- Conference
- 2012 National Delegate Conference
- Date
- 1 January 2012
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes with concern the increasing number of service reforms facing public services the unrelenting attack on the public services being waged by the coalition government and the far reaching consequences that budget cuts, job losses and privatisation have on the fabric of our communities and the prospects for economic recovery. As recent Office of Budget Responsibility figures show, the number of public sector job losses is likely to reach 710,000, up from the 400,000 initially predicted when the coalition began their programme of cuts.
In parallel with the job, cuts privatisation continues apace. The Open Public Services white paper and the health and social care bill signal further intensification of this process. The government talks up the role that mutuals, ‘spun out’ from the public sector, can play in the future public services landscape, but there is a clear sense that this amounts to little more than window dressing, and that services transferred to mutuals could ultimately end up in the private sector. These reforms are frequently driven by the cuts agenda rather than a genuine desire to improve service provision.
For example in the next three years the budget for adult care services in Solihull will be cut by almost £7 million. This will not just affect frontline workers (predominantly women who are often the main providers for their families) – carers, social workers, educators, mental health workers and day care workers. The cuts in jobs and services will range from a reduction in pension provision, to wages frozen and the very real threat of mass redundancies. This ConDem assault on public society will have grave consequences for those who depend on adult care services.
Conference notes that the Coalition’s agenda is a deeply ideological attempt to reduce the size of the state and to replace collectivist responses to societal needs with a smaller, meaner settlement that risks damaging the breadth and quality of public service that our communities have access to. This damage will fall disproportionately on certain groups within our communities, including women, Black people, LGBT people, disabled people, young and older people.
Our resistance to the attack on public services has to involve opposing the current round of cuts and privatisation. But we must look to the future too. As debates about what happens after the next election demonstrate, there is a danger that austerity and the smaller state will be presented as a new settlement on the level and scope of public spending. David Cameron has stated very clearly that even when the budget deficit is cleared, there should be no going back. Conference agrees that such an approach is wrong and irresponsible. Our public services need to be shaped around collective response to public need. What’s more, we note polling evidence that demonstrates clear, unambiguous public support for public services provided on this basis.
Conference calls on the National Executive Council to continue with, and intensify the Million Voices campaign at local, regional and national level, defending public services and highlighting their intrinsic value to the quality and character community life by:
1) further developing our community campaigning agenda;
2) utilising on line campaign techniques and social media to build networks of supporters and sympathisers;
3) undertaking high level research demonstrating progressive alternatives to cuts and ways of funding high quality public services, and ensuring that the information is available for practical application;
4) continue to gather information as to the number of jobs lost and the negative impact on the communities and public services; continuing to track the impact of the loss of jobs and dedicated services on equality/disadvantaged communities and use this information to challenge the cuts in our million voices campaign;
5) the development of regional ‘emergency hot spots’ lists, highlighting local job losses and their effects on the community through service loss;
6) further developing the use of the Union Fighting Fund to assist branches;
7) providing generic campaign materials easily personalised for branch use to use this information to raise public awareness and help to dispel the myth that cuts are necessary and unavoidable;
8) local branches, with the support of regions and national office should develop alternative ‘needs-based’ budgets that protect and improve services, defend jobs and provide for fair pay, terms and conditions;
9) develop working alliances with user groups and academic institutions to build the body of knowledge and experience that will enable us to win hearts and minds committed to creating the world we want for our children and families.
Conference further requests that the National Executive Council consider engaging with and supporting a serious and intelligent debate about the future shape and development of public services; a debate which values the views of service users and providers above those who seek to profit from the vulnerable in our society.