Oh Dear Cllr Anand...

Now here is something interesting we came across whilst organising the S.A.D. Ealing archives.
This is actually posted on the Ealing Council website (at http://www.ealing.gov.uk/ealing3/export/sites/ealingweb/services/council/councillors/_councillor_docs/member_attendance_0910.xls ) and is the attendance listings for councillors at Meetings held 2009 - 2010.

Look who features, our favourite Cllr Jasbir K. Anand who has already featured heavily in previous articles here (see http://sadealing.blogspot.com/2010/10/sad-tale-ealing-labour-councillors.html ).

Councillor Name	Total Number of Meetings (Possible Attendance)	Total Meetings Attended	% Meetings Attended	Total - Subs Arranged	Total - Attended as Sub
Shahbaz Ahmed (Lab)	37	26	70		1
Peter Allott (Con)	31	28	90	1	1
Jasbir Kaur Anand (Lab)	39	13	33	5
Justin Anderson  (Con)	25	25	100
Mohammad Aslam (Lab)	30	26	87	1	2
Tej Ram Bagha (Lab)	37	28	76	3
Jon Ball (Lib Dem)	40	37	93	2

It seems according to the figures published that as far as meetings attended for the 2009 -2010 period Cllr Anand was the second worst atttendee across the whole council.
She managed to attend just 33% (or 13 out of 39 meetings), which is really rather poor and
casts a new light on comments she has made; such as the plain arrogance of

"I own half of Southall. I'm very popular. I got voted in so at least a few people must like me.".

Maybe not Cllr Anand...


Cllr Jasbir Anand

Her poor record is only eclipsed by one Cllr Virendra Sharma.

Virendra Sharma  (Lab)

16

4

25

2

1

He only managed 25% of scheduled meetings in the 2009 -2010.
What a wonderful record!
And his prize for such diligent work on behalf of constituents?

Well of course we now know Mr Sharma as the MP for the Ealing Southall constituency following the death of Piara Khabra.

What does this say about democracy? It obviously moves in mysterious ways...

Not all Ealing councillors have such poor attendance. There seems to be an average attendance at meetings of 80% or more.

Cllr Brian Reeves managed to hit 91% meeting attendance, despite sitting on a large portfolio of groups and steering commitees, Cllr Harvey Rose and Wolodymyr Barchuk are among a fair few who managed 100% attendance.

S.A.D. Ealing Hits The Local Newspaper Yet Again!

Fight to save day centre in Southall

By James Gates

Protesting against the closure of the Albert Dane Centre & Links Mental Health Project.

THE THREAT of closure looms over a day centre in Southall as users and their families fight to save it.

The Albert Dane Centre in Western Road provides services and activities to improve well-being for people aged 18 to 64 years who suffer from disability or physical impairment.

The Links Project provides a service for adults with significant mental health needs borough wide.

But now Ealing Council is considering whether to close the services, open five days a a week and looks after more than 60 people.

Bernadette Khoshaba, whose aunt Deklat Daniel attends the centre said: “This centre is essential, giving people like my aunt the opportunity and confidence to interact with others, learn so many things and make friends in a safe environment.

“The council should be seen to be actively supporting and engaging in a duty of care in the community for such groups, and not to use them as an easy target group to make cuts.”

Mrs Daniel said: “The centre is so important to so many people. We have all gotten to know each other while using it and more than anything it feels like a family. We need that desparately”

Val Garrard chairperson of Albert Dane service users commitee appeals for support on streets of Ealing.

The campaign to save the centre has already begun. A meeting was held and on Saturday more than a hundred signatures were collected on a petition held outside the Broadway Shopping Centre in Ealing. The petition continues with many more signatories.
Mrs Daniel said further petitioning will be carried out in the future.

