:01:34. > :01:38.In the Midlands: we reveal the financial splits in the classroom
:01:38. > :01:48.as MPs back calls for the shire counties to get more money for the
:01:48. > :01:48.
:01:48. > :31:45.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1797 seconds
:31:45. > :31:51.Hello. I am Patrick Burns. We are mixing an exotic cocktail this week
:31:51. > :31:54.bringing together central and local government. An explosive
:31:54. > :32:00.combination or a complementary combination? Let us find out.
:32:00. > :32:03.Councillor Darren Cooper is the Labour leader of Sandwell County
:32:03. > :32:09.Council. Harriett Baldwin is the Conservative MP for West
:32:09. > :32:14.Worcestershire. You as a public sector worker, Darren, as an NHS
:32:14. > :32:18.mental health nurse, also a council leader, you see this great debate
:32:18. > :32:22.over public sector pensions from both sides. Where do you stand on
:32:22. > :32:26.this question about whether they are affordable? I think they are
:32:26. > :32:33.affordable and I think that when I took up my original role as a
:32:33. > :32:42.mental health nurse in 1981, I signed a contract and it it said
:32:42. > :32:47.that I would get a decent pension when I retired. The current attacks
:32:47. > :32:53.that are perceived by public sector workers by the government on the
:32:53. > :32:58.pension situation is leading to a lot of discontent. Your government
:32:58. > :33:03.stands accused of going back on a commitment that successive
:33:03. > :33:06.governments have made over the years to public sector workers like
:33:06. > :33:09.Darren. We all want our public sector workers to have good
:33:09. > :33:18.pensions. The thing that has changed is that we are all living
:33:18. > :33:23.longer. One person in three born today, one goal, will live to 100.
:33:23. > :33:32.That is why we need to retire later and pay more during our working
:33:32. > :33:36.lives. Is there not a basic issue of fairness? I think that we all
:33:36. > :33:39.want to make sure that people retire with good pensions and the
:33:39. > :33:44.public sector defined benefit pension is a good pension. We want
:33:44. > :33:48.to make sure that is sustainable for all generations to come. That
:33:48. > :33:51.is the key at the end of the day. Everybody should be, irrespective
:33:51. > :33:57.of whether you work in the public or private sector, everyone should
:33:57. > :34:01.be able to retire on a good pension. The bottom line for people in the
:34:01. > :34:08.public sector is that they feel what is being suggested as a
:34:08. > :34:12.further tax. Coming up a little later, are city kids worth more
:34:12. > :34:18.than their country cousins? Why should a child at school in a shire
:34:18. > :34:23.county have �1,000 less spent on them than those in the town just up
:34:23. > :34:28.the road? Our top story this week, he was the
:34:28. > :34:33.inspiration behind people power in a Wyre Forest and now he is
:34:33. > :34:36.targeting Stafford. Dr Richard Taylor hopes his new political
:34:36. > :34:42.party National Health Action will mark a general election challenge
:34:42. > :34:45.against coalition MPs who as he puts its blindly followed the
:34:45. > :34:48.government's top-down health policies. The former independent MP
:34:48. > :34:53.declared his intentions just as the Health Secretary was having his
:34:53. > :34:57.encounter with the nurses at their annual conference. Beware, there is
:34:57. > :35:03.for photography in this report. Clinical staffing levels have gone
:35:03. > :35:06.up. The issue of the balance of staff... I am sorry, it has, by
:35:06. > :35:10.nearly 4000. With his characteristically high
:35:10. > :35:16.embarrassment threshold, Andrew Lansley was resolutely upbeat has
:35:16. > :35:21.is, if -- policies came under fire at RCN's annual conference. He is
:35:21. > :35:25.convinced that a bigger role for GPs and wider competition
:35:25. > :35:32.throughout it will be its salvation. But the man who sensationally
:35:32. > :35:40.defeated all of the main parties over Kidderminster Hospital's
:35:40. > :35:45.downgrading is now going to take on the coalition and people much --
:35:45. > :35:48.Polish and MPs. One that comes to mind is Stafford. We will be
:35:48. > :35:55.perhaps contacting them and wondering if we can affiliate with
:35:55. > :36:00.them. I would like to dream that we can contest 2030. I do not know.
