Agenda item

To consider motions on the following:

 

·  Welfare reform with an emphasis on financial inclusion

·  Financial advice in health centres

·  Mental health services in Southwark

·  Betting shop enforcement

·  Improve services at London Bridge station.

RESOLVED:

 

Welfare reform with an emphasis on financial inclusion

 

That the motion referred from council assembly as a recommendation to cabinet, set out below, be noted:

 

1.  That council assembly believes that the coalition government’s welfare reform has utterly failed, with hardship and deprivation increasing, at the same time as the cost of implementing the reforms is mounting.

 

2.  That council assembly condemns the government’s changes to benefits which have targeted the most vulnerable and hit families with children under five harder than any other group.

 

3.  That council assembly notes that despite the government’s rhetoric on repairing the nation’s finances, cuts to welfare have been offset by tax cuts for the most well off, meaning the government’s welfare reform has made no overall contribution to paying down the deficit.

 

4.  That council assembly notes that residents in Southwark have been hit hard by the coalition government’s welfare reform, including:

 

·  The cruel and unfair bedroom tax, which has hit 5,000 Southwark residents

·  A benefit cap which disproportionately affects families in London and has left some households facing the threat of eviction

·  Unacceptable delays in personal independence payments, which have left over 300,000 disabled people in limbo nationally as they wait for a decision on crucial support

·  Cuts to local government funding for discretionary housing payments and council tax benefits.

 

5.  That council assembly notes this administration has prioritised our most vulnerable residents, using our resources to protect them as far as possible from the worst excesses of the government’s welfare cuts, including:

 

·  Providing financial assistance and support for residents affected by the bedroom tax and other welfare changes through the welfare hardship fund

·  Providing a much-needed safety net for our most vulnerable residents through the Southwark Emergency Support Scheme, despite government cuts to the funding

·  Helping residents to ensure they are claiming all benefits entitled to them, through the Rightfully Yours advice service.

 

6.  That council assembly is concerned about the rollout of universal credit, particularly following direct payment pilots in Southwark, which have highlighted the risk of residents struggling to cope with complex budgeting and increasing numbers of residents falling into rent arrears.

 

7.  That council assembly welcomes the steps that have been taken by this administration to mitigate against these risks and to promote financial inclusion, working in partnership with Lambeth and Lewisham to deliver support for residents to prepare for universal credit, including opening bank accounts, dealing with debt and coping with budgeting on a monthly basis.

 

8.  That council assembly believes that employment is central to improving the financial resilience of our residents and recognises that current welfare to work provision fails to meet the needs of our most vulnerable residents. Council assembly therefore welcomes the steps this administration is taking to support residents with the most complex needs to develop the skills, motivation and experience to be able to secure employment.

 

9.  That council assembly believes that the growth of insecure, low-paid, poor quality jobs under the coalition government is undermining the UK’s ability to earn our way out of the current cost of living crisis and adding to welfare spending.

 

10.  That council assembly believes that the country’s welfare system can only become sustainable for the long-term by getting more people into work, and creating better paid and more secure jobs.

 

11.  That council assembly therefore welcomes Labour’snational commitments to:

 

·  Abolish the cruel, costly and failing bedroom tax, which is hitting over 400,000 disabled people nationally

·  Make work pay by increasing the national minimum wage and encouraging more employers to pay a living wage

·  Tackle the root causes of rising housing benefit spending by getting 200,000 homes a year built by 2020

·  Introduce a compulsory jobs guarantee, paid for by a bank bonus tax, to provide a paid starter job for every young person unemployed for over a year, and everyone over 25 unemployed for over two years.

 

Financial advice in health centres

 

That the motion referred from council assembly as a recommendation to cabinet, set out below, be noted:

 

1.  That council assembly acknowledges the inherent link between financial health and health and wellbeing, particularly mental health.

 

2.  That council assembly welcomes the work of the healthy communities scrutiny sub-committee exploring the health of the borough, including financial health. Council assembly welcomes the committee’s work in highlighting the impact of financial exclusion on health, in particular the impact on those with mental health concerns who are also struggling financially.

 

3.  That council assembly therefore calls on cabinet to introduce financial health services in health centres, to provide high quality debt and income maximisation advice and welfare benefits casework for patients in Southwark.

