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Showing posts with label cuts and privatisation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cuts and privatisation. Show all posts

Wednesday, 6 July 2016

"Play is a learner's work"

(This blog post was originally published with a very misleading misspelling while the author was much the worse for illness. Thus it is being republished here in amended form.)

I loved that statement from my 1991 childcare training course with Toynbee Training toward a Pre-school Play Groups Association qualification that a jobcentre bureaucrat later sneered at. She wanted to push me around, not help me extend my learning through real volunteering and further training.

Play is especially great for those of us with learning difficulties, reducing the stress associated with exams oriented learning and Government and academisation's obsession with Standardised Assessment Tests (SATs). What kind of schools were the engineers of privatisation and cuts in public spending get sent to? What kind of schools were the engineers of right wing welfare reform sent to?

And perhaps more green space is needed to avert diseases such as cancer, rather than more laboratory research within central London?(1)

Policy for Play and a United Nations report say that more play facilities are required by society.(2) (3)

Dude Swheatie of Kwug

Links


  1. http://www.camdennewjournal.com/news/2010/sep/green-mp-slams-super-lab-plans-brill-place
  2. https://policyforplay.com
  3. https://policyforplay.com/2016/06/14/this-un-report-is-an-indictment-of-a-government-that-doesnt-care-but-also-an-opportunity-for-play-advocates/

Tuesday, 28 June 2016

DWP now spending £8m every month on outside IT contractors for Universal Credit roll-out

Sentinel News — which has among its contributors KUWG Honorary Member Kate Belgrave — has more than our Kate, wonderful though she is.

So Dude Swheatie spotted this item this evening:(1)
DWP spending on IT contractors rockets amid Universal Credit delays
By Chaminda JayanettiSpending on external IT contractors by the Department for Work and Pensions has rocketed to £8m every month in a desperate attempt to get the heavily delayed Universal Credit scheme back on track.
Monthly workforce figures published by the DWP show that departmental spending on “specialist contractors” has more than doubled in just eight months, reaching £8,272,817 in April this year.(2)
Specialist contractors are people temporarily hired from outside to work on a short-term basis as non-payroll contractors rather than employees.
Continue reading at https://sentinelnews.co.uk/2016/06/20/dwp-spending-on-it-contractors-rockets-amid-universal-credit-delays/

Link addresses


  1. https://sentinelnews.co.uk/2016/06/20/dwp-spending-on-it-contractors-rockets-amid-universal-credit-delays/
  2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dwp-workforce-management-information-2016


Saturday, 18 June 2016

DPAC National Day of Action Against PIp Wed 13 July 2016

Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) has called a National Day of Action Against Personal Independence Payments for Wednesday 13 July 2016 outside the HQ of Capita, one of the companies contracted by Department for Work & Pensions to administer that disability benefit test.
Callout poster for the central London protest - there will be many others around the country - check at the bottom of this page for one near you, if there isn't - why not organise one?
Command click on the London demo poster photo to access more detail from the DPAC website

Monday, 17 November 2014

Austerity lies and myths — what UK Govt doesn't want us to know

From the People's Assembly


You are invited to attend:

Austerity lies and myths: what the government doesn't want you to know

Economic briefing:
Thursday  27 November, 6.30pm

Hamilton House, Maybledon Place, London WC1H 9BS

The panel includes:
James MeadwaySenior Economist, New Economics Foundation
Dr Faiza ShaheenHead of Inequality & Sustainable Development, Save the Children (personal capacity)
Micheal BurkeEconomist
Join our panel of leading economists for discussion and debate on the true state of the economy and the lies underpinning the Government's austerity programme.
This economic briefing comes just a few days ahead of George Osborne's Autumn Statement where he's set to triumph the success of austerity and announce further cuts and privatisation.
Have your questions answered and find out the real effects and intent of austerity that the Government doesn't want you to know...

  • The People's Assembly is also organising a protest outside Downing Street on the eve of Osborne's Autumn Statement. Join us from 5:30pm on Tuesday 2 December to send a clear message: Austerity Has Failed: Sack George Osborne! More details to follow...

The People's Assembly Against Austerity
http://www.thepeoplesassembly.org.uk/The People's Assembly Against Austerity