:36:00. > :36:05.They will be very carefully selected. Echoes of the Referendum
:36:05. > :36:08.Party's decapitation strategy designed to unseat Conservatives 15
:36:08. > :36:14.years ago. Four or Jimmy Goldsmith's billions, they failed
:36:14. > :36:19.to gain eight single seat. Wyre Forest showed Dr Taylor can be a
:36:19. > :36:22.winner albeit bent a seat where half was the only show in town.
:36:22. > :36:25.Fighting up to 30 in a national campaign dominated by a wider range
:36:25. > :36:29.of issues might be a tougher proposition. For anyone with a
:36:29. > :36:36.message to get across, a first- past-the-post general-election may
:36:37. > :36:43.be about the hardest way of doing Whatever became of the Jury Team or
:36:43. > :36:45.Veritas? Do not write in. We are also joined by Calum Paton, the
:36:45. > :36:50.Professor of Public Policy at Keele University and a former chairman of
:36:50. > :36:53.the North Staffordshire Hospital Trust. I suppose it is difficult
:36:53. > :36:59.for a new party starting up to fight an election challenge but if
:36:59. > :37:02.anyone can do it, Dr Taylor can. guess that is right. He had a great
:37:02. > :37:07.success in Kidderminster and Wyre Forest. That was a single-issue
:37:07. > :37:12.campaign. This time around what he has got to do is intervene in a
:37:12. > :37:17.general election across a wider canvas but I think these reforms to
:37:17. > :37:21.the English NHS, not the rest of the UK, Aso a necessary and I think
:37:21. > :37:25.that come the next election the funding crisis of the NHS will have
:37:25. > :37:30.bitten so deep that in fact he will have a receptive national as well
:37:30. > :37:34.as local audience. What he has to do is be careful with his targeting,
:37:34. > :37:39.as I am sure he knows, and made sure he does not intervene where
:37:39. > :37:42.Labour has a chance of beating the coalition or where anti coalition
:37:42. > :37:46.Lib Dems have a chance of beating the Tories. How does he achieve
:37:46. > :37:55.that? There is the possibility he could split the boat that is
:37:55. > :37:58.hostile to the government's policies are -- split the vote.
:37:58. > :38:03.is the law of unintended consequences in first-past-the-post
:38:03. > :38:07.elections but that is not an argument for not meeting -- making
:38:07. > :38:11.a stand. What he has to do is make it clear that he is fighting on a
:38:11. > :38:15.broad canvas and the that he is fighting not in a partisan sense
:38:15. > :38:22.but at the same time making sensible calculations. He will do
:38:22. > :38:26.that, I have no doubt, to the best of his ability. The success
:38:26. > :38:32.criteria will be keeping this issue of Andrew Lansley's steam rolling
:38:32. > :38:36.reforms are live as an example of this arrogant government's policy.
:38:36. > :38:41.We are hearing quite a lot of hostile words about your government
:38:41. > :38:44.both from the professor and Dr Taylor. Do you have a word
:38:45. > :38:49.specifically for your party colleague in Stafford Hook has
:38:49. > :38:55.obviously been singled out as top of the hit-list as far as Dr Taylor
:38:55. > :38:59.is concerned? He has done a fantastic job representing his
:39:00. > :39:03.constituentss over the Stafford Hospital issues. These reforms are
:39:03. > :39:07.about abolishing Primary Care Trust and strategic health authorities,
:39:07. > :39:10.giving the power to commission health services to the front line,
:39:10. > :39:18.two doctors and nurses, giving public health budgets to people
:39:18. > :39:22.like Darren and allowing a layer of middle management, 100% increase in
:39:22. > :39:27.the number of managers under the previous government, to be fed
:39:27. > :39:32.through to frontline services. how seriously do you take what
:39:32. > :39:37.would obviously be a carefully targeted threat to coalition MPs?