 

4.  That council assembly believes that the provision of high quality financial advice will improve the patient experience and optimise the time of GPs and health professionals, as well as directly targeting the link between mental and financial health.

 

5.  That council assembly notes that many user-led local mental health services which give patients holistic support, including financial advice, are currently struggling and at risk of closure because of a number of factors including:

 

·  A move away from block contracts and a traditional day centre model to personal budgets and recovery-focused day activities

·  The recent decision by the CCG, as the lead commissioner, to commission mental health services with a national provider, instead of a Southwark-based consortium of mental health voluntary sector providers

·  The complexity of the Section 75 pooled budget arrangements.

 

6.  That council assembly notes that changes to local mental health services, including financial advice for users, need to be managed and supported carefully and therefore calls on cabinet to:

 

·  Urgently commission a report laying out the financial stability and viability of the local voluntary sector mental health services in Southwark and bring a report back to the next cabinet meeting

·  Explore one-off or ongoing transitional funding prior to the introduction of community and wellbeing grants in October to support long-established and trusted local services, providing high-quality debt- and income-maximisation advice or welfare benefit casework services in Southwark, in order to avoid any gaps in service provision and allow these services to develop alternative funding sources to make them viable.

 

Mental health services in Southwark

 

That the motion referred from council assembly as a recommendation to cabinet, set out below, be noted:

 

1.  That council assembly notes that:

 

·  Mental health issues will affect 1 in 4 people at some point in their lives and that 70,000 people in Southwark will suffer from mental health issues

·  Mental health issues can shorten life expectancy by fifteen to twenty years

·  People with mental health issues are more likely to experience homelessness, and anxiety and depression have been linked to overcrowded and unfit housing.

 

2.  That council assembly notes that the coalition government has taken some steps to improve mental health services:

 

·  Invested £400 million in early support for people with mental health issues

·  introduced maximum waiting times for talking therapies and the Crisis Care Concordat to ensure nobody experiencing psychosis is ever turned away from accident & emergency

·  Pledged extra investment for new inpatient beds, better case management and improved access to mental health care for children and young people

·  Helped fund the Time to Change campaign which challenges mental health stigma and discrimination

·  Called on all health service trusts to aim for a ‘Zero Suicide’ policy and established a government-wide mental health taskforce.

 

3.  That council assembly notes, however, that despite the government’s commitment to put mental health treatment on a par with physical health, mental health trusts in England have seen their budgets fall by more than 8% in real terms, equivalent to almost £600m, and spending on children’s mental health services in England has fallen by more than 6% in real terms, equivalent to nearly £50m, since 2010.

 

4.  That council assembly condemns the government’s cuts to spending on children's mental health services, which have led to increased waiting times and children being treated on adult psychiatric wards or having to travel hundreds of miles across the country to get the help they need.

 

5.  That council assembly also notes that the government’s cuts to local authority budgets which have led to a £90m shortfall in funding for social care.

 

6.  That council assembly welcomes the extensive work undertaken by the council and the CCG to tackle stigma, raise awareness about mental health and promote wellbeing in Southwark, including:

 

·  Setting up a Parity of Esteem Programme Board chaired by the GP clinical lead for mental health, to review the extent of inequality amongst people with mental health problems

·  Providing training for teachers and head teachers to recognise and support children and young people with mental health issues in schools

·  Working with the Time to Change campaign

·  Providing community grants for small organisations to promote wellbeing with their clients/members

·  Commissioning mental health first aid courses for voluntary and community sector

·  Adopting the Mayor of London’s Healthy Workplace Charter to minimise the risk of mental distress in the workplace and promoting to all employers in Southwark.

 

7.  That council assembly welcomes Labour’s national commitment to provide fairer access to mental health services, including ensuring all professional health service staff receive mental health training and changing the NHS Constitution to give people the right to psychological therapies for mental health problems like anxiety and depression, helping to give mental health the same priority as physical health.

 

8.  That council assembly calls on the cabinet to:

 

·  Extend advocacy services available for Southwark residents with mental health issues

·  Consider the appointment of a Southwark Mental Health Champion to act as a link between the council, clients and the different agencies working in mental health

·  Ensure that mental health services receive their fair share of public health funding and review funding for mental health services each year

·  Ensure each council department deals with residents with mental health issues consistently and with a supportive and sympathetic approach

·  Improve the promotion of counselling services available for staff experiencing mental health or emotional issues.

