Agenda item

(1) Motion by Councillor R Wootten

 

It was moved and seconded:

 

That this Council understands the staffing shortages throughout health and care services in Lincolnshire and the decision to temporarily close emergency services at Grantham Hospital if patient safety is at risk. However, this Council urges United Lincolnshire Hospital Trust to re-instate those services at the hospital at the earliest opportunity.

 

The mover of the amendment previously submitted in the Order of Proceedings requested that the amendment be withdrawn.  This was granted by the Council

 

Upon being put to the vote, the motion was unanimously carried.

 

(2) Motion by Councillor P M Dilks

 

It was moved and seconded that:

 

This Council pays tribute to the dedication and achievements of staff and pupils at our existing secondary schools across Lincolnshire, whether Comprehensive, Grammar or Secondary Modern.

 

GCSE results at all levels across Lincolnshire clearly demonstrate that the most academic students can excel whether they are selected at age 11 as academically elite and destined for a grammar education or whether they are educated in a true all-ability comprehensive.

We welcome new Prime Minister Theresa May’s ambition to improve social mobility but agree with her predecessor David Cameron’s statements in May 2007 when he said history shows that establishing Grammar Schools was

 

"extremely difficult and... often leads to them being very unpopular and they are then got rid of".

 

Mr Cameron dismissed the Grammar School debate as pointless adding:

 

"...Parents fundamentally don't want their children divided into sheep and goats at the age of 11."

 

Dividing and separating children from their peers only serves to reinforce the deep divisions in our society, rather than challenge them.

 

Evidence from Lincolnshire and across the country shows that where there is selection there is a bigger attainment gap between disadvantaged children and their peers. The achievement gap last year in the numbers achieving 5+ A*-C GCSE’s in selective areas was 37 but in England as whole was only 28.

 

Almost 12% of students in Lincolnshire’s Secondary Modern Schools are on free school meals, compared to only 3% at Grammar Schools.

 

So much for the claim that Grammar Schools improve social mobility. The fact is, today, here in Lincolnshire, and elsewhere, selection acts as a glass ceiling to young people from the most socially deprived sections of the communities.

 

Real school improvement and equality of opportunity comes not from selection but through schools collaborating, and being properly supported along with relentless focus on the quality of teaching and leadership.

 

We believe that the Prime Minister’s offer of allowing every school to become selective is as flawed as the previous Government’s plan announced just a few months ago for mandatory Academisation of every school.

 

This Council understands why many parents support the notion of a Grammar School in every town - until their own child fails the entrance examination and is consigned to what is seen by many as a lifetime of rejection.

 

Where a local secondary school chooses to go selective and refuses places to local children on academic ability, there will be no choice for 11-plus failures but to be bussed out of their community for secondary education.

 

The existing network of partial selection across Lincolnshire already results in this Council paying one of the highest home-to-school transport bills in the country which we have spent years struggling to reduce by removing free transport for many who needed it.

 

Expansion of selection can only increase the number of school buses criss-crossing our county road network every day, taking children past the gates of their local school to be educated miles away from their local community.

 

It is therefore proposed that:

 

1.    This Council pays tribute to the dedication and achievements of staff and pupils at our existing secondary schools across Lincolnshire, whether Comprehensive, Grammar or Secondary Modern.

 

2.    This Council welcomes new Prime Minister Theresa May’s ambition to improve social mobility; but agrees with her predecessor, David Cameron’s statements in May 2007 when he said history shows that establishing Grammar Schools was "extremely difficult and... often leads to them being very unpopular and they are then got rid of".

 

3.    This Council, in light of the clear evidence, calls on the Government to withdraw its plans for more selection, and to concentrate instead on helping every child to reach their full potential.

 

 

Upon being put to the vote, the motion was lost

 

(3) Motion by Councillor Mrs M J Overton MBE

 

An alternative motion to that in the Order of Proceedings was put forward as follows:

 

Plans for the transformation of our Health and Care Services are underway, submitted from Lincolnshire to NHS England by the end of June.  The Lincolnshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) includes the Lincolnshire Health and Care Programme.

 

The NHS has been given the mandate to develop STP's for both health and social care, but with very limited input from local authorities. It is important that Councils get involved and have a say on how their local health services are to be provided. 

 

Major changes to the service will need consultation, which is expected to start in December in order to complete by the electoral purdah period in mid-March. However, if the NHS and budget are already set, it will be too late for elected members to have a proper influence.

 

Lincolnshire’s Health Scrutiny, and Health and Wellbeing Board have had briefings on the process, but the content remains unknown. Without Council engagement the outcomes of the STP's are weakened.

 

The last Spending Review committed the government to full integration of health and care by 2020, although the detailed policy framework is still awaited. The STP’s are expected to contain such plans. Health and Wellbeing Boards are well placed with board membership including health and social care representatives and doctors representing the clinical care commissioning groups.

 

Although the STP's and Health and Wellbeing Boards are intended as overarching umbrella bodies setting priorities, neither have to be politically representative, which is normally an important tenet in local government. Some have taken an inclusive approach to good effect.

 

As well as implementing the Better Care Fund, many local areas are developing more ambitious integrated health and care provision. This is through joint commissioning, integrated provider models or devolved accountabilities. The STP guidance requires STPs to be aligned with these local integration programmes and ambitions.

 

These plans from Lincolnshire were submitted to NHS England, but not published. The Council and the public need to be included at an early stage to get the best outcomes.

 

It is proposed that:

 

(1)  This Council welcomes the inclusion of the Council and the public in shaping and reviewing the Sustainability and Transformation Plan for Health and Social Care in Lincolnshire.

(2)  We call for transparency and full engagement of our members and the public at all stages.

 

Upon being put to the vote, the alternative motion was not accepted by the Council.

 

The mover of the original motion then proposed that the original motion be withdrawn.  Upon being put to the vote, this was carried and the motion was withdrawn.