:39:37. > :39:42.They will think long and hard about how they go about this. Is there
:39:42. > :39:46.slogan going to be, bring back Primary Care Trust? What do we want,
:39:46. > :39:50.strategic help the parties? When do we want them? Now. What patients
:39:50. > :39:54.care about is the treatment they get in their local communities and
:39:54. > :39:57.I think with the doctors in my area looking really enthusiastic about
:39:57. > :40:02.commissioning the services and improving things for patients it
:40:02. > :40:09.will be patients who are voting at the next election. You are a health
:40:09. > :40:13.professional, Darren. Maybe Dr Taylor should sign you up. Can I
:40:13. > :40:17.say first and foremost I do not think we need any other political
:40:17. > :40:23.parties. We have a political party that has stood up and will continue
:40:23. > :40:27.to stand up for the NHS. But it might do damage to the other two
:40:27. > :40:33.big parties and were bound to your advantage? No, one is sure, a
:40:33. > :40:36.single identity parties like the Green Party, -- one issue. They are
:40:37. > :40:40.embroiled in one issue. One people elect governments, they want a
:40:40. > :40:44.government that is competent, that will deliver and a government that
:40:44. > :40:52.is going to maintain its promises. Unfortunately, this government has
:40:52. > :40:55.fallen short of that. Let me ask you both about greater independence,
:40:55. > :40:59.greater competition. How is the public going to be convinced that
:41:00. > :41:07.it will deliver by 2015? The public will have to be convinced by seeing
:41:07. > :41:11.better-quality so if they are treated faster and more
:41:11. > :41:15.responsibly... I have huge confidence that my local community
:41:15. > :41:20.hospitals in West Worcestershire, the local acute hospital, they will
:41:20. > :41:27.rise to the challenge. Calum Paton, do you go along with that? What
:41:28. > :41:34.will the NHS look like? question is not Harriett's joke
:41:34. > :41:38.about restoring... New Labour did a lot of good things but
:41:38. > :41:43.unfortunately Harriett's party is creating the mother of all
:41:43. > :41:50.reorganisations and anything that New Labour did is dwarfed by this
:41:50. > :41:56.monumental folly. If the election is not forced on -- fought on
:41:56. > :42:00.health alone, it will be dominated by the wider economic question.
:42:00. > :42:05.agree but I have this feeling... You are right, everyone says the
:42:05. > :42:09.NHS will be top of the tree in the election and it never is. This time
:42:09. > :42:13.around in 2015 up the economy will be number one but part of that will
:42:13. > :42:17.be what if the economy is doing to public services. The Tory-led
:42:17. > :42:22.coalition is making a trip on the public. It is saying we are not
:42:22. > :42:26.cutting the NHS but we are freezing its spending. We have to draw a
:42:26. > :42:30.line at this part of the conversation. Thank you, Calum
:42:30. > :42:35.Paton. Some of our biggest local
:42:35. > :42:39.authorities are calling on the government to plug a �100 million
:42:39. > :42:43.gap in at school funding. It is an injustice they say that schools
:42:43. > :42:48.receive such varying amounts of money for the pupils they teach.
:42:48. > :42:55.For example, the government pays �1,000 a year more for a charge to
:42:55. > :43:01.go to school in Birmingham than it does in Rostov. -- in Worcester.
:43:01. > :43:05.It is a stressful time of year. This 16-year-old boy has got his
:43:05. > :43:09.GCSEs coming up. Christopher Whitehead is a comprehensive with a
:43:09. > :43:13.wide range of pupils from a variety of backgrounds. Within its
:43:13. > :43:17.catchment area lies one of the most deprived wards in the West Midlands.
