10/07/2011 The Politics Show North East and Cumbria

Every council in the North East has cut jobs except one. How have they

done it? From cuts in schools sport too big

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 219 seconds

The event was organised by after as part of the royal visit to the

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 219 seconds

The warmest of welcomes to your local part of the show. The final

one of the series. Six months ago, these youngsters

were looking for a job. Did they find one? They had a big society

idea to run their own cinema in Cumbria, if they could raise the

money. We will find out later what happened.

First, the warnings were dire. They would be a haemorrhage of council

jobs across the North. So how bad is it proving to be for those

working, or no longer working, in our town halls? We contacted every

council in Cumbria and the North East to find that just how many

redundancies there have been. The findings are surprising. Every

local authority has cut jobs beside one, which is one of the biggest.

Billingham Ice Rink, newly refurbished by the local council.

Things are not only chilly for the skaters. Budget cuts are cold. They

have been planned for, but 79 redundancies took place a new wave.

When you have to get so much money out of the budget, redundancies

will always take place. The main expenditure any cancel next is on

staff. That is the picture across the

Most of Gateshead's 967 redundancies were voluntary. This

is Sunderland council. They rose �39 million budget squeeze here,

too. Here is the thing, nobody has lost their job in the building

behind me. Not a single compulsory redundancy, not a single voluntary

redundancy. Around here, they call it the Sunderland way. So how does

it work? Workers whose jobs disappear do not

end up sacked. They ended on what is called the switch team, a

waiting room for jobs, of a sort. If your job disappears, we would

try and match you with another post somewhere in the council, or one of

our partner organisations if possible. If that proves to be

impossible, we will employ you him what we call these which team. --

switch team. It is better for the city's economy and for the council.

We believe it is a win-win situation for us stop while the

council says on redundancy bills, 200 us so people are in deep sea

which team, waiting for a new job. This former accountant runs the

canteen, now. It is very different, walking

around, familiarising myself with what this cafe brings to the public

and workers. Unions say this should be a model

for other councils. I do not understand why other local

authorities are not doing it. It is working here. Other authorities

need to take a close look at what we are doing here in Sunderland.

Not everyone is convinced that the Sunderland we can actually save

money. The worry is for the workforce. Whether the adjustments

in public spending will be put forward in a sustainable way. The

level of jobs at the council has to be adjusted in a way that will last,

and not store up problems for the future.

We will reach the end of this year within our budget. We will meet our

savings targets. We have the agreement of the unions and the

workforce to work towards Withe what we are doing. -- towards what

they are doing. We have excellent, long-serving people here. We

Avoiding redundancies at a time of cuts seemed like a neat trick, but

there are still years of squeezed budgets head. Will the Sunderland

way end up as a cautionary tale or a model for the council's?

Have the job cuts really been necessary? Joining me now is the

Conservative candidate for Berwick. If Sunderland can do this, why are

other councils making so many redundancies? Should Sunderland not

be the muddled? We need to be clear, all councils

are currently doing their best in a difficult situation. The funding

settlement and the cuts imposed from central government, on all

councils, are a difficult challenge to face. The way it is being

imposed, front loaded, with big cuts to be made in the first year,

has put councils and a difficult position. Some are clearly managing

better than others in Sunderland can do it without making

redundancies. I think every council is doing it as best they can.

Sunderland have used an interesting model. We have is a success. I

think this is a deficit reduction plan, over four years. It is

heavily front loaded and one of the big criticisms is that front

loading it in this way, not going councils time to prepare, has left

them in a position of being forced to make redundancies. It will cost

more upfront than if they could have stretched the savings out over

a longer period. A Labour councillor in Sunderland,

delivering huge savings, without losing job. It is a very

interesting scheme which I have just heard about for the first time.

