Councillor Paul Hayes "The aspiration should not be for imitation for the Lyndale School, we have the real thing"

Councillor Paul Hayes “The aspiration should not be for imitation for the Lyndale School, we have the real thing”

Councillor Paul Hayes “The aspiration should not be for imitation for the Lyndale School, we have the real thing”

                                             

On the day that Wirral Council fires the starting gun in the local elections with the publication of the notice of election giving candidates until 4pm on Thursday 9th April to submit their nomination papers, I thought it would be good to look back at an issue that has divided the political parties on Wirral Council which was the decision to close Lyndale School.

When Wirral Council met last month to decide its budget for 2015/16 the Conservatives submitted an amendment to Labour’s schools budget. As the amendment was short I will repeat it here:

The Lyndale School

Council recognises the unique and caring environment provided by The Lyndale School to children with profound and multiple learning difficulties. Council acknowledges the value of this facility and affirms its belief that such provision should remain at The Lyndale School.

Council, having regard to the overwhelming support given to the campaign to keep The Lyndale School open by the public of Wirral recognises that The Lyndale School should remain open and wishes to bring to an end the anguish and uncertainty that has been heaped on pupils and their parents and carers throughout this whole sorry saga.

Accordingly, Council requests Cabinet to issue a Revocation Notice to consult on proposals to stop all current and planned action being taken to close The Lyndale School immediately. Should this be approved, Cabinet is further requested to instruct officers to commence negotiations with the Schools Forum and other relevant stakeholders in relation to the High Needs Funding Formula so as to identify and secure adequate funding to enable The Lyndale School to remain open from 1 April 2016. The revised High Needs Funding Formula shall be expressly detailed in the Schools Budget for 2016/17.

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Councillor Paul Hayes speaks about Lyndale School 24th February 2015
Councillor Paul Hayes speaks about Lyndale School 24th February 2015

Here’s what Councillor Paul Hayes had to say on the Conservative amendment to the Schools Budget:

Mr Mayor, tonight we will expect the usual debates on the principles of budgetary principles for the Council and how we prioritise taxpayers’ money to deliver services, but the fact is Mr Mayor this issue, the Lyndale School is not about money. So much has already been confirmed throughout this entire process both by the Cabinet Member and by council officers.

Mr Mayor, this is about, this isn’t about cuts from above, it’s about choices on the ground, choices in this Town Hall and in this Chamber this evening. It’s about how you choose to care and educate for some of the most vulnerable children in our community, children with some of the most profound and multiple learning difficulties and Mr Mayor surely there can be no doubt that the excellent caring and learning environment provided to the children of Lyndale School for so long should continue to be done so at the Lyndale School in Eastham.

The aspiration should not be for imitation for the Lyndale School, we have the real thing, right here in Wirral. Surely Members will join me in the fight to keep it?

Mr Mayor, the Council needs to listen to the real experts in this issue, the parents, the staff and the carers of the pupils of Lyndale. These families who have stood steadfast in defence of this excellent school. We shouldn’t be blindly accepting the views of an expert consultant who charged us £10,000 for the benefit of her advice and as I’ve learned today an extra £500 when called to give evidence at the call in.

Mr Mayor, the Lyndale campaign was of course and as we’ve heard tonight from other Members been recently boosted by Dawn Hughes and her daughter Ellie, I know that Dawn is in the public gallery this evening. She secured backing of a tribunal in her battle to keep Ellie at the School which gives her so much security and comfort.

Mr Mayor, if a learned and I’m sure very distinguished tribunal judge and its two lay panel members recognise the uniqueness of Lyndale School and the real harm moving children from this environment would cause then why can’t Wirral Council?

Mr Mayor, I know some of the Labour Members are very uncomfortable with the decision to close Lyndale School. I appeal to them to make their votes count tonight. This amendment, this second amendment does not put the Labour Budget at risk, it corrects an appalling decision which should never have been made and it halts the anguish which has been caused upon some of the most vulnerable families in our society. I know that it’s difficult to vote a different way to friends and colleagues in the same group and I should know as I’m probably going to do that at item 7a.

However Mr Mayor, this is too much of an important issue to be decided on imposed party whip or as Councillor Sullivan alluded to the block vote. I note that neither the Leader of the Council nor Councillor Tony Smith (the Cabinet Member) have mentioned the Lyndale School in their contributions earlier. I hope Members will not forget Lyndale amongst the political wrangling of tonight and vote to keep this crucial and vital school community.

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Wirral Council pay £172,910 + VAT + expenses to consultants to help find £2.5 million of savings (Future Council)

Wirral Council pay £172,910 + VAT + expenses to consultants to help find £2.5 million of savings (Future Council)

Wirral Council pay £172,910 + VAT + expenses to consultants to help find £2.5 million of savings (Future Council)

                                   

Future Council Wirral logo
Future Council Wirral logo

Information revealed by Wirral Council in response to a Freedom of Information Act request by Councillor Paul Hayes has stated that fifty-three of its staff are working on the “Future Council” project, which is the current consultation (closing on the 31st October 2014) to find £2.5 million of savings. The “Future Council” consultation launch was reported on by this blog earlier this month.