:43:17. > :43:23.Despite factors like these, schools and Worcestershire are the 5th
:43:23. > :43:28.worst funded in the country. In fact, children in this county
:43:28. > :43:34.have around �1,000 less spent on their education every year and a
:43:34. > :43:38.pupil in Birmingham. -- than a pupil in Birmingham. I envy the
:43:38. > :43:43.head teachers in Birmingham because they have a huge opportunity to
:43:43. > :43:49.recruit the best staff, pay more than we do, use the money
:43:49. > :43:53.creatively. We could really do with that money. It is year on year but
:43:53. > :44:00.we are falling behind other schools. One of those schools in Birmingham
:44:00. > :44:04.which is significantly better funded is this one, Perry Beaches.
:44:04. > :44:09.It used to be a failing school but thanks to its head teacher it is
:44:09. > :44:13.now rated outstanding. Some think the headteacher insists is not
:44:13. > :44:20.purely down to the extra cash. is a school that has been hugely
:44:20. > :44:24.successful with the same amount of money as it always and ever has had.
:44:24. > :44:31.The difference has been the way in which the money has been utilised
:44:31. > :44:35.and the way in which the money has been led to support students'
:44:35. > :44:40.learning. The funding gap does stretch right across the West
:44:41. > :44:50.Midlands. In Worcestershire, high- school pupils have an average of
:44:51. > :44:54.
:44:54. > :44:58.�4,600 spent on their education The government has acknowledged
:44:58. > :45:03.there is a problem. It has upset some of its own backbenchers saying
:45:03. > :45:08.nothing will be done this side of a general election. It is up to us as
:45:08. > :45:11.local MPs to push as hard as we can to make the case for changes to be
:45:11. > :45:14.made now. It is not acceptable to put the problem of having
:45:14. > :45:17.acknowledged that the funding system is flawed and we are not
:45:17. > :45:22.getting a fair deal. We want fairness and progress before the
:45:22. > :45:26.next election. With frustrations still bubbling under the surface,
:45:26. > :45:30.surely the government will be hoping its move to postpone a
:45:30. > :45:34.decision on school funding will not backfire.
:45:34. > :45:39.An expose of assignment there from our reporter armed only with a
:45:39. > :45:43.marker pen. Harriett your colleague is obviously getting pretty
:45:43. > :45:46.impatient. Do you share that view? I am completely backing him on this
:45:46. > :45:51.because it is something we feel very strongly about in
:45:51. > :46:01.Worcestershire. We have �1,000 less than our neighbouring schools in
:46:01. > :46:05.Birmingham per pupil per year. would cost the Exchequer... It is
:46:06. > :46:10.clearly harder to do in a time when resources are wider -- widely
:46:10. > :46:14.constrained. The pupil premium is set at a fixed amount across the
:46:14. > :46:18.whole country. I would like to see the amount for every pupil to be
:46:18. > :46:22.the same across the country and then to reflect the differences in
:46:22. > :46:25.salaries in places like London or perhaps the levels of deprivation
:46:25. > :46:30.coming through the pupil premium. Then things like special
:46:30. > :46:35.educational needs and other things like English language needs should
:46:35. > :46:42.be reflected separately. In the meantime, the authority is getting
:46:42. > :46:46.�700 a head on average more than in it Harriett's. How can that be
:46:46. > :46:49.right? The priority has to be where the Maddie is needed. This is
:46:49. > :46:54.indicative of everything Michael Gove does. He makes a dog's
:46:55. > :46:59.breakfast... You had a run-in over Building Schools for the Future. He
:46:59. > :47:06.says he has a better scheme now and the old scheme was bureaucratic.
:47:06. > :47:09.Let me clear it up. �150 million has gone out of the education
:47:09. > :47:13.economy in Sandwell if you take Building Schools for the Future.
:47:13. > :47:16.The intervention funds we used to get, we have got a proven track
:47:16. > :47:22.record of really getting schools are moving in the right direction.
:47:22. > :47:27.We will end up with about �6 million over the next couple of
:47:28. > :47:32.years for Sandwell. That is nothing compared to the 150 million...
