Conservatives re-challenge cabinet plans for home care!

Conservative Councillors have today 'called-in' last week's Cabinet decision to restructure the City's Home Care Service.

At its meeting of 10th January, Labour Executive Members decided to press ahead with plans to restructure how care is to be delivered to users and outsource certain domestic services such as shopping and cleaning (non-personal aspects of care).

The controversial modernisation of Home Care has already been attacked once by opposition Councillors who had invoked the same call-in procedure on the grounds of a failure to consult and a lack of transparency in their decision-making process.

Cllr Gollop (Con, Westbury on Trym) who Chairs the Adult Community Care Select Committee, which has been charged with scrutinising the reform proposals, remains concerned over the failure to answer key questions surrounding the future of the service.

Cllr Gollop said: "The reform proposals rely entirely on achieving ill-defined and poorly- costed effieciency savings.

"Despite repeated attempts to quantify current levels of inefficiency within the Department, scrutiny members remain in the dark on the extent of the problem and whether or not the proposed efficiency targets are realistic or achievable.

"The ACC Select committee have met with obfuscation and evasion at every turn on this issue.

"This information is vital before any meaningful judgement can be made on the merits/demerits of these plans for the future of Home Care.

"Either Cllr Peter Hammond, Executive Member for Care & Communities has failed to take advice from finance officers on this matter or, having done so, has chosen to keep any advice given to himself rather than share it with or disseminate it to scrutiny Members.

"Consequently, along with my colleague Cllr Richard Eddy, we are compelled to call upon the Cabinet to look at this decision yet again."

Back to Local News Index 23 January 2008