:00:46. > :00:49.In the East Midlands: How pupils will have a say in the
:00:49. > :00:51.running of new school - the first of its kind in our region.
:00:51. > :00:54.Should patients at Rampton Security Hospital get disability living
:00:54. > :01:04.allowance? And is it fair to abolish national
:01:04. > :01:04.
:01:04. > :34:41.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2017 seconds
:34:41. > :34:44.Hello, I'm Marie Ashby, and coming up here in the East Midlands:
:34:44. > :34:48.you've heard of academies and free schools, now one of our colleges is
:34:48. > :34:53.to become a co-op. The first of its kind in our region. So what's in
:34:53. > :34:58.store for pupils and parents? Should we stop paying disability
:34:58. > :35:01.benefits to patients at Rampton Security Hospital?
:35:01. > :35:03.And we look at the regional impact of the Chancellor's Autumn
:35:03. > :35:11.Statement. How for instance would abandoning national pay rates
:35:11. > :35:14.affect workers in the East First, pupils at a Derby college
:35:14. > :35:18.may actually be looking forward to going back to school after
:35:18. > :35:23.Christmas. By then, it'll be a co- op. And they'll get a
:35:23. > :35:25.representative on the board that runs it.
:35:25. > :35:34.There are co-ops all around us. From supermarkets, to department
:35:34. > :35:36.stores. Funeral directors to some of the East Midlands' cricket clubs.
:35:36. > :35:45.Commercial organisations, run by their own members, are finding
:35:45. > :35:48.themselves in fashion. And now this school in Derby wants to become one
:35:49. > :35:55.as well but what makes a co- operative Trust at different from
:35:55. > :35:59.an academy? As interest school will funded by the local authority. -- a
:35:59. > :36:04.trust school. The major one is local accountability. A corporate
:36:04. > :36:08.of trust is rooted in democracy, staff, students, parents, community
:36:08. > :36:13.groups all have a voice in how the school is run. To say the school
:36:13. > :36:17.was not doing very well is to understate things. In 2006, just a
:36:17. > :36:22.quarter of pupils got five good GCSEs. Now that figure is
:36:22. > :36:25.approaching 90 %. So with the school now back on track in terms
:36:25. > :36:30.of results, the head at Da Vinci Community College wants to embed it
:36:30. > :36:35.in the local community. The co- operative movement has a very
:36:35. > :36:40.distinctive ethos around self help, self-determination, democracy,
:36:40. > :36:43.Equity, fairness. Those are values we would want to instil in our
:36:43. > :36:46.young people but they are also the values that we as an organisation
:36:46. > :36:51.want to promote. One of the more radical changes that co-operative
:36:51. > :36:54.trust status would bring about is giving power to students. They'd be
:36:54. > :37:02.members as well as their parents and in time, would be expected to
:37:02. > :37:06.sit on the board which sets the direction of the school. I would
:37:06. > :37:10.like to choose to become a member because it is interesting to find
:37:10. > :37:18.out things inside the school. A it's brilliant that we get her
:37:18. > :37:23.voice, as to what goes on in the school. It will develop much for me,
:37:23. > :37:27.a voice. Public sector workers, including teachers on strike this
:37:27. > :37:29.week in Derby. It's changes to their pensions that brought them
:37:29. > :37:32.out onto the streets this week, but the increasing involvement of
:37:32. > :37:42.children in the running of schools is worrying some in the profession
:37:42. > :37:43.
