Debate Magazine
The much vaunted Savage Tory Cuts are no such thing of course, this is largely shroud waving. Here's an example to warm the cockles of the heart. From the BBC: Councils in England are using public health budgets to fund other services, the British Medical Journal has said. Local councils in England took over responsibility - and funding - for public health last April. The BMJ says Freedom of Information requests reveal a third have stopped at least one public health service, with money being spent on other services such as parks and leisure instead... The BMJ report says it found "examples of councils reducing funding for a wide range of public health services, including those for substance misuse, sexual health, smoking cessation, obesity, and school nursing". Public health funds had been diverted to other areas including trading standards, citizens' advice bureaux, domestic abuse services*, housing, parks and green spaces, and sport and leisure centres, it said. The caption at the top of the article says "Measures to tackle smoking and drinking come under the public health remit" which is complete and utter rubbish, because that's not what public health is. Neither is obesity. Public health is refuse collection, inspecting food outlets for cleanliness, tackling vermin, making sure the sewers work, testing immigrants for TB, teaching children to cross the road safely etc. So it seems to me that local councils are spending less on nannying and more on the sort of stuff we expect them to do. Amen to that, brothers! * They don't read each other's memos any more. From another of today' articles by the BBC Thousands of people are at risk of harm or even murder because of widespread police failure in England and Wales to tackle domestic abuse, a report says.