If they are able to bring in the savings without losing jobs, that

is an excellent proposition. It reminds me very much of what you

see in the private sector, where you need to make cuts across the

board to bring budgets into line with deficit positions, they are

agreeing to that and moving people into jobs that may well have lower

salaries but the employers are staying within the organisation. --

employees. If it works, that is fantastic. We have to be sure that

budgets will be met by the end of the year. But I very much of it

works. Have other councils got it wrong? I think as Catherine says,

every council takes on a budget as best they can. The key is to have a

council leadership which is flexible and can see where they

need their frontline work to be kept, and where they can make back-

office savings. Your government could have made it a lot easier by

spreading the cuts over a longer period, rather than forcing

councils to make deep cuts so early? It was the opinion of the

Treasury that the state of our finances, ASLEF to us by Labour,

was so perilous that he had to make it clear quickly how serious we

were about bringing those numbers down. -- ASLEF to us. It is

difficult for everybody, but we are close to being a bankrupt nation.

We need to be clear and tough, up front. Everybody has had to make

that judgment. If Sunderland's proposition eases the pressure on

immediate redundancies, that is great. Most redundancies are

voluntary, it is not as bad as we fear it. Only one in six

redundancies are compulsory, does that mean Labour and the unions are

crime will? I do not think so. There is a bigger picture at play.

-- crying wolf? People are looking at services delivered... They are

getting more efficient, as they should. Just this week, I have been

speaking to Newcastle constituents, elderly residents, who are very

concerned about the cuts imposed prior to this current

administration being in place. They are delivering the cuts as

established and it is putting elderly residents in a difficult

position. The price has doubled for their care for. If you had listened

to your party, it was going to be cataclysmic. This suggests it is

not. It is not pain-free but neither is it a cataclysm. We are

looking at a rising unemployment and we need to look as well at who

is actually being targeted by this. We need to look at general fairness

across the country. Our region and London and Manchester, and

Liverpool, are suffering. The highest level of cuts in the

country. This is storing up a serious problem, not just for now

but for the future. Take Sunderland, who did avoid redundancies. They

say they have had to keep 600 jobs vacant. This is not pain-free,

those jobs which were doing something before were providing

services. I am sure somewhere and we all knew this would be a painful

time, we have to get our finances back on track. It is down to the

local councils to use the reduced budgets which they have and spend

them, if they can, on frontline services. It is down to the

management and modernisation of services. In Northumberland, we

have seen it difficult progress through modernising services in

adult care, for instance. But that is what must be done. If financial

constraints forced the councils into that position, from my point

of view, that is a good thing. the financial constraints in

Northern councils have been a lot worse than some of the leafy

suburbs of the Home Counties. are differences across the country.

In education, in Northumberland, we have one of the fourth lowest grant

allocations and the country editors in the case for 25 years. It needs

to be reviewed and these are battles we need to fight. The North

East should continue to fight if it feels it is no getting its fair

share. In Surrey, they are able to manage the budget better, and if so

we need to look at that. I have to object, I do not think it is about

managing budgets better or worse. Here in the North East, we face

particular challenges and we have done and things have improved. That

is why budgets have been allocated to areas of deprivation, do try and

tackle some of those fundamental issues and social problems which he

to be addressed. I think we are in grave danger of all of the good

work that has been done to put money and resources into these

problems, but what will be reversed. We are storing up a bigger problem

for the future. Ultimately, we are not reducing the deficit but

increasing it. Because we are only going to increase the benefits bill

and the NHS bills which will result. Thank you very much.

If you visit my blood you can see the details of our survey and see

how many jobs your local council -- my blog. It is our final programme

of the series so what better time to catch up on some of the stories

we have covered during a remarkable year. We will hear any moment from

Durham campaigners fighting cuts and community projects. First the

story of young job-hunters who appeared on a programme five months

ago. They were under 25, from the North

East, and desperate for full-time employment. Back in February, they

had their message to the politicians. What it is, as soon as

you walk into the JobCentre you become a number. It would be more

helpful to be treated as an individual. What happens next to

our trio of job-hunters? When we last spoke to Scott, he had lost

his job in IT and set his heart on being a youth worker. Five years

later, it has not happened, but there has been good news. I have

been accepted for an IT apprenticeship which is really

promising. It is full-time work, 35 hours, five days a week. Although

it is an apprenticeship wagered is still great.

