Fife Council has been accused of cowardice after an emergency meeting aimed at overturning a decision on care homes failed to go ahead on a legal technicality. Administration councillors were subjected to a slow hand clap and cries of “shame, shame” as they walked out of the council chamber without a word having been debated.
It had been hoped the special full council meeting would allow members to revisit the unpopular move to close all 10 council-run residential care homes and transfer the service to the private or not-for-profit sector.
It has instead led to calls for the resignation of council chief executive Ronnie Hinds and the head of legal services, amid claims of a “travesty of justice”.
Although council leader Peter Grant defended the administration’s stance, Labour leader Alex Rowley called the process “a complete sham” and “an affront to democracy”.
Meanwhile, the daughter of a resident in a Glenrothes council home said she was disgusted with events, adding, “The SNP and the Lib Dems obviously don’t care about the elderly.”
The Conservative group has now tabled a motion calling for a real debate on the care homes issue as soon as possible, saying Tuesday’s “mess” was an insult to all who attended.
Dozens of campaigners opposed to the home closures had filed into the chamber to hear the debate and almost every councillor was present. However, just as the meeting appeared to be getting under way, Provost Frances Melville told stunned opposition councillors that because the motion by 23 Labour and independent members called for the council to agree no case had been made for the privatisation of council-run care homes, the authority’s own standing orders would have to be suspended before the meeting could proceed.
She said that would require the support of two thirds of the council, or 52 votes. Only 25 votes were received and members of the SNP/Lib Dem administration immediately left the room.
Opposition councillors had pressed for the meeting, claiming the decision to close the homes should not have been taken by just 11 members of the social work and health committee but should have been debated by full council.
Mr Rowley said officers within the council’s legal services had repeatedly been asked for advice on what the procedures would be for the meeting. He said there was no hint standing orders would have to be suspended, and added, “What we’ve seen today is a complete sham.”
“When we submitted our motion we took legal advice from officers and withdrew part of the motion because we were told it would not be competent. At no point since has any officer of Fife Council come back to us to tell us this would be required. I’m asking the chief executive why that’s the case.”
Mr Rowley urged campaigners not to give up their fight, and added, “What we saw today has been an affront to democracy but we should make sure this is discussed throughout Fife.”
Conservative group leader David Dempsey accused the administration of suppressing debate.
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He said, “Instead of a debate that might have clarified where each party stands on the issue of providing and paying for care home places, the meeting ended within two or three minutes, as the SNP and Lib Dem councillors used a technicality within the council’s standing orders to bring proceedings to an abrupt close.
“This was an insult to councillors who had taken the time to attend, to the many members of the public who’d come along to listen, and to the people of Fife, who deserve an administration with the nerve to publicly defend its policies.”
Maureen Closs, of the group Campaign Against Charges and Cuts, said the process had been a “travesty of justice.”
“This was a serious attempt to have another look at an important issue, i.e. the future of our older people who live in Fife Council homes, and they have ducked behind a technicality,” she said.
Council leader Peter Grant accused Labour of hypocrisy and incompetence, and said it would be inappropriate to comment on the calls for the resignation of any council officer.
“Every councillor in Fife knew that the social work and health committee on February 1 had the authority to decide on council policy for the provision of residential care,” he said. “Some councillors may not have agreed with the decision; others who knew it was the correct decision have decided it’s politically expedient to say they’re against it. But no councillor has any excuse for misleading the public into thinking that there was any reason to reconsider or overturn the committee’s decision.
“It was, and still is, the right decision for the people of Fife — and in particular for the people who currently live in our homes, for those who will need residential care in the future, and for their families. It ensures that elderly people who need to go into residential care will be able to live out their days in a safe, secure and stimulating environment, supported by the best residential care in Scotland.
“We’ll be able to provide this standard of care for more people and very importantly we’ll be able to provide this for them in a few years rather than waiting decades until we could afford to replace all our homes ourselves.”
He added, “I now call upon councillors of all political affiliations to accept that the decision has been made and it is now the responsibility of all of us to support the council’s social care professionals in implementing the decision.”
SNP councillor Ian Chisholm, a member of the social work and health committee, said, “I felt sorry for members of the public who turned up today at the behest of the opposition only to hear a senior law official deem any discussion on a committee decision could only be revisited after a suspension of standing orders.
“Councillor Rowley, leader of the Labour group, must have known this and must have known a two-thirds majority was needed. Clearly, strategic committees of the council must be allowed to take decisions, otherwise there would be chaos. At the end of the day all committee decisions have to be ratified by all members at meetings of the full council.”
He said, “Instead of a debate that might have clarified where each party stands on the issue of providing and paying for care home places, the meeting ended within two or three minutes, as the SNP and Lib Dem councillors used a technicality within the council’s standing orders to bring proceedings to an abrupt close.
“This was an insult to councillors who had taken the time to attend, to the many members of the public who’d come along to listen, and to the people of Fife, who deserve an administration with the nerve to publicly defend its policies.”
Maureen Closs, of the group Campaign Against Charges and Cuts, said the process had been a “travesty of justice.”
“This was a serious attempt to have another look at an important issue, i.e. the future of our older people who live in Fife Council homes, and they have ducked behind a technicality,” she said.
Council leader Peter Grant accused Labour of hypocrisy and incompetence, and said it would be inappropriate to comment on the calls for the resignation of any council officer.
“Every councillor in Fife knew that the social work and health committee on February 1 had the authority to decide on council policy for the provision of residential care,” he said. “Some councillors may not have agreed with the decision; others who knew it was the correct decision have decided it’s politically expedient to say they’re against it. But no councillor has any excuse for misleading the public into thinking that there was any reason to reconsider or overturn the committee’s decision.
“It was, and still is, the right decision for the people of Fife — and in particular for the people who currently live in our homes, for those who will need residential care in the future, and for their families. It ensures that elderly people who need to go into residential care will be able to live out their days in a safe, secure and stimulating environment, supported by the best residential care in Scotland.
“We’ll be able to provide this standard of care for more people and very importantly we’ll be able to provide this for them in a few years rather than waiting decades until we could afford to replace all our homes ourselves.”
He added, “I now call upon councillors of all political affiliations to accept that the decision has been made and it is now the responsibility of all of us to support the council’s social care professionals in implementing the decision.”
SNP councillor Ian Chisholm, a member of the social work and health committee, said, “I felt sorry for members of the public who turned up today at the behest of the opposition only to hear a senior law official deem any discussion on a committee decision could only be revisited after a suspension of standing orders.
“Councillor Rowley, leader of the Labour group, must have known this and must have known a two-thirds majority was needed. Clearly, strategic committees of the council must be allowed to take decisions, otherwise there would be chaos. At the end of the day all committee decisions have to be ratified by all members at meetings of the full council.”