Agenda item

To receive the report of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services on any Notices of Motion received by him (Lilac pages).  Councillors are asked to note that any Notices of Motion must be received by the Head of Legal and Democratic Services no later than noon on Thursday, 5 November 2015.

The Council had before it a Notice of Motion standing in the names of Mr P Denham, Mr R C Lunn, Mr P M McDonald and Mr R M Udall.

The Notice of Motion was moved by Mr P Denham and seconded by Ms P A Hill who both spoke in favour of it.

The Council then agreed to consider and deal with the Motion on the day.

An amendment was then moved by Mr J P Campion and seconded by Mr M L Bayliss.

In response to a query from one of the signatories to the original motion the Head of Legal and Democratic Services gave advice on the validity of the amendment stating that it did not negate the multi-faceted original motion.

The Council then debated the amendment during which the following principal points were made;

·         the Council's reputation had been damaged in what had become a lamentable series of claims and counter claims

·         genuine concerns had been raised about the continued capacity to provide for children with SEN causing much apprehension to parents of such students

·         that if the Council was going to continue with commissioning of services this was not the way to build confidence and trust either in the process or the outcomes it sought to achieve.

Other members suggested:

·         that the commissioning process was part of a long-term approach to provide the best services for the people of Worcestershire

·         contracts of this kind would become the  norm to ensure the County Council could meet the Government's requirements for leaner operations in a challenging economic environment

·         in this case there had been a delay in signing off the Transformation Plan. A mistake had been made but now corrected

·         that the debate had gone beyond even the "cut and thrust" of a political chamber but must not detract from the determination to change the way the Council operated.

On a named vote the Amendment:

"This Council awarded a contract to Babcock International to provide support services, including administration and some specialist staff for pupils with disabilities and early years schooling.

391 workers were transferred into Babcock's employment as part of the commissioning process.

Council recognises that Babcock should have agreed its transition plan with the Council and regrets the alarm and distress caused to parents of children who are worried about the level of support for their children at school that this miscommunication caused.

Council appreciates the valuable work all our former employees have done to help our children, the schools and this Council in improving outcomes for children in Worcestershire.

Council endorses the Chief Executive's message to all staff in October 2015 “You may have seen the media coverage this week on Babcock's first few weeks in delivering Learning and Achievement services. The press coverage was unfortunate and I want to apologise for any upset that it caused particularly for those involved. We've commissioned these services to make sure that we're best able to continue to deliver outstanding results for our children and young people and after much work Cabinet agreed these can be delivered most effectively by another provider. This also reflects the changing relationship between schools and the local authority and these reductions within the service would likely to have been higher if the service was to remain in house. This is a period of consultation within Babcock in which staff and the council's views will be considered as part of the process.”

Council believes that transparency, value for money and improved outcomes for children should remain at the heart of commissioned services.

Therefore Council calls upon the Cabinet Member responsible to continue to work with Babcock International and our partners to achieve improved outcomes for young people in Worcestershire."

was carried.

Those voting for the Amendment were:

Mr I Hopwood, Mr A A J Adams, Mr R C Adams, Mr A T Amos, Mr R W Banks, Mr M L Bayliss, Mr A N Blagg, Mrs S L Blagg, Mr M H Broomfield, Mr J P Campion, Mr S J M Clee, Mrs P E Davey, Mr N Desmond, Mrs E A Eyre, Ms L R Duffy, Mr S E Geraghty, Mr W P Gretton, Mrs J L M A Griffiths, Mr P Grove, Mr A I Hardman, Mr M J Hart, Mrs A T Hingley, Mrs L C Hodgson, Mr A P Miller, Dr K A Pollock, Mr D W Prodger, Mr  A C Roberts, Mr J H Smith, Mr C B Taylor, Mr P A Tuthill and Mr G C Yarranton (31)

Those voting against were:

Ms P Agar, Mrs S Askin, Mr J Baker, Mr C J Bloore, Mr S C Cross, Mr P Denham, Mr A Fry, Ms P A Hill, Mr M E Jenkins, Ms R E Jenkins, Mr R C Lunn, Mr L C R Mallett, Mr P M McDonald, Mrs F M Oborski, Mr S R Peters, Mrs M A Rayner, Mrs E B Tucker, Mr R M Udall, Mr G J Vickery and Mr T A L Wells (20)

The substantive motion as amended was then carried.

(Mr A P Miller, Vice-Chairman in the Chair)