Blackpool Liberal Democrats

Counterbalance - Policy Decisions

Princess Karen Buckley (Fylde Borough Councillor) has been busy making decisions. She's been approving some new policies.

Three, in fact: 'Career Breaks', 'Work Life Balance' and a 'Smoke Free workplace''

Quietly, on the day before the budget, she snuck out her 'Individual Member Decision" and gave notice that she plans to give final approval to it on 29th June.

So what's involved in each of them?

Career Break Policy

The Career Breaks policy says "Career break schemes allow greater flexibility to allow staff to balance work and home responsibilities and may enhance staff development through opportunities for travel or study."

In essence it lets people have time away from work (without pay) for things like

Personal development, for example, extended periods of travel, voluntary service overseas or other volunteering work or unpaid charitable activities.

Full or part-time education or other types of study.

Caring for dependants.

Child care

An unexpected change in personal circumstances, for example bereavement, domestic abuse, although the employee may be able to request special leave in these circumstances.

To undertake religious or belief observance or pilgrimage.

Accompanying a partner on a temporary job related posting/secondment overseas or outside reasonable traveling [sic] distance.

But you can't have a career break to take up paid employment elsewhere, (well, not unless it involves undertaking voluntary service overseas in developing countries, or has been granted further education purposes, and the person wants to take a holiday job, or where the paid work is part of, say a period of industrial experience arranged by a college).

There will be two sorts of career break available: a short term break (of up to a year) where the job is kept open for you (That's really nice of them isn't it?); and a long term option from one to five years where you have to resign, but when you want to come back, they try and fit you in if they can.

So that's the Career Break Policy.

We think it's a bit odd - introducing a policy like this when so many local government employees are about to be given a 'career break' whether they want it or not - but then, what do we know about such matters?

The next policy she approved is also about not working at Fylde when you're an employee of Fylde..

Work Life Balance

This policy begins by saying how important it is to retain employees, to recruit the best people, to make Fylde a better place to work, and a host of other sugar-sweet, motherhood and apple-pie 'reasons' why such a policy should be introduced.

You can tell from the over-the top attempt to justify the idea that this is really something that's not right.

Its 'Statement of Intent' begins "The Council supports flexible working/different ways of working to achieve a balance between home and work as part of its overall commitment and strategy designed to promote equal opportunities in employment. This policy aims to enable good practice in Work-life balance to be for the benefit of both the council and all employees."

It then goes on to describe in detail, another shedload of politically correct options that people can use to avoid having to subject themselves to the discipline and rigours of proper work. (i.e. where you contract with an employer to provide a regular and set number of hours for their exclusive use). The opt-out clauses being proposed here include:

Flexi-Time and Annualised Hours

Part-time Staff and "V-Time"

Jobsharing.

Term-time working

Parental / Maternity / Adoption Leave / Time off for Dependants

Career breaks

Homeworking

Secondments

Compressed Hours

Self-Rostering

Time off for Religious Observance (where it is noted that failure to do this may could as 'Religious Discrimination')

Readers will have guessed by now that we come from the Dinosaur Branch of the work ethic, and we regard this sort of rubbish in the same way we regard the 'Regional Leaders Board (4NW)', The Regional Spatial Strategy and The Standards Board, - a gross waste of our money.

We can only hope that Eric Pickles gets enough time to examine , then abolish, this stupidity, just as he has already abolished (or signalled an intention to abolish) the other examples we have given.

When the country is spending £1 in every £4 using borrowed money. When our sovereign debt is growing with annual costs that you can't even begin to get a handle on. When thousands of people are losing, and are yet still to lose, their jobs, then now is most definitely NOT the time to be fiddling with PC policies like these which inevitably push up the cost of Local Government and take money away from frontline services.

These policies are a nonsense and ought to be thrown in the bin at any time, but in the current climate they're just out of touch with reality.

However, we doubt that Princess Karen will agree. She is set to approve them.

Demonstrably poor judgement we say.

Still, they'll provide one more brownie point for someone with more common-sense to overturn at a future date.

If readers think it's odd that Fylde's new Leader isn't making more fuss on these sort of matters, it will be useful to bear in mind that Councils are like Supertankers, and those (like Fylde) that have been going in the wrong direction for some time have built up a head of speed that means they will take time to stop, and even longer to turn around.

These policies - provisionally approved by Princess Karen - are clearly pre-austerity policies that haven't yet had the eye of common sense run over them. Also, they're quite possibly at the outward edge of what Fylde's Leader regards as important enough to warrant his attention if he has bigger fish to fry (and fixing the finances, and sorting out the mess left by the Commissar, are very much bigger fish so far as he is concerned) - so it looks as though Princess K is being allowed to demonstrate her own judgement in this matter.

Smoke Free Policy

The third policy that she has provisionally agreed, and is also up for final approval by Princess K on 29th June is the Smoke Free Policy.

Readers shouldn't take this description as meaning the freedom to smoke, its more a 'smoke-free' policy (but they've left out the hyphen).

Quite the contrary in fact. The fascists have been out again, seeking to impose a ban on what others might want to do.

The Council used to allow smoking in its offices and, indeed, in some of its meetings. This depended on the vote of the individual committee. So some committees decided they would be 'smoking committees' and others not. Democracy in action.

And it was not unusual for a non-smoking Chairman of a committee to vote *against* a smoking ban in their committee on the basis of toleration of others. That's all gone now of course, and there is a ban on smoking anywhere inside the buildings.

And this new policy is set to extend that prohibition to the outdoors.

