Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
New Schools Champion for Haringey
Press Release from Haringey Council:
Haringey’s first ever Schools Champion, Christine Gilbert (CBE) has been announced by the Leader of Haringey Council Claire Kober.
The former Head of Ofsted will help drive improvements in school performance and pupil attainment across the borough.
The appointment of a Schools Champion was one of the highlights of a number of recommendations published earlier this year by the independent education commission, Outstanding for All.
Ms Gilbert brings a wealth of experience to the role of Schools Champion, both from her five years with Ofsted and her former roles as a teacher, headteacher and director of education. She has steered major transformation in education in Harrow and Tower Hamlets. Her appointment forms part of a package of improvements announced by Cllr Kober.
She said: “I’m delighted to welcome Christine as our official Schools Champion and look forward to working with her to accelerate the pace of improvement, and deliver on the Commission’s ambitious recommendations.
“Making education outstanding for all of Haringey’s children is a priority for the council, and Christine’s appointment marks another important step in our journey to transform school standards.
“Together with our schools, teachers and governors, I am determined that all children in Haringey will have access to the highest quality teaching and support to give them the very best opportunities in life.”
Cllr Kober has also unveiled further details of the Outstanding for All Delivery, including:
- A £250,000 Education Innovation Fund to allow schools to pilot innovative ways of delivering outstanding results
- Working with Headteachers and Governors to improve support services for schools
- A consultation on improvements to governance to ensure all schools have high calibre governors who are well trained and well supported by the council
- A pilot Pupil Passport scheme to better support children when they move between schools
- A Best of Haringey event to promote and celebrate school achievements
- Better sharing of schools data so that parents can easily access the information they need
- A Family Ambitions advocacy service
- More work to build bridges between Haringey schools and leading universities
Newly appointed Schools Champion, Christine Gilbert, said: “I am looking forward to being at the heart of developing a new and improved Outstanding for All culture that the entire borough can be proud of.”
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alan Stanton on
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Back in March, the Local Government Chronicle carried details of Christine Gilbert's contract with Brent. http://bit.ly/11hvG5J
Six months at £100k Paid off-payroll through her Personal Service Company: Christine Gilbert Associates Ltd.
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Many thanks to Mike Baker (Save Gladstone Park School) for this information.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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At £200,000 p.a. pro rata, nice work if you can get. Do the company arrangements amount to the council aiding and abetting tax avoidance?
(We also saw this at Alexandra Palace, with the former long-time manager K. Holder retiring on one day. The next day he began drawing a council-class pension and simultaneous continuing as self employed – largely with what he'd been doing – as Business Development Manager and operating under the name EHA (Edwin Holder Associates), not on as large a stipend of Mrs Gilbert. Still, its only money.)
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As you know perfectly well, Clive, "aid and abet" refers to helping someone commit a crime. And as you also know, there's a key difference between tax evasion (a crime); and tax avoidance. The latter means organising your financial affairs by legal means in such a way as to decrease the amount of tax you are due to pay.
You and I may not like the ethics underlying devices such as tax havens, off-shore companies; Personal Service Contracts etc. But they are legal. At least for the time being until Messrs Cameron. Clegg and Miliband agree with other leaders to go further than fine words.
Which in no way stops a local authority or government department insisting that staff working for it must go on the payroll and pay their full whack. That taxes are even for the "big people".
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Of course, there are other interesting and so far unanswered questions. The terms of Ms Gilbert's appointment; where it was advertised; the hiring process - the applications; who short-listed and interviewed. Whether the standard and proper process was followed?
I hope it wasn't yet another of Cllr Kober's foolish delusions that being Leader allows her to ignore such "inconvenient" rules.
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Yes Alan, I confirm I know all those things in your first para that you say I know.
And we all know that the council does not have a formal policy of encouraging tax avoidance by employing individuals through companies, that allow for significant reductions in tax. Even if that is indeed, the effect. If the payment made to the Schools Champion is a gross payment to her company, presumably a range of taxes will be avoided.
The only term you have avoided parsing is amount to, in my question, Do [these] company arrangements amount to the council aiding and abetting tax avoidance?
To put it another way that might help understanding, could the Champion be engaged in this manner, if the council did not facilitate it?
Stepping back slightly from the tax effects of this kind of compensation: does the basis for this employment not suggest a transitory arrangement? Is it believed that lasting improvements in Haringey's schools can be effected in a short period?
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Clive, First Law of Holes. You ignored my advice, didn't you?
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I NOTE from yesterday's answer to an FoI request made to former Councillor Alan Stanton, that Christine Gilbert is no longer working as the Haringey Schools’ Champion. This raises a few questions in my mind:
- Was there a report due by Xmas last, by our Schools Champion?
- Are we now currently without a Schools Champion?
- Does the Council intend to replace the Haringey Schools Champion?
- Who now will "help drive improvements in school performance and pupil attainment across the borough" ?
- Who now, will "accelerate the pace of improvement, and deliver on the Commission’s ambitious recommendations" ?
- Ms Gilbert expected to be at the heart of developing a new and improved [culture] of which the entire borough could be proud … are we now heart-less?
- Was this appointment more than a press release?
- If, Christine’s appointment marks another important step in our journey to transform school standards, … does the end of work by the Schools Champion, then mean that the journey has had a misstep, or a backward step?
I think we should be told.
CDC
Councillor
Liberal Democrat Party
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