Families, the Coalition and Impact Assessments

For people at the sharp end, the poorest and those most dependent on public services, it sometimes feels as if the Coalition has spent the last four years steadily unpicking the very fabric of our society.

For a long time this process has been under-reported by the media, but gradually the results are becoming impossible to ignore.

There can be few people more utterly dependent on the quality of a public service than prisoners.

Exploding the myth that such services could ‘do more with less’, Nick Hardwick, the Chief Inspector of Prisons warned on Monday 11th August

‘Overcrowding and staff shortages in England’s jails are now so bad that they are directly fuelling a rise in the number of prisoners killing themselves.’

Outside prisons, perhaps cuts to local authority funding have the greatest impact on people’s lives, leaving them without adult social care and other essential services. 

But the consequences never become a national story because they are, by definition, local.

Conveniently for the government, people blame Councils for these cuts, despite the fact that the Councils are at the mercy of government spending decisions.

And as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has reported in 2013, that local authority cuts have been targeted on the poorest areas.

With foodbank use rising inexorably, with more and more families finding themselves in problem debt, the Prime Minister came close this week to admitting that many families could have been adversely affected by some of his government’s measures.

But his analysis of the problem ignored some inconvenient truths, and his proposed solution left some people astounded by its contradictions.

In his speech on Monday 18^th August, the Prime Minister said,

‘We know that one of the biggest strains in a relationship can come from problems with money.’

Few people would disagree. But then the Prime Minister said,

‘And the biggest cause of such problems is not having a job.’

It would be understandable if most people believed this, but one would expect the Prime Minister to know that this is not true.

One of the most remarkable features of recent years has been the growth of in-work poverty, so that now, more than half the people living in poverty are in households where at least one person has a job.

And it is now surely undeniable that welfare reform has hastened the downward spiral into poverty for many families.

Even the Centre for Social Justice, a think tank founded by Iain Duncan Smith, and not just supportive of government welfare policy but instrumental in writing much of it, has acknowledged this.

In ‘Maxed Out’, a report issued in November 2013, the CSJ spoke of the alarming rise in debt which puts a ticking time bomb at the heart of many families.

Conceding that the under-occupancy penalty/bedroom tax had contributed to the problem of rent arrears, the CSJ concluded:

 “Unless proactive steps are taken, problem debt in the UK will continue to grow unabated. The current levels of debt are worrying because they not only have severe financial implications, but also more wide-ranging impacts on people's mental health, family stability, and ability to work. These are especially pronounced amongst low-income households and the vulnerable.”

Whilst Mr. Cameron did not actually go so far as to take responsibility for anything specific in his speech, he did say,

‘We can’t go on having government taking decisions like this which ignore the impact on the family. I said previously that I wanted to introduce a family test into government. Now that test is being formalised as part of the impact assessment for all domestic policies. Put simply that means every single domestic policy that government comes up with will be examined for its impact on the family.’

Again, the contrast with his previous pronouncements on such matters was stark.

In a speech on Monday 4^th November 2013,  Mr Cameron promised to get rid of ‘reams of bureaucratic nonsense’. 

He promised to cut back on judicial reviews, reduce government consultations, and continued,

‘We don’t need all this extra tick-box stuff. So I can tell you today we are calling time on Equality Impact Assessments.’

When disabled people virtually begged for a cumulative impact assessment of how welfare reform and cuts were affecting them, they were treated with contempt by the government.

The WOW petition secured a parliamentary debate on the issue, but still no such impact assessment was undertaken.

The government said it was too difficult, despite the fact that several other organisations, like the Centre for Welfare reform, have been able to produce just such a report.

So, if the Prime Minister is suddenly persuaded of the value of impact assessments, this could be good news.

If future policies are properly examined for their impact on families, particularly those in poverty, that would be excellent news. 

There is, however, one big stumbling block

.

The impact of many policy decisions that have already been taken is yet to be felt.

As the Joseph Rowntree Foundation pointed out Tuesday 1^st July 2014, for the poorest families, the worst is yet to come. 

The Institute for Fiscal Studies has forecast that from 2013/14 we will see an increase in the number of households, both in work and out of work, experiencing poverty.

Despite Mr. Cameron’s new appreciation of the value of impact assessments, this means that many more families will be falling into debt.

