Sure Start Has Closed The Gap - Why Do The Tories Want To Scrap It?

From an original article by Stuart King, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Putney, Roehampton and Southfields.

This is one of those really important stories that the media simply won't report. SureStart, the Labour Government initiative to help children and young families in our least affluent areas has succeeded in eradicating the gap between how children in its catchment area develop educationally compared to affluent areas. This straightforward chart shows the impact SureStart's had in Roehampton.

Let me just explain what the jargon means. There are two key measures for assessing how children are "developing": PSE stands for Personal, Social and Emotional development - in other words how children interact with each other, cope spending time on their own, and their relationships with their parents. CLL is Communications, Language and Literacy - ie how a child is developing educationally.

What is interesting about this graph is it shows the gap between deprived children and others closing, but attainment rising for all children. Council officers attribute this to the beneficial effect that Sure Start, as a universal service, has had for all Wandsworth’s children.

There are two questions that need to be answered now. First, isn't this more Labour-generated propaganda? The answer to that is no - I took these tables from a report written by the Conservative-run council last week; which is available here. In fact, Councillor Kathy Tracey, the Conservative Cabinet member for Children's Services in Wandsworth attended the Roehampton Partnership on Friday endorsing the successes the report highlights. Second, the cynics will question whether this has anything to do with SureStart rather than general factors. In response to that, it's really interesting that there are two other "big" SureStart schemes in the borough: one in Battersea and one in Tooting. Both started after Roehampton's - Battersea came next and Tooting was much more recent.

The same charts for each show lags in children's development - more in Tooting than Battersea and both behind Roehampton. The principal difference between them is the length of time Roehampton SureStart's been running - and it certainly isn't comparative deprivation: Roehampton is far more disadvantaged than Tooting, for example (Which is why Roehampton's SureStart got set up first).

Actually, there's a third question - and it's one that Wandsworth's Conservatives have to answer. It's simply this: SureStart works and here's the proof - so why is your party, the Conservative Party, planning to abolish SureStart if you get into power?

Cllr. Andy Gibbons

Labour Speaker Children and Young People

Children And Young People's Committee

School Cleaning
Wandsworth’s school cleaning contract is to be re-tendered – the Tory Council wants to go for a five year deal because it might be cheaper but schools would prefer a three year contact, giving them more power over underperforming contractors. In response to my question about defaults (cases where the company hasn’t done the job properly) I discovered that since April of this year Julius Rutherfoord had 393.5 default points and had been fined £3212, whilst the other contractor, Superclean had 228.5 default points and was fined £1233.

Tory Stealth Taxes in Action – More Charges On The Way
We voted against above inflation increases for charges on a number of services for children and young people. With inflation running at 1.5%, the cost of hiring a room from youth services will go up by between 3% to 4.5%, whilst fees for holiday playcentre places for children whose families are on income support will increase by 2.5%.

Boost For Wandsworth’s Youth Offending Team
Despite Wandsworth being a relatively low crime area, it is important to maintain a team which works with our young people to stop them getting involved in serious crime. The Youth Offending Team was established in 1998 as the result of a Labour Government initiative, but its performance lags behind other London Boroughs. It will now grow by four extra staff to help it achieve Government targets for the reduction of young people being imprisoned or reoffending and increasing their uptake of training or employment.

New Playground on The Pleasance, West Putney
Government grant of £138,000 will pay for a natural play area in The Pleasance. The playground will have play features such as boulders and landscaped terraces and be planted with trees and shrubs.

Government Grant to Improve School Kitchens
The Government has given funding of £447,000 to improve the school kitchens at Garratt Park, Swaffield and Southmead schools. The other part of the total investment of £913,000 comes from the Council. The money is intended to improve the quality of food and encourage more children to take up healthy school meals.

Cllr. Andy Gibbons
Opposition Speaker Children and Young People

Graveney e-news from your local Councillors

Andy Gibbons, Rex Osborn and Billi Randall
‘Working for you’

August 2009


Around Graveney

· On 3rd July Andy Gibbons was a guest at the Childcare Development GNVQ graduation ceremony for students from South Thames College. The evening, at the United Reform Church Hall in Rookstone Road, was hosted by course tutor Annette Ely. After the presentations there was time for photos and then a fantastic buffet of food made by the students themselves.
· On 17th July we went to Franciscan School to Clare McDonnell’s leaving party. After many years as headteacher she is retiring, having seen the school get excellent results and starting up one of the government’s new Children’s Centres.
· We called on residents of Ashvale Road to discuss their petition about parking in the street. We presented it at the Council meeting on 22nd July and it will be considered by the Planning and Transport Committee on 10th September at the Town Hall. Billi Randall will be on the committee and we will let you know what was decided.
· We have continued to report rubbish tipping on the Totterdown Estate to the Council and are pressing for faster responses to the problem. We have also had a new litter bin put outside the shops on Franciscan Road.
· Rex Osborn hosted a successful meeting of the Tooting Local History Group. The next meeting will be in September - for details contact tootinghistory@googlemail.com
· We have been out meeting residents on Nutwell Street, Tooting High Street and Waterfall Terrace and we were joined by MP Sadiq Khan to talk with residents on Gassiot Road.

