Joanne chairs new Police & Crime Committee

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

Local Assembly Member Joanne McCartney has been elected to Chair the new London Assembly Police & Crime Committee.  At this morning’s inaugural meeting, the Committee questioned an expert panel on how to tackle gangs.

The Committee has been set up to scrutinise and hold to account the new Mayor’s Office for Policing & Crime (MOPC).  The MOPC was launched last week and replaces the abolished Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA).  The role of the MOPC is to scrutinise the Metropolitan Police Service, and in turn the new Committee will hold the new body to account and also investigate policing matters of importance to Londoners.

Local Assembly Member Joanne McCartney said “I am delighted to Chair this new Committee.  It is vital that we have a robust body to scrutinise the work of the police and to hold the Mayor and his Deputy to account.”

Joanne continued “Our first meeting this morning focused on gathering evidence from experts about how to tackle gangs.  This is a crucial issue for the Capital, and one that impacts throughout our communities.  It was clear from our panel that long-term commitment to working together with Police, borough councils, health services and the voluntary sector is vital to turning around this worrying trend.”

Next week the Committee will question the Commissioner and the Deputy Mayor for Policing, and will also examine the various reports analysing the riots in August.  Over the coming months the Committee will be looking at the Metropolitan Police’s future plans, and investigations into the approach of stop and search.

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London Assembly Member wants bus extended for hospital patients

Posted on January 23, 2012 by

Local London Assembly Member Joanne McCartney is calling on Transport for London to put patients first by extending the 318 bus route north to improve access to North Middlesex Hospital. Patients and visitors currently face long journeys which will only get worse when the government’s plans to transfer hospital services from Chase Farm go ahead.

Joanne met with local residents, patients groups, senior transport officials and local councillors this week to press the case for the bus route to be extended north towards Enfield.

President of Enfield Over-50s Forum, Monty Meth, North Middlesex Hospital Patient Representative, Peter Smith, and local councillor Derek Levy met with TfL bosses Leon Daniels (Managing Director of Surface Transport) and Clare Cavanagh (Director of Performance at London Buses) and Joanne McCartney at City Hall on Thursday 19 January.

Following the meeting, Joanne McCartney said ”We need improvements to the bus services for people using Chase Farm, Barnet and North Middlesex Hospitals. As things stand residents in Enfield will have to suffer inconvenience and longer journeys and spend more money to get to hospital on two separate buses. This is really important to local people and TfL need to make it happen. I won’t allow this issue to slip off the agenda and will keep the pressure on.”

Enfield Over 50s Forum president Monty Meth said “Although we’ve been promised there’ll be no changes in hospital services until both local bus and primary care services improve, TfL are stalling by claiming they will lose about £250,000 a year by running the 318 from the hospital through Palmers Green up to Highland village.”

“If health bosses want to go ahead with their reconfiguration plans they must help TfL find the money to extend the 318 service. Let NHS London and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley put their money where their mouth is.”

During the meeting TfL said that they are supportive of calls to extend the bus route but lack the funds because of government cuts. They agreed in principal to the idea of extending the service for a limited trial period – provided funding is made available.

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Joanne McCartney slams “out of touch” Mayor as long-term youth unemployment spirals in Enfield & Haringey

Posted on January 20, 2012 by

Local Assembly member Joanne McCartney has branded Boris Johnson “out of touch” after the Mayor blamed lazy young Londoners for spiralling unemployment.

The number of young people out of work for longer than six months in Enfield has shot up by 156 per cent in the last year, and by 119 per cent in Haringey. Figures released this week show there are now 8 people in Enfield chasing every job vacancy and 29 in Haringey.

But despite official statistics revealing the stark lack of job opportunities in the capital, Boris Johnson blamed unemployment on Londoners’ lack of “energy and appetite for work.” The Mayor told The Sun newspaper, “the jobs are there and people need to have the energy to go out and get them”.

“There are large numbers of job vacancies. Why are young people not taking up those jobs? … Let’s talk about the work ethic”, the Mayor said.

Local London Assembly member, Joanne McCartney said the Mayor was out of touch and did not understand the fears of young people in Enfield and Haringey:

Joanne McCartney said: “The Mayor either doesn’t know how bad things are for young Londoners or he is deliberately blaming them for the situation the government has forced them into. Either way he is totally out of touch with the desperate worries of school, college and university leavers and their families in my constituency.

