the welfare reform bill is a missed opportunity

Welfare Reform is an issue which successive government have tackled. In February 2011 the Coalition Government at Westminster introduced its Welfare Reform Bill which it argues is the biggest shake up of the Welfare System in 60 years. It has been very controversial with disability groups uniting in opposition to the Bill in a way that I have not seen before. The Scottish Parliament protested against the Bill by voting against the consent motion. This is a big event as it is the first time the Scottish Parliament has withheld its consent.

The bill affects me directly in two ways firstly I have been unemployed and claiming Job Seekers Allowance for 14months and secondly I am disabled and receive Disability Living Allowance which pays for my home help and transport. but the purpose of this blog is not to moan about how I am affected. but to point out where the government have not been as radical as they could have been.

According to the home page of the Bill one of the objectives of the bill is to deliver fairness to those claiming benefits and to the taxpayer for more details see http://www.dwp.gov.uk/policy/welfare-reform/legislation-and-key-documents/welfare-reform-bill-2011/

This objective is what i want to focus on and where I think the opportunity has been missed. I am a university graduate having obtained my degree from the University of Aberdeen in 2007 and since then I have been unemployed for 3 out of the 4 years since. I am a talented hardworking guy and I do not think that that stat is fair on either me or the tax payer.
The current bill is dodging the root of the problem which is the Jobcentre system. What I am about to argue is not an attack on the staff who have been very supportive of me but I think the system they operate in is wrong and that is what truly needs reforming instead of attacking the benefits which help some of the most vulnerable people in our society.

So how would I reform the job centre. Firstly I would turn it into a careers service and encourage more employers to advertise there. Presently the vast majority of jobs are for administrative jobs or jobs for skilled trades such as chefs or builders. In the current economic climate more and more highly qualified are signing on and the job centre does not help them find jobs because they are not advertised there. Highly qualified people are taking the jobs which less qualified people could do, so the people who need help to find work are finding even harder and it is not fair on those people.

I have claiming JSA for 14 months I have been put on a Back to Work program which is welcome but why should it happen now and not at the start of my claim. I feel that this will give people the support they need to find work and thus reduce the length of a claim, if people are trained earlier in interview techniques and other skills.

So the Welfare Reform bill is a missed chance because it does not reform one of the biggest barriers to employment for people which is the jobcentre its self.

so near and yet so far

2010 began and ended for me in the same fashion I watched fire works on TV. I was celebrating Hogmanay in two of the great cites on the Planet I saw in 2010 in Venice and saw it out in Edinburgh. This example demonstrates what a year it has been for me so near and yet so far away. I was so near to St Marks Square in Venice to bring in the year (I wasn’t there because it was flooded) and was so near to Edinburgh Castle and the centre of Edinburgh. Both of these venues are famous for their Hogmanay celebrations and although I was there I wasn’t really.

I look back on 2010 with a huge sense of pride not many people can say they stood for parliament and changed the law in the same year but I have a sense of so close and yet so far. My parliamentary campaign went well feel looking back on it I was close to being in parliament. Sitting on the platform waiting for the returning officer to declare the result I was one sentence away from being the Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland. So near and yet so far.

The Barred campaign has been part of me for nearly two years it gave me a job, new friends and even more belief in myself. The 27th of October was my finest achievement it is even more important to me than my degree. That night the Barred campaign won the devolved campaign of the year prize at the Public Affairs News Awards the Oscars of the Public Affairs Industry I thought I had finally arrived. But like so many others I cant find work and again I have a feeling of so near after that fantastic achievement and so far because I cant find work from a professional point of view Barred was meant to be the final push off the diving board into a professional life of work I am still teetering on the edge waiting to get pushed in. So near and yet so far.



