Council 16th December 2015
Leaders Question 1 – Closure of Oldham Tax Office
My first question tonight concerns the proposed closure of the Oldham HMRC Tax Office at Phoenix House on Union Street.
This move will represent a massive job loss for Oldham and a further blow to our Borough’s public sector, following on top of this Government’s proposal to close both of our court houses and the significant cuts in local government spending announced recently in the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement.
The Government is proposing to close dozens of other local HMRC tax offices and consolidate their operations in large regional offices in Manchester and twelve other cities across the regions.
Such a move makes no financial sense – Manchester’s office rentals are second only to London, whilst Oldham’s are well under half the price.
Public contact with HMRC is largely online or via email or the telephone, rather than by personal visit, therefore there is no need to locate these offices to busy and expensive, cities.
Rather common sense suggests that to save money this Government should instead choose to expand the Oldham operation into a new regional centre and migrate Civil Service jobs into our Borough.
Sites like Union Street (next to the Town Centre Metrolink stop) and Hollinwood Junction (adjacent to the motorway network and the Hollinwood tram stop) are easily accessible for staff and could represent alternative affordable locations.
This is the approach taken in London where HMRC are regionalising to Croydon and Stratford, rather than central London.
Can I therefore ask the Leader if he will join me in writing to the Chancellor and the Head of HMRC offering to work with them to bring a new regional centre to Oldham and the many new jobs that will come with it?
Council 16th December 2015
Leaders Question 2 – Wilshaw Report
For my second question, I would like to return to a subject on which I have consistently expressed concern – namely the education of the children of this Borough.
Like any parent, I place the education of my children up at the top of my personal priorities, so like many parents in this Borough I was extremely disappointed to hear that the Head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, recently announced that Oldham was one of sixteen authorities where less than 60% of our children are studying at a ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ school.
This damning admission means that almost half of all of our children are being failed by some of our schools and this Administration and this is attested to in recent announcements about examination grades.
Parents have the right to expect that education will be of a quality that will allow their children to reach their full potential.
Why is it that we as an education authority continue to fail our young people?
I would like to ask the Leader what is being done to address this Oldham education ‘gap’ and why there continues to be a delay in the publication of the findings and recommendations of the much-awaited Oldham Education Commission?
This so called Commission will have cost council tax payers more than £100,000 and yet it is still to see the light of day.
We needed to start work to improve the education for our young people months or years ago, rather than keep hiding behind this much promised report.
Now that the Oldham West and Royton by-election is out of the way, surely there can be no further justification for any further delay – why can’t we see it now?
And why can we not start to improve the lot for our children now!
Councillor Howard Sykes, Leader of the Opposition and Lib Dem Group Oldham Council, Member for Shaw Ward