Lyndale School Consultation Meeting: Tom Harney “it’s amazing the things that go on” (part 8)

Lyndale School Consultation Meeting: Tom Harney “it’s amazing the things that go on” (part 8)

Lyndale School Consultation Meeting: Tom Harney “it’s amazing the things that go on” (part 8)

 

This continues from Lyndale School Consultation Meeting: Funding, banding and need (part 7).

Tom Harney, Chair of Governors at Lyndale School said, “Thank you very much. My name for those of you that don’t know me is Tom Harney. I’m Chair of governors at the Lyndale School in Eastham. Mention was made in the consultation about academy status and the governing body agreed that we would actually approach the DfE [Department for Education] and put our names on the list and I’ve just had this email, so I do apologise if I’m telling members of the governing body something in fact that they haven’t been told beforehand, but we have got a list from somebody called Holly Turner who works for the Department for Education and she has given us some names of contacts which we will be taking forward and it seems and I didn’t know this but she told me that one proposal in Wirral that’s been progressed is to put special school children in Wallasey School building. That’s interesting isn’t it?

So there we are, it’s amazing the things that go on. So, well there we are, it’s a national system of education and anyway we will be doing that and of course as has been mentioned here there is a problem and that is the amount of money per a child and the reason by the way that we have been talking to the Council about seven or eight years now, is that at no time have we had enough money per a child. The only reason the school is still open, is that we have actually been funded above the places because of course, both the number of children we’ve had a number of places which has been steadily decreasing and it’s a warning signal and the reason is of course it is expensive to give the sort of service that these children need under the formula we’ve got and there’s no way out of that. It is going to cost more money because effectively one to one is true.

You need more or less one to one, one adult per a child and that costs money and it’s a very, very simple exercise to say how much does it cost, because we know how much salaries cost and people attract salaries, so it’s easy and I am horrified really that it wasn’t in the report and finally the third thing is and I would like to reply to what Dave said and what Ian said, Ian Lewis and Dave Mitchell and that is there was a unanimous view, err decision by Council. What happened was in fact arising out of a petition organised by parents, the Council and with one of our parents, or then parents who addressed the Council. There was an agreement that there would be an investigation leading to a policy which would deal with PMLD in this Borough.

The first part of that investigation was done because they asked parents what they thought and then there was going to be a part two. That part two has never been finished and I feel that the reason we did that was to give a robust basis to actually talk out this what we’re talking about now because we knew it was going to happen and we’ve known for several years it was going to happen and we thought it’s logical if you start with the needs of the children, identify what the needs of the children are. Then you work out how much it costs per a child and then you fund it and as has been said one way or another, this has to be funded. Even if it means cross subsidising the school and I don’t think, I think if we’re going to cross subsidise I think all of the parents in the school should be told that because obviously if a child’s got and suffered health problems that our children have got in the school, they have to have the funding and therefore if there is a choice of staff they have to be taken from somewhere else because their lives are not threatened.

So it’s as easy as that, the issues are very simple and I think they’re being obscured by a lot of the discussions but the fact of the matter is, it costs money to educate the children who are in this condition and we, plus health of course and you never mentioned but health put a lot of money in to Lyndale and the other schools, we need jointly to ensure that the lives of these children are the best that they can be. Thank you.”

Tom Harney received a round of applause for what he had said.

Continues at Lyndale School Consultation Meeting: Cllr Dave Mitchell “They need the care they’ve got!” (part 9).

If you click on any of these buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people. Thanks:

Council Meeting (Wirral Council) (11th February 2013) Kate Wood made Honorary Alderman, Debates on Taxes and Spending

A report on the Council meetings (Wirral Council) of 11th February 2013 along with video footage of the latter. The first was an extraordinary meeting to confer the title of Honorary Alderman on Kate Wood. The second was a regular meeting with motions on local government funding, health, housing, elections, benefits, Area Forums, tax credits, payday loans, public sector contracts and Universal Credit.

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Above is the first 2 1/4 hours of the Wirral Councill meeting of 11th February 2013.

Unfortunately the day this finally uploaded, someone rang up my ISP pretending to be the bill payer (my wife) and cancelled the ADSL line (which took a week to set up with another provider).

Prior to the main meeting there was a short (well by Council standards fifteen minutes is short) Extraordinary Meeting to make Kate Wood an Honorary Alderman. As a slight legal footnote for the last two and a half years Wirral Council could also confer the title of Honorary Alderwomen as the last Labour government changed the legislation in 2010. The papers and minutes for that meeting can be found on Wirral Council’s website.

