The Problem with Care Homes

In one of her lunchtime briefings this week Nicola Sturgeon pointed out, rather pointedly, that most care homes are private businesses. Calton thinks that she was trying to suggest that they pull their weight in the current crisis. Chutzpah on stilts. Here's why:

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, Scotland's care homes were underfunded. This is because local councils do not pay enough to cover the cost of care for those who are not self-funded. They are subsidised by those who are paying for their care out of their savings or the sale of their home. If the ratio of council-funded clients to self-funded clients in a home gets too large the home becomes financially unviable. If a care home becomes financially unviable it may have to close. For years the Scottish Government has been cutting the cash it gives to local councils, causing them in turn to look for savings in things like the cost of care, so the buck stops with the First Minister here.

In normal times, care homes manage infectious diseases like norovirus and they use disposable gloves and aprons, which they procure like any other business on the open market. Now they have been faced with a new, highly infectious, respiratory infection which also requires the use of face masks at time when there is a world-wide shortage of all PPE and associated price-hiking. This is costing them extra, unexpected expenditure when they are already cash-strapped (see above). Health Secretary Jeane Freeman patted herself on the back recently because she had distributed one week's worth of PPE to every care home in Scotland. One week's worth!!! I'm sure it was welcome but it's hardly going to plug the ongoing hole in the dyke!

Care homes have also been asked to take a lot of extra residents at short notice recently as the NHS cleared out its hospitals in preparation for an influx of Covid-19 patients. This was a huge transfer of liability from the state-funded NHS to the private sector. None of these patients were tested for the virus for the first few weeks. Now we have a massive problem with Covid-19 in Scotland's care homes, including one on Skye. Oh but never mind - according to Nicola Sturgeon they are private businesses who need to step up to the plate. Problem solved.

Sturgeon's comments were in response to a journalist pointing out that many private care homes are on their knees and may not survive the current crisis. What Sturgeon needs to realise, and realise fast, is that care homes are essential businesses. ESSENTIAL. If the Scottish Government can find the cash to prop up Prestwick and Ferguson, it should find the cash to support our care homes. Otherwise where are the residents still left after Covid-19 has done its worst going to live?

A good day for debtors

Today was a good day to be a debtor. First we had the news that Wonga is writing off the debts of 330,000 customers and then our First Minister used FMQs to announce that councils would be prevented from pursuing poll tax debts from 20+ years ago. No doubt there will be a lot of happy people tonight however there are also a lot of unhappy people, Calton amongst them, who don't take out loans they can't hope to repay and who do pay their taxes. If having their payday loans written off made people less likely to get into financial trouble in the future, that would be good, however Calton suspects the reverse will be true. The possibility that your debt will magically disappear due to your lender having their knuckles rapped must surely be an incentive to some people to take out a loan. As for Alex Salmond's poll tax stunt - it is a totally transparent attempt to continue stoking anti-Westminster sentiment and buy left-wing votes. It is also another example of SNP-led Holyrood arrogating local council powers. It should be up to individual councils to decided whether or not it is worth pursuing old debts, bearing in mind that the poll tax non-payment campaign left huge holes in council finances, which meant that those who did pay their dues ended up paying more than they should have done. Now, councils are facing a double whammy of the council tax freeze and a prohibition on recovering poll tax debt and our services are suffering as a result. It's time for Holyrood to butt out of council affairs and the only way to ensure that this happens is to vote out the SNP.

Promises, promises

It seems that the SNP will promise anything if they think it will secure votes. This time it's pensions. Previously it was the council tax freeze, which has resulted in cash-strapped councils cutting services left, right and centre. No longer can voters decide whether they want to pay more for better services or pay less for fewer services when it comes to council elections. The matter is now outwith council control. So much for local government. What Calton wants to know is: what is going to be cut in order to afford better pensions in an independent Scotland? We may not live as long as the English but we are still an ageing population with fewer young people to pay for our pensioners. As Labour's pensions spokesman, Gregg McClymont, says - Nicola Sturgeon "cannot credibly say that something is affordable if she doesn't know how much it costs". Having failed so far to win over the electorate with reasoned argument and hard facts, the SNP are resorting to an appeal to peoples' baser instincts i.e. cash in pocket. Sadly, some people will fall for it and, if we become independent, we'll all pay for it.

