LSP Quango Should Be Scrapped

Upon returning from my annual holiday, the first headline in the local media to hit me was the ConLib Governments cuts to Area Based Grants (£3.4m) administered by the LSP, but responsible to (accountable body) Stoke-on-Trent City Council.

The Area Based Grant system gives government funding to priorities and targets set and agreed by DCLG and our LSP.
Area Based Grants are basically former local government funding top sliced from democratic control (£35 million) and handed to a non-elected quango to spend.

The cuts in the media seemed very detailed and it was also reported that the decisions had already been made. This struck me as odd, because, although I knew that cuts had to be made, as a councillor or residents, I wasn’t aware of any consultation or imminent decision.

So I made some inquiries and was staggered to learn what had gone on.

No councillor or Elected Member, scrutiny committee, Cabinet Member, appears to have been consulted or made aware of the proposals or decisions either prior to, or following the announced cuts.

The LSP has a Board (members listed below) but even that did not make these decisions. A body called the LSP Chairs Group decided where the £3.5m cuts would go. As of yet I have been refused a copy of the minutes nor can I obtain a list of its membership.

Absolutely no democratically Elected Members, accountable to the public were party to these decisions, even though the Chair of the LSP is none other than the Deputy Leader of the Council, Ross Irving.

The cuts will have a massive effect on those that provide them and well as those receiving the services from them, yet the impact on the City Council own budget cannot be underestimated.

Many of the services cut are provided by the City Council either on its own or jointly with partners or voluntary organisations. This will have serious implications for the City Council budgets, passing the blame onto the City Council.

Unelected Quango Bureaucrats making decisions behind closed doors – councillors once again carrying the can and getting the blame.

I hope the other councillors, like me take issue with the LSP and its cuts, and the the Government scraps this out of control, anti-democratic quango at the earliest opportunity.

List of LSP Board Members:

*Councillor Ross Irving (Chair) - Cabinet Member for Partnerships and Transition

*Henriette Lyttle-Breukelaar - Advantage West Midlands

*Mike Ramsey - Government Office West Midlands

*Shane Bryans - Government Office West Midlands

*Alan Turley - Local Strategic Partnership

*Councillor Roy Naylor - Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Committee

*Martin Chadwick - Voluntary Sector

*Carol Beardsall - Community Sector

*Asif Mehmood - BME Forum

*Lloyd Cooke - Faiths Forum

*Bryan Carnes - North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce

*Helen Pegg - Further Education

*Dr Teeranlall Ramgopal - Staffordshire University

*Kevin Mattinson - Keele University

*Sarah Robinson - Stoke-on-Trent College

*Peter Dartford - Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service

*Julie Carruthers - Jobcentre Plus

*Councillor Randolph Conteh - Staffordshire Police Authority

*Bernie O'Reilly - Staffordshire Constabulary

*Jane Sawyers - Staffordshire Constabulary

*Graham Urwin - Stoke-on-Trent Primary Care Trust

*Chris Dawes - NHS Stoke-on-Trent

*Hardial Bhogal - North Staffordshire Regeneration Partnership

*Barbara Jones - Staffordshire Probation Service

*John van de Laarschot - Stoke-on-Trent City Council

*Tony Oakman - Stoke-on-Trent City Council

*Sharon Menghini - Stoke-on-Trent City Council

*Paul Simpson - Stoke-on-Trent City Council

*Jeanette McGarry - Stoke-on-Trent City Council

*Tom Macartney - Stoke-on-Trent City Council