MP newsletter - CAMHS, telegraph poles, and equal pay - 17 September 2024

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Good afternoon. This newsletter is being sent out a little later than hoped, but please find the latest newsletter below. Thank you as always for subscribing.

Birmingham news

Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)

One issue that was raised on the doorstep during the election was the difficulty of accessing CAMHS services.

I obtained some figures that prove what families are saying. The service is under real strain. There were almost 10,000 more referrals last year (an increase of 38 per cent). But the number of children and young people who are seen by the service has been steadily falling (and there was a particular sharp fall in the number of people seen within six months).

Some of the issues were highlighted in a Care Quality Commission report on the Women and Children’s Trust earlier this year, which noted that ‘staffing vacancies … in the [CAMHS] team impacted on their ability to provide a responsive service to the emergency department.’

Behind these numbers and reports are thousands of children and families across the city who are not getting the support they need. Although there isn’t a single cause (and I am sure that social media pressures have played a part), the increase in need for mental health support following the pandemic is mirrored across the country. That increase is also not confined to young people.

I raised these figures in Parliament last week (you can watch the exchange below).

Service improvements need to be an ongoing priority. When CAMHS can’t keep up with referrals then demand will inevitably increase for other public services. As we push for additional investment in our communities, part of the picture needs to be the rebuilding of the primary care (preventative) services that have been lost.

Telegraph poles

Another issue that several people have got in touch about is the sudden growth in the number of telegraph poles, including in (but not limited to) West Heath, Northfield, and Weoley.

These poles are put up directly by broadband companies. There is very little that residents or the council can do if they have concerns. This is thanks to changes to the law and associated regulations in 2013 and 2015, which removed most of the requirements for local consultation and reuse of existing infrastructure.

I have now secured a debate in Parliament on the issue. This will be held on the evening of Monday 07 October (under the snappy title of ‘planning permission and telegraph poles’). I am glad that Ministers have separately said that ‘we understand concerns about the excessive deployment of telegraph poles, and are urgently considering options to address this.’

Without going into individuals’ details, I share concerns about inappropriately sited poles, and poor local engagement. Birmingham City Council has also said that one of the limited requirements on broadband companies – to inform the local planning authority 28 days in advance of an installation – has not been met. The Council said in late June that:

‘The City Council is aware that a number of broadband poles have been installed by BRSK [broadband provider] without giving the requisite 28-day notification to the Local Planning Authority. … We have reported this matter to OFCOM. As this is now an ongoing investigation, we are not able to comment any further.’

Investment in broadband is no bad thing, and in some areas the installation of poles may be the right answer (particularly where buried utilities are too difficult to or expensive to adapt). The issue is the absence of any kind of fair process. I look forward to raising the matter directly in Parliament in early October.

Policing and crime update

I attended a West Midlands Police briefing yesterday.

It is important to recognise progress where it is being made, particularly since the current Chief Constable Craig Guildford joined the force at the end of 2022.

999 and 101 call handling and callout response times have significantly improved. More resources have been put into investigations, and the benefits of this approach were shown this week when an illegal street racing group (with strong ties to south Birmingham) was broken up.

The point, however, that was made repeatedly by the Police and Crime Commissioner (Simon Foster) and the Chief Constable was funding. According to one estimate, the West Midlands has the greatest gap between funding and need of any area in the country. Compared to 2010, West Midlands police has 663 fewer police officers and 1,360 fewer staff overall (a fall of about 10 per cent).

Elements of the police funding formula date back decades and doesn’t reflect the challenges that the police now face. More can be done in this area and it’s important that local police get their fair share.

Consultations – flood defences and bus services

I will write about the consultations in more detail, but there are two important updates.

The Environment Agency has restarted its consultation work on its Bourn Flood Risk Management Scheme. I understand from the Environment Agency that, this time, no ground works investigations will take place while the consultation is being undertaken. The EA is approaching groups directly, and Bournville Village Trust has provided this update:

‘The EA have developed a new plan for consultation and engagement with residents and local organisations/groups, which will be officially launched at a FRMS Focus Group meeting taking place on Friday 04 October 2024. An Invitation to the meeting has been sent to key stakeholders including BVT Estates Committee, reps from Weoley Hill and Bournville Village Councils, and a rep from Bournville Freeholders and Leaseholders Association (BFLA).’

