait for Ofsted to get around. Tackle in now. We are tackling it | :42:33. | :42:39. | |
now. The results are appalling. Some of my northern parts of the | :42:39. | :42:43. | |
constituency go to school in Derby. This has been a regular element of | :42:43. | :42:47. | |
my postbag and there really glad we are doing something about it. | :42:47. | :42:53. | |
is to blame? Poor leadership? not like playing the blame game. | :42:53. | :42:58. | |
There is no party politics in this at all. The unions... We have been | :42:58. | :43:01. | |
tried to get different schools to become academies and the unions | :43:01. | :43:05. | |
have been jumping up and down. I find it totally unacceptable when | :43:05. | :43:09. | |
the level of quality of the education has been so poor. What | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
are they trying to preserve? How bizarre is that? What is special | :43:15. | :43:19. | |
about our Academy programme is that it required a change in leadership. | :43:19. | :43:23. | |
My concern now is that the conditions do not exist. Becoming | :43:23. | :43:28. | |
an academy was more than just a word and the Labour. I think | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
actually with some new management and new leadership you will see the | :43:33. | :43:38. | |
ship's turning around very quickly. What happens if these schools fail | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
the inspections? It is a crisis for the education system. We are | :43:42. | :43:48. | |
already in a crisis. It underlines how bad things have got. It needs a | :43:48. | :43:51. | |
shake-up. No teachers should be concerned as long as they are doing | :43:51. | :43:57. | |
their best. We should know more in the next few weeks. Thank you. | :43:57. | :44:00. | |
How much should we pay politicians? No, not MPs, but local councillors. | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
A parliamentary select committee has said it could be time to look | :44:03. | :44:06. | |
at allowances for people serving on councils. There's an average age of | :44:06. | :44:09. | |
61 among councillors. It's feared that many people are put off from | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
getting involved in local politics because the pay is so low that it's | :44:12. | :44:15. | |
not worth giving up the time to get involved. Des Coleman's been taking | :44:15. | :44:21. | |
a closer look. They are the people who run vital | :44:21. | :44:23. | |
services across the East Midlands and employed tens of thousands and | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
make decisions every day which affect us all. They can work up to | :44:28. | :44:34. | |
50 or 60 hours a week. How much do they earn? It depends on the size | :44:34. | :44:38. | |
of the council and its responsibilities but that Hinckley | :44:38. | :44:44. | |
and Bosworth district council that figure is �3,275. Let us not forget | :44:44. | :44:54. | |
:44:54. | :45:02. | ||
the 4p! At Derby, it is �9,000. At Nottingham, it is �12,000. This man | :45:02. | :45:05. | |
is leader of Hinckley and Bosworth council and has paid �10,000 a year | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
for running the authority. It is difficult to get people to commit | :45:09. | :45:12. | |
the time to come into local politics because the allowance paid | :45:12. | :45:16. | |
to councillors is quite low and I could not pay my mortgage if that | :45:17. | :45:22. | |
is all I did with my time. Jack Stanton is 27 and a Derby City | :45:22. | :45:26. | |
Council. He fits in council work with a full-time job leading to | :45:26. | :45:30. | |
long evenings and weekends. I am willing to make the sacrifice. I | :45:30. | :45:35. | |
knew when I went in to it that it was what I was letting myself in | :45:35. | :45:40. | |
for. If you want to be in public office, at any level, there is an | :45:40. | :45:46. | |
element of sacrifice and you have to be willing to do it. At 68, this | :45:46. | :45:50. | |
councillor is above average age for a counsellor. He believes his | :45:50. | :45:53. | |
working life as a businessman is good experience for his role in | :45:53. | :45:57. | |
charge of finance and property at Nottinghamshire County Council. | :45:57. | :46:03. | |
People who are elected members today of a mature age because they | :46:03. | :46:08. | |