:37:43. > :37:49.too. We trained to do that job and head teachers trained very hard. It
:37:49. > :37:52.is important we are trusted to do that job. They are welcome to put
:37:52. > :37:56.their input into what but the expertise lies with the teachers
:37:57. > :38:01.and the school. Why should parents pretend that they know a lot about
:38:01. > :38:05.what goes on in a classroom or in education? The school says that
:38:05. > :38:15.children will not be involved in teachers' terms and conditions, the
:38:15. > :38:18.pay all the curriculum. The subject that are taught, the amount of time
:38:18. > :38:24.that their subjects are given on the timetable, the direction of the
:38:24. > :38:26.school's curriculum, that impact on jobs. As well as pupils and parents,
:38:26. > :38:35.the corporate have also will have members from the community,
:38:35. > :38:40.including from this company. -- co- operative. It is based in Derby and
:38:40. > :38:45.specialises in software for schools. It is a private company that sells
:38:46. > :38:50.services to schools. It gives a for it in third daughter the company,
:38:50. > :38:53.right back to the heart of a state- funded school, and it is something
:38:53. > :38:58.we are concerned about. Is there a conflict of interest? Absolutely
:38:58. > :39:03.not. The company's presence is there as an advisory partner on the
:39:03. > :39:06.trust board, in the way the university, the college is. There
:39:06. > :39:09.is no sense that they have a special arrangement with the
:39:09. > :39:13.company. In fact, they are prohibited under the laws of the
:39:13. > :39:16.trust from gaining any kind of advantage. Da Vinci's expecting to
:39:16. > :39:20.become a co-op school in January. Because the school's already a
:39:20. > :39:23.trust, it won't need to go through a consultation. But the NASUWT,
:39:23. > :39:25.which has seen many of its Derbyshire members strike in recent
:39:25. > :39:35.months, says industrial action can't be ruled out over this issue
:39:35. > :39:38.
:39:38. > :39:41.either. We may have to defend jobs and terms and conditions through
:39:41. > :39:44.strike action. If Co-ops are supported by all sides in
:39:44. > :39:48.Westminster. We'll see next year if this school's pioneering move takes
:39:48. > :39:55.off. So interesting times ahead for
:39:56. > :39:59.staff and pupils. With me now head teacher, Mark Cottingham, who we
:39:59. > :40:05.heard from in Chris's report, and Katie Rodgers who's here to speak
:40:05. > :40:08.up for pupils. She represents the Secondary Students Association.
:40:08. > :40:13.Academies, Free Schools, now a Co- Op. How are we meant to make sense
:40:13. > :40:17.of all these competing options?! is very confusing for people. There
:40:17. > :40:20.are so many changes in education at the moment. If you had asked me
:40:20. > :40:23.what was a corporate to trust a year ago, I might not have been
:40:23. > :40:28.able to answer. The essential thing as far as the committee is
:40:28. > :40:31.concerned is that what we want to do at Da Vinci is route the school
:40:31. > :40:36.in the local community. We are not interested in going down at the
:40:36. > :40:42.Academy read because they felt that lost accountability. We wanted a
:40:42. > :40:45.school where parents, staff, pupils all felt part of a community.
:40:45. > :40:50.powers will parents have now compared to traditional state
:40:50. > :40:54.schools and academies? Powers is perhaps the wrong word. It is about
:40:54. > :40:58.a voice. It is important to differentiate between the governing
:40:58. > :41:02.body and the trust board. The trust board is there to listen to parents
:41:02. > :41:06.and students and staff and take on board their ideas because they have
:41:06. > :41:09.got some wonderful ideas. People have already come to me with ideas
:41:09. > :41:13.about what we can be doing in the community. It is about hearing
:41:13. > :41:19.their voice and building upon their expertise, to advise us on the way
:41:19. > :41:24.forward. A World peoples be the ones to decide who will represent
:41:24. > :41:29.them in the end? -- will pupils. There will be a members' forum so
:41:29. > :41:33.anyone who is a member will be eligible to going to the Forum and
:41:33. > :41:36.they can elect a representative on to the board. That is for staff,
:41:36. > :41:43.students, parents and community groups are more interested in three
:41:43. > :41:46.future of the college. How will students get their voice heard?
:41:46. > :41:50.have a conventional student counsellor at the moment and
:41:50. > :41:54.traditionally, the student council does put forward ideas but it is
:41:54. > :41:59.limited in terms of its scope. What this will allow them to do is have
:41:59. > :42:04.a voice on the board itself. Some ideas that people have had already
:42:04. > :42:10.are around things like after-school clubs, breakfast clubs. Also
:42:10. > :42:20.changes to the environment. We have a nice Pond's Beria and we are
:42:20. > :42:27.
