On the 24th May 2016 Birmingham City Council announced that it is setting out its intention to move its Children’s social care services to a voluntary trust.
This is what Cllr Brigid Jones, the Cabinet member for Children and Young People, said about Trusts and and outsourcing children’s services at the full Council meeting on 1st March 2016. She was speaking against the Conservative amendment to the Budget 2016+ motion.
“We took a principled decision to keep the service in-house, for us on this side of the chamber children’s services are part of our core business.
Children have to be at the heart of what we do in the city and at the heart our vision for the city going forward. With all our services.
What is that service for the Conservatives?
Their budget amendment is to outsource children’s services – it shows it is not their core service! It puts it on a par with IT, with HR, Payroll, with Legal, as another backroom service they want to get rid of in this budget.
They want to take that approach that failed with Service Birmingham, is leading to disputes with Amey
It is an approach which is failing children right now in Doncaster and Slough where Trusts and outsourcing have been forced upon the Council.
They want to take that failed and untested approach and to apply it to our most vulnerable.
I want my Managers focused not on TUPE and contracts but on sorting out partnerships and frontline practice. I want the them to have the cash they need to do that.
Outsourcing is right for some things and wrong for others.
The reckless and ignorant proposals that the Conservatives put forward will throw out the window all the improvement that our staff worked for long to achieve.”
Taken from archived webcast of the Council meeting on 1st March 2016. Cllr Jones’s full comments can be heard from 3hr 40m 05sec via the following link:
http://www.birmingham.public-i.tv/core/portal/webcast_interactive/215190
Birmingham Against The Cuts 