All fifty-three staff were asked to sign “confidentiality statements” and “conflict of interest” forms to do with their “Future Council” work. Councillors on Wirral Council’s three scrutiny committees have recently agreed to behind closed doors meetings to discuss the budget options during the consultation period.

However Wirral Council also revealed that the “Future Council” project is also supported by a team of four consultants from EY (previously called Ernst and Young) at a cost of £172,910 + VAT + expenses. This comes on top of a recent scandal about another set of consultants that Wirral Council hired called V4 being paid more than was authorised by politicians (as revealed by the Liverpool Echo in the last few days).

Certainly Wirral Council paying outside consultants £172,910 + VAT + expenses will not go down well with either the trade unions or staff facing the prospect of being made redundant.

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How did 62 Wirral Council councillors vote on Lyndale School?

How did 62 Wirral Council councillors vote on Lyndale School?

How did 62 Wirral Council councillors vote on Lyndale School?

                                      

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This continues from yesterday’s Councillors ask Labour to keep Lyndale School open; Labour defers decision on Lyndale to September Cabinet meeting.

Councillor Jeff Green said that the children attending Lyndale School had complex and profound medical conditions with a significant number being life limiting. In his opinion they had a moral obligation to meet the wishes of the parents to continue their child’s education at Lyndale. He said that the direct schools grant was ring-fenced for education so no savings would be made by closing Lyndale.

He continued by referring to the over ten thousand people that had signed a petition against closure. If Lyndale closed, the children would transfer to other schools which catered for children with very different needs. Cllr Green referred to the review of primary places and the reasons given by officers for closing Kingsway Primary School in Seacombe. The Conservative councillors had voted to keep it open and it had thrived since receiving an outstanding OFSTED inspection. He asked the [Labour] administration to have a change of heart and keep the school open as it was a facility doing an “outstanding job”.

The Mayor (Cllr Steve Foulkes) said it had been remiss of his not to congratulate Cllr Pat Cleary on his maiden speech. He asked Cllr Hayes to give his right to reply.

Cllr Hayes also took the opportunity to congratulate Cllr Cleary on his maiden speech and referred to what Cllr Cleary had said earlier about a previous consultation where the Leader of the Council had expedited a proposal based on an early evaluation of consultation responses. He asked why is it they have to wait till 4th September when the consultation ended on the 25th June? In debating the notice of motion Council was taking a view and making a recommendation which it had done many times on different issues.

He referred to the consultation process and the glowing terms and how it was held out as an example of good practice by both Cllr Phil Davies and Cllr Tony Smith. However questions put by parents to Wirral Council had been answered on the final day of the consultation, so where was the “equality of arms”. He said it was time to end the “misery and pain” and time that the Cabinet made a resolution that Lyndale was to remain open.

A card vote was called for. The first vote was on Labour’s amendment (to defer any decision on the future of Lyndale School to a special meeting of Cabinet in September).

Cllr Ron Abbey (Labour) FOR
Cllr Tom Anderson (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Bruce Berry (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Chris Blakeley (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Eddie Boult (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Alan Brighouse (Liberal Democrat) AGAINST
Cllr Philip Brightmore (Labour) FOR
Cllr Chris Carubia (Liberal Democrat) AGAINST
Cllr Pat Cleary (Green) AGAINST
Cllr Jim Crabtree (Labour) FOR
Cllr Matt Daniel (Labour) FOR
Cllr George Davies (Labour) FOR
Cllr Phil Davies (Labour) FOR
Cllr Bill Davies (Labour) FOR
Cllr Paul Doughty (Labour) FOR
Cllr David Elderton (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Gerry Ellis (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Steve Foulkes (Labour) ABSTAIN
Cllr Phil Gilchrist (Liberal Democrat) AGAINST
Cllr Jeff Green (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Robert Gregson (Labour) FOR
Cllr Pat Hackett (Labour) FOR
Cllr Paul Hayes (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Andrew Hodson (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Kathy Hodson (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Mike Hornby (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Treena Johnson (Labour) FOR
Cllr Adrian Jones (Labour) FOR
Cllr Chris Jones (Labour) FOR
Cllr Stuart Kelly (Liberal Democrat) AGAINST
Cllr Anita Leech (Labour) FOR
Cllr Ann McLachlan (Labour) FOR
Cllr Moira McLaughlin (Labour) FOR
Cllr Dave Mitchell (Liberal Democrat) AGAINST
Cllr Bernie Mooney (Labour) FOR
Cllr Christina Muspratt (Labour) FOR
Cllr Steve Niblock (Labour) FOR
Cllr Tony Norbury (Labour) FOR
Cllr Matthew Patrick (Labour) FOR
Cllr Denise Realey (Labour) FOR
Cllr Louise Reecejones (Labour) FOR
Cllr Lesley Rennie (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Les Rowlands (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr John Salter (Labour) FOR
Cllr Harry Smith (Labour) FOR
Cllr Tony Smith (Labour) FOR
Cllr Tracey Smith (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Walter Smith (Labour) FOR
Cllr Chris Spriggs (Labour) FOR
Cllr Jean Stapleton (Labour) FOR
Cllr Mike Sullivan (Labour) FOR
Cllr Adam Sykes (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Joe Walsh (Labour) FOR
Cllr Geoffrey Watt (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Stuart Whittingham (Labour) FOR
Cllr Irene Williams (Labour) FOR
Cllr Jerry Williams (Labour) FOR
Cllr Pat Williams (Liberal Democrat) AGAINST
Cllr Steve Williams (Conservative) AGAINST
Cllr Janette Williamson (Labour) FOR