:42:27. > :42:35.looking at developing in -- -- a nice bombed area. -- pond area.
:42:36. > :42:39.are you go to make sure this is not just a token gesture? Yeah, I think
:42:39. > :42:43.that is a genuine concern. That is part of the attraction of the co-
:42:43. > :42:50.operative Movement for me because the co-operative movement is rooted
:42:50. > :42:53.in certain values and part of those values is equity, democracy. It is
:42:53. > :42:59.genuinely listening to students' ideas, not just giving them the
:42:59. > :43:02.chance to talk about the colour of the toilets. What sort of issues
:43:02. > :43:08.which you like students have more of a sale? How lessons will be
:43:08. > :43:11.structured. People learn in different ways. Maybe the students
:43:11. > :43:17.giving feedback on at the lessons, what they thought worked well and
:43:17. > :43:22.what didn't work well, and rather than teachers just listening,, it
:43:22. > :43:30.having an impact. One of the most sensitive issues will be what you
:43:30. > :43:35.think of teachers. Do you mean what level the students should be
:43:35. > :43:39.involved in? And what you think of the students and how they teach?
:43:39. > :43:43.Decisions should have an impact because especially with students
:43:43. > :43:50.sitting on the board, you will have someone from the company mentioned
:43:50. > :43:54.as well and that is good. But the students should not be compromised
:43:54. > :43:56.by the private organisations. The students are the main stakeholders
:43:56. > :44:00.in their education said the boy should be heard at every level.
:44:01. > :44:04.This is a cause for concern, that the company is on the board. You
:44:04. > :44:07.say they will not get any commercial influence. Why do think
:44:07. > :44:11.they want to be involved? They have been involved with Da Vinci for
:44:12. > :44:16.quite a long time. They are already on our existing board so there will
:44:16. > :44:20.be no change to that. If the person involved is somebody who is in the
:44:20. > :44:24.community and has been a teacher in the past. -- the person involved.
:44:24. > :44:30.It is gaining expertise from that company, rather than any commercial
:44:30. > :44:35.interest. I think we can put that one to bed. I am interested in what
:44:35. > :44:40.Katie is saying about student involvement. I was interviewed a
:44:40. > :44:50.year ago and the student part of the most challenging. Good luck
:44:50. > :45:04.
:45:04. > :45:08.with it. Thanks very much to both Some patients are getting �100 a
:45:08. > :45:12.week in disability allowance. Why, when there are so many staff to
:45:12. > :45:17.look after them? The hospital's chief executive made it clear he is
:45:17. > :45:24.not happy either. We would all be much more comfortable if they
:45:24. > :45:29.didn't get it. Patrick Mercer is the MP whose constituency includes
:45:29. > :45:32.the hospital. He has spoken to the chief executive, who we heard from
:45:32. > :45:36.just there. D you share his concern that patients should be getting
:45:36. > :45:41.this allowed? Absolutely because some do and some don't, that is a
:45:41. > :45:45.problem. There is very little to spend the money on and what is the
:45:46. > :45:50.point of saving it in many cases? It is an anomaly which includes an
:45:50. > :45:53.him -- an unpalatable difference between patients. It seems absurd
:45:53. > :45:59.they should be getting disallowance one-fifth got in effect so many
:45:59. > :46:04.staff looking after them. Absolutely. Having come right in
:46:04. > :46:09.saying that big patients at similar hospitals are the single most
:46:09. > :46:12.expensive individuals to keep in any part of the public sector. They
:46:12. > :46:16.already seething -- receiving a huge amount of taxpayers' money. I
:46:16. > :46:20.don't think they need any more and most probably don't want it either.
:46:20. > :46:24.He say some patients are getting the salaams and some are not, the
:46:24. > :46:30.problem is the Department of work and pensions has insisted they are
:46:30. > :46:40.not getting this allowance. How crazy is that? Am -- and go to
:46:40. > :46:43.
