Magic numbers, value for money and simply doing the right thing

If any small business in Cornwall was told it was suddenly to take a £332,000/year cut in income it would probably be in some difficulty. Yet that is precisely one consequence of Cornwall Council's recent budget for Tremorvah Industries, a small business operating on the Threemilestone industrial estate, Truro, as part of the council's Adult Care department.


Tremovah currently employs 54 people, 44 of them supported by the government's Workstep Employment Grant, a discretionary allowance which helps people with disabilities (often the result of an accident) find their way back into work. Tremorvah was established in the early 1980s, having originally been part of the rehabilitiation centre at Truro's old City hospital.

Cornwall Council's budget plans for its £332,000 subsidy to be scrapped, over time, leaving Tremorvah to eventually brave the realities of free markets. Given the highly specialised nature of its products (mostly concerned with improving access and mobility for people with disabilities) and its core remit - to provide work for people who often have quite a profound disability themselves - Tremorvah's survival in a competitive global environment is far from assured.

For some reason the impact of the budget cuts on Tremorvah didn't make headlines when the budget was actually agreed. Must have been one of those pesky details which so easily get overlooked.

Council officials are now suggesting that instead of scrapping the subsidy, they could instead simply boost Tremorvah's turnover by buying more of its products. Within three years, the argument goes, turnover will be large enough for Tremorvah to survive without council support.

Officials point out that only 11% of Tremorvah's business is currently with the council and that by making the business a "preferred internal provider" they could increase this to 31%. The deadline for making this happen is 31st March and officials are keen to embark upon a "benchmarking" exercise designed to show how this would be good value for money for the taxpayer, as well as comply with EU competition rules.

The obvious question is that if the council has a need for more of Tremorvah's products and services, why isn't it buying them already? I forecast some free-market-defying accountancy-wizardry will be needed to make the business case. Indeed, the lexicon of local government jargon may need to be extended to find a new word for "subsidy."

But this is to ignore the wider, far more important question - and one which puts the "budget hawks" at County Hall in a difficult position. What does our "Big Society" actually expect from people who have the sort of disabilities which prevent them from elbowing their way to the front of the jobs' queue?

Open, transparent, etc etc etc

Enthusiastic readers of Cornwall Council's constitution have been asking me to find out why, in the 18 months since the council was launched, it has failed to hold at least one "State of the County" debate. This is what you find when you turn up the Council Procedure Rules document on the council's own website:

15.

State of the County of Cornwall Debate

15.1 Calling of debate - The Chairman of the Council will call a State of the County of Cornwall debate annually on a date and in a form to be discussed with the Leader.

15.2 Form of debate - The Chairman will decide the form of the debate with the aim of enabling the widest possible public involvement and publicity. This may include holding workshops and other events prior to or during the State of the County of Cornwall debate.

15.3 Chairing of debate - The debate will be chaired by the Chairman or in his absence the Vice-Chairman.

15.4 Results of debate - The results of the debate will be: (i) disseminated as widely as possible within the community and to agencies and organisations in the area; and (ii) considered by the Leader in proposing the budget and policy framework to the Council for the coming year.


Sounds like fun - if the council ever gets round to holding such a "State of the County" debate, the pubs will be empty. I shall make the usual inquiries.

Wonders of the wireless age

My list of New Year's resolutions contains many of the things I didn't get round to in 2010 - including the completion of this blog's survey of Cornwall's media. I confess to terror at the sheer enormity of the task - particularly when it comes to writing about local radio (BBC managers, please look away now.) I don't suppose that when Guglielmo Marconi began tinkering with valves and copper wires at Poldhu in 1901 he imagined what would be broadcast across Cornwall not much more than 100 years later.

This post is confined to conventional free-to-air local radio - internet-based radio stations will feature in my survey of new media.

BBC Radio Cornwall has its headquarters in Truro, launched in 1983, and is available on 95.2 FM (East Cornwall), 103.9 FM (West Cornwall) and 96.0 FM on the Isles of Scilly.

Pirate FM, based in Redruth, was Cornwall's first commercial local radio station and launched in 1992. It is available on 102.2 FM and 102.8 FM.

Atlantic FM, based in St Agnes, joined the commercial fray in 2006. It is available on 105.1 FM and 107FM.

