A Right Royal P**s Up!

Visit to Park Royal Brewery by Club Stewards

Fellow blogger and local history nutcase Brownhills Bob has written about the history of Clubs in this area and now it's my turn to hand something over to anyone with a long memory in the local area.

Many of us have fond memories of clubs in the area from Labour Clubs to Working Men's Clubs to British Legion Clubs and even Conservative Clubs. My club memories are confined to the Aldridge Labour Club now consigned to history, it's former premises now occupied by a Tesco store. My main memories surround Christmas parties and the Monday night disco, which ended every week with the same smoochie, 'Lonely Girl' by Eddie Holman.

My Dad was secretary at the club in Paddock Lane for more years than he cares to remember. One of my abiding memories of him when I was a young child was of him lying on the mat in front of the open coal fire in the living room with all the account books spread out in front of him, one pencil in hand and another red pencil tucked behind his ear, adding machine to his right and the constant sshhh's from him as he added up figures, made entries and then checked and re-checked with the machine. On occasion it became a 3 person event when figures just wouldn't tally, with me and Mom reading out the numbers whilst he input them on the machine.

It was a place of significant events for Dad as he met my Mom there on 23 April 1957 when she was singing on stage during an open mic event. They married just three months later.

I was attempting to locate Dad's passport a few weeks ago when I came across this photograph. pasted on a presentation card it says 'Visit to Park Royal Brewery - Club Stewards - Brownhills, Pelsall, Rushall and Aldridge September 8th 1955'. Dad remembers the day well although he doesn't remember the names of the people in the photograph! He was walking to work at 6 am on September 8th 1955 when he was called over to the Labour Club in Paddock Lane and asked if he fancied a trip to Park Royal Brewery in London. Never one to miss a free drink, Dad abandoned plans for work that day and he and all these other smiling faces boarded a 'chara' for London.

They enjoyed a tour of the brewery and then a slap up lunch, followed by sampling of the breweries wares. He said he didn't remember the trip home because he was very drunk, along with everyone else.

I presume that the trip was at the invitation of the brewery in order to create some goodwill for future orders from the clubs of Brownhills, Pelsall, Rushall and Aldridge. I'm not sure what clubs were represented but apart from Aldridge Labour Club, Dad thinks there were representatives from Rushall and Walsall Wood  Labour Clubs.

My Dad is on the back row, right hand side, young, handsome and with a large quiff! Apart from one or two exceptions, the smartly dressed men look very happy! Is anyone able to add anything to the memories of this day trip and also some names of the men who went and the clubs they represented?

Begging at the Gates of The Manor

Two weeks ago today a hastily convened public meeting was held at Aldridge Manor House Youth Centre to discuss the future of youth services in Aldridge following the equally hasty announcement that such provision was in the future, to be made from the back of vans or unused shops. By the end of what was an uncomfortable meeting for the Councillors and Officers present, it was agreed that a further public meeting would be held in the near future, that the meeting would be given wider and better publicity than the one that had taken place and that the minutes of the meeting would be made available to the community.

It saddens and angers me that at the time of writing no further meeting has yet been arranged and minutes have not been published. What has been published is this. A question and answer and action log. Posted on the web site today. It's taken a while!

The log is unfortunately not an accurate reflection of what happened at the meeting nor of the questions asked. Without going into an overlong analysis I'll just give two examples. Question 16. There was a question of this nature but the senior member of the community that asked the question was pointing out the loss of facilities to local elderly people who had used the offices formerly based at the side of the Manor House and now demolished, for internet use and other group meetings and those facilities had never been replaced. The point the questioner was making was that facilities had already been lost and had not been replaced. There were no questions about anti-social behaviour, just statements of concern.

Question 20 was never asked. What is behind this inclusion as a question is the proposal of Councillor Rochelle to give the local parish church several hundred thousand pounds to make up the current shortfall in the fund to build new church rooms. We should remember that when the new church rooms are built, the current rectory will be demolished, land sold and there is planning permission for several houses to be built on the land surrounding the current house. Work will be starting within the next month. Coincidence I'm sure!