Tyrannosaurus - alive and well in South Lanarkshire

Oh for goodness sake. When Calton first heard on the radio about an 'extremist Christian sect' trying to influence schoolchildren he thought they must have been indoctrinating them into being suicide bombers at a gay pride march or mosque. What else would justify the removal of two head teachers and the exclusion of the religious group from the school? It turns out that, actually, a local church had handed out booklets on creationism to primary school children. Some people (and South Lanarkshire council) have no sense of proportion. Calton tends to agree with the EIS when it says that "schools should not be a place for any interest group to push its activities", provided, of course, that it also applies to Stonewall pushing books such as King and King in primary schools. And if primary age children are "too young to assess the contents" of the creationist books, as asserted by the Secular Society, they are also too young to assess the contents of King and King and other books promoting homosexuality. It sounds to Calton like this whole thing is a storm in a teacup whipped up by a few vocal parents, backed by a politically correct council and stirred up by the Daily Record. Have they not got more important things to worry about than whether or not man co-existed with dinosaurs?

More power to the people

Calton fully supports the idea of the island councils having more control over their own resources - in fact, he supports the idea of all councils having more control over their own resources - but it ain't going to happen under the SNP. This is the party which has imposed the council tax freeze - popular with voters but which hamstrings democratically elected councils from making their own decisions about local tax and spending. This is the party which wants full control of fiscal policy for Scotland but is not willing to give the same control to Scottish councils. This is the party which calls in council planning decisions on windfarms and overrules them. This is the party of centralised, central-belt size fits all, government. What is the point of trying to find ways to boost the turnout at local government elections when those elected do not have any real power? If the Scottish Government stopped interfering with councils we might see more people interested in who they vote into local government, because it would have a direct impact on their daily lives. It's called accountability.

Working for a living wage

There is an argument which says that paying workers a 'living wage', as Angus Council has just pledged to do, will cost jobs however, on balance, Calton thinks it is a good idea. It is true that some workers on minimum wage can get their income topped up by tax credits however there are stringent rules which prevent many part-time workers being able to claim working tax credit which disproportionately affect women, since they are more likely to be in part-time, low-paid jobs. The living wage will therefore benefit those women and that is to be welcomed. After all, let us not forget that the burden of caring, not just for children but also for the elderly, falls on women and often prevents them from taking full-time employment or from progressing in their career beyond low-paid work. It is also a fact that, if you give more money to low-income families, they spend it, with a resultant boost to the local economy. And a rise in wages means a drop in the need for top-ups from the state. Sounds like a win-win situation to Calton.

The Young Ones

Calton has just been given a copy of Fife Council's advice about benefit changes. In it, they have an example of two unemployed young men, aged 22 and 23, who each live alone in a 2-bedroom rented flat paid for by the taxpayer. When the benefit changes come into force next April their housing benefit will be reduced by 14% because their flats will be classed as 'under-occupied'. If Calton had his way their benefit would be slashed by 50% and they would be told to move in together. If they want to have a 2-bedroom flat all to themselves they should get a job and put up with anti-social flatmates until they have saved enough money to put down a deposit on a home of their own, helped by the Government's new scheme. That's what Calton and many of his peers did when they were in their early 20's. Why should this generation be any different? How did we end up in the situation where guys that age expect to be given flats for nothing? Thirty years ago you counted yourself lucky if you had a room of your own in a shared flat! This benefit nonsense has to stop.

In search of a suitable home

Calton was never in favour of selling council houses to tenants at a massive discount. Granted, one could argue that it is not really the job of councils to provide housing, and they do not necessarily make the best landlords, however the solution to that is to transfer council houses to housing associations, not sell them off cheap. We are now in the situation where demand for social housing far exceeds the supply and Shelter Scotland are calling for the right-to-buy to be scrapped. Calton agrees. He also thinks that lifetime tenancies which then pass to the next generation should also be reviewed to ensure that those in most need have a fair chance of getting a council house. The idea that you stay in the same house all your adult life, regardless of whether or not it is still suitable, is long past its sell-by date. We need to make it easier for older folk to downsize to more manageable properties thus releasing larger homes for young families. Not being a spring chicken any more, Calton is taking his own advice and is already planning his next eyrie (easy access, all on one level, well-insulated, walk-in shower, super-fast broadband). Oh well, one can always dream ..... especially about the broadband.