The main meeting that night was much longer.

The first controversial point (at least if you’re a Conservative councillor) was the recommendation from Cabinet for approval by Council that Cllr Steve Foulkes be the Deputy Mayor for 2013/14. However to avoid any long drawn out debate on the merits of Cllr Foulkes as Deputy Mayor, the matter was simply noted on the basis that it’ll be decided at the Annual Council meeting of the 13th May 2013.

As usual only three notices of motion were debated, the first being Labour’s entitled Unfair Cuts in Local Government Funding, along with a Lib Dem amendment.

The second notice was a Conservative motion entitled Council Tax Referendum along with a Labour amendment and Lib Dem amendment.

Around this point I ran out of battery as the meeting was by now two and a quarter hours long.

The last notice of motion debated was a Lib Dem motion entitled Council Finances along with a Labour amendment.

A few of the motions not debated were unanimously agreed (well unanimous except for the abstention of the Mayor) (Vascular Services Review (about moving vascular services from Arrowe Park to the Countess of Chester), “Health Homes” and the Case for Selective Licensing of the Private Rented Sector and Construction Industry Blacklists).

For the rest of the motions and objections there were splits in the vote among party political lines. The first was “Attack on Democracy in Wirral” – a Conservative motion against the move to four yearly elections from 2015/6, the second was “The Empty Rhetoric of Localism” – a Labour motion about Council Tax Benefit, Crisis Loans and Community Care Grants, the third a Conservative objection against abolishing Area Forums and calling for consultation, the fourth a Lib Dem objection to abolishing Area Forums calling for it to be referred to a group of councillors to make recommendations on, the fifth a Labour motion entitled “Cuts to Tax Credits” (as well as a Conservative amendment and Lib Dem amendment), the sixth a Labour motion on “Payday Loans” (as well as a Conservative amendment and Lib Dem amendment), the seventh a Lib Dem motion on “Tax Avoidance and Public Sector Contracts” (as well as a Labour amendment) and the eighth a Lib Dem motion on “Universal Credit” as well as a Labour amendment.

The meeting finished with a number of changes agreed to committee places, after the recent by elections and resignation.

Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 10th September 2012 Item 9 Vascular Services move from Arrowe Park Hospital Part 2

This is part 2 of item 9, (part 1 is here). It is about the proposed move of vascular services from Arrowe Park Hospital to Countess of Chester hospital at Wirral Council’s Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee (Wirral Council) 10th September 2012 Item 9 Vascular Services move from Arrowe Park Hospital Part 1

This is part 1 of item 9, part 2 is here. It starts with Martin McEwan of NHS Wirral talking about the proposed move of vascular services from Arrowe Park Hospital to Countess of Chester hospital at Wirral Council’s Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Please accept YouTube cookies to play this video. By accepting you will be accessing content from YouTube, a service provided by an external third party.

YouTube privacy policy

If you accept this notice, your choice will be saved and the page will refresh.

Area Forum – 8/6/2011 Bidston & Claughton, 8/6/2011 Library, University Academy Birkenhead (formerly Park High) Part 3

A member of the public asked in reference to the minutes about patient representatives and how people got engaged. They felt there was no opportunity to be engaged in the changing nature of affairs. Unfortunately Dr. Mantgani wasn’t present to answer.

At 6:40pm Cllr McLachlan arrived.

Cllr Foulkes answered that the structure was changing with a Health & Wellbeing Board. There would be democratic access and he was confident the Wirral Council would be looking at the structure. He said it may have lay representatives but he wasn’t 100% sure. The Health Scrutiny Board could make representations to that. There would be scrutiny of health and he promised access to the public.

Paul Smith said there were NHS Trust governor elections in the next few weeks and you could put your name forward. Cllr Roberts asked how it had been publicised. The answer given was in the newspapers and on the website.

Michelle Gray said there were a couple of issues on page 7. Any issues raised had received a response from the relevant department. There was concern regarding the Boundary Road pedestrian refuge island which will be monitored. The dumped rubbish was hopefully cleared up. There had been £55000 assigned for grit bins with an allocation of ten bins per a ward (twenty for this Area Forum). There had been 300 requests for new and additional bins.

The Highways Inspectors had been out and the one “nicked” from Borough Road had been replaced. Another four or five were stolen or missing which Technical Services was “looking into”. There was a register for the highways structural maintenance program which was gathering information for 2012/2013. People could either put suggestions on the register or see her at the end of the meeting.