A spokesman for Ealing Council said: “The council must find £53 million of budget reductions by 2014 because of cuts in funding from central government. Tough decisions will have to be made and we are reviewing all our operations.
"The Albert Dane Centre needs considerable investment to bring it up to a decent, modern standard and we believe customers' needs could be better met by us helping them to find alternative support. This is likely to be within the private sector".
"We would like to emphasise that no decisions have yet been taken. The council is carrying out a consultation and assessment to ensure the proposals would not have an adverse impact on people with critical and substantial needs and we will ensure there are enough alternative services available for those customers eligible for our support.”

Letters: Dignity should not be a victim of cuts

(Letter To The Gazette)

WE ALL know that in both local and national government difficult choices have to be made about where money is spent. However, I was shocked to find out about the proposed closure of the Albert Dane day centre and other services.

Speaking to a user of the services made me realise that the impact on perhaps our borough's quietest and most vulnerable residents would be devastating.

The council leader talks of how the coalition government is to blame for the position the borough is in and the resulting cuts. But the council still has choices of where money can be saved. All parties in recent years have talked about charities and other groups getting involved in services and I understand that a local church is interested in putting money into the centre. So this would be a win-win situation all round.

I have heard from councillors that a consultation is taking place and yet the closure and sale of this centre appears to have been decided.

The sense of community and dignity in very difficult lives has immense value. By providing it we set a standard as a civilised society.

My disabled girlfriend passed away last year and to her, being a part of society was something that meant everything.

If these closures go ahead it will set a standard within Ealing that would bring lasting shame in a new administration. I just hope that all councillors and officers will work hard and creatively to find a better way and ensure that Ealing is a place where we can all live in dignity.

PETER CHADBURN
Campbell Road
Hanwell

Irene Alizalwa, member of Albert Dane Users Commitee hands out leaflets protesting at the Albert Dane centre closure on the streets of Ealing.

Well this just article just speaks for itself really.....

with thanks to The Ealing Gazette

Further Dates In The S.A.D. Ealing Diary...News From Ealing Trades Council

I hope you can help us with leafletting against the cuts this Saturday 16th October from 12 noon, next to Lloyds & HSBC Banks at Ealing Broadway. 

 

 

 

Next week there are lots of events and demo for you to support so here is a list and hope to see you at some of them:

 

Tuesday 19th October - Lobby of full council meeting from 5pm - 7pm at Ealing Town Hall in support of a motion to save Albert Dane Centre from closure. Organised by Ealing Unison and ADC users. Your support would be greatly appreciated!

 

 

Wednesday 20 October - day of the ConDem Spending review announcements.

 

The Coalition of Resistance has organised a Rally opposite Downing Street from 6.00pm onwards with a whole host of speakers: Tony Benn; Caroline Lucas MP; Rev Jesse Jackson; Jeremy Dear (General Secretary NUJ); George Binette (Sec Camden Trades Council); Aaron Porter (President, NUS); Bob Crow (GS RMT); Mark Serwotka (GS PCS); Matt Wrack (GS FBU); Steve Gillan (GS Prison Officers Association); Kevin Courtney (Deputy GS NUT); Lindsey German (Stop the War); Zita Holbourne (BARAC Black Activists Rising Against Cuts); Lee Jasper (BARAC); Dot Gibson (National pensioners Convention); John Rees (CoR); Jeremy Corbyn MP; John McDonnell MP; Salma Yaqoob (Respect Councillor in Birmingham); Romayne Phoenix (Green Party and CoR); Bill Greenshields (People’s Charter); Paul Brandon (Right to Work Campaign); Kanja Sesy (NUS Black Students Officer); Celia Mitchell; Simon Woolley (EHRC Commissioner); Adeline O’Keefe (Keep Our NHS Public).

 

There will also be a demonstration organised by Camden Trades Council and other local unions which assembles at 4.30pm and leaves at 5.30pm to march to Whitehall to join the protest outside Downing Street.

 

 

Saturday 23 October  - No to Cuts demonstration called by the RMT and supported by PCS, NUT, FBU and NSSN

Assembles outside Unity House (nearest tube Euston) at 11am and marches to Bedford Square,just around the corner from Congress House.

for an outdoor rally including Bob Crow (RMT) and Matt Wrack (FBU). A SERTUC rally will also be taking place at Congress House starting at 12noon.

