YP Comment: Time to think again on Sheffield jobs and end double standards

Like Environment Secretary Elizabeth Truss who did not defend her corner adequately when it came to spending on flood defences, Mr Javid remains an acolyte of George Osborne, hence his apparent willingness to volunteer more savings to the Treasury than this cost-cutting Chancellor had requested or sought.

The reason is this. Before the steel crisis which dented the Business Secretary’s reputation, and before a Budget which saw the Chancellor’s political stock go into freefall, Mr Javid was being touted as a potential Chancellor if Mr Osborne became Prime Minister in succession to David Cameron. How times change. Given the extent to which both men are now working overtime to restore their political – and economic – reputations, they should begin by halting the proposed closure of the Department of Business regional office in Sheffield, and other cuts that are in the pipeline, until the National Audit Office has assessed the financial viability of the plan and whether relocation costs, and so on, will actually see taxpayers lose out in the long term.

At a time when doubts continue to grow about Mr Osborne’s ability to deliver his Northern Powerhouse agenda, certainly on this side of the Pennines, it does not make sense to be cutting the number of Civil Service jobs in Sheffield – and moving the roles to London – when a One Nation government would be looking to do the reverse. This will not happen when senior politicians appear so pre-occupied with putting their own careers before those areas, like Yorkshire, which are yet to reap the benefits of the Government’s “long-term economic plan”.

Teaching respect. Ministers are off with their heads

IF A headteacher as experienced – and respected – as Maria Townsend feels that they can no longer do their job to the best of their abilities because of perpetual Government interference, what hope is there for the rest of the education profession?

After a 30-year career, the head of Raynville Primary School in Bramley, Leeds, feels that she has no more to give because of “the crushing wave of Government reforms and initiatives”.

The final straw was the imposition of new performance tests which Mrs Townsend describes as “unbelievably tough” and which prompted parents in some areas to withdraw their children from lessons earlier in the week.

At a time when there is a chronic shortage of teachers, schools – and the country for that matter – cannot afford to lose leaders of the calibre of Mrs Townsend. Even the Ofsted inspectors concur. Their most recent report praised the head’s “highly positive impact” and “her very high expectations”. They concluded: “Teachers are held to account but are also given good guidance as to how their teaching can be improved. As a result, both the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement are improving rapidly.”

In other words, parents and pupils could not hope for more. The sadness is that the relationship between the Government and teaching profession is now so strained that Nicky Morgan, the current Education Secretary, probably won’t have the courtesy to reply to this letter. It’s a shame because a more enlightened politician would be offering Mrs Townsend a job – as education advisor.

On weather watch

WHAT A difference a week makes. On this day last week, early morning commuters were scraping snow off their cars as Yorkshire shivered in an unseasonably cold chill that provided a wintry start to the Tour de Yorkshire cycle race.

Fast forward seven days and summer looks to have finally arrived as the region prepares for the warmest weekend of the year as snow mittens are put away, for another week at the very least, and the sunscreen – not seen since last year – is dug out from the back of the cupboard.

With such variations in climate, is it any wonder that Britain is regarded – by some – as a nation of hypochondriac weather obsessives who have nothing better to talk about?

Perhaps the best, and only, course of action is to make the most of the heatwave while it lasts. After all, Yorkshire remains, arguably, the best place in the world to enjoy the great outdoors – and some would contend in all weathers.