have already had a working life and are able then to become elected to | :46:08. | :46:11. | |
put something back into the community and give to the community | :46:11. | :46:16. | |
at a later age a knife. When I was young, I did not have the time to | :46:17. | :46:25. | |
be an elected representative -- later age in life. There is one | :46:25. | :46:28. | |
major stumbling block into paying councillors more money and that is | :46:28. | :46:33. | |
you, the public. Do you think councillors should be paid more | :46:33. | :46:43. | |
money? We -- yes. I did not expect that. Do you think councillor | :46:43. | :46:50. | |
should be paid more money? No. Do they get private income? Some of | :46:50. | :46:56. | |
them have private jobs. In that case, no. The retail industry is | :46:56. | :47:02. | |
going down so everything is closing so I do not know why they get paid | :47:02. | :47:07. | |
so much. I would have the impression they get paid a lot for | :47:07. | :47:11. | |
not doing very much. Council has no right now the public would not | :47:11. | :47:19. | |
stand for an increase in their paid -- councillors know. An independent | :47:19. | :47:23. | |
body has been asked to look at allowances and even they have | :47:23. | :47:30. | |
stopped short of asking for a rise. Increasing councillor allowances is | :47:30. | :47:35. | |
still a long way off. What are your concerns on this | :47:35. | :47:43. | |
issue? First three, we do not have a cross section of people on | :47:43. | :47:48. | |
councils -- firstly. Secondly, levels of remuneration. Expenses | :47:48. | :47:54. | |
ought to be covered. It should not be a full-time job, it should be | :47:54. | :47:59. | |
part-time. It is a public service you are giving back. It is bizarre | :47:59. | :48:04. | |
that the district council, the backbench trade, �3,000. The public | :48:04. | :48:12. | |
do not really know. The chief executives, the directors, they get | :48:12. | :48:16. | |
the big sums of money. Not that the councillors. It is the issue about | :48:17. | :48:21. | |
how much time you should give as a counsellor. Whenever we are looking | :48:21. | :48:26. | |
to get candidates for an election, we say to them, it is the amount of | :48:26. | :48:32. | |
time you can give, five hours, 10 hours, up to you. Gloria, you are | :48:32. | :48:36. | |
encouraging people from all sorts of backgrounds to come into | :48:36. | :48:41. | |
politics. If the money was better, maybe they would. I do nothing said. | :48:41. | :48:45. | |
I certainly do not think the time has now. If there is money in local | :48:45. | :48:49. | |
government, it should go directly to providing good services. I was | :48:49. | :48:53. | |
quite interested in what Jack Stanton said talking about the | :48:53. | :48:59. | |
evening meetings and the meeting culture that exists across politics. | :48:59. | :49:04. | |
I was talking to women councillors last night and they were talking | :49:04. | :49:09. | |
about the number of meetings. You can go to meetings five nights a | :49:09. | :49:12. | |
week. Wouldn't it be better to change the way we do politics so | :49:13. | :49:18. | |
the commitments you make are there to serve the community rather than | :49:18. | :49:25. | |
sit in a meeting. You should be paid for that. You have to take the | :49:25. | :49:29. | |
time to do it. There is a misconception about what | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
councillors and. People are surprised. I was surprised when I | :49:33. | :49:38. | |
heard. The leader of the Hinckley and Bosworth gets just over �10,000. | :49:38. | :49:44. | |
It is not much of an incentive. leader of the Council compared to a | :49:44. | :49:53. | |
backbencher on Derby City Council... Your husband is a leader. He and | :49:53. | :49:58. | |
�17,000. As the leader of the council? Absolutely. The | :49:58. | :50:01. | |
Independent renumeration panel, that was part of our findings, they | :50:01. | :50:05. | |
will set a local price. In South Derbyshire, they reduced the amount | :50:05. | :50:12. | |
the leader got. How many hours is he doing? Over 40 hours but it is | :50:12. | :50:17. | |
his choice. In my community are come across people all the time... | :50:17. | :50:23. | |
Earlier this week, I was with a couple of people who have been | :50:23. | :50:28. | |
bidding for lottery funds to help young people with challenging | :50:28. | :50:35. | |
