A block on calls to debate care home budget cuts at the centre of concerns over a 'care crisis' in West Lothian have sparked accusations that Labour councillors have "sat on their hands" over the cuts.
Independent councillor Stuart Borrowman hit out after a motion he raised with Lib Dem Sally Pattle to debate the care crisis in the county was ruled out by the Provost Cathy Muldoon at a meeting of West Lothian Council.
Another motion - raised by council leader Councillor Lawrence Fitzpatrick- was also ruled out of debate.
READ MORE: West Lothian leader calls on Holyrood to drop National Care Service plans
The Provost said that Standing Orders ruled out debate because Councillor Fitzpatrick had already raised the issue at last week’s meeting of the Executive.
The move brought howls of protest from the public gallery.
Labour announced last week that it had written to the Scottish Government asking it to restore millions in Covid funding to Scotland’s Integration Joint Boards which manage social care.
The council has faced ongoing protests from the joint trades unions over threats to council staff jobs and conditions from the growing privatisation of care and the eventual closure of four council run care homes.
Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting of the full council protesters were out in force again outside the Civic Centre in Livingston. Former Labour councillor and MSP Neil Findlay joined families to support the union protest. Councillor Fitzpatrick met with protesters before the meeting began.
Union supporters were also in the council chamber’s public gallery to hear chair of the Joint Trades Union committee Jane Ridgeway make an impassioned plea to protect jobs and the care homes in West Lothian.
After debate was ruled out, Councillor Borrowman told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “ It’s very frustrating that elected councillors were not able to express their views on this centrally important issue.
“Labour councillors in particular – three of whom are members of the Integrated Joint Board and sat on their hands there and said nothing when the proposal was discussed. They could have explained themselves and ‘owned’ their decisions.
He added: “It’s part of a pattern, for example, a Labour councillor claiming to be ‘shocked’ on hearing Armadale pool is to close.
“If Labour are intent on diminishing local public services they should make themselves available to be accountable for those choices.”
Councillor Pattle said she was “appalled by the decision not to allow Councillors to discuss the future of care services in the region.”
She added: “The Scottish Liberal Democrats firmly believe there should be a step-change in social care so that it is provided on a human rights basis, guaranteed for everyone, and considered a normal part of life that merits investment to allow people to achieve their goals and secure their well-being.”
Councillor Pattle said: "The SNP Government should listen to COSLA, the trade unions, health board bosses, its own backbenchers and numerous other organisations when they say these proposals should be scrapped.
“Instead, we should be funding local authorities properly so that they are able to drive up the quality of care and move quickly to reward staff with better pay, better conditions and career progression.
“The horrendous budget choices being faced by the IJB could be solved if the Scottish Government listened to any of the stakeholders involved in frontline social care and gave the money being spent on the doomed National Care Service direct to local government and regional health boards.”
“That would mean that here in West Lothian, instead of closing care homes and mothballing valuable community assets like St Michael’s Hospital in my ward of Linlithgow, we could instead be investing in these sites to ensure our ageing population gets the quality and choice of care they deserve.
“I am therefore extremely disappointed that we were unable to go ahead with our composite motion, which only compounds the perception that the Integrated Joint Board is unaccountable and out of reach.”
In the meeting Jane Ridgeway told the councillors: “The IJB has already agreed the outsourcing of the care currently provided at Deans House and Burnside for adults with a learning disability, a loss of 17 jobs.
“The Chief Social Work officer advised the council Executive last week that she could not promise that older people would not have to move out of the homes for older people close. West Lothian faces a rapidly increasing elderly population and with an increase in the number of frail elderly. While no-one would dispute that the majority living at home for as long as possible is desirable, many will require more support than can be delivered in their own home.
“The money provided to the IJB by the council and the NHS does not cover the current costs of delivering care and on the 16 January the Scottish Government wrote to the IJB that £10.6m in Covid reserves would be reclaimed. The IJB proposals are dependent on the national care home contract delivering care cheaper than care provided internally. However Scottish Care and Cosla have failed to reach agreement on the national care home contract, which sets care home fees.”
She added: “The level of risk attached to these proposals is regarded by council officers as high. Transferring care to the private sector is no guarantee of stability. The private sector has the same difficulties recurring social care staff as the public sector and according to the Scottish government the sector has a vacancy rate of 43%.”
Asked about union views on proposals for a National Care Service, Mrs Ridgeway said unions believed that staff "should be employed locally rather than by a quango and any decisions about how care is delivered should be made locally to ensure that meets the needs of local areas.”
READ NEXT:
West Lothian Council joins call for Scotland-wide ban on disposable vapes
West Lothian's newest town cut off from county as bus service disappears
West Lothian schools boosted by £60m contribution from housebuilders
'Lifeline' funding for West Lothian theatre facing threat of closure
West Lothian town rejects plans for 160 more homes on its greenbelt
