JG's blog

I haven't watched it, but apparently on GMTV this morning Tony Blair said that there must be better ways to boost recycling rates than fortnightly bin collections. He described himself as a bit of a traditionalist on the idea according to the BBC. This comes just one day after the Dustmen's Union declared that weekly rubbish collections could be saved if town halls recycled more efficiently. Who actually backs this scheme apart from the jobsworths in the local councils and Whitehall? The Right Honourable Anthony Blair doesn't. Who would have thought, first the NHS and now local councils? The man is on a roll.

Well now we know how Tony Blair would vote in the poll. Yesterday he shot down Brown's hints that the NHS should be taken away from political control. He described it as "a great idea in theory", but warned it would disrupt the reforms and become a device for avoiding tough decisions. Blair also admitted that his programme of reform was slow to start off with and is unpopular with voters and professionals in the NHS.

It is rumoured that Gordon Brown will give the NHS independence from political control in his first 100 days in power. No doubt he is hoping that this will be right up there with his decision to give the Bank of England independence in 1997. Would this be a good move for the NHS or another smoke screen? Please leave your comments below and/or vote in the poll.

"Private security staff who operate prison vans will decide from today whether young adults awaiting trial in London are mentally strong enough to survive in the toughest prisons." I had to read that sentence a few times before I realised I read it right in the first place. Indeed, according to the Guardian, White Van Man will be doubling up as Sigmund Freud. What is going on? The article continues "Serco private escort officers staffing the vans which move prisoners between courts and prisons in London will decide whether a young adult on remand is too much of a suicide risk to be held at an adult prison and should be sent instead to Feltham young offender institution." If I were one of these van drivers I would point blank refuse - you can not put that sort of responsibility on security staff who have no training or understanding of psychology.

Nobody has spun a story better than Alistair Campbell. He was one of the big players behind new Labour and one of the big reasons they have won three elections. He is portrayed as a heartless and ruthless character and will use every trick in the book to get policy through. While Blair was the smiling face with the "like me, like me" speeches, Campbell was always lurking in the background - it all seemed rather sinister to me. He also always seemed to have the last laugh as well. Though now he is about to be apoplectic with laughter.

Congratulations to Dr Crippen for his massive success in getting the deficient NHS recruitment IT system shut down. Whilst it is too late for all those people who have had their personal details disclosed and for the tax payers who have had to stump up for this mess, at least it is a real disclosure that this government can not do IT projects. Now will the government accept that it can not do IT projects and shelve plans for the ID card scheme? I doubt it, but I hope the electorate take note. An ID card scheme will be far, far bigger on scale and will hold personal details (like the MTAS) on all of us. Do you still trust the government to keep the details secure? I certainly don't, and I don't want to pay the billions of pounds to test this fear either. Scrap it now, Gordon (you are in charge, right?) for the sake of our security and our bank balances.

The Home Improvement Pack (HIP) disaster is slowly coming to the boil. The Law Society believes that Home inspectors could make up to £250 million a year on producing packs that never get used! If a property has been on the market for 6 months it will require a new HIP, leading to nearly half a million packs being pulped every year. With each one costing at least £500, the total bill would hit £250 million. Whilst 6 months will not be a legal requirement, in reality renewals will be required if the property is to sell. Nearly two million homes are put on the market every year, with a quarter going unsold after a year, it is estimated.

After reports yesterday about the Government issuing warnings to keep quiet about the their plans for fees on rubbish collections (on top of council tax), there are more reports today of "behind the scenes" policy making that would not go down well a week before major local and Scottish elections if they were big news. It appears that valuation officers are compiling an electronic database logging details of every home in the country - despite the government saying that this would not happen until after a general election. Internal government handbooks for the Valuation Office Agency, an arm of the Inland Revenue, showed that inspectors were empowered to enter homes and log features. The council tax manual states that although the revaluation exercise is delayed, "it is imperative that every opportunity is taken to maintain and further improve the extensive electronic database".