:46:43. > :46:47.follow that up with ministers. -- I am going to follow that up. Unless
:46:47. > :46:56.I have been deceived, this is not what I have found. I will follow
:46:56. > :46:59.this up with ministers. We're talking about 100 patients get a
:46:59. > :47:03.�100 a week, at a time when you are clamping down on benefits for some
:47:03. > :47:07.of the most vulnerable people in a country. It doesn't make any sense
:47:08. > :47:11.and that is why I've got to go to the department and try and iron out
:47:11. > :47:16.this particular anomaly. Do you think you can get this sorted out?
:47:16. > :47:19.A it is a saving, for heaven's sake, we've got to be able to. Dr Harris
:47:19. > :47:27.is worried about the friction between patients who are getting
:47:27. > :47:30.disallows and those who are not. It does cause problems. That I think
:47:30. > :47:35.is where we have the clearest understanding. You cannot have some
:47:35. > :47:39.patients to receive it and some who do not. It causes friction, envy
:47:39. > :47:43.and difficulties. Although they don't get it in cash, they get it
:47:43. > :47:49.to spend it in the shop. They can get weight problems, eating sweets
:47:49. > :47:53.and chocolates... Half of the problem but patients have to face
:47:53. > :47:57.is a dietary and exercise problem, the balance between the two. Spare
:47:57. > :48:01.cash to spend on sweets and Good night -- goods like that doesn't
:48:01. > :48:05.help them and doesn't help the staff. How often do you go to the
:48:06. > :48:13.hospital? I tried to do three or four surgeries a year there, it is
:48:13. > :48:17.close to where I live. I do go there. I initially went in order to
:48:17. > :48:22.try and give support to the staff because there hours make it
:48:22. > :48:25.difficult to get to Parliament and surgeries but I end up seeing some
:48:25. > :48:30.patients while I'm there. What are the concerns do you have about a
:48:30. > :48:34.hospital? One of the things I have a difficulty with tried to explain
:48:34. > :48:39.to the patients why some of them have finished in some places quite
:48:39. > :48:42.lengthy criminal sentences but then there are passed into the care of a
:48:42. > :48:46.hospital for indeterminate periods. That is very difficult to explain
:48:46. > :48:52.to patients who are facing all sorts of difficulties themselves
:48:52. > :48:55.and have no apparent end in sight to coming out of government care.
:48:55. > :49:02.Sentence is the wrong word but it seems to them to be pretty bleak at
:49:02. > :49:07.times. It is a closed world as we found out, making that film. Do you
:49:07. > :49:12.get a sense of the dilemmas facing staff? There are some strange
:49:12. > :49:18.things that go on their, for instance a male patient and a film
:49:18. > :49:22.made -- patient choosing to get married. Has that happened? How did
:49:22. > :49:28.the staff and of that? How can those two people be allowed to
:49:28. > :49:31.continue in Eneas form of married life? It is without precedent. It's
:49:31. > :49:37.a difficult situation but everybody is human and these things will
:49:37. > :49:41.happen. It is an extraordinary closed community for good reason.
:49:42. > :49:51.Let us get -- do tell us how you get on sorting out the allowance.
:49:52. > :49:52.
:49:52. > :49:54.Next: the impact of the Chancellor's Autumn Statement on
:49:55. > :49:58.the East Midlands. Politicians of all colours have been celebrating
:49:58. > :50:02.the news that the A453 is to be widened from the M1 to Clifton. And
:50:02. > :50:05.other major projects to get the go ahead include the rebuilding of the
:50:05. > :50:08.London Road Bridge in Derby. Without it, the road would have had
:50:08. > :50:11.to close, forcing businesses to shut too. So some good news to
:50:11. > :50:13.celebrate for a change. I've been joined by the Labour MP for
:50:13. > :50:16.Nottingham South, Lilian Greenwood and Conservative MP for Sherwood,
:50:16. > :50:22.Mark Spencer. We gather the A453 scheme will start within three
:50:22. > :50:26.years. That's something you have to give the Government credit for.