behaviour. A group of mums, they set up a cheerleading session. | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
There are people who desperately want to do things for the community. | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
They do not do it for the money. I would like to open it up so that | :50:44. | :50:49. | |
more people could get involved. do not have to be a counsellor to | :50:49. | :50:53. | |
get involved in your community. Parish councillors do not take any | :50:53. | :50:56. | |
money. Chairman's are allowed to put in expenses but parish | :50:56. | :51:00. | |
councillors do not take money. There are plenty of councillors are | :51:00. | :51:06. | |
out there who are doing it 100% for public service. When you get to a | :51:06. | :51:10. | |
district council and county council level, the budgets are massive, | :51:10. | :51:14. | |
absolutely massive. You need a quality of person to do the part- | :51:14. | :51:19. | |
time amount of hours... That comes with experience and when you | :51:19. | :51:24. | |
started you were only 22. Is that old enough, no offence, but did you | :51:24. | :51:30. | |
have enough life experience? I was lucky. I finished my A-levels and | :51:30. | :51:36. | |
went straight into the City. I had been working for four years in the | :51:36. | :51:40. | |
City. The meetings were in the evenings. It did not impinge on my | :51:40. | :51:44. | |
work live at goal. But I did three nights a week and most of the | :51:44. | :51:49. | |
weekend's but it was my choice -- work life at all. Coming to the | :51:49. | :51:54. | |
Midlands, I did 15 years on the council. We did afternoon meetings. | :51:54. | :52:00. | |
For a mum, it was fabulous. What we do say, both of you, to people | :52:00. | :52:05. | |
thinking of coming into council politics? If you have got a passion | :52:05. | :52:10. | |
for standing up for your community, do it. We need to open ourselves up | :52:10. | :52:15. | |
as political parties to enable you to do it. We need to get political | :52:15. | :52:22. | |
groups, councils... All you need is a passion to stand up for your | :52:23. | :52:26. | |
community. One of our viewers Phil Greasley has said that councillors | :52:26. | :52:31. | |
should retire at 65. Has he got a point? That would be lovely but do | :52:31. | :52:36. | |
not forget there is a value in corporate memory. We are going the | :52:36. | :52:41. | |
wrong way in age. The average age is going up not down. | :52:41. | :52:45. | |
Now, the speech may be delayed, but the issue won't go away. Europe, in | :52:45. | :52:49. | |
or out? It's going to be one of the biggest debates for years. But what | :52:49. | :52:51. | |
does it mean here in the East Midlands? BBC Derby's political | :52:51. | :52:55. | |
correspondent Wesley Mallin has been finding out what you think. | :52:55. | :53:00. | |
We should stay in Europe. There are no benefits to leaving. Same | :53:00. | :53:06. | |
question, in or out? Not bothered. I think there is a future in the | :53:06. | :53:11. | |
European Union but I am much more generous -- but are more generous | :53:11. | :53:15. | |
terms. There should be a debate. Every country is part of Europe. | :53:15. | :53:21. | |
Travelling, passports, it make small sons. Definitely out. | :53:21. | :53:26. | |
Absolutely. -- it makes more sense. �50 million every day to Europe for | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
what? You tell me. The debate continues on the streets of | :53:30. | :53:35. | |
Nottingham as it does in the media and in Parliament. What is the | :53:35. | :53:40. | |
debate doing for the businesses that rely on Europe? Just down the | :53:40. | :53:45. | |
road is a communications and technology firm whose boss is in no | :53:45. | :53:50. | |
doubt about the value of staying in the European club. We employ a lot | :53:50. | :53:56. | |
of people from Europe. 15% of the people in our head office are from | :53:56. | :53:59. | |
mainland Europe. They are not taking British jobs, they are | :53:59. | :54:09. | |
:54:09. | :54:10. | ||
coming to help us been -- build an export led company. If you had an | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
opportunity to put MPs on the spot over their position in Europe, what | :54:15. | :54:21. | |
would your Christian be? -- what would your question be? When are | :54:21. | :54:24. | |