Government

Home inspectors could make up to £250 million a year on producing packs that never get used, causing huge waste for home owners trying to sell their homes, according to the Law Society. The prediction comes as leading professionals continue to call for a delay in introducing the controversial home selling scheme, which is due to start in June.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/27/nhips27.xml

Government:

• Health Minister Andy Burnham today published new guidance to help health bodies and practitioners deliver high quality convenient care closer to people's homes. Under government plans, GPs and Pharmacists with special interests will need to go through a new rigorous and fair form of accreditation to ensure they have the necessary skills to deliver efficient and effective patient care in the community that was traditionally only available in hospitals.

• The UK's current water policy framework is not robust enough, Environment Minister Ian Pearson said today as he launched a debate on a revised National Water Strategy. Speaking to an industry audience at an IPPR seminar on the link between climate change and water, Mr Pearson called for preconceptions and policies to change to meet the increasing challenges posed by changing climate, housing patterns and lifestyles.

It just gets worse! On NHS Blog Doctor, Dr Crippen is reporting that any applicant can see any correspondent sent by a candidate on the Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) system, just by changing a couple of figures. This NHS recruitment system really is a shambles to say the least!

...read the comments for confirmation. Please take this out of the DoH hands, they are clearly completely incompetent.

The Guardian has revealed that there are 17 trusts that are heavily in debt and finally the NHS and Department of Health has admitted the problem. The debt is to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds at each of the trusts - 12 of which are not creditworthy enough to be lent money from government funds, according to David Nicholson the NHS chief executive. The DoH must now enter a phase of complete re-organisation to to help them survive.

This week's Picking Losers stories seem to be have been dominated by the rubbish collections and, less surprisingly, the NHS. Today is no different. I'll start with rubbish collections...

There is worrying news about the levels of MRSA and other "hospital" superbugs from an independent study done by Dr Foster Research. The study of 167 NHS hospital trusts in England found that infection control was in a state of disarray. Only 10 of the trusts had isolated 90% of individuals with MRSA - a standard that infection control experts regard as fundamental in the battle against hospital-acquired bugs. Trusts are reacting slow and screening patients outside the guideline times in most cases. Even more worryingly, deaths linked to hospital superbugs have increased dramatically.

A story that has been brewing for sometime now is that of the Home Improvement Packs or HIPS. By June 1st of this year everyone selling their house will have to have an inspector come round at the cost of £600-£1000 to issue the seller with the pack. The problems associated with this scheme have been foreseen for a long time but the government has done absolutely nothing about it.

When will this government learn that the more it interferes in our lives the worse things get? Why do they insist they know better all the time? The latest piece of interfering comes in the form of a £30m initiative (paid for by us...) for a new academy to coach parents on how to control tearaway children.

The old saying in politics goes "Turkeys don't vote for Christmas", and it seems the turkeys in the House of Commons are no different. Senior Ministers will back plans to give exemptions to MPs in certain areas of the Freedom of Information Act. The measures will mean restrictions on the release of MPs expenses claims in to the public domain. So whilst the rest of the public sector will be under the scrutiny of FoI, the very people who voted it in in the first place will be exempt.

A Department for Trade & Industry commissioned report (i.e. we paid for it) has advised the Government to prepare for Robo-rights. Yes - Robo-rights. Like Human rights, but for robots. What a great idea? I mean, C-3P0 was a sensitive chap and R2DT had serious communication and walking difficulties. If only they had lived in New Labour's bonkers world, they wouldn't have been sold on the slave trade and forced to serve their master Luke Skywalker. Has this government run out of things to be PC about (excuse the pun)?

This government really doesn't like rubbish, does it? It would rather we just didn't produce it or if we do to hang on to it. It's as though it has suddenly become a luxury, a privilege of the rich to be able to get rid of your rubbish. Well things are about to get worse. The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), headed by David "will he won't he, probably not he hasn't got the guts" Milliband, are going to introduce laws that will mean we lose our say over when and how their rubbish is collected entirely. Presently we can at least complain directly to the council responsible if they are unhappy with the frequency or quality of collection.

A former Minister who has responsibility for NHS reform, Lord Warner, has launched an extra-ordinary attack on all those who work in the NHS. He cites "productivity" issues and resistance to change within the NHS as the major causes for the failure of Labour's investment programme and programme of reform.