:50:26. > :50:29.It is really great news for Nottingham. It would have been
:50:29. > :50:35.great if they hadn't cancelled it 18 months ago and that scheme could
:50:35. > :50:39.now have been under way. It was just one glimmer of light in a day
:50:39. > :50:43.when we just heard nothing but terrible news. A growth falling,
:50:43. > :50:47.unemployment rising and borrowing even higher as a result of people
:50:47. > :50:51.being out of work and claiming benefits. You are saying they
:50:51. > :50:56.should have got on with it a long time ago. Unfortunately, it's taken
:50:56. > :51:06.us 18 months to get their. Millions government had 13 years. We are
:51:06. > :51:07.
:51:07. > :51:11.doing it better than them. -- millions government. You have to
:51:11. > :51:13.suspect that this project could not be seeing the light of day without
:51:13. > :51:17.the �20 million that the Conservative majority on the county
:51:17. > :51:20.council has put him into this. is great that the county council
:51:20. > :51:24.are putting money in but as I say, the overall picture for the East
:51:24. > :51:29.Midlands and the country is absolutely dire. The Chancellor's
:51:29. > :51:33.plan, it is a complete and utter failure. We are seeing the only
:51:33. > :51:38.reason this is happening at all is because of that failure. You are
:51:38. > :51:42.happy that the road... I am delighted. It was the first
:51:42. > :51:45.question I have ever asked in the House of Commons. Businesses and
:51:45. > :51:51.constituents wanted. I'm pleased it is happening. It is worth putting
:51:51. > :51:58.on record, the county council has been to Macias about this and has
:51:58. > :52:06.badgered the Ministry of Transport to death to get this driven through.
:52:06. > :52:09.-- it has been tenacious about this. What benefit will we see? It needs
:52:09. > :52:13.to filter through to jobs. This is all about jobs for me and that is
:52:13. > :52:17.what we need to focus on to make sure we get jobs, particularly in
:52:17. > :52:25.the north of the county. But is wary not -- do not have as many
:52:25. > :52:28.jobs as we should have. This has got to be good news for businesses?
:52:28. > :52:32.What we have seen on the regional growth and so far is that the East
:52:32. > :52:36.Midlands has got virtually nothing out of it. One of the reasons that
:52:36. > :52:38.is the case is because the government scrapped the East
:52:38. > :52:42.Midlands Development Agency which businesses and councils say was
:52:42. > :52:46.doing a really good job. Of course we would like to see some of that
:52:46. > :52:50.regional growth fund money coming here but what we have already seen
:52:50. > :52:53.is that the Chancellor's plan, including the growth plan is not
:52:53. > :52:56.going to make a difference. We are going to see unemployment rising
:52:56. > :53:01.cost of borrowing going up and growth flat lining. It will make
:53:01. > :53:04.precious little difference. It is down to people like us to solve the
:53:04. > :53:09.problem and create jobs, without creating another bureaucratic
:53:09. > :53:13.nonsense. Let's roll our sleeves up and create jobs for local people.
:53:13. > :53:17.Is that the right attitude in the current climate? What the
:53:17. > :53:22.government has been doing over the last 18 months has been a problem
:53:22. > :53:29.which is cutting too far and too fast. That is why the economy is in
:53:29. > :53:34.the state it is? So we borrow more money, do we? You are borrowing
:53:34. > :53:39.even more. He wanted to borrow even more still? We want to cut our
:53:39. > :53:43.cloth, focus on what we want to do, creating jobs. The government is
:53:43. > :53:45.clearly unhappy that so many public sector workers went on strike this
:53:45. > :53:51.week. Is that why the Chancellor is now talking about abandoning
:53:51. > :53:55.national pay rates? I think they are completely unconnected. Let's
:53:55. > :53:58.not forget, a lot of public sector workers crossed those pick-up lines
:53:58. > :54:05.and went to work. Let's pay tribute to those people who did not go on
:54:05. > :54:11.strike and went to work to serve their community. What other
:54:11. > :54:15.rationale can there be behind this, to drive public sector pay down?
:54:15. > :54:20.The economy is different in different parts of the country.
