The inside track since 2003

This recent Guardian story about a secret list of banned A-level courses by the top Universities has been playing on my mind for a few days. If true, it’s not right. I’ve written to David Willetts about it. In the interests of transparency and fair play, I think he should satisfy himself that it’s not true. A look at the results of successful applicants should provide the information to prove the story right or wrong.

TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, called for the implementation of an action plan to strengthen the Scottish video games sector. TIGA made the call following yesterday’s news that Realtime Worlds in Dundee was going into administration. Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, outlined some of the features of the plan on the BBC Radio programme, ‘Good Morning Scotland’.

Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, said:

“If the Scottish video games industry in particular and the UK games sector in general are to come through the current crisis and attain their potential, then we must take decisive action. We need action in the following five areas:

• Games Tax Relief should be introduced at the earliest opportunity so that the games industry can compete on a level playing against games businesses in other countries.

• Research and Development tax credits should be retained and enhanced.

• Business incubators should be established to help the formation of a new wave of video games firms. Small, start up games businesses should receive business mentoring and advice on how to create and retain IP and how to develop relatively sustainable business models.

• Games clusters should be consciously supported. Clusters can encourage knowledge transfer and business efficiencies. With a critical mass of games businesses in place, this in turn should encourage inward investment.

• Higher education must be adequately funded and the study of STEM subjects encouraged in order to ensure that the games industry has access to a well qualified and skilled workforce.

“We still hope that Realtime Worlds will find a buyer. Whether this transpires or not, we need action to ensure that our video games industry comes through the current turmoil in as strong a shape as possible. TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, will play its part through the provision of best practice business advice and support and we will continue to champion our video games sector.”

Eric Pickles has moved the transparency agenda on today. He now leads government departments and quangos as the transparency champion in the public sector. They should follow his brave lead. Here are some quotes that I’ve just sent through to the Press Association:

“Transparent budgeting is radical and has the potential to transform public sector accountability. Eric Pickles now leads the government as the minister most committed to transparency.

“We should give credit where it is due to Mr Pickles. He has my full support.

“I call on every other department and quango to follow his brave lead and publish all items of expenditure over £500. And once new systems are in place, the figures should be published quarterly”.

I’ve been testing the limits of the coalition government’s commitment to transparency again this week. My trusty team has helped compile a list of costs for each minister’s private office. I published the cost of Cabinet ministers earlier today.

I’ve been busy on family stuff today and have just picked up a load of emails and messages about the report. A number of journalists have asked for figures for all ministers. So I’ve published it below. Congratulations to Mark Harper for only employing two staff in his private office and being the cheapest MP in Her Majesty’s Government.

If you know about this stuff, I’d be grateful if you can help me. These figures show that there are civil servants doing more or less the same job but being paid substantially different sums depending on what department they work for. I’m trying to find the lowest paid Private Secretary and the lowest paid Diary Secretary. All information will be treated in the strictest confidence.

One last thing. I was being serious about Vince Cable. He can’t possibly run a department the size of his with only six staff in his private office. He should sort it out.

If you’re interested in this Guardian article about a leaked document on NHS websites, you might also be interested in seeing the list of 4,282 websites I recently received from the department. Have a look through and let me know what you think of the best and worst!

The document that the Guardian have been leaked was produced under the last government. I asked Conservative Health Minister Simon Burns to publish it last month. He refused.

More and this after my Michael Gove meeting!

The fanfare around coalition claims for greater transparency in Whitehall has not yet been met in reality. Let’s be honest, most people knew the salaries of the very top civil servants. The interesting information is in the the detail, the granular figures for the middle orders.

I’ve recently asked a number of FoI questions to see how many civil servants are paid as much, or more than an MP. The answer, in the list below, is that there are 3000.46 (full time equivalent) civil servants earning more than £65,738 per annum.

Francis Maude set up the Transparency Board to allow the public to “hold politicians and public bodies to account”.

I don’t think it unreasonable for the public to know the title and job description of every civil servant matching an MPs salary. So come on Francis, pull your finger out and get this committee to make a little more progress.

Speakers   Martha Kearney Simon Hughes

Thank heavens for Simon, that’s all I can say.

 SH:                  Council house allocation has always been controversial and it’s very important that if we’re going to debate any changes to the fundamental issue which is that if you’re given the tenancy and you pass the probationary period, you have it for life, then we do it very sensitively and carefully and mindful of all the difficulties. The fundamental reason why council property is so desirable is because you have security. You know that you can have affordable housing for the rest of your life and for people in many walks of life, out of work, retired, on low incomes, that’s fundamentally important.

MK:                 But at the moment, given that I mean this time of financial constraint so it may be a while before we get a big influx of new houses, if someone stays in a larger property when they don’t need it they’re denying it to somebody else who might really be in need of it because they’ve got young children, they need more space?

