I was
proud to read part of John Sullivan’s statement to the Safeguarding Overviewand Scrutiny Committee on 27 November, and to deliver a comment of my own. John
speaks eloquently for himself and on behalf of his daughter, Susan, and other service
users and carers. I am not disabled nor am I a carer for a disabled person, but
you don’t need to be to be concerned about the way Your Choice Barnet is run
and how it affects service users and their family carers. I listened to their
concerns and I read the Task & Finish Group report, and here is what I said
to the Safeguarding Committee that night.
‘You came here
tonight to scrutinize the Task & Finish Group report on the inquiry into
Your Choice Barnet; the residents sitting behind me have come because they have
done so and found the report wanting. The questions that have been asked
and the comments that have been or will be made make three points crystal clear.
‘1 The Group did
not investigate all the issues it sets out on page 1 of the report; specifically
it did not
consider evidence
• from
parents and service users about their experience of the services
•
or from staff and relevant groups on what impact the proposed restructure is
likely to have on services.
‘2 The report contains no evidence for any
of the assumptions, statements and recommendations it makes. Yes, there are
tables about the financial plan but, crucially, no explanation of how a plan
that failed the first time around will miraculously succeed on repetition.
‘3 The service users and their carers are
worried – some of them literally sick with worry – about the future of adult
social care services, about the future safety and well-being of their loved
ones, and they want those services brought back in house to ensure their
accountability, and the quality and continuity of care.
‘Points 1 and 2 demonstrate that this
report, like the inquiry it represents, is disappointingly unsatisfactory. Its
lack of thoroughness, which would not be acceptable in a sixth-form student’s essay,
exacerbates the worries of the service users and their carers, some of the most
vulnerable people in our society and in our community. These are real
people, with real needs, real hopes and very, very real fears.
‘Our humanity means that each and every one
of us has a responsibility to them. Family members exercise that responsibility
to their disabled relatives by being carers and by fighting to protect the
services their loved ones need. Those of us who are not disabled or carers for
a disabled person exercise our responsibility to them by supporting their
campaign, by coming here to make their voices louder so that you will
hear them.
‘All of us here tonight, representing some
who cannot speak for themselves, are asking you to examine the matter before
you with empathy and the knowledge that it is your responsibility, too, to use
your power to protect adults with disabilities. After all, you are the
‘safeguarding’ committee. While you might not have the power to order, as we
demand, that adult social services are brought back in house, you do have the
power to find that this report is only a first draft and demand further, more
substantial work. And so we ask you to do that.’
After I finished and had
answered the questions from Cllr Kath McGuirk about the need from more
pre-scrutiny of policies, Cllr Kate Salinger made the following statement:
‘I think it is very true to say that no one
sitting around this tabled failed to be moved by what we’ve heard tonight … . And
it may be that the Safeguarding Committee, in my opinion, needs to look further
into some of the issues that have been raised tonight and I would be happy for
future meetings of the Safeguarding Committee to bring up some of those
issues.’
Oh, what hopes were raised in
the public gallery. Here was a Tory councilor, the deputy chair of the
committee, agreeing that at least some of the issues needed further
investigation. It needed only one Tory vote to stop the rubber-stamping
approval of this incomplete report. And
so what disappointment when Cllr Kate Salinger voted the party line to endorse
the report only minutes later.
What are people to think? Can
we believe that councillors were moved by what they heard? Or should we believe
what we see: that they give lip service to our concerns, say how much they
care, and then fail to act accordingly?
Look at the various YouTube
clips from that night and watch the councillors.
1.Your Choice Barnet - Public Questions
Part 1
2.Your Choice Barnet- Public Questions
Part 2
3.Your Choice Barnet - Public Questions
- Part 3
4.Your Choice Barnet - Barnet UNISON -
Public Comments
6.Your Choice Barnet - John Sullivan's
statement read by Barbara Jacobson
7.Your Choice Barnet - Philip Rackham
8.Your Choice Barnet - Barbara Jacobson
9.Your Choice Barnet - Tirza Waisel
10.Your Choice Barnet - Councillor Arjun
Mittra
11.Your Choice Barnet - Report,
Councillor Brian Salinger
12.Your Choice Barnet - Final Part
Why is Cllr Perry, the
chairperson, always in conversation with the officer to her right? She claims
to be listening to the resident speaking but you cannot hold a conversation and
give your full attention to a speaker at the same time. She was so amazed that
the majority of councillors voted to allow a union representative to speak that
she reminded them what the vote was about and made them vote again. Her
patience with democracy was limited: she interrupted Cllr McGuirk in the middle
of asking a question, and she stopped all discussion without letting Cllr
Hutton speak. And she was so sure that the report would be accepted no matter
what issues were raised that she tried to move to the next item of business
without taking a vote.
Look for Cllr Gordon, at the
top right side of the table in the video; does he sometimes appear to be
dozing? He had no questions for the speakers but he was certainly fully awake
when he delivered an angry rant on unions. Should we believe he cares at all
about the disabled when his contribution for the night was to rail against the
union for criticizing the failures of Your Choice Barnet?
What about Cllr Alison
Cornelius? Why did she have nothing – no question, no comment, nothing – to say? Shouldn’t we
expect all councillors on a scrutiny committee to contribute to the scrutiny?
Maybe you can see Cllr Brian
Salinger at the table on the left when he delivers his defense of the report.
It might be difficult because he doesn’t seem to want to look anyone in the
face. Too embarrassing, perhaps.
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Barbara Jacobson is a Barnet resident. Guest Blogs are always welcome at the Barnet Eye
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