“Our young people are hard working and ambitious but their fears for the future are being ignored. The number of unemployed young people has increased by 156% over this past year.  Instead of blaming them Boris Johnson should be bending over backwards to help them.”

The jobless figures released this week show that:

  • The total number of people looking for work in Enfield has risen by 17.9 per cent in the past year to 10,721
  • The total number of people looking for work in Haringey has risen by 7.4 per cent in the past year to 10,506
  • There are just 1,296 vacancies for people to apply for in Enfield but 10,721 looking for work
  • There are just 352 vacancies for people to apply for in Haringey but 10,506 looking for work
  • Across London there are 233,673 people are looking for work but just 32,843 vacancies
  • The number of young people out of work (18-24 years, claiming Job Seekers Allowance for 6 months) in Enfield has risen by 156 per cent in the past year to 770.
  • The number of young people out of work (18-24 years, claiming Job Seekers Allowance for 6 months) in Haringey has risen by 119 per cent in the past year to 625.
  • The number of young people out of work of across London is now over 1 million
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W3 bus in Haringey most complained about in London

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

A Haringey bus route is the most complained about in London, according to figures released by the Mayor of London.

The W3 from Northumberland Park to Finsbury Park Station attracted 52 complaints in just four weeks, and completes less than the minimum amount of miles it is supposed to.

The data, released after a question put to Mayor Boris Johnson in the London Assembly, also shows that the 243 from Wood Green to Waterloo was the sixth most complained about route.

Enfield and Haringey AM Joanne McCartney raised the issue of the W3 terminating routes early in 2007 after passengers contacted her, and said she had received complaints about the route “for years”.

She said: “52 complaints in less than a month shows that something is going wrong. I need residents to tell me about their experiences so that I can put pressure on Transport for London and Boris Johnson to fix these problems.”

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Boris’s retreat from accountability over the Met should worry us all

Posted on January 16, 2012 by

As anyone who’s seen Baltimore crime series The Wire will know there are very real dangers with politicising the police. The last thing we want is our senior officers putting the short term electoral concerns of politicians ahead of the long term interests of the public.

As the Mayor seizes more control of the Metropolitan Police and police authorities are scrapped these concerns are brought to the fore. This retreat from accountability is something we should all be worried about.

The Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) has been replaced by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC), the Mayor will hand over day-to-day running of the Met to Tory Assembly Member Kit Malthouse.

These changes are part of the government’s controversial plans to introduce directly elected police commissioners.

The dangers of directly elected commissioners are well documented and were raised during the debates in Parliament that saw these changes being forced through.

The arrangements for the new ‘MOPC’ are still unclear. Whereas the MPA met every month in public where it questioned senior officers, the MOPC can meet behind closed doors and make decisions in private, out of public sight. Many of the improvements in the Metropolitan Police that were achieved after the introduction of the MPA in 2000 were due to increased transparency and effective scrutiny of the Met.

Worrying changes have also been made to the handling of complaints against senior officers. While the MPA had the power and duty to investigate complaints against senior officers, disciplinary matters now fall solely to the Met Commissioner.

These changes are a retreat from accountability which is deeply concerning and does little to increase transparency. Effective oversight of key decisions, spending and policing priorities is essential to increasing public confidence and driving up performance.

To counter these concerns it is vital the London Assembly’s new police and crime committee has teeth and deals with the issues that go to the heart of policing and crime in London. The London Assembly’s new police and crime committee will assume responsibility for scrutinising the Mayor’s new policing body. We will conduct in-depth investigations into issues that are important for Londoners, including gangs in London, stop and search and the response to the riots, as well as monitoring crime rates and other performance issues.

It is incumbent on us as members of the London Assembly and the police and crime committee to hold the Mayor, his deputy for policing and the police to account on behalf of the public. As we have seen in recent years the issues at stake are far too important to be taken lightly.

It is essential the MOPC and the police are transparent and forthcoming towards investigations run by the new scrutiny committee; anything less is unacceptable. Otherwise there is a great danger trust will be lost and trust of the public in its police service is vital. For the public to trust these new arrangements and the police we must continue holding the Met and Mayor to account.

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