The log does not reflect in any way the contributions made by two young people at the meeting who apparently had had their views ignored in previous consultation with the users of the Manor House. Seems that their views are still being ignored.

I may be wrong, or it could be because it was difficult to hear speakers at certain times during the meeting but I do not recall that at any time during the meeting  it was said that there would be centre based youth provision in Aldridge. The statement regarding a permanent base came later when Councillor A Andrew and I discussed the subject on BBC WM.

So the 'log' is not be trusted.

Since the meeting I have tweeted @WalsallCouncil on four separate days asking when the date will be fixed.

• On 17 June they were 'discussing the date now'
• On 21 June there is 'a meeting today' to discuss a date
• On 25 June the date will be 'fixed in the next few days'
• Today, 27 June 'still sorting out a date' 

This meeting is not for fixing thus far and one has to ask why? A little clue is contained within the log on the penultimate page under unanswered question from  meeting. No impact assessment on the impact of the closure of youth services at The Manor House has been carried out! Surely not! This explains why the first public meeting was arranged completely out of the blue and so hastily. Naughty Walsall Council may have been breaking the rules regarding public consultation and impact assessments and now they've been caught out, they're dragging the suddenly extended so called consultation period out, hoping that we'll forget the historic building in our midst and the youth club run from it.

I was surprised to discover at the meeting that apparently the Youth Club is promoted in local schools. Little of what goes on passes my daughter by so I asked her about this and she reported that she had never seen publicity for the youth club at school. I've never seen any publicity for the Manor House and regular week day youth provision (as opposed to holiday provision) in Aldridge and this leads me to something I said during the meeting. It seems to me that this youth club has been allowed to gradually decline, quite deliberately in order that it could be closed due to lack of interest. The reduction in the numbers of young people using the facility, not from the heydays of the 1970s and 1980s but in more recent years has been kept quiet. If they don't know it's there then how can they come and if they don't come, how can they miss it when it's gone?

Something smells fishy but the pond in front of the Manor House was filled in years ago......

Costs and Values: Confusion at The Manor

They weren't expecting many to turn out for the public meeting at Aldridge Manor House this evening, set up in haste to discuss the future of youth provision in the area. Chairs in a circle and no mic, even though there's  a perfectly good pa system installed. Despite the lack of publicity and the indecent short notice, people came. I'm not good on numbers unless I count and I didn't but I would say about  50 of all ages from the young to the old.

The two Councillors John Murray and John Rochelle from Aldridge Central and South were there as was the Deputy Leader of the Council, Adrian Andrew. It was good to see two Councillors from outside the ward; Gareth Illmann-Walker and Barbara Cassidy. Notable in absence were the two Councillors from Aldridge North and Walsall Wood who were not on their honeymoon, Harris and Sears.

I'm not sure what to say about what happened at the meeting as much of it was inaudible but the buzz words were 'building not fit for purpose'. This was the stock answer to most questions. Apparently youth leaders spend far too much time arranging maintenance rather than providing a youth service. If I was hoping that I would get answers to all the questions I had then I was to be disappointed but I think the gist is that

• there was an impact assessment with regards to the building but there hasn't been one on the impact on withdrawing from using a permanent base for youth work in Aldridge
• there are few if any suitable buildings in Aldridge for a permanent base and they're having difficulties in finding suitable bases for pop-ups too
• there are talks with Aston Manor Transport Museum for using their premises as a base for automotive courses currently run from the Manor
• the current building is not fit for purpose
• there are no restrictive covenants within the title deeds of the building and ownership has not been registered with Land Registry.
• The building is not yet on the market and has not been sold
• A new build centre is not a possibility

In 2011 it was thought the sale of the Manor House would raise £1 million. Proceeds would be reinvested in the council's capital programme. It would not be earmarked specifically for Aldridge. The sale would produce revenue savings of £18,000 a year, less than a Cabinet member's current allowance. I think the nub of everything going on here is about the sale proceeds.