:47:32. > :47:36.Questions for both of you, a stalk in it was stuck or parts of
:47:36. > :47:41.Hereford -- a school in a part of Hereford can have the same inner-
:47:41. > :47:48.city problems but the basket case of a formula does not allow it to
:47:48. > :47:52.be expressed because the but but but the formula is completely
:47:52. > :48:01.outdated and opaque and incomprehensible to the majority of
:48:01. > :48:05.people. Only recently they took out 27 factors... But you are not going
:48:05. > :48:14.to do anything about it until the next election. We are pushing hard
:48:14. > :48:19.on this. We are aiming to get a fairer funding on an ongoing basis
:48:19. > :48:23.for the income for schools. Is he open to persuasion? I would hope
:48:23. > :48:30.that Harriett would have a word in Michael Gove's the next time she
:48:30. > :48:35.bumps into him. Every time I do, are asking the same point. We do
:48:35. > :48:38.not want to talk about Michael Gove or vote but it there does need to
:48:38. > :48:45.be a reflection on the formula. Time now for the rest of this
:48:45. > :48:49.political week in the Midlands in 60 seconds.
:48:49. > :48:54.Just weeks after it was given the green light by Government Ministers,
:48:54. > :48:57.HS2 is now rated as red-amber by civil servants. Protesters say it
:48:57. > :49:01.is time to scrap the London to Birmingham line.
:49:01. > :49:04.Not for sale, that is the message from West Midlands's police as it
:49:04. > :49:08.puts on hold plans to sell off parts of the service to a private
:49:08. > :49:13.firm. The number of people out of work is
:49:13. > :49:16.down to 228,000, a rate of 8.5%. It is the third quarter in a road that
:49:17. > :49:22.numbers have fallen. A Gloucestershire campaign group
:49:22. > :49:26.wants academy schools to follow guidelines designed to tackle
:49:26. > :49:31.childhood obesity. Going green, the party so long
:49:31. > :49:34.associated with tree-hugging and muesli is making serious headway.
:49:34. > :49:39.The Green Party now have 13 councillors in the region after the
:49:39. > :49:42.local elections and the defection of a Liberal Democrat in Solihull.
:49:42. > :49:51.Over the last two years, the Liberal Democrats have moved away
:49:51. > :49:55.from what I think of a as some of their core values.
:49:55. > :49:59.13 it Green councillors, it is not exactly a tidal wave. There is one
:49:59. > :50:02.new one in was stuff. It is a rebuff to the self proclaimed
:50:02. > :50:06.greenest government ever which is actually going back on the claim.
:50:06. > :50:12.There are lots of small parties having their moment in the sun. In
:50:12. > :50:17.Germany, the pirate party has got 11% in the polls. In between
:50:17. > :50:21.general elections sometimes the smaller parties get a protest vote.
:50:21. > :50:24.Protest vote says Harriett. It will not go to Labour, is it? They may
:50:24. > :50:29.be disaffection with the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats
:50:29. > :50:32.but it is not going to you? dispute that because if you look at
:50:32. > :50:38.the local election results in my own borrow we did very well.
:50:38. > :50:43.Birmingham is now a Labour council as is doubly. But I think there is
:50:43. > :50:49.a word of caution here for all of the big political parties. We need
:50:49. > :50:53.to reconnect with the public in a positive way. Is that not a very
:50:53. > :50:58.important point. The lesson of these elections, we have seen it
:50:58. > :51:05.with the male role results as well, there is a rejection. -- we have
:51:05. > :51:08.seen it with the results of the mayor elections. You have got to
:51:08. > :51:13.focus on getting the economy right and then people will give us their
:51:13. > :51:18.backing. We will see. Time will tell. That is about it from us in
:51:18. > :51:21.the Midlands. My thanks to Darren Cooper and Harriett Baldwin. Next
:51:21. > :51:29.week our guests will be Paul Uppal the Conservative MP for