And as the Children’s Society has said in their report published in May 2014,

‘Our work with families across the country tells us that significant debt can damage children’s health and happiness and do long-term harm to their lives. Children see, hear and feel what is going on around them. They feel debt’s sharp effects and are often left sad, confused and scared.’

For these families and these children, any future impact assessments will be too late

Iraq, Parliament and the Church of England

The recall of Parliament during a recess is a signifier that grave matters are afoot. 

As the debating forum of a democracy, it does more than make decisions – it expresses itself in full view of the electorate it is there to represent.

That electorate is increasingly disturbed about events in Iraq and it is fitting that public disquiet at the calamity unfolding there should be acknowledged, articulated and explored in the chamber of our legislature.

Some argue that unless the Prime Minister intends to commit British troops in opposition to the militants of Islamic State who are now wreaking brutal and potentially genocidal destruction in a country we have done so much to destabilise, there is no need for a recall.

But that is to take no account of the fact that there is much which needs to be said.

If the saying is left to the largely unmoderated forum of social media, it is likely to generate more heat than light.

The loudest voices are not necessarily the best informed and we need to remind ourselves that violent speech often generates violent action.

The situation in Iraq is complex and any response made by the UK government must be validated by open and accountable discourse.

At its best, the House of Commons is capable of this and when the playground brawling and bawling of set-pieces like Prime Minister's Questions are set aside, it can be the site of searching and civilised debate.

That debate will need all the civilising qualities of intellect, conscientious discernment and nuance.

The 'something must be done' argument is compelling and what that 'something' might be is another question.

From full scale military intervention, through logistical support for US forces and humanitarian aid, to the responses of radical non-violence, there are demanding moral arguments to be made.

When these arguments are not heard in the central institution of our democracy, we are deprived of enlargement and understanding.

It is a cause of concern that senior politicians seem to be either unaware or afraid of this.

Number 13 in the Standing Orders of the House of Commons makes this provision:

“Whenever the House stands adjourned and it is represented to the Speaker by Her Majesty’s Ministers that the public interest requires that the House should meet at a time earlier than that to which the House stands adjourned, the Speaker, if he is satisfied that the public interest does so require, may give notice that, being so satisfied, he appoints a time for the House to meet, and the House shall accordingly meet at the time stated in such notice.”

The Right Rev Nick Baines has released his letter sent to Mr Cameron, which was published on Sunday 17th August 2014 in the Observer newspaper.

In the letter Bishop Nick describing British policy on Islamic extremism as not “coherent or comprehensive”.

The letter follows widespread claims that Britain and the west have been slow to respond to unfolding events in Iraq as Islamic State, formerly known as Isis, has imposed its bloody rule across northern Iraq and swaths of Syria.

The Bishop of Leeds (West Yorkshire & the Dales) says in the letter:

 "That he remains very concerned about the government’s response to several issues”

Bishop Nick goes on to poses questions to the Prime Minster about his policy towards Iraq and Syria.

The letter comes as the Church of England has issued posters to churches and called on its members to pray, act and give to those suffering and who have been driven out of their homes in Iraq.

It is hard to think of anything more in the public interest than the open exploration of past and present policy failures in Iraq, analysis of their consequences and consideration of actions that will bring the least harm and the greatest relief to that distressful country.

The Bedroom Tax, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Iain Duncan Smith

In an interview on LBC radio on Wednesday 13^th August 2014 with Iain Duncan Smith, in which he displayed a startling ignorance of the social security benefits he has been administering, and cutting, for the last four years.

Many people will be left wondering if he has ever actually familiarised himself with these benefits, before he embarked on what he himself has described as the biggest shake up in sixty years.

Firstly, Mr. Duncan Smith questioned whether approximately two thirds of people affected by the bedroom tax are actually disabled.

Yet this figure comes from the equality impact assessment conducted by his own department prior to the introduction of the bedroom tax.

Mr. Duncan Smith said that these people were ‘self-declared’ as disabled, and that nobody had checked whether they did in fact have a disability, implying, as he so often has in the past, that some people claim to be disabled but aren't.

Let’s look at what the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) own equality impact assessment says. 

Citing a figure of 63% having some form of disability, it says,

‘The disabled group includes cases who do not currently have difficulties with daily activities but who have in the past or are expected to in the future or would do if they were not able to control symptoms with medication.’ (para 43)

Perhaps these are the cases Mr. Duncan Smith seems to believe are not really disabled.