The meeting got a little heated at times, there was passion. What was clear to me was the impression that the meeting was only supposed to be for parents of those whose children attend the centre. There appears to be no desire to engage the wider community despite the fact that the provision of youth services affects the whole community as the older people who attended pointed out and will affect everyone in Walsall if the council can get away with their plans for Aldridge.

Cllr Rochelle suggested that part of the proceeds from the sale of the Manor House could be given to the parish church to aid the building of their new rooms in exchange for the use of the rooms for youth provision. No thanks Councillor.

There was no desire by the council for a further public meeting, they would have preferred to go on towards planning future provision. This is all well and good and yes planning should go ahead however there was little publicity for the meeting this evening and many people in the local community were unaware that it was taking place. Furthermore we as a community should be allowed to question what has happened up to this point, whether actions taken on our behalf are fulfilling all legal criteria, what should happen to a well loved community building and hold our local councillors to account for decisions they play a part in making on our behalf. A further public meeting to discuss these issues will be held sometime in July. Hopefully this will be given better publicity than the one tonight.

I'm still not sure what is happening, whether there will be a permanent base for youth services in Aldridge or not. There were very mixed messages this evening. The meeting was confused and confusing apart from the young people who turned up and spoke with the passion that is part of youth. They did their generation proud.

To think we may lose the place where they meet, relax, plan, learn and are cared for, all for £18,000 a year.

Crime Wave against Youth hits Aldridge - 'village' devastated' by consequences

I've wondered over the last few days whether or not a public meeting regarding the future of youth services in Aldridge would have been organised had there not been a fuss made on social media and by local bloggers. People such as Brownhills Bob, The Plastic Hippo and The Mushroom  as well as myself, raised the profile of the issue so much that even The Express and Star managed an article!  I've also thought about why there is such short notice for the meeting taking into account that the changes have been planned for over two years.

The public meeting will be held at The Manor House Youth Centre, Little Aston Road, Aldridge, next Thursday 13th June 6-8 pm. I urge anyone interested in the youth service as it is now and how it might be in the future to attend this meeting. There are many questions that need answering.

It was 6th April 2011 that Walsall Council announced the sale of The Manor House in Aldridge. The house is one of the few historic buildings left in Aldridge, it has a fascinating history, is Grade 2 listed and lies within a Conservation Area. For many years now, back to the 1960s it has been the home of the local youth service. I've written about how I feel about the service that has been given to the community by many dedicated youth workers before and will not go into that again. What does need to be covered however is the behaviour of Walsall Council and our local councillors in the last few years.

It's worth returning to my FOI request made on 10th May 2011. It was very simple. 

"On 6th April 2011, the council announced the sale of Aldridge Manor House. My question is: Once the sale is agreed and goes ahead will the Youth Club held at the Manor House be closed or will it be relocated to other premises in Aldridge?"

It took until 5th July 2011 to respond and no explanation was given as to why a simple FOI request should take so long. The response was one sentence.

" I  can confirm that any decisions in the future  relating to the Youth Club will be subject to consultation with all interested parties and will include efforts to relocate the  service."

As far as I've been able to ascertain the only consultation thus far carried out has been with the young people who have used the centre since April this year. There has been no wider consultation with the community at large. There also appears to have been no effort at all in attempting to relocate the service. Instead we are left with the mind blowing decision that youth services for Aldridge are to be run from the back of a van. It's fair to say that there are other areas of Walsall where this type of service is to be imposed in the name of cuts or 'efficiency savings' and perhaps people in those areas need to start campaigning for their local youth service too.

The general community it seems are quick to point the finger at young people and accuse them of being responsible for all the ills that come under the label of anti-social behaviour even if they're not responsible, so this sort of decision to abandon a decent youth service does affect everyone in the community and not just the service users because it is the community at large that will suffer the consequences of our young people not having a permanent place to go, staffed by youth workers with a permanent base.