you going to resolve the debate because the uncertainty is almost | :54:24. | :54:29. | |
as dangerous as leaving itself. What are you going to do to help | :54:29. | :54:33. | |
business expand into Europe? It is clear we have to grow into Europe, | :54:33. | :54:39. | |
what are you going to do to help us? You are a Eurosceptic, Heather. | :54:39. | :54:43. | |
Shouldn't we get the vote out of the way because if we don't your | :54:43. | :54:48. | |
party is going to be going on about it and it will never get result? | :54:48. | :54:54. | |
is cross-party. There are Labour politicians who have the same view | :54:54. | :55:00. | |
as me. Clearly, I wish we could do it in a month's time. But we are | :55:00. | :55:05. | |
not there yet. The euro crisis has brought things to a head. It is | :55:05. | :55:10. | |
just the best opportunity to renegotiate. Let us have a decent | :55:10. | :55:15. | |
referendum and renegotiate and then the public will speak. Pro Europe, | :55:15. | :55:20. | |
Gloria? If it is in Britain's interests. Jobs is the number-one | :55:20. | :55:26. | |
issue for me, the number one issue when I knock on doors. Do I want my | :55:26. | :55:29. | |
leaders to be going around the country talking about Europe now? | :55:30. | :55:35. | |
No, I want them to solve the jobs crisis. We heard that business so | :55:36. | :55:42. | |
they want an end to the uncertainty. It is damaging. That was the party | :55:42. | :55:47. | |
line from the Labour Party. cannot say that two businesses. | :55:47. | :55:51. | |
That is not what the businesses say to me in South Derbyshire because | :55:52. | :55:57. | |
we export to China and Brazil and America. 50% of our trade is with | :55:57. | :56:03. | |
Europe. They cannot do without us. We can't do without them it is what | :56:03. | :56:07. | |
the businesses so. We have a free- trade agreement with South Korea. | :56:07. | :56:12. | |
We're working on one with Japan. We will have a free-trade agreement | :56:12. | :56:17. | |
with Europe. What would the businesses you know say about that? | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
I am a constituency MP. My belief is that we should take a more | :56:22. | :56:28. | |
active role in Europe and not sit on the sidelines. That is what one | :56:28. | :56:33. | |
of my constituents said. Being a member of the EU, another one, it | :56:33. | :56:39. | |
helps us being able to access the markets and compete with local | :56:39. | :56:43. | |
suppliers. What do you say to the businesses who say it is vital to | :56:43. | :56:49. | |
have access to Europe? Absolutely. Just like Norway and Switzerland | :56:49. | :56:52. | |
and South Korea... Are you really telling week we will not be able to | :56:53. | :56:58. | |
export? South Korea has a free- trade agreement, we will have one. | :56:58. | :57:02. | |
Politicians are not that popular at the moment but why is it that the | :57:02. | :57:07. | |
CBI, the trade union movement, even taking politicians out of it, they | :57:07. | :57:14. | |
say... This is where at destiny lies, not because of anything else | :57:14. | :57:19. | |
but because that is good for jobs and economy. What is best for the | :57:19. | :57:24. | |
British economy is exporting to places like India. I have the JCB | :57:24. | :57:30. | |
engine plant in my patch. We have 350 people there who were not there | :57:30. | :57:37. | |
three years ago. They are exporting. There is a global market too. UKIP | :57:37. | :57:44. | |
have got something to say on this not surprisingly. The EU has never | :57:44. | :57:48. | |
done anything we could not have retrieved through a simple free- | :57:48. | :57:54. | |
trade agreement except for what it has done has been damaging -- we | :57:54. | :57:58. | |
could not have achieved. It has been damaging. Businesses say, why | :57:58. | :58:04. | |
do we have so much regulation? What are the rules for? Arguably, it has | :58:04. | :58:10. | |
done more harm than good. This is what it is about, you are worried | :58:10. | :58:20. | |
about UKIP, D UKIP vote, a Heather. There are plenty of people who find | :58:20. | :58:22. | |
politicians hedging around questions and it drives them up the | :58:22. | :58:27. | |
wall so they will vote for anyone but the others. At the minute, UKIP | :58:27. | :58:32. | |