2011 will be a big year for me and for the whole of the UK. For me personally I have to take the next step in my life. I would love to stay in Edinburgh but in the current climate beggar’s cant be choosers so I am open to work anywhere. One day I would love to work in America. I lived in New Mexico for a Semester as a student and loved it. In the UK as a whole it will be a big year. The Coalition faces its first big test in May with elections for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly as well as the AV referendum. If it fails will Nick Clegg be thinking so near and yet so far? Closer to home the Scottish Parliamentary elections will be taking up a lot of my time. I am not standing this time round but I will be campaigning hard for a Labour victory. But I think it will be tight and expect there to a handful of seats in it. For who ever wins it will be a case of so near and yet so far!

there is more to being disabled than being on benefits

Hi all,

A few weeks ago I was in manchester at the labour party conference. I had hoped to take part in the equality debate but was not called to speak so just for you here is what I was going to say

> Good morning conference, I was the PPC in Orkney and Shetland at the last
> election. I am proud to be part of the new generation and look forward to
> working with Ed Milliband to return a Labour Government to power.
>
> I would like to thank Harriet Harman for all of her efforts in passing the
> Equality Act and Jonathan Shaw for all of his good work as disability
> minister.
>
>
>
> At this time because of the economic climate there is a considerable amount
> of talk about money. I work with disabled people as a parliamentary officer
> for a charity and many of them are concerned about the potential loss off
> benefits. I know this is a debate about equality but many people I talk to
> think that all politicians care abouts when it comes to disabled people is
> taking things from them or making it harder for them to receive what they
> are entitled to
>
> Conference I know that this is not the case but politicians need to practise what they preach tell and borrow a phrase its about getting off benefits and
> into work.
>
>
>
> What is that work. It is about supporting the removal of barriers to
> disabled people in society and not just talking about money For example In Scotland. The Criminal Justice and Licensing bill has just passed in that bill was an amendment thatrequires license applicants to state how their premises meets the needs ofdisabled people so that for the first time they have to consider access
> right from the start. Conference that was a campaign I started which George
> Foulkes led through the Scottish Parliament this small change will make a
> huge difference to so many people allow disabled people and their friends to
> enjoy a barrier free social life. If we help remove the barriers then we can be a more equal society. So I want to encourage Ed and his team to show what they are doing to help disabled people. I would also like a page in the party manifesto for disability related policys. this is because being disabled affects your whole life in a way that the other equality strands do not. for example your housing needs your job prospects I could go on so I feel a single paragraph will not surphise
>

> In conclusion to build an equal society we must show that we are there to
> help and not hinder, Yvette Cooper mentioned a crusade to protect the
> vulnerable well Yvette I will be there at the front supporting you as long
> as your pushing
>
>
>

poetry in motion

The publication today of the full partnership agreement reminded me of the crooner bobby vee and his song poetry in motion. there have been a few members of both parties who to quote the song about their own manifesto think that they "love every movement their is nothing they would change, it doesn't need improving its much too nice to re arrange" Nick and David have a hard task a head of them and it could cause the coalition to have tears on its pillow

if the shoe fits

The new Home Secretary Theresa May is famous for her shoes. Today I am also thinking about shoes. that is because i have just bought a new pair. But this pair is different. they actually fit my own feet. I wear splints to help me walk. but they are away being fixed at the moment. I have shoes which fit my splint, but not my feet. so on sunday I bought my first pair of shoes, i will send mum a picture to fit in my baby book.

so far so good but time will tell if the shoes fit

It could all end in tears

The past week has been momentous in British Politics with the first coalition government in many years and some comentators are saying it could all end in tears. In just a few short weeks the conservatives and Liberal democrats have gone from just " I agree with nick" to " I am time sharing with nick" as william Haugue and Nick Clegg are going to share the use of Chevening the country retreat of the Foreign Secretary with 115 rooms, they could stay there at the same time and never see each other- See full story here http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1279232/Nick-Clegg-muscles-William-Hagues-Chevening-grace-favour-Kent-pad.html

However something else the could end in tears has done so. This morning was a bright sunny day in edinburgh so I got up and put on a nice white shirt for work this morning and went of out of the door with my lunch in hand, full of the joys of spring

Lunchtime came and I went to the kitchen and went over to the sink to open my lunch. My friends my lunch was tomato soup. I pulled open the can with such force that the soup went onto my shirt at the top of my shoulder and into the chest pocket and covered my glasses.

So how will a coalition not end in tears start by banning tomato soup and white shirts

the blog is back

Ladies and Gentleman I had taken a break from blogging but the blog is back