Councillor Rachel Andrew has promised (in press releases) that youth work will continue in Aldridge and other areas with a mobile service and pop-up youth clubs. John Morris, Local Area Manager gave details of where such services have already been successfully implemented. I took a look at this services in other areas and without fail, each one still has permanent bases or hubs for the young people of those areas. The pop-ups have been utilised during school holidays in order to reach out to areas not normally covered by youth programmes in order to attempt reductions in anti-social behaviour where there have been problems and yes, they've been successful. The same goes for mobile services. They are seen as a supplement to the main youth service work. In all of these schemes although some have seen the closure of some youth centres, hubs have been created from where the pop-ups and mobile services have been run from.

This is not happening in Aldridge. Instead we potentially see a youth service for the area run from the back of a van. A vacancy has already been advertised for a 'mobile' youth worker. The first question that ran through my mind was where does a young person go if they need someone urgently, if there is no permanent base for the youth service?

On hearing of the definite closure of The Manor House Youth Club on 31st August I emailed all six local councillors for further information. Cllr Ansell, may he rest in peace, did respond immediately advising me to contact Cllr and Leader of the Council, Bird which I duly did. Neither he nor Cllrs Flower, Harris, Sears or Rochelle have ever bothered to respond to my communication. Cllr John Murray has been more helpful and provided this response:

""I have received a reply from the officer concerned with Aldridge Youth Club which responds to your queries in the following way:

1, The decision to close Aldridge Manor House followed the review of the Councils office accommodation through AM2010 led by Property Services.
2, The related business case and ‘Smarter workplaces’ report was agreed by Cabinet on 13th April 2011.
3, The report was identified as requiring a key decision and that it impacted upon ‘all wards’
4, Section 10 of the report refers to consultation activity and states ‘Consultation has been held with CMT/Cabinet, Strategic Property Board and Services which will be involved in the delivery of the programme’.
5, I am not aware of any other consultation activity with the community related to the decision to close AMH.
6, IYPSS are working with a range of services, young people and the wider community to develop an exit strategy from AMH and a programme of alternative provision to be delivered from September 2013.
The only one of your questions not answered above is the one regarding the associated minutes of a scrutiny or cabinet meeting. I would refer you to the minutes of the cabinet meeting held on 13 April 2011, which are available on the council website.
Please let me know if the above answers your questions or if there is anything else which I can do for you regarding this matter.
Regards
Councillor John Murray"

I thank Cllr Murray for his assistance. For the other councillors I just say that I am not impressed with what appears to be a  lack of concern for the young people of this area. Perhaps you've been too busy campaigning on other issues that aren't really even issues yet?

Although some questions have been answered by Cllr Murray for example and also by press releases, many haven't. The Council seem to be being evasive about certain direct questions, such as where can I see a copy of the Impact Assessment? I'm beginning to think that maybe an Impact Assessment on the consequences for all of the community in closing a permanent youth service in Aldridge has not been carried out. If this is so, then the Council are acting illegally. If one has been carried out why will nobody tell me where I can find it?

It also seems that this decision has not been discussed at Council or Cabinet since April 2011. So who made the decision to abandon a permanent youth centre for Aldridge and when?

Other questions that occur to me and for which local people need answers to are:

What efforts were made to relocate the youth service of Aldridge and who by?

What consultation has taken place since July 2011 and who with? Now I know that the subject was discussed at a local area committee meeting back in February but cannot locate any information regarding other consultation and Cllr Murray is not aware of any that has taken place either. How does this consultation fit in with the response to the FOI request?

What buildings have been identified in Aldridge as suitable for a pop-up service?

Where will the youth workers for Aldridge be based? Back of a van?

The vans; how many young people will they cater for actually inside and what facilities will be available for them within? I've seen the basketball hoop on the back of one van. Impressive!

What will the costs be for converting vans for using as a mobile youth service?

What are the potential savings in the closure of The Manor House?

What will happen to all the fabulous fixtures and fittings, equipment etc currently used at The Manor House?

