Published March, 2011
Name: Councillor Michael Edwards
1. Introduction
I am one of 3 Councillors for Mapperley ward.
I served the old Mapperley ward from 1993 to 2003, firstly on the County Council and then on the city. I have served the new Mapperley ward since 2003 and am set to finish this May.
I most enjoy full Council. Party politics is the hallmark of a free society and I enjoy the clash of political ideas.
A lot of the arguments I come across and some of the meetings I attend are described in a blog in which I’ve written probably 100 pages and 50,000 words in the last year. Also as a part of reaching out, have met or phoned a significant number of people across the city.
We are here to make a difference for our people and places, and I do this by asking questions and evaluating progress against big questions concerning ambition, planning, performance, capacity, capability, culture and legitimacy.
2. Council Involvement
I chaired the Young Nottingham Select Committee this year and as such I attend the Overview & Scrutiny Committee; I have also attended task groups on health and wellbeing, tackling childhood obesity and the “Year of Reading”.
Concerning Young Nottingham -
Overall, gave meetings focus and pace; meetings were well prepared and had good content, discussing big issues.
List of meetings and outcomes -
June – new style meeting focusing on one item; safeguarding; an intense meeting; outcome was to seek assurances on mutually agreed concerns in correspondence; meeting was later to be acknowledged by Ofsted inspection;
July – debate on youth facility gave teenagers the chance to talk (tho’ I kept found officers trying to speak for them!); briefing on national policy triggered points on academies – used as a mandate to ask repeated questions about academies and BSF at full Council; work of the department – 12 recommendations incl. physical capabilities;
September – individual budgets for disabled children follow-up; health of children, aiming to explore actual outcomes – concerns included physical capabilities and mental health; early intervention;
October (MME attended pre but missed actual cttee.) – 14-19 education; Connexions;
November - Educational attainment and better reading – an opportunity taken to hear new thinking on Nottingham’s curriculum and using wider aims in child development to promote higher attainment;
December – highly intense meeting on EMA and tuition fees; concessions made by universities of significance to our officers; letter to Minister answered / not answered by a departmental official (so have sent evidence to a Government inquiry); existence of meeting probably triggered special debate at full council 2 days earlier;
January – safeguarding – and found Sept. might have been a better date for holding meeting; slightly concerned that emphasis on sustaining performance and reducing risk did not give fair recognition of financial pressures;
February – planned to talk about Education White Paper and progress on new ideas for child development; but Education Bill had just been published so discussed it with Corporate Director at some length; also reviewed year’s work by cttee. and resolved to look to embrace new ways of working, with emphasis on early discussion, making significant and broad observations and following progress through correspondence;;
Reviews
Children’s centres; started cos of some national controversy and hence possible threat; members were happy with what they saw in children’s centres; tried to close it the review, but in rehearsing national scrutiny’s findings, Cllrs were intrigued to find out Nottingham’s answers; Three conclusions, in summary -
Agree common child development outcomes for children centres to drive progress by all partners;
looking for a wider approach on child development to get better academic results; this idea was welcomed at children centres too; (Young Nott’m are very keen on the new Schools Director’s ideas.)
Need to get to grips with apparent excellence in early years followed by apparent under-performance in primary.
Work as Chair –
Repeated questions to PH at full Council on BSF and safeguarding;
Contribution to O&S;
Attended health and wellbeing task group; agitated for action on physical capabilities (rather than healthy eating or overweight/obesity per se); created notion of Sheriff’s Challenge to reward people for reaching a gold standard in capabilities (what might be expected from 80% of year 11’s, perhaps job opportunity based); also gave some drama to trans fats and raised awareness of Oldham’s planned tax on take-aways.
Attended reading task group; attended 2 launch events in January;
PH liaison; useful meetings; have sought a comment from PH at every meeting;
City demonstrations; have met people at protests as chair, especially on withdrawal of EMA;
I attend the Audit Committee.
My main aims here are to ensure active conclusions on items considered and to drive on with embedding the use of risk analysis and management into the management of services provided by the council.
3. Community Involvement
I have worked with a number of groups.
With the Honeywood Estate Action Team, have required action on derelict garages.
4. Ward Work and Achievements
I have collected nearly 70 cases in the last year and attended various events, protest meetings and site meetings.
Pleased to see city centre stops of NCT Blue services moved to be besides the Sky Blues and Lilac services that serve Mapperley ward.
5. Learning and Development
I have attended various training events, mainly focussed on improving scrutiny but also on better public speaking.
6. Use of Devolved Budgets
Mainly agreed between all 3 Mapperley councillors, with one exception.
7. Challenges
Dealing with the slashing of projects and services following a cut of £60 million in central grant by the national government.
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