Sour grapes feeds lots of starving children

There's an awful lot of sour grapes around this summer - must be something to do with the weather. This week's award goes to Argyll and Bute Council for their decision to ban schoolgirl Martha taking photos of her school dinners and posting them on her blog NeverSeconds. Fortunately, council leader Roddy McCuish has seen sense and reversed the ban and the publicity on today's media has resulted in a huge increase of donations to the charity - Mary's Meals - which the blog was raising funds for and, hopefully, an increase in the size of the portions they dish up at Martha's school. Some of the dinners featured on the blog would hardly keep a sparrow alive, never mind a growing girl! However all's well that ends well and today's stushie will ensure that lots of hungry children in Malawi are fed, leaving them at least with a sweet taste in the mouth. Well done Martha.

More sour grapes?

Oh dear. It doesn't look like the stushie between the independents and the parties in Highland Council is going to settle down anytime soon. The latest row is over appointments to outside bodies. Several experienced independents have been passed over and they are not happy. It does seem as if the political parties have put out a 3-line whip on the vote. Calton is just wondering what the voters in the Highlands are making of all this since none of them voted for the coalition which they now have. That's the trouble with the Single Transferable Vote method of electing councillors. It very rarely produces a party with an outright majority. Some would say that's a good thing, however four years of warfare between the independents and the political parties is not going to be good for the Highlands.

It's raining!

Peter Grant's sour comments were obviously the last thing on happy man Jim Leishman's mind as he was elected Provost of Fife today. Quite right too. Leishman is well known over the water not only for managing the Pars but also for his charity work in the years since his wife died. He will be a popular Provost. In Highland Council it's the independents who sound like they've been chewing lemons after being ousted from power by an all-party coalition. Never mind guys - it probably won't last. Meanwhile, in the Capital, the new council not only have the trams fiasco to contend with but also a storm of protest over the new cameras policing the bus lanes. It truly never rains but it pours this side of the water!

Oooooooh - sour grapes!

This week's award for sour grapes goes to the SNP's Peter Grant, as his coalition with the Libdems which has run Fife for the last five years is replaced by Labour in cahoots with the Tories. He attempted to cast some doubt on the deal but then went on to comment "...it looks increasingly likely that Labour's enthusiasm for Tory policies will be enough to secure the votes of the rump of Tories left over from the drubbing they got in the elections." Ooooooh - bitter or what! Meanwhile, the joke is on Calton, who didn't seriously think that Labour would get into bed with the Tories, especially in Fife. Will the Conservatives manage to moderate Labour's spending plans? That is the question.

Bye bye Libdems - hello Labour!

So, Labour has replaced the Libdems as the SNP's partner in the Capital, although the Libdems have managed to hang onto power in a 3-way coalition in Highland Council, in spite of losing a councillor just days after the election! An SNP-Libdem partnership in Fife would give them a majority of one, provided none of the Libdems do an Isabelle Campbell, however, at time of writing, nothing has been announced. (It is just possible that Labour will hold their noses and get into bed with the Tories in Fife or else persuade the independents to come onside.) Elsewhere, adding to the embarrassment of being pipped by a penguin in Edinburgh, the Libdems were also beaten by the Scottish Christian Party in two Glasgow wards, indicating that Glaswegians are perhaps more conservative than politicians give them credit for.

Glasgow Labour's better

The SNP must be rubbing their hands with glee at the disintegration of Glasgow City Council's ruling Labour administration, which had to taxi in sick members in order to win the budget vote last week after the defection of several councillors. Those disillusioned and deselected ex-Labour members have now decided to form a new, rival 'Glasgow Labour' party to contest all Glasgow seats in the forthcoming local government elections. The SNP were already targeting Glasgow as a possible win - it must now be a shoo-in unless they too fall prey to the in-fighting and accusations of bullying which have dogged the Labour group.
(For more comment have a read of the Wee Red Squirrel's latest post.)