Will the mobiles be able to support all of the courses and work done with young people? For example in recent years there have been courses for food hygiene with a proper recognised qualification awarded on successful completion. Are mobiles the best places for confidential and private counselling services that our young people often need and want?

Do our local councillors and Council honestly believe that they will be fulfilling all the necessary criteria in meeting what is a statutory service for this area?

Perhaps these questions will be answered at next weeks public meeting. If you have any and are unable to attend the meeting then please do contact me at taxwizzardATgmailDOTcom and I will be more than happy to raise them on your behalf.

I've concentrated on the loss of a permanent youth service but have said nothing about the sale of The Manor House itself. Just one question: what will become of it?

The Start of Living the Dream

Tittesworth Reservoir seen from The Roaches..all in beautiful Staffordshire

If you're a regular reader you'll know how much I value the great outdoors. Be it walking, cycling or merely observing I love taking in the beauty all around me. It has been a constant in my adult life, savoured, loved and enjoyed. I never seem to be able to get enough of the natural beauties that are available free to anyone that cares to look.

A little while ago an opportunity presented itself which in short led us to purchase a second hand touring caravan. We had talked for some time about a campervan but the practicalities involved pointed us towards the tourer. Our aim is to utilise as much time as we can going away for weekends and longer, any time that we have available and living as close to nature and her beauties as our decrepit middle aged bodies will put up with! We were conscious of how middle aged making such a purchase might seem to some but since when have I ever cared what other people thought about personal decisions? If I'm reaching my dotage then bring it on.

So it was that this weekend we embarked upon our maiden trip. We didn't want to venture too far from home. This was to be a trip of discovery, how we would get on, how we would feel, how the towing would evolve. We chose to stay at Blackshaw Moor, just by The Roaches on the Staffordshire Moorlands. The journey there was uneventful and within an hour of arrival we had booked in, pitched, hooked up, unpacked, had hot water and heating and were sitting enjoying a cup of coffee. It took us less than an hour to reverse all those things on our departure this morning!

Total and pure relaxation. It  was a delight to wake up and watch the birds in such close proximity, just a few feet away from where we sat or lay in comfort and warmth. There were finches galore, sparrows and thrushes within an arms-length. We were fortunate; the sun shone all weekend and the site was a good, clean, family site with peace descending by 10 pm. The Roaches visible from the window, looked majestic. We walked a great deal. We climbed The Roaches and walked on to Lud's Church which isn't a church but a chasm that has been a place of spirituality for hundreds if not thousands of years. We watched peregrine falcons nesting in the wild, heard cuckoo's and spotted skylarks, dozens of them.  We also walked around Tittesworth Reservoir and beyond and then followed a cycling polka dot challenge through the hills with me feeling that the cyclists were mad and Aiden reveling in the thought of a future ride!

We enjoyed a few drinks in welcoming local hostelries and were amazed at the creativity of the villagers of Meerbrook and their scarecrows but most of all we enjoyed being free of cares and worries and having time to enjoy each others company. It was bliss. Simple bliss.

To the Manor Born again.....

Back in July 2011 I blogged the following about The Manor House Youth Club in Aldridge. Seems they've gone and pulled the rug from under the young people of Aldridge and surrounding areas. The Manor will close on 31st August. Seems the six councillors of Aldridge don't know an awful lot about this. Why not? Whose interests do they represent? Why has there been no consultation as promised and why are the people of Aldridge the last to know about this?


We are all in this together. Well unless you're young, old, infirm, disabled, unwell or perhaps a single parent, then you have to shoulder a little more because after all it was the greed of such groups that caused the mess the country is apparently in right now. Taking on that little extra hurts and it seems that government be it local or national is taking the lead sadistic role with pleasure but then that's what sadists do.