SH:                  My experience is that if you engage with those people in good time, you engage their families, you talk about what the options are, you explain that they can have somewhere that would be smaller, easier to manage, less expensive – people will normally be persuaded to move. The question is do you make it compulsory to move. And the danger then again is you start breaking up communities. One of the great things abut council property is, or secure tenancies, is that it keeps communities together, keeps families together. It allows, just as you would if you have your home when you pass away or I pass away we can pass it on to our relatives so there is a great benefit in being able to say, this is my family home and my daughter, who has lived with me all my life and cared for me in my old age should be able to continue in the same home when I go and she tackles over. So we’ve got to be sensitive about the whole set of issues and remember that suddenly proposing, or suddenly floating an idea is not any more than that. It’s not a policy, it’s not been agreed, it’s not come to the coalition for formal discussion but floating an idea that we should go to limited fixed-term tenancies would change the whole nature of public sector housing in England and, if we’re going to even look at that we need to have a debate involving everybody carefully and thoughtfully and listening above all to the views of the people who arte the council tenants of today and maybe the council tenants of tomorrow.

MK:                 So what do you think about the prime minister floating such an important idea without getting agreement from the coalition. How’s that going to go down in your party?

SH:                  Well, prime ministers are entitled to float any ideas they like but we just have to be clear it is not a Liberal Democrat policy, it is not a coalition policy, it was not in the election manifesto of either party, it was not in the coalition agreement. So the message just has to get out, this is an idea floated by the prime minister, if he wants to pursue it then there are the proper channels to do so. We’re very happy to have the discussion. The Labour Party floated this idea before; they fairly quickly withdrew it because they saw the pitfalls. I’m not against radical ideas coming from progressive prime ministers but it’s no more than that, it’s a prime ministerial idea, it has no more validity yet and I think our party would need a lot of persuading that it has merit or could work and that’s something that clearly if he wants us to talk about we’re happy to talk about.

“There is also an additional security risk in the form of a Denial of Service attack.” Classic. A good result though.

JC:   Mr Grayling is this a priority, are we talking about a lot of jobs being advertised in Job Centres for this kind of thing?

CG: There has been a steady stream over the years, when I first spotted this problem a couple of years ago and looked through Job Centre websites I found numerous adverts for pole-dancers, for lap-dancers, for web cam operators, since then there has been a public consultation, the general view that has come back to the department is that most people feel this is a bad thing and I feel strongly, we as a government want to get people off welfare and into work, there is going to be a lot of effort to get people into jobs, I don’t want any woman who goes to a Job Centre to feel that after their interview, they go across to the job point, they look at the list of vacancies and if there is an adult vacancy there I don’t want them to feel any sense that they have to apply for that, I think it is better that those adverts just don’t happen in Job Centres at all.

JC: And so this was seen as a priority for you coming in at this job to deal with this was it? Or as far as you are concerned.

CG: Well as far as I am concerned it is necessary I think to make sure that if we are putting people under-pressure to look for jobs we are trying to get people off welfare and into work, we shouldn’t be putting any woman into a position where she feels any kind of obligation to apply for a job like this, no they are not banned in this country as a whole, these clubs and licensed, but what I don’t want is vulnerable people in job centres, after long periods of time on benefits, feeling any kind of sense that they have to apply for this kind of role.

JC: Now that doesn’t mean as we said in the introduction that you are banning jobs related to working in those sorts of places does it?

CG: No, I mean you can still apply as a night-club bouncer, you can still apply as a cleaner but it is very much about jobs that actually involve direct sexual stimulation, somebody taking their clothes off for the amusement of others in a public arena and that is what we want Job Centres to stop advertising.

JC: So what is going happen from today, you have instructed all the Job Centres have you, to basically rip down those ads?

CG: We are today instructing the Job Centre Plus network to stop advertising those vacancies and you know in future the only industry related adverts that will be acceptable will be things like bouncers, things like clearers.

I don’t normally post by-election results but this one is significant.  Lynda Leach won the Bilston North By-Election last night for Labour on a massive 13.1% swing from the Tories since May 6th. The Lib Dem vote collapsed (their vote was down over 90% since May 6th) and the Conservatives were roundly beaten by more than 800 votes.

The victory gives Labour our 30th seat of 60 on Wolverhampton Council and puts us a whisker away from overall control.

Lab 1292
Tory 460
BNP 131
Lib D 52
UKIP 55

I sit on the Department of Culture Media and Sport Select committee. We’ve just announced a new inquiry and have issued  a call for evidence on Funding of the Arts and Heritage. We’re inviting written submissions and requesting views on the following issues:

What impact recent, and future, spending cuts from central and local Government will have on the arts and heritage at a national and local level;
What arts organisations can do to work more closely together in order to reduce duplication of effort and to make economies of scale;
What level of public subsidy for the arts and heritage is necessary and sustainable;
Whether the current system, and structure, of funding distribution is the right one;
What impact recent changes to the distribution of National Lottery funds will have on arts and heritage organisations;
Whether the policy guidelines for National Lottery funding need to be reviewed;
The impact of recent changes to DCMS arm’s-length bodies – in particular the abolition of the UK Film Council and the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council;
Whether businesses and philanthropists can play a long-term role in funding arts at a national and local level;
Whether there need to be more Government incentives to encourage private donations.
The Committee will also examine other areas of interest that are raised during the course of its inquiry. A copy of the submission should be sent by e-mail to cmsev@parliament.uk and have ‘Funding of the Arts and Heritage’ in the subject line. Submissions should be received by Thursday 2nd September 2010.