:54:20. > :54:23.Everybody will recognise that if you work in central London, you're
:54:23. > :54:29.cost-of-living is very much higher than it is in this part of the
:54:29. > :54:39.world. You can make the same argument that it is the high cost
:54:39. > :54:40.
:54:40. > :54:43.of living... The Treasury cites research by the Institute for
:54:43. > :54:47.Fiscal Studies that the pay of some public sector workers is 10 %
:54:47. > :54:52.higher in some parts of the country. In the public sector, some people
:54:52. > :54:55.do a bit better at it. You'll find that women in the public sector do
:54:55. > :55:04.a little bit better and partly that is because there is not the unequal
:55:04. > :55:09.pay you find in the private sector. I think the thing that seems to be
:55:09. > :55:11.scrabbled out is just vindictive and provocative. It is women,
:55:11. > :55:18.dinner ladies and classroom assistants who will be hit by this
:55:18. > :55:22.yet again. Yet again, women bearing the brunt. That's just wrong. It
:55:22. > :55:27.doesn't matter whether you are male or female. We are on the same pay
:55:27. > :55:30.structure. We're talking about public sector pay. Unions are
:55:30. > :55:34.warning that any move to abandon national pay rates may lead to more
:55:34. > :55:39.industrial action. Let's get around the table and talk about this, sort
:55:39. > :55:43.it out, without running to the streets again. Let's be grown-up,
:55:43. > :55:47.get around the table and talk about it. That the government grows up
:55:47. > :55:55.that could be good. That is all the unions asking for full Stock let's
:55:55. > :56:00.sort it out. If only they would! Why don't you? Many of these have
:56:00. > :56:04.taken the public -- direct action because they are so frustrated
:56:04. > :56:09.about the action van to the government has taken, which is
:56:09. > :56:16.hitting families and women hard. People are now hearing that their
:56:16. > :56:20.pay will rise by no more than 1% and yet again... A lot of that is
:56:20. > :56:24.to sort out the mess inherited from the previous government. That is
:56:24. > :56:28.where we are. The economy was growing strongly when you took
:56:28. > :56:33.office and unemployment was coming down. 18 months later, as the
:56:33. > :56:40.result of things you've done, on employment is going up and the
:56:40. > :56:44.economy... A people know what are the inheritors and that is --
:56:45. > :56:48.people know what we inherited. was the bank as that caused the
:56:48. > :56:51.crisis and you are making that crisis even worse. The Derbyshire
:56:51. > :56:55.and Nottinghamshire Chamber of Commerce has told us that the
:56:55. > :56:59.government has been -- must be careful because it could lead to
:56:59. > :57:02.more regional imbalance. There are already regional imbalances. There
:57:02. > :57:06.are people in the public sector that cannot afford to buy a house
:57:06. > :57:09.in central London because of the imbalance in a cost of living. What
:57:09. > :57:12.the government is saying is let's look at what is happening in the
:57:12. > :57:16.private sector and tried to make those balances similar in the
:57:17. > :57:20.public sector. How do you see this working out? Of course people who
:57:20. > :57:23.work in London and the south-east already get regional supplement
:57:24. > :57:27.because people recognise the cost of living is higher. The only
:57:27. > :57:31.impact it is likely to have in the East Midlands and hours at
:57:31. > :57:34.Nottingham City Council earlier, is to depress wages in the East
:57:34. > :57:37.Midlands. If people are having their wages cut further, they will
:57:38. > :57:42.have less to spend on shops, services and businesses will suffer
:57:42. > :57:46.as well. Is it right for some public sector workers are better
:57:46. > :57:52.off than others, if they are in an area where housing as living costs
:57:52. > :58:02.are less? Am not convinced that is the case at all anyway. -- I am not
:58:02. > :58:04.
:58:04. > :58:09.convinced. There is a national Speight -- pay spine. You admit
:58:09. > :58:18.that their art and balances in the country. I cannot understand your
:58:18. > :58:22.argument. We are already doing it - - with it. It seems the chance of
:58:22. > :58:26.thought it up on the way across the road from the Treasury. We will
:58:26. > :58:30.have to leave it there but thank you for joining me in the studio.