 

Betting shop enforcement

 

That the motion referred from council assembly as a recommendation to cabinet, set out below, be noted:

 

1.  That council assembly recognises the growing concern of local residents and the council about the proliferation of high street betting shops in Southwark; particularly the rise in high stake Fixed Odds Betting Terminals.

 

2.  That council assembly is particularly concerned by recent evidence which suggests that despite age restrictions on gambling, some young people under the age of 18 are using these highly addictive gambling machines in betting shops.

 

3.  That council assembly notes that the council does not currently have the power to inspect gambling venues to ensure that age restrictions are being properly enforced, nor is there a requirement for a ‘Think 21’ or ‘Think 25’ policy, as there is in premises selling alcohol, tobacco or other age-restricted products. Council assembly also notes that there are currently no regulations on layout in gambling premises to ensure that all customers entering the premises are in line of sight of staff.

 

4.  That council assembly further notes that of the 80 gambling premises in Southwark, only two have recently been subject to spot-checks by the Gambling Commission and that both premises failed these checks.

 

5.  That council assembly believes that it is vital that betting shops have sufficient controls in place to prevent children from using these highly addictive gambling machines, which could lead to young people developing gambling problems later in life.

 

6.  That council assembly therefore calls on the cabinet to lobby local MPs andgovernment to give local authorities more powers of enforcement in gambling premises, which are effectively self-regulating, to bring them in line with other licensed premises.

 

Improve services at London Bridge

 

That the motion referred from council assembly as a recommendation to cabinet, set out below, be noted:

 

1.  That council assembly believes that the current situation for rail passengers at London Bridge station is completely unacceptable.

 

2.  That council assembly notes that almost three months since the introduction of the new timetable at London Bridge the situation at the station is worse than ever, with increasing chaos and disruption and dangerous overcrowding.

 

3.  That council assembly notes that passengers in Dulwich, Peckham Rye and South Bermondsey, are facing increasing delays and cancellations to an already reduced timetable, and that unacceptable levels of overcrowding are also being experienced at other stations including Herne Hill and Loughborough Junction as passengers seek to avoid London Bridge.

 

4.  That council assembly believes that the chaos at London Bridge has demonstrated that Network Rail and Southern are not capable of sorting out the mess.

 

5.  That council assembly notes that the Secretary of State for Transport, Patrick McLoughlin MP, has so far failed to respond to letters from elected members in Southwark on the issues at London Bridge, and requests that Cabinet writes to demand his urgent personal intervention to improve the service for passengers at London Bridge.

 

6.  That council assembly notes that there are significant transport issues on trains across South East London in addition to the problems at London Bridge, including the lack of capacity on the Southeastern line into London Victoria, affecting passengers at Nunhead, Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill.

 

7.  That council assembly notes the success of London Overground services run by Transport for London, which have consistently achieved high ratings for punctuality and customer satisfaction, while more than trebling passenger numbers, and whilst using much of the same infrastructure as Southern.

 

8.  That council assembly notes that it is Labour’s policy to allow public sector organisations to bid to run rail services, and that in London we have a public sector organisation, Transport for London, which already runs some of London's rail services to an extremely high level of customer satisfaction.

 

9.  That council assembly welcomes the government announcement in July 2013 which will allow some commuter rail services out of Liverpool Street station to be managed by Transport for London.  Council assembly further notes that it was London Liberal policy in 2012 for Transport for London to run commuter rail services into the capital.

 

10.  That council assembly therefore calls on the Secretary of State to allow Transport for London to run all rail services in South East London in order to have a properly integrated transport system.

 

11.  That council assembly also notes that the long-term improvements at London Bridge should not just be for commuters, but also improve and green the local environment around the station for residents.  Council therefore calls on the cabinet to work with Team London Bridge, Network Rail and Transport for London to ensure:

 

·  That the new public realm around the station is of equal priority to the development of the station

·  That no opportunity is missed to reduce local traffic and air pollution to make the area more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly

·  Support for local independent and creative businesses.