I've blogged before about inclusion and provision for young people and also a little about my utopian pipe dreams of how local life can be made a little better for all by concentrating resources in a positive and pointed way towards our young people. They are as the cliché goes, our future. Love 'em or loathe 'em it's the young people of today who are going to be taking care of us in the years to come, so you would think we would like to make sure that they get a good start, learn some decent values and have a little fun along the way in order to develop into the well rounded adults that we want caring for us old dodderers.

I learned my life skills from a variety of sources including in my teenage years, The Manor House Youth Club in Aldridge. I learned about mixing with others who didn't go to my school, didn't come from my estate, didn't share my religion, race or sexual orientation, or my taste in music or TV viewing. There were never any arguments about what channel the TV should be on when Charlie's Angels was on and I recall the collective experience, joyful though we were not Scousers, of seeing Liverpool beat Borussia Monchengladbach in 1977 but those times apart, selection of the right channel required careful bargaining and negotiating skills. This was true of getting on pool tables or table football or even selection of records on the old juke box in the coffee lounge. Oh what innocent times, well except Friday nights and the disco when it seemed to me that every teenager in Aldridge was indulging in a snogfest except me! Well I suppose even that has to be learned. The point is that The Manor provided a safe environment for me and all the other young people in the area, under the supervision of some pretty excellent Youth Leaders to be ourselves and to endure the pains, trials, tribulations and angst of the teenage years.

When I arrived back in Aldridge after a long exile in London I was pleased to discover that The Manor was still there and still functioning in pretty much the same way as it had when I was a spotty teenager albeit with a beautifully equipped music room and much better facilities in general than the 1970s. My son has spent many happy hours there, indeed he even did his Year 10 work experience there under the wonderful supervision of a very dedicated Youth Worker by the name of Matt Gough, sadly for the young people of Aldridge now working elsewhere. My daughter is now of an age when she can enjoy the delights of a vibrant youth centre. Unfortunately it looks as though the experience is to be ripped away from her in the name of budget deficit sadists.

Back on 6th April Walsall Council announced it plans to sell Aldridge Manor House. My immediate thought was what is going to happen to the youth provision? I spent the next couple of weeks tweeting @Walsall Council to no avail and so on 10th May I submitted a Freedom of Information Request to the council and asked 'Once the sale is agreed and goes ahead, will the Youth Club held at the Manor House be closed or will it be relocated to other premises in Aldridge?' The response was a very long time in arriving considering all it consisted of was one devastating sentence

'I can confirm that any decisions in the future relating to the Youth Club will be subject to consultation with all interested parties and will include efforts to relocate the service.'

So there we have it. There are to be consultations on the future of Aldridge Manor House Youth Service...when? Has the decision to withdraw youth provision in Aldridge already been made behind closed doors where the walls had no ears? And these 'efforts', what will they consist of? I've been racking my brains to try and come up with a set of suitable premises in Aldridge that could be converted (no doubt at some considerable cost thereby rendering such a plan non-viable in the financially penny pinching climate of the moment) for our young people and I cannot think of any. How concerted will such 'efforts' be or, forgive me for being cynical I've lived a while after all, is this it? The end of something so valuable for all our futures and all because some are more in it together than others?

Another cynical thought. Aldridge Manor House is a Grade 2 listed building. Who would want to buy such a building, standing as it does in the very heart of a conservation area in Aldridge with the sort of restrictions that such buildings bring with regard to usage? I fear the heat of the flames that will inevitably follow after years of neglect and dereliction. It appears after all to be a Borough Wide Sport here in Walsall, available to all as long as they have patience, money and a steadfast belief that local authorities and local communities are to be ignored at all costs

Will any of the six councillors for Aldridge North and South make a stand for the young people of Aldridge and pledge support for ensuring that youth provision for the area remains in place or will they continue to play follow the leader?

When you take the 'service' out of Civil Service

A few days ago HMRC announced that they are closing all 281 of it's Enquiry Centres. There's no getting around this; it's a cost cutting measure but they still have the cheek to say that they will provide a modern and accessible service to 'customers' who need it. Apparently they will offer a 'more specialised phone service' and also 'home visits'.

This is a travesty.

