The motion was moved by Councillor David Williams and seconded by Councillor Hamish Badenoch.

 

The Labour amendment as set out in agenda item 21 was moved by Councillor Tobin Byers and seconded by Councillor Mike Brunt.

 

Councillor Abdul Latif spoke on the motion.

 

A recorded vote on the amendment to the motion was taken and the amendment was carried. 

 

Votes in favour: Councillors Agatha Akyigyina, Stephen Alambritis, Mark Allison, Stan Anderson, Laxmi Attawar, Michael Brunt, Tobin Byers, David Chung, Caroline Cooper-Marbiah, Pauline Cowper, Mary Curtin, John Dehaney, Nick Draper, Brenda Fraser, Fidelis Gadzama, Ross Garrod, Joan Henry, Mary-Jean Jeanes, Abigail Jones, Philip Jones, Andrew Judge, Sally Kenny, Linda Kirby, Edith Macauley, Russell Makin, Peter McCabe, Ian Munn, Katy Neep, Jerome Neil, Dennis Pearce, Judy Saunders, Marsie Skeete Geraldine Stanford, Imran Uddin, Gregory Udeh, Martin Whelton (36).

 

Votes against:  Councillors Hamish Badenoch, John Bowcott, Michael Bull, Adam Bush, Charlie Chirico, Stephen Crowe, Suzanne Grocott, Daniel Holden, James Holmes, Janice Howard, Abdul Latif, Najeeb Latif, Brian Lewis-Lavender, Gilli Lewis-Lavender, Oonagh Moulton, David Simpson, Linda Taylor, Jill West, David Williams (19).

 

Not voting: Councillors Edward Foley, John Sargeant, Peter Southgate (3).

 

The substantive motion (as amended) was agreed. The Conservative councillors abstained from the vote.

 

RESOLVED:  That this Council:

 

1) Notes remarks made by Conservative MP Dr Sarah Wollaston, Chair of the Health Select Committee:

 

‘The political response to a health and care system in severe distress, and more importantly to the people it serves, has been dismal.  There has been a failure to grasp the scale of the financial challenge facing both health and social care and the consequences and inefficiency of their continuing separation.’

 

2) Notes remarks made by Lord Porter, Conservative Chair of the Local Government Association:

 

‘Social care faces a funding gap of at least £2.6bn by 2020. The government must recognise why social care matters and treat it as a national priority.’

 

And

 

‘Council tax rises will not be enough to prevent the need for continued cutbacks to social care services and very many other valued local services.’

 

And

 

‘There needs to be an urgent and fundamental review of social care and health before next year’s spring Budget. It also needs to include action to properly fund social care with genuinely new government money. This is now the only way to protect the services caring for our elderly and disabled people, which are at breaking point and ensure they can enjoy dignified, healthy and independent lives, live in their own community and stay out of hospital for longer.’

 

And

 

“The Government must recognise why social care matters and treat it as a national priority.”

 

3) Notes remarks made by the Leader of the Council during 2016 on the level of Council Tax levy in 2017/18 and to engage in a consultation with the public:

 

‘Now, if residents tell us they want to pay more council tax I am happy to go

along with that.

 

‘For me it is what the residents want that counts. I will be fully consulting

residents on next year’s budget and if they tell me they want to pay more, in

the light of demographic changes, then I will follow their lead.

 

‘I was elected to serve local residents and that is what I will do’

 

(Leader’s Speech - Budget Council Meeting, 2 March 2016)

 

and

 

4) That in respect of the consultation process:

 

‘…we will consult residents and members handed it all over, in the way they

should, at arm’s length to ensure unbiased consultation, in keeping with

Cabinet Office criteria on consultation.

‘That’s exactly what I have done.’

 

(Councillors’ Questions – Council Meeting, 14 September 2016)

 

and

 

5) With regard to his Administration:

 

‘In Labour we believe in straight talking, honest politics. Some people think

we should try and weasel our way out of it but that is not the new politics we

practise here’

 

(Leader’s Speech - Budget Council Meeting, 2 March 2016)

 

6) Notes the unanimous position of Merton’s Overview and Scrutiny Commission at their meeting on 26 January 2017:

 

‘1.The Commission recognises that Cabinet has acknowledged that the growing cost of adult social care is not temporary and is something for which the Council must make provision.

2.The Commission urges Cabinet to look at the budget situation beyond 2017/18 and askes Cabinet to consider a number of options including, but not limited to

a) an increase in council tax;

b) review earmarked reserves to see whether they meet the purpose for which they were originally intended and, where this is not the case, to release them for use to partially address the predicted budget gap

c) continue to focus on the savings that will still have to be made, and to bring forward savings where it has been identified that these could be achieved sooner;

d) recognise that this still won’t be enough to meet the growing burden of adult social care, as set out in the following statement from the Local Government Association (12 January 2017):

“Council tax raising powers announced by government will not bring in enough money to fully protect the services which care for elderly and vulnerable people today and in the future.

Genuinely new government money is now the only way to protect the services caring for our elderly and disabled people and ensure they can enjoy dignified,healthy and independent lives, live in their own community and stay out of hospital for longer”

The Commission urges Cabinet to give its full support to the LGA and London

Councils in their efforts to secure a properly funded settlement from government.’

 

In recognition of the national crisis this government has allowed to explode in adult social care, and its refusal to give councils a penny extra in real funding to look after older and disabled residents,

 

Cabinet on 16 January 2017 proposed an additional £9m growth in the adult social care budget. Clearly this growth cannot be funded by council tax increases alone, even if this were fair on our residents. In the complete absence of any additional resources from government, all options for funding growth including levying the government’s adult social care precept will be assessed by Cabinet. Council notes that Cabinet will bring forward recommendations for its budget for 2017/18 and the MTFS for 2018/19 on 13 February in the usual manner, having also considered the feedback from the Scrutiny process and the results of the consultation on spending and council tax levels, and these recommendations will form the basis of the Cabinet’s recommendations when they are brought to its Budget setting meeting on 1 March 2017.  In advance of this, council welcomes the administration’s efforts  to allay the fears of our vulnerable and elderly residents and re-assure them that the Council cares for their needs by maximising its available resources and proposing the allocation of additional funding for adult social care; and calls on the government to end its refusal to properly fund the nation’s adult social care and end the social care crisis afflicting our country.