So far, I hope, none of this is controversial - although I feel I am tip-toeing through a minefield.

All three stations broadcast a mixture of music and speech-based programmes, including news and current affairs, but that mix varies according to their perceived target audiences. Radio Joint Audience Research (RAJAR), owned jointly by the BBC and the commercial radio sector, publishes local radio data on a quarterly basis.

All three stations are required to comply with a statutory framework of rules as set out by the government-appointed regulator, Ofcom. In terms of their editorial content, this regulation sets them apart from the "free to anyone who owns it" world of the printed press.

BBC Radio Cornwall is wholly funded by the television licence fee and is part of the world's largest broadcasting organisation. BBC Radio Cornwall is required to meet the same standard as any other part of the Corporation and its staff actually have to sign for (as proof of receipt) copies of the BBC's Editorial Guidelines.

Pirate FM is owned by UK Radio Developments (UKRD) whose chief executive is the former insurance salesman and leader of Penwith District Council, William Rogers. In 1997 William was the Conservative Party's Parliamentary candidate in St Ives. The founding chairman of Pirate FM was James St Aubyn, now a non-executive director of UKRD, who lives on St Michael's Mount. According to the UKRD website, James "is also responsible for St Aubyn Estates, which consists of some five thousand acres in West Cornwall, some owned for more than six centuries."

Pirate FM is today one of 15 local radio stations owned by UKRD, which also owns 46 websites across the UK.

Atlantic FM is 47% owned by the Tindle Radio Group, whose chairman, Sir Ray Tindle, featured in my earlier post about local newspapers. The chairman of Atlantic FM is Richard Eyre, a former chief executive of ITV.

According to Cornwall Pure Business (funded by the former Cornwall County Council and EU Objective One): "The premises (Atlantic) occupies at Wheal Kitty were converted by Carrick Council with the help of the RDA and Objective One. Atlantic FM then had to develop their part of the project to suit their own needs and install their state of the art equipment. But it is thanks to the vision of Carrick Council and its funders that Atlantic FM is able to broadcast from what must be the most scenic broadcasting locations in the UK."

This is, I hope, an entirely factual survey of Cornwall's local radio - but there is obviously plenty of room for opinion in the "comments" section of this blog.

Still to come - before the end of the year - my survey of Cornwall's television and new media.

Sits Vac: County Hall cat herder

The deadline approaches on Friday for nominations to become the new leader of Cornwall Council's Independent group. The group then meets at 2pm on Tuesday 11th January to vote in a straightforward first-past-the-post election. At the moment, I am aware of only one candidate - Roche councillor John Wood.

The starting line

If there was only one reason why a general election in 2011 is highly unlikely, regardless of Vince Cable's claim to have a "nuclear" button capable of triggering the collapse of the coalition, it is the latest opinion poll evidence suggesting that such an early election would be very bad news for the Conservatives and even worse news for the Liberal Democrats. So for what it is worth, I forecast that the Con-Lib coalition will probably hang together. For the alternative is that they would surely hang separately.

Indies and MK play musical chairs

One of the agenda items not reached at the last Cornwall Council meeting, and therefore held over until the 11th January "mopping up" meeting, is the allocation of committee seats to reflect accurately the political balance of the council. The defection of former Independent councillor Neil Plummer to Mebyon Kernow on 4th August should have resulted in MK gaining two additional committee seats and the Independent group losing two. But it hasn't worked out like that - MK has declined the Indies' offer of places on the Pensions and Sea Fisheries committees in the hope of gaining something more eye-catching. The dispute now looks set to be resolved by a meeting of the full council. As the council's lawyers have observed:

"If the determination of seats is held over until the February Council meeting the Mebyon Kernow Group will have been deprived of seats for more than six months. It is respectfully suggested that not allocating seats for such a long period is neither rational nor reasonable and it will expose the Council to the risk of challenge for failure to properly comply with its duty to review and determine the allocation of seats. The allocation of seats within the current number of seats available is achievable and should not take several months to resolve."

Devonwall Bill: zzzzzzz

A New Year and a new deadline to keep an eye on: 24th February. Meanwhile Parliament's website tells us: "Line by line examination of the Bill continued on Monday 20 December. Amendments discussed covered clause 8 and 9. Committee stage continues Monday 10 January when further amendments will be discussed."