Graveney Issues

Pavement Space
Many residents have contacted us about shops allowing their displays to spill onto the pavements. While some own the forecourt area and are legally entitled to use this space, others are illegally encroaching onto the pavement. We have taken this up with Wandsworth council a number of times and now have some firm action. 76 fines have been issued to traders, some of whom have been fined several times. We understand the need for shops to do business in the current economic climate, but no-one benefits from an untidy Tooting.

Hurley Court
We have been helping residents in the newly-completed Hurley Court at Amen Corner. When they moved in they found that the Royal Mail and Wandsworth Council had not been informed that the building was occupied so there was no rubbish collection or post. We have got things sorted out but there are still problems with security which we are urging the L&Q Housing Association to deal with urgently.

Lessingham Avenue Arson Attack
We were all saddened to hear that the fire in Lessingham Avenue has claimed a second victim, Nabiha Masud. Anyone with information which might help the inquiry should call the incident room at Lewisham on 020 8721 4805 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

Coming up

Wednesday 5th August 1p.m to 4p.m. National Play Day at Tooting Triangle Playground and 1 O’clock Centre. There will be a ‘Tooting beach,’ entertainers, face painters, and many other activities.

September 2009 Open House London at Granada Bingo Hall - a chance to see the magnificent Grade 2 listed interior. For dates http://www.openhouse.org.uk/public/london/event.html

Tuesday 20th October 2009 at 7.30p.m. St Nicholas' Church Hall, Mitcham Road Graveney report back – an opportunity for residents to meet local councillors and officers to talk about issues affecting Graveney.

Did you know?
1970’s Glam-Rocker Marc Bolan lived in Tooting. He came to live here under his real name Mark Feld in 1962, but soon moved on to trendier Barnes, the home turf of the Rolling Stones.


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Graveney Councillors meet Gassiot Road residents

Yesterday your Graveney Councillors Andy Gibbons, Rex Osborn and Billi Randall were out meeting residents on Gassiot Road with our MP Sadiq Khan.

We had a great response on the doorstep and a lot of interesting discussions with residents about a whole range of topics from the global recession to the environment to local issues like street cleaning and policing.

Get in touch at graveney@tootinglabour.org.uk.

Graveney e-news from your local Councillors

Graveney e-news from your local Councillors
Andy Gibbons, Rex Osborn and Billi Randall
‘Working for you’

July 2009

What we’ve been doing around Graveney

During June we were out meeting Graveney and Tooting Residents with our MP Sadiq Khan
We visited the Balham and Tooting Community Association funday at Gatton School and Broadwater Church, followed by the Bagwat Saptah religious festival at the Samaj Hall.
Throughout June we were out and about on the Totterdown estate, getting the council to crack down on flytipping and dirty streets.
Rex Osborn launched Wandsworth’s ‘Green Plaque’ historical commemoration scheme at the former home of Clement Attlee in Portinscale Road Putney.
Last weekend we dropped in to the Franciscan School Fayre to give our best wishes to Clare McDonnell who is retiring as headteacher. We then went on to the Church Fete at All Saint's Church where we were entertained by the excellent Broadway Jazz Band.
At the end of June we met with the local ‘White Pigeon’ Tamil charity organisation to discuss the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka. A number of Graveney families have lost relatives in the conflict.

Graveney News

Lessingham Avenue - Arson Attack
Like many local people we were horrified to hear about the arson attack on the Masud family. We send our sympathy to them and hope that the people who started the fire are brought to justice swiftly. The attack is not believed to be racially motivated.

Mitcham Road - Road Safety Action
We have been campaigning for new safety measures and a tidy up of street clutter for several years. We now have some results:

a new central island at Tooting Broadway to make crossing to the tube safer
a raised pedestrian crossing between the junctions of Glasford Street and Otterburn Street to improve visibility
bus stop relocation in Longmead Road and Granada Street;
a new cycle lane between the junctions of Longley Road and Amen Corner;
no right turn into Byton Road to reduce accidents;
removal of street clutter .

Bickley Street - Residents' Petition
In April we presented a residents' petition about youths causing problems in the street to the Council. As a result a new security gate, bollards and possibly CCTV will be installed in Salvador Passage. Gala Bingo and South Thames college have also been asked to improve security and work with Sainsbury’s to keep the area tidy and well-lit.

Rectory Lane - Lorry Ban Action
Following the residents' campaign and the petition we took to Council, Wandsworth officers are carrying out enforcement using the Council's CCTV vehicle. Penalty Charge Notices have been issued by post to the owners of offending lorries.

Town Centre Safer Neighbourhood Team
A new team of police and community support officers have begun patrolling Tooting Town Centre 7 days a week. We have campaigned for this for three years and are delighted to see it come about. Not only will it give reassurance to local businesses that crime in the town centre is taken seriously, it will also give the Graveney SNT more time to concentrate on the needs of residents throughout the ward.

Coming Up
Thursday, Jul 09 Charity Gospel Concert St. Boniface’s Church, 185 Mitcham Road SW17 9PG
September 2009 Open House London at Granada Bingo Hall - a chance to see the magnificent Grade 2 listed interior. For dates http://www.openhouse.org.uk/public/london/event.html


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