One of the reasons given for closing the enquiry offices is that they're just not being used the way they used to be. There's been a drop in the numbers visiting the centres of 50% since 2005/06. This is hardly surprising when you take into account that since then, the centres have reduced their opening hours and have also been part of a an enormous departmental reorganisation which has meant that most people haven't got a clue where their local enquiry centre is. Many were closed during reorganisations meaning that people didn't really have access to a 'local' service at all any longer but had to travel to a new centre.

I recall back in the 1980s the union arguing against the closure of local enquiry offices precisely because if they weren't local and serving their local community then there was in effect no service. I also recall from my own personal experience when I was a local case worker with my own allocation of work what a valuable service was offered and how much it was valued by those who used it. I knew many of my own people name, could recall instantly their history and how I might need to handle them. I also remember my 'regulars' who just wanted me to go through what had been sent to them, 'just to make sure' that everything was OK.

Now who can argue against home visits? At first thought it seems like such a good idea but two problems instantly spring to mind. HMRC are known for their 'fishing' visits and how they gather information on a taxpayers personal circumstances by visits to homes and business premises. Some of this information can be sadly wrong because of supposition and that can have devastating consequences for the individual involved. If you're offered a home visit I strongly urge you to ask them to book a room at their expense in a public building! Secondly we all know how vulnerable people can be prey to unscrupulous and criminal people calling at their doors. Letting HMRC out on the loose just gives those with bad intentions another organisation to use in pretence at gaining entry to someones home.

HMRC have come in for a lot of very justified criticism over the telephone helplines they run. People are quite literally left hanging on the telephone waiting for their call to be answered. In years gone by you called your local office and spoke to whoever it was that personally dealt with your tax affairs. Sadly that sort of caseworker no longer exists and you cannot call your local office but only a call centre. This means that rarely will you get a decent explanation of exactly what is happening with your tax affairs because in truth, no one person has ownership of them anymore. Yet HMRC now say that telephones are the only way that you will be able to have a real conversation with them, unless of course you're invited in for an investigation interview. It must not be forgotten that all of HMRCs contact numbers are now 0845 and can therefore cost some people an awful lot of money. To be left waiting for a human voice after the instant initial greeting is in my opinion unforgivable in terms of delivering an effective public service.It is sad that HMRC seem to be running what should be a public service as a business  and counting up the cost of providing a face to face service that really should be seen as essential. What they have failed to realise is that many of the people that do visit the enquiry centres are vulnerable people that need the reassurance of friendly and courteous face to face contact and are by default therefore, likely to prove to be 'expensive' customers, sorry, I mean taxpayers.

Many would say 'hey it's only HMRC' but let's not forget that this department oversees Tax Credits, National Insurance, Customs duties and VAT, as well as Income Tax. These are really complicated subjects for many people to understand. We should making access to information easier not harder to obtain for ordinary people. Or maybe I'm just a dinosaur who still believes that public services are worth fighting for?

Once HMRC could be proud of the personal service it offered. Now that service is to become merely a memory.  For some the service is already a shadow of its former self with staff ill informed and badly trained compared to twenty or even ten years ago. For many staff who work there  finding their own inability to offer a decent service is frustrating and against their own public service principals. Believe it or not many civil servants do actually want to fulfil their role as a service provider and be proud of it.

HMRC say that plans are not yet final but will be dependent upon the pilot that is to be run in the North East but we all know that pilots rarely fail in the eyes of those who most want them to succeed whatever the actual results are.

Little thought has been given to viable alternatives to closing all enquiry centres. One idea that occurred to me is that advice staff could be placed in every Job Centre so that a dual role could be given to such offices and ensure their survival in the future. I'm sure that there are many other ideas out there. The best idea though would be to abandon this badly thought out initiative. HMRC is a public service performed by civil servants. The clue is in the word 'service'. It is not just a service to the government of the day in raising and collecting taxes so that our country can run it's schools, hospitals, roads and so on but it is also a service to the people who pay those taxes.