are the recipients of those votes. We need to be straight talking and | :58:32. | :58:36. | |
tell people how it is and what is in the best interests of the | :58:36. | :58:43. | |
country. When does that start? 2010, I was elected then, I have | :58:43. | :58:52. | |
never been anything other than straight talking -- in May, 2010. | :58:52. | :58:58. | |
The cap was let out of the bad there by Roger Helmer and I suspect | :58:58. | :59:02. | |
that lots of Conservatives would like to talk how he does. I fear | :59:02. | :59:06. | |
they want to bring back when they are talking about regulation... | :59:06. | :59:11. | |
They are talking about rights like maternity pay, for weeks minimum | :59:11. | :59:15. | |
holiday a year... These are the ghastly things that have come out | :59:15. | :59:19. | |
of Europe. Should we pull out of Europe and walked slowly towards | :59:19. | :59:25. | |
the exit door? Not slowly. Should we be running towards it? We should | :59:25. | :59:29. | |
use this opportunity to renegotiate. Should we pull out of Europe? | :59:29. | :59:32. | |
Europe needs to understand we cannot afford to give them the | :59:32. | :59:36. | |
amount of money they have been having. Huge amounts of regulation | :59:36. | :59:41. | |
on our businesses. It is not in the best interests... Do you want to | :59:41. | :59:48. | |
renegotiate the terms or pull out of Europe? Personally, I would be | :59:48. | :59:53. | |
out. We have got fantastic relationships with our Commonwealth | :59:53. | :59:58. | |
countries. It is the growing economy from those countries... | :59:59. | :00:04. | |
Tremendous. Music to UKIP's ears. Not your leaders. This is a | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
completely different position. party will work towards the | :00:08. | :00:12. | |
referendum, I am absolutely convinced. Not all of your party | :00:12. | :00:18. | |
says the same things. Fellow East Midlands MP Ken Clarke says it is | :00:18. | :00:21. | |
irresponsible to even be having this debate at this time. He says | :00:22. | :00:27. | |
that it is folly and any vote on this is a gamble. I do not know the | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
answer to that and I do not know why he said that. He believes it. | :00:31. | :00:37. | |
He believes it from the 1970s. He was part of the project in the | :00:37. | :00:43. | |
first place. My brilliant businesses are not from the 70s. If | :00:43. | :00:47. | |
they tell me that helping them is being a member of the European | :00:47. | :00:52. | |
Union, I am very happy to take their word for it. You sit in the | :00:52. | :00:57. | |
committees, you cannot vote against something. By that point, all of | :00:57. | :01:00. | |
the competencies have been sorted and you have been stitched up. | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
will go on for a long time this one. Time now for our regular round-up | :01:05. | :01:08. | |
of some of the other political stories in the East Midlands this | :01:08. | :01:15. | |
week in 60 seconds with our political editor John Hess. | :01:15. | :01:18. | |
Leicestershire County Council is asking for views from the public on | :01:18. | :01:26. | |
plans to cut �79 million from its budget which could see 1100 jobs go. | :01:26. | :01:32. | |
They are hoping to limit council tax rises in the next three years. | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
Job losses at Derby City Council which is warning it might have to | :01:35. | :01:40. | |
cut 200 posts. The council leader says the job losses are needed | :01:40. | :01:45. | |
after the council failed to reach its target for voluntary | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
redundancies. Rutland Handicap saw is also | :01:47. | :01:56. | |
expecting to agree a council tax freeze -- well and can will stop | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
the region's newly elected police and crime commissioner is drafting | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
the plans for the next four years. The Leicestershire and Rutland PCC | :02:06. | :02:10. | |
says he is hoping to maintain the levels of uniformed police officers | :02:10. | :02:20. | |
:02:20. | :02:22. | ||
while making efficiency savings Do not forget that we want to hear | :02:22. | :02:27. | |
your views on politics in your area. You can get in touch with us on our | :02:27. | :02:36. |