The vote was announced as 35 in favour, 26 against with one abstention. There was then a card vote on the motion (as amended by Labour’s amendment).

So the decision made was to defer a decision on Lyndale School to a special meeting of the Cabinet on September 4th.

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Councillor Paul Hayes: “I would be concerned if they were meetings behind closed doors”

Councillor Paul Hayes: “I would be concerned if they were meetings behind closed doors”

Councillor Paul Hayes: “I would be concerned if they were meetings behind closed doors”

                    

Yesterday’s Families and Wellbeing Policy and Performance Committee started the right way with people from the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre to discuss with the Committee the reasons behind their proposals. I’ve already outlined what is proposed in a previous blog post titled EXCLUSIVE: NHS Consultation on impact on 2,269 Wirral cancer patients of Clatterbridge inpatient and outpatient cuts. You can hear people from Clatterbridge Cancer Centre explain the proposals and answer questions in the video below.

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However the decision made by the Committee at the end of the discussion was that the change proposed was substantial, so that means a joint scrutiny committee will be created. Wirral Council’s representatives on that joint scrutiny committee will be Cllr Moira McLaughlin and Cllr Wendy Clements (the names of a number of deputies were also mentioned at the meeting).

Then Andrew Cranshaw of NHS of the NHS England Team spoke to his report on their two year plan. A number of questions were asked by councillors on subjects such as health screening, NHS changes and health visitors.

The next item was the Future Council item which Claire Fish spoke at length about during a Powerpoint presentation (one of many long Powerpoint presentations during the meeting). The Future Council proposals will go out to public consultation in September and seem to be the new name for what was called last year “What Really Matters?”. Councillors asked questions about the Central Advice and Duty Team, shared services and other matters. The comments made to the end of this item (which start at 3:54 in the video clip link to) are interesting as they show a different approach now Labour are chairing this Committee rather than a Conservative councillor.

COUNCILLOR MOIRA MCLAUGHLIN (CHAIR)
Does anybody else want to ask a question? Can I take you back to the two last questions and take a feel about the way you’d like to approach them, myself I feel that the formal meeting, errm this doesn’t allows us to give sufficient time in my view, to give an in depth investigations and I would prefer the workshop approach. Obviously we’re taking the views of the Coordinating Committee. Can I just take a feel and views on that?

COUNCILLOR MIKE HORNBY
Chair, we discussed this previously and it does seem to me that it’s certainly to achieve anything we’ve got to look at the detail and with this room involved you cannot have the number of people sitting round this table to look at the detail. It’s just not possible. So I think what’s being suggested, I won’t be involved with, but I think that is the right way forward.

COUNCILLOR MOIRA MCLAUGHLIN (CHAIR)
OK, thank you very much and thanks to you Claire and I’ll move on if everybody’s ok with that, ok sorry Wendy, sorry.

COUNCILLOR WENDY CLEMENTS (CONSERVATIVE SPOKESPERSON)
Just a brief comment Moira, as well as workshops so that everybody can be involved in the meeting I would suggest as was discussed at the briefing that we might need a longer time as well so that we don’t have to rush through things at a time when people could be increasingly …

COUNCILLOR MOIRA MCLAUGHLIN (CHAIR)
Right, ok let’s see if we can get together and…

COUNCILLOR TONY NORBURY
Isn’t the economics that drives that?

COUNCILLOR MOIRA MCLAUGHLIN (CHAIR)
Well I actually think that there is some work we can probably do to work out now, best to come up with something settled and different workstreams. Yes?

COUNCILLOR PAUL HAYES
Just a point which occurred to me in relation to what seems to be the consensus and the preference for workshop working if you like. I’d be concerned that we ensure that those types of meetings or workshops are accessible to the public perhaps and there’s built in accountability with it.

COUNCILLOR MOIRA MCLAUGHLIN (CHAIR)
OK (nodding).

COUNCILLOR PAUL HAYES
I would be concerned if they were meetings behind closed doors.

COUNCILLOR MOIRA MCLAUGHLIN (CHAIR)
It was raised at the meeting of the Coordinating Committee about concerns about that. OK, thanks very much and thanks for your input, errm there’s still a lot to do there and I take on board your comments on that.

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