It says "Smoke-free means smoking is not permitted anywhere on Fylde Borough Council owned or occupied premises (this includes all areas up to the perimeter) or in Fylde Borough Council vehicles. There are no exceptions to this rule for staff, visitors or contractors. All Council owned sites and depots are no smoking locations under this policy."

Now although it's not intended, there are likely to be some awkward side-effects of this badly framed policy.

Clearly they don't mean it, but a smoking prohibition 'anywhere on Fylde Borough Council owned or occupied premises' would include the promenade, the parks, and even the beach. This is either very sloppy drafting, or a deliberate hole in the fence being left to drive a coach and horses through later.

The introduction of a smoking ban on 'visitors' on the promenade appears to be a really interesting line in tourism promotion for Fylde.

But its just a badly written policy. It's not meant to apply to 'visitors' of course (well, not now, at least), because in the detail later on, the policy fails to include 'visitors' as a category of persons subject to the policy (told you it was sloppy and badly thought out). It says it only applies to three classes of person, vis:

Employees - (so they won't be allowed to smoke if they work outdoors as a park gardener, for example).

Contractors who are working for the council on council owned property - so the contract workman repairing the park shelter won't be allowed to smoke after his lunch if he wants to (unless he goes and sits on the road)

Households where smoking takes place, and which are visited by the Council's staff or contractors.

The underlying aim is set out clearly (if not very accurately in terms of grammar) when it says "The Council is seeking to manage smoking during working hours by making it as discrete [sic] and 'invisible' as possible"

The Policy goes on to say "Employees cannot smoke during their working day when on duty under any circumstances."

Nor are they "permitted to smoke in open spaces whilst in the presence of any person under the age of 18 whilst undertaking duties as a council employee" (We wonder how far 'in the presence of' might mean, say, on the beach)

This is really taking things too far.

We wonder if employees could 'mix 'n' match' the new policies and negotiate, say, a career break, or a reduced working day, in order not to be working when they want a ciggy?

This smoke-free policy means the gardeners, (or whoever) can share a park bench with an old guy with a pipe full of baccy merrily smoking his life away if he wants to, but they won't be allowed to sit next to him and smoke because they are in a park or on a promenade that is 'council owned or occupied.'

The Policy gives a specific example of this, and suggests that even when smoking during unpaid breaks, (like lunchtime) employees should not smoke on Council property.

Even if the off-duty staff leave the Council property during the working day (maybe they will have to go to the Pub's smoking area for their lunch break in order to be able to light up?) it says they should make sure that where possible the Fylde Borough Council branding on their uniform is covered up, and their ID badge is concealed.

What nonsense.

The 'Home Visit' rules are even more draconian. They hint at the withdrawal of services from the homes of those that smoke.

This next quote is also from the policy. It will become a leaflet that will be handed to all 'new and existing clients' who receive a visit from a council employee at home. (ie those of us who used to be called taxpayers, and for whom, the council's staff used to be public servants),

We will be asked to provide 'a smoke-free working environment' for the council's staff. Yes, really.

(When that happens, we can see a few officers being kept on doorsteps in the rain whilst they explain what it is they have come to talk about)

The leaflet will say.....

"...We therefore ask if you would do everything possible to provide a smoke free environment when staff visit you in your home.

How to Protect Staff from Exposure to Second-hand Smoke

Refrain from smoking inside the house for at lease [sic] 1 hour before they arrive.

If reasonable to do so, open windows and doors to fully ventilate the area.

Try to keep one room smoke free at all times.

During the Visit

Do not smoke or let anyone else in the house smoke in the area.

Wherever possible, when the member of staff is in the house, ask other smokers to go outside to smoke.

Fylde Borough Council Policy

We ask our staff to assess whether any environment they enter is safe for them to provide their services. If a smoke free environment cannot be provided, a risk assessment will be required in order to reduce the risk to a level that is as low as is reasonably practicable. We will support staff to leave an environment they deem to be unsafe. If necessary, you will be offered alternative service options."

Here's another paragraph from this self-righteous and barmy policy: "It will be the responsibility of ALL managers and supervisors to ensure adherence to this policy. Any employee who believes the policy is being breached should report this to his/her own manager. Persistent and intentional breaches of the policy will be dealt with under the council's Disciplinary procedure. ANY intentional breach in an area of particular safety risk will be treated as a serious matter and will be handled under the Disciplinary procedure"

(Note the CAPITAL LETTERS beloved of control freaks).

This is not common sense. Nor is it reasonable. This is the work of someone who feels so personally inadequate they have to try to normalise their own unhappy existence by wielding unreasonable power over others.

Sad.

This ought to have been another report that was binned before it saw light of day. It shows that common sense and tolerance is sadly lacking at Fylde and Political Correctness has been allowed to become rampant. Eric! Fylde needs you!

It also shows that when officers have enough time to spend on this sort of rubbish, there are still financial savings to be made. Maybe sense will return next year when they've made themselves so unaffordable their jobs will be long-vanished into the ether.

No doubt we will be accused by some of being pro-smoking in this matter.

We're not.

We'd prefer it if people didn't. Smoking isn't good for you, and some people find it offensive.

But then, some of the affronts to tailoring, and those adorned with face shrapnel that we see walking the streets are also offensive. But we tolerate them, not persecute them.

In conclusion, we would add that, contrary to what you're probably imagining by now, counterbalance doesn't smoke. (We might occasionally inflame, and sometime we make steam come out of some people's ears, but we don't smoke). However, if any of our readers want to do so whilst reading counterbalance, they're very welcome to do so, (that's as long as they don't work for the council as an employee or contractor and read it on council controlled land with their FBC Logo showing of course).

With her support for these policies, we think it makes Princess Karen seem very pushy, doesn't it.

http://www.counterbalance.org.uk/index.htm