It assists the Committee if those submitting written evidence adhere to the following guidelines:
Each submission should:
1. State clearly who the submission is from, i.e. whether from yourself in a personal capacity or sent on behalf of an organisation

2. Be about 3,000 words in length / run to no more than six sides of A4 paper; as far as possible comprise a single document attachment to the email;  begin with a short summary in bullet point form;  have numbered paragraphs; and

3.  Be in Word or Rich Text format (not PDF) with as little use of colour or logos as possible.   Please supply a postal address so a copy of the Committee’s report can be sent to you upon publication.
 
4. You should also be aware that there may be circumstances in which the House of Commons will be required to communicate information to third parties on request, in order to comply with its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
 
5. Though there is a strong preference for emailed submissions, those without access to a computer should send a hard copy to:
 
Committee AssistantCulture, Media and Sport Committee
Committee Office
House of Commons
7 Millbank
London SW1P 3JA
 
A guide for written submissions to Select Committees may be found on the parliamentary website at: http://www.parliament.uk/commons/selcom/witguide.htm
 
Please also note that:
·         Committees make public much of the evidence they receive during inquiries. If you do not wish your submission to be published, you must clearly say so. If you wish to include private or confidential information in your submission to the Committee, please contact the Clerk of the Committee to discuss this.
·         Material already published elsewhere should not form the basis of a submission, but may be referred to within a proposed submission, in which case a hard copy of the published work should be included.
·         Evidence submitted must be kept confidential until published by the Committee, unless publication by the person or organisation submitting it is specifically authorised.
·         Once submitted, evidence is the property of the Committee. The Committee normally, though not always, chooses to make public the written evidence it receives, by publishing it on the Internet (where it will be searchable), by printing it or by making it available through the Parliamentary Archives. If there is any information you believe to be sensitive you should highlight it and explain what harm you believe would result from its disclosure. The Committee will take this into account in deciding whether to publish or further disclose the evidence. 
 
For up-to-date information on progress of the inquiry visit: http://www.parliament.uk/cmscom
Committee Membership is as follows: 
Mr John Whittingdale (Chair) (Con) (Maldon), Ms Louise Bagshawe (Con) (Corby), Paul Farrelly (Lab) (Newcastle-under-Lyme), Dr Thérèse Coffey (Con) (Suffolk Coastal), Alan Keen (Lab Co-operative) (Feltham and Heston), Damian Collins (Con) ( Folkestone and Hythe),Jim Sheridan (Lab) (Paisley and Renfrewshire North)
Philip Davies (Con) ( Shipley), David Cairns (Lab) (Inverclyde), Mr Adrian Sanders (Lib Dem) (Torba) and me, Mr Tom Watson (Lab) (West Bromwich East),
 

Specific Committee Information:  cmscom@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 6188, Media Information: Laura Humble  humblel@parliament.uk/ 020 7219 8430, Committee Website: www.parliament.uk/cmscom ,Watch committees and parliamentary debates online:  www.parliamentlive.tv 
 
Publications / Reports / Reference Material:Copies of all select committee reports are available from the Parliamentary Bookshop (12 Bridge St, Westminster, 020 7219 3890) or the Stationery Office (0845 7023474).  Committee reports, press releases, evidence transcripts, Bills; research papers, a directory of MPs, plus Hansard (from 8am daily) and much more, can be found on www.parliament.uk

The BBC’s public nature and its objects

1. The BBC exists to serve the public interest.

2. The BBC’s main object is the promotion of its Public Purposes.

3. In addition, the BBC may maintain, establish or acquire subsidiaries through whichcommercial activities may be undertaken to any extent permitted by a FrameworkAgreement. (The BBC’s general powers enable it to maintain, establish or acquiresubsidiaries for purposes sufficiently connected with its Public Purposes…..

4.The Public PurposesThe Public Purposes of the BBC are as follows—

(a)sustaining citizenship and civil society;

(b)promoting education and learning;

(c)stimulating creativity and cultural excellence;

(d)representing the UK, its nations, regions and communities;2

(e)bringing the UK to the world and the world to the UK;(f)in promoting its other purposes, helping to deliver to the public the benefit ofemerging communications technologies and services and, in addition, taking aleading role in the switchover to digital television.

5.How the BBC promotes its Public Purposes: the BBC’s mission to inform,educateand entertain

(1)The BBC’s main activities should be the promotion of its Public Purposes through theprovision of output which consists of information, education and entertainment, suppliedby means of—

(a)television, radio and online services;

(b)similar or related services which make output generally available and which may bein forms or by means of technologies which either have not previously been used bythe BBC or which have yet to be developed.