Views
Centralised systems are failing to deliver - for The Inverness Courier
THE failure of government to tackle the problems of disadvantage and poverty in the Highlands has been a regular subject of these columns. Last week, I was privileged to visit two organisations in our area who are on the front line, helping people to pick up the pieces and get their lives back on track.
Blythswood Care's Highland Food Bank provides lifeline food supplies to people who are, literally, unable to feed themselves.
As well as providing essential food supplies, the staff and volunteers are also able to provide a cup of tea and a friendly ear, often signposting people to other services that can provide more long-term help.
It is shameful that the sixth richest country in the world is unable to feed all of its population.
The biggest reason for people needing to use the food bank is delays in the benefits system.
Because the government cannot organise our welfare system to provide people who are entitled to benefit with money when they need it, those people have to rely on commendable charity to feed themselves.
The delays have got worse recently.
In the name of efficiency, all benefit claims for the Inverness area are now processed through a huge telephone call centre in Clydebank. Sometimes people are simply unable to get through on the phone. Sometimes paperwork gets lost. Sometimes computer problems delay the process. There are a whole number of excuses, but the ultimate consequence for some people is being unable to have enough money to feed themselves.
New Start Highland helps people who have been homeless or disadvantaged to get their lives back on track.
Their starter packs help someone to furnish accommodation that has been allocated them — something that there is often no funding for in the benefits system. And NSH is expanding to provide a range of training and skills projects, which are already helping people to gain qualifications and find work.
Both organisations benefit from the committed, well-motivated people who work for them.
But there should be a lesson here for government too. Big, centralised systems are failing to deliver the help that people need — in part because the concern for the individual that should drive the system gets lost. The faceless state that is being created is letting people down — and it is local, human scale services that are needed to give everyone the chances in life that most of us take for granted.
FUELLING PROBLEMS
RISING oil price are hitting us hard in the Highlands. Whether it is running a car, a business, or heating a home, the costs have risen by at least 20 per cent and often more in the past few months. With oil going up to $120 a barrel, ordinary families are going to continue paying the price.
Sadly, Gordon Brown's government seems deaf to these concerns.
As an example, the energy companies have made a huge windfall gain from the EU emissions trading scheme — some £9 billion.
Rather than forcing the energy companies to use this money to cut bills and make homes cheaper to heat, the Government has opted for a voluntary scheme in which the suppliers will spend less than three per cent of this windfall. Rampant fuel poverty will barely be dented.
Highland MPs will be pushing the case again for a lower rate of fuel tax in rural areas. This is much needed to deal with the rising costs of journeys, and the increasing problems of rural filling stations.
Charities are feeling the pinch too.
The community car scheme in Badenoch and Strathspey has reported that its drivers are finding it harder to afford to help out, because the rate that the Government allows for car mileage has not risen for five years, but petrol costs have gone up 50 per cent.
An increase would be a long overdue recognition by ministers that rising fuel prices are causing real pain.
Posted on: 22/04/2008