But the assessment goes on to say,

‘If disability is defined as having any long-standing illness, disability or infirmity that leads to a significant difficulty with one or more areas of the individual’s life, the equivalent figures to those in the table above would be that 370,000 (56%) of working age social rented sector Housing Benefit (HB) claimants or their partners affected by the size criteria would be classified as disabled’ (para 44)

Presumably these people, 56%, are disabled enough to meet Mr. Duncan Smith’s own personal criteria of who can be accepted as genuinely disabled.

In an attempt to further question the 63% figure, Mr. Duncan Smith mentioned that,

‘About a third are in receipt of something like Disability Living Allowance (DLA), which of itself is a payment to help support housing costs.’

This statement will leave many people speechless, the Disability Living Allowance, the budget for which Mr. Duncan Smith has cut by 20%, has absolutely no relation to housing costs.

Again, we need only look to his own department’s website to establish the facts.

Disability Living Allowance (now being replaced by Personal Independence Payments) has two components, one for mobility, one for care.

As the Department for Work and Pensions website explains:

‘You can get Disability Living Allowance for adults if your disability or health condition means one or both of the following are true: you need help looking after yourself and/or you have walking difficulties.’

It is most certainly not ‘to help support housing costs’ as the Secretary of State confidently asserted.

To have a minister in charge of any area of policy when they do not know or understand the basic facts of matters they are dealing with is worrying.

To have such a minister in charge of policies which have a major impact on the precarious existence of people who are already struggling is dangerously irresponsible.

So governments and the media are preoccupied with Gaza, but what about Iraq?

It is a tedious seasonal metaphor, now clichéd to the point of political hollowness, but these "Arab springs", once hailed as the founts of liberty and democratic dreams, have become long, cold winters of turmoil, suffering, persecution and mass slaughter.

Egypt is economically unstable; Syria is in meltdown; Iraq is disintegrating; Libya has become the very bloodbath we tried to avert; Saudi Arabia is struggling with internal discord; and Iran is fomenting regional conflict.

The Arab world is collapsing in painful spasms and convulsing in a series of existential catastrophes and disintegration has been swift and inexorable.

The ensuing humanitarian tragedy is epic - one might almost say 'biblical'.

Tens of millions across the Arab world are in need of urgent aid as they displaced, made homeless and hunger for their daily bread.

Hundreds of thousands have lost their lives through civil war and sectarian strife.

Now that the regional strongmen have fallen one by one, the vacuum is being filled by the Salafist-Jihadist Islamic State, and they have brought hell on earth.

Where is the Arab League in all this?

How are they responding to the Caliphate?

What are they saying about the apocalyptic death and destruction?

Where are the declarations opposing Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or uniting in their condemnation of his 'robust' interpretation of Islam?

On Tuesday 5^th August 2014, CNN ran this story showing the dire situation of the Christians in Iraq.

They interviewed Canon Andrew White, asking him if harmony could be achieved once again between religious groups, more specifically, can it be achieved in this generation? 

He responds with simply, “I don’t know.”

The ultimatum given to Iraqi Christians coupled with increasing persecution makes it hard to tell. 

There are, however, a few causes of optimism.

God's people are not mute; nor are they turning a blind eye and here are the latest update from the Vicar of Baghdad, Canon Andrew White 

So lets all keep praying for Iraq, especially the Christian population there.

The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, has published three prayers for the people of Iraq, highlighting the common suffering of both Christians and Muslims. 

His prayers are:

Hold in your loving arms, all those who have been caught up in this conflict. We pray for those forced to flee their homes, all who have lost friends, family and possessions and who now face an uncertain future. Bless our Christian brothers and sisters who have seen the destruction of their churches and communities and for our Muslim neighbours who have also experienced destruction and suffering. Amen

Lord, in this city where Christians and Muslims have lived together for over 1400 years, we pray for healing, peace and restoration. Bring light out of this present darkness and hope from despair that guided by your Holy Spirit, all your children may find a new way forward together based on your love for us all. Amen

Holy God, your Holy family was driven into exile and many holy innocent boys were massacred, we hold before you today the suffering people of Mosul. Amen

The Most Rev. and the Rt Hon Justin Welby released a statement on Friday 8^th August 2014, which can viewed by visiting: Archbishop of Canterbury on Iraq

Crisis in Iraq – read five things we can actually do to help

So, could we all try to do, at least, one of these today?