The proposed bus measures from Longbridge to Northfield, which I wrote about in the last newsletter have just now been published. The details can be found here. I will write about them in more detail in the next newsletter.

Out and about

I popped along to Kings Norton Farmers’ Market on Saturday, in between meetings and doorknocking. I spend most Saturdays talking to people about any matters that they would like to raise, and this Saturday we picked up a number of a issues relating to bin collections and HMO licencing in West Heath. I also attended a meeting about traffic issues in the Bunbury Road area.

Macefield Community Garden

Macefield Community Garden has sadly been vandalised. The community amenity is just over the (political) boundary, in the Selly Oak constituency, but it is used by people from Northfield. If you are in a position to donate to the repair fund then it can be found here.

Libraries consultation

Just as a reminder, in-person consultations are taking place at three out of the four libraries in the constituency over the next two weeks. I’ve been critical of how the consultation has been run, but it is really important that library users attend these session if they can.

Weoley Castle Library	Thursday 19 September	15:00 to 16:30
Kings Norton Library	Friday 20 September	10:30 to 12:00
Frankley Community Library	Wednesday 25 September	10:30 to 12:00

A summary of the latest position can be found here and my submission to the consultation, which made the case for keeping all the local libraries open, can be found here.  

In Parliament

Equal pay

It was a pleasure to welcome teaching assistants from Birmingham schools to Parliament last week, and to hear more about the ongoing talks over Birmingham City Council’s equal pay liability.

Equal pay has taken on a special significance in discussions of Birmingham’s wider funding problems, especially since the dubious £760 million estimate was publicised. But we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that all sides accept that pay discrimination did occur.

When I was a trade union officer, I represented school support staff. They are some of the lowest-paid people in the public sector, primarily women, and they deserve better. More widely, the new Government’s pledge to reinstate the School Support Staff Negotiating Body can’t come quickly enough.

As talks are ongoing, it is best to wait for official updates. If an agreement cannot be reached then the issues will be heard in court in November.

Legislation and other debates last week

During the week, Parliament had the very difficult vote on the future of the Winter Fuel Allowance. I wrote about the background and my voting position at length in the last two newsletters, and I will try not to be repetitive.

The one update is that information on Birmingham’s support for households in hardship this winter – funded through the extension of the Household Support Fund – is expected soon. I have asked the Council for further information, and I will share it when it has been received.

In the meantime, you can submit an ‘expression of interest’ here, or by calling: 0121 634 7100

There were also debates on the public inquiry into the Grenfell disaster, and the Darzi report into the NHS. I will write more about Grenfell at a later date, as Parliament is due to debate the report in October.

Building quality in south west Birmingham remains an issue that needs its own dedicated time and space. It is enough to say now that it was deeply moving to hear, in painful detail, the missed opportunities and the deceit and incompetence that allowed the Grenfell disaster to happen.

The Darzi report recognised that many parts of the NHS – possibly our greatest national asset - still function well, but it also recognised that the overall service is buckling. I was glad that the report identified the many causes of our current challenges, including poor housing quality, the appalling state of social care, and the rise of mental health needs that were talked about at the start of this newsletter.

15 years ago, if you went to A&E then you were almost guaranteed to be seen within 4 hours. Today, four in ten of us are not. There will be more to say about this issue too – the problems in the NHS grew over many years, and they will take years to address. But the political appetite is there to try.

Housekeeping

I didn’t send a newsletter during the last period when Parliament wasn’t sitting, which left it a bit overloaded. The lesson has been learned, and I will try to provide a further update at some point over the next fortnight (Parliament sits again in October).

I am also working on the constituency website, which was put together during the campaign, to provide more useful information about local support.

What do you think?

Have you (or your area) been affected by telegraph pole installation? If so, how would you summarise the experience? Do you think that the provision of additional broadband providers and infrastructure justifies the absence of consultation?

If this is an issue that affects you, or that you have an opinion on, then please let me know, as it will help with preparation for the debate in October.

Best wishes

Laurence Turner
Labour MP, Birmingham Northfield

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This newsletter is mostly written at the weekend alongside domestic duties so please excuse any typos.