Joe, a few months back, had to make do with a part-time job. Has his

search for part-time work been successful? Know. -- full-time

Work I have only found part-time work. Becky set her sights on

photography, and is considering going back to college or more

qualifications. In a year when spending cuts dominated debate, I

plan to reduce funding for School sport proved controversial. We had

complaints in November but less games like this one, in County

Durham, would take place. Ministers insisted their aim was more

competitive sport and ended up restoring some, but not all, of the

money. There was more on the buses on direct funding to schools. But

that has not reassured teachers. But we have gone from three full-

time workers on a project to one and that is what will happen next

year as well. This will mean, in practice, they would be less

competitions and festivals for young people. There will be less

money to bring coaches in And bless activities. From rugby balls to

wrecking balls. End-October, reported on a plan to run --

demolish a run-down housing in Middlesbrough and replace it with

new builds. Huge delays led to complaints of dereliction and

abandonment. What has happened since? Since last October, the

ground has at least been grassed over to make it more pleasant.

There have been no new builds. The community has set up their

Community Land Trust. At the end of the day it means the community

coming together and hopefully in future, having full consultations

with Middlesbrough Council. Local people getting involved in

refurbishment themselves? Yes, if that is the way we have to go, and

look for funding to redevelop the area, I am in favour of.

People power was the name of the game in the Cumbrian town of

Penrith. In January, we heard why locals there were determined to

save their cinema from closure. Maybe we are in with a chance to do

something. The idea of the Society working together... Maybe we can do

that. And do what they did. After street

demonstrations and the raising of tens of thousands of pounds, the

campaign has finally can pay the dissimilar's owner -- persuaded the

cinema's owner to extend the lease and give cinema-goers the happy

ending they want. Let's talk about those three young

unemployed people. Two still looking for permanent work. The

government is not live record for those young people are as it?

excited to find that one of them has found an apprenticeship. The

North East has had a good record of finding apprenticeships. That get

people into long-term career is. lot of people remain on the scrap

heap? Yes, but the private sector is starting to grow again in small

business terms in the North East. Have you evidence that it is

growing? We have run a study over the last 12 months. New jobs, over

22,000, have been announced. What is Labour's big idea to get

youngsters back into work? Youth unemployment soared under Labour,

to. We have recently launched an idea for a bank bonus tax, it is

about time the bankers paid us back for some of the chaos they created

in the financial crisis. Some of that money will be allocated

towards a youth job fund, which is a follow on lengths to the future

jobs fund. If it was down to the private sector to create those jobs,

what difference for that may? also fun for apprenticeships which

I fully support and have done significantly through the bell. --

a fund for apprenticeships. -- the bill. It is about the government

working with businesses to create opportunities by providing funding.

We saw the big society in action to save Penrith's cinema. The title

has that day caused entertainment and difficulty in the media. It is

empowering people to do that, legislation is coming through in

lots of areas where people will be able to do things more easily. I

have a seven Cr be checks for the seven organisations I am involved

in and they only need one. -- CRB. I want more parents involved in

community sport and so on, and we have to make it easier and much

more difficult. That is what the big society is about, having the

minimum legislation, to encourage people. Community housing trusts

set up in Middlesbrough, community action, they cannot afford to do it

in the counsels us something is doing - when been the latter by the

Is it not good for people to take on responsibilities the council

cannot? Yes. As far as I can tell, David Cameron is trying to take

credit for the hard work of these communities and community

associations up and down the country, as being his great idea.

It is ridiculous. The funding which is being cut is making the

society's small and not the bigger. That is it from us. We are off on

our summer holidays. My thanks to all our guests and you for watching.