 

Best Regards

Eve Turner

Ealing Trades Council

A "S.A.D. Ealing" Date For Your Diary and more...

On Tuesday 19th October from 5 - 7pm there will be a S.A.D. Ealing event to save Albert Dane Day Centre & The Links Project so please come down and support our campaign! Sign the petition and help us distribute our leaflets and above all MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD! At 7pm we will be heading into the public gallery of the council chamber to watch the debate.


Meet outside Ealing Town Hall, New Broadway, Ealing, London, W5 2BY on Tuesday 19th October from 5pm, then heading into public gallery to watch the debate at 7pm.

The motion to be debated forms point 10 under 'Opposition business' and is entitled 'Hands off Albert Dane'. It should prove an interesting meeting!

LINKS

Read The Above? Send Your Protests To The Following Then!

You can email your protests directly to Cllr Jasbir Anand

here at jasbir.anand@ealing.gov.uk

You can also email Stephen Day who is the director of Adult

Social Services days@ealing.gov.uk or even give him a call

on 020 8825 9315

Martin Smith is the Chief Executive of Ealing Council, he has

two email's with which you can contact him on

smithm@ealing.gov.uk  or chiefexecutive@ealing.gov.uk

Gary Malcom is the Leader of the Lib Dem Group on Ealing Council malcomg@ealing.gov.uk

Harvey Rose is another Lib Dem who has been positively involved with Day Centre issues before roseh@ealing.gov.uk

Jason Stacey Is the opposition Conservative leader jason.stacey@ealing.gov.uk

Virendra Sharma is the Labour MP for Ealing Southall

constituency sharmav@parliament.uk 

Steve Pound is the genial MP for the neighbouring

constituency of Ealing North

stevepoundmp@parliament.uk

The Ealing Learning Disability Partnership Board  
is a group charged with defending the rights of service users in the
borough and ensuring they get good services. You can fill out a contact form with your concerns about proposed closures at:

http://www.openupealing.net/form.aspx?page=12846 

-----------------------------------------------------------

thanks x

The Service User's Voice (Part II) - A Testimony That Speaks For Itself...

Sharma Dar - ALBERT DANE SERVICE USER

' I have been coming to the centre since 1998. Prior to that I was housebound all 24 hours of the day. It was a living hell.

It didn’t take long after I started at Albert Dane that my feelings of being helpless and hopeless began to recede, as there were other people like me at the centre that I could interact with. Coming to the centre has given me a second lease on life and I have grown in independence and confidence. I’ve the friends I have made and the skill and kindness of the staff to thank for that.

It has also impacted strongly on my family as they no longer need to worry about me so much. It has given them the opportunity to carry on normal lives around me. The centre helped re-train me with vital skills such as cooking. I am now once again able to cook for myself and children.

If the centre closes I am terrified it will send me back to how I was before, harming both myself and my family.'

PLEASE, PLEASE - DO NOT CLOSE ALBERT DANE!

LINKS

Read The Above? Send Your Protests To The Following Then!

You can email your protests directly to Cllr Jasbir Anand here at jasbir.anand@ealing.gov.uk

You can also email Stephen Day who is the director of Adult Social Services days@ealing.gov.uk or even give him a call on 020 8825 9315

Martin Smith is the Chief Executive of Ealing Council, he has two email's with which you can contact him on smithm@ealing.gov.uk  or chiefexecutive@ealing.gov.uk

Virendra Sharma is the Labour MP for Ealing Southall constituency sharmav@parliament.uk 

Steve Pound is the genial MP for the neighbouring constituency of Ealing North

stevepoundmp@parliament.uk

The Ealing Learning Disability Partnership Board   is a group charged with defending the rights of service users in the borough and ensuring they get good services.
You can fill out a contact form with your concerns about proposed closures at

http://www.openupealing.net/form.aspx?page=12846 

thanks x