Agenda item

Councillor Jammu asked Councillor Blacker:

 

Can the portfolio holder provide an update on providing the Real Living Wage to home care workers?

 

Councillor Blacker responded:

 

Building on our manifesto commitment, we are delivering the Real Living Wage ahead of schedule.

 

The uplift to the home care sector come into effect on November 14th and bring carer pay into line with the Real Living Wage of £11.05 per hour. This commitment will continue into next year and meet the RLW guidance of £11.95 per hour in May 2023.

 

In May 2022, we committed to invest £8million into adult social care, ensuring workers providing care to residents in their own home could finally be paid the RLW.

 

This will impact 200+ personal assistants, 75 staff working in extra care and the staff working for 70 home care providers in Ealing. Together the care agencies employ between 3,500 – 4,000 carers – a large proportion being women and from BAME communities.

 

 The only intervention from the short-lived Truss administration on social care was to brief that Boris Johnson’s oven-ready reforms – which took two years to unveil – would be delayed. In the reforms, the Tories altogether failed to provide workers with an uplift in pay. In Ealing, we have made it our priority and ensured that within our first six months all home care workers receive the RLW.

 

Thanks for the Tories underfunding and undercutting of healthcare budgets, we now face an unprecedented staff crisis in the NHS with vacancies in the sector reaching 165,000 – a 52% rise, meaning that one in 10 social care posts in England are unfilled – putting both the NHS and vulnerable residents at risk. In Ealing, we are supporting workers as much as we can but we know more needs to be done to elevate the pressure the Government relentlessly subject frontline workers to.

 

Faced with a cost of living crisis, at a time when we need to desperately fix adult social care, we are so pleased to be able to announce that we are putting into action the commitment we made to introduce the real living wage ahead of schedule.

 

This will make a huge difference to the pay packets and the wellbeing of care workers, and ultimately to the people they care for, who can be confident that their carers are earning a decent living.

 

Councillor Malcolm asked Councillor Mason:

 

Given the comments made by Rupa Huq MP, at a conference fringe event, does The Leader agree that these comments were totally wrong, condemn the comments and if found guilty do you believe she should be asked to resign her position as a local MP?

 

Councillor Mason responded:

 

I am unable to answer this question given that it is subject to an ongoing Labour Party disciplinary investigation.

 

Councillor Conti asked Councillor Costigan:

 

We are getting regular reports of tree surgeons not giving notice to residents of when they are going to particular streets. Cars are therefore often parked under the tree that requires pruning, preventing work being carried out. Very often there is no clear timetable for when tree surgeons are planning to return. How is the tree contract being monitored for performance?

 

Councillor Costigan responded:

 

Madam Mayor, this Labour administration has committed to one of the largest tree planting programmes in the country, which will see an additional 50,000 trees planted across Ealing by 2026. This is essential to tackle the air pollution, biodiversity, and climate crises we are facing, an unprecedented challenge.

 

And we know that regular tree pruning, and leaf cleaning is essential to keep our streets clean, beautiful and safe.

 

Unfortunately, there is currently a London wide shortage of labour and skills in the Arboricultural industry, impacting boroughs across the city. I would encourage Cllr Conti to get in touch with his colleagues in government and request that they work with boroughs to overcome the challenges we are facing across the board in recruitment, as a result of their damaging Brexit, punitive immigration scheme, and compounded by their catastrophic economic mismanagement which led to record breaking inflation.

 

The Council’s previous contract arrangement with Advanced Tree Services expired at the end of March, and due to inflation, they were unfortunately unable to accept a three-year extension. We are now in the process of completing a new procurement exercise using our Social Value principles.

 

But we are taking steps to do ensure services are maintained. As an interim solution during the summer, we offered a number of approved contractors the opportunity to compete for work on a mini-quotation basis, so that we can respond to demand and the risks are minimised.

We know that this process has delivered mixed success and are actively working to ensure consistent high standards by prioritising the highest performing contractors.

 

Councillor Brett asked Councillor Mahfouz:

 

Can the portfolio holder provide an update on how Ealing Council is supporting the lowest income households during the cost-of-living crisis, via Ealing’s council tax reduction scheme?

 

Councillor Mahfouz responded:

 

Madam Mayor, when I was last asked to provide an update on the cost-of-living crisis and what support Ealing Council was offering its residents, I commented on the 40-year high inflation rates we faced, a fumbling government and an intervention package that barely scratched the surface in providing families with real viable support.

 

Now, here we are. Just over 3 months later, with failed 2 prime ministers, 3 botched chancellors and a revolving door of tory chaos. It continues to be Labour, and Labour only who are continuing to support people, provide families with real help and stand with them in the face of this Conservative-caused cost-of-living crisis.

 

And even then, we continue to stand out from other councils:

Our council tax support scheme: is amongst the most progressive in the country and we are pushing this even further. We are currently consulting with the public on increasing the maximum Council Tax Reduction for non-protected categories to be increased from 75% to 80% from April 2023 - directly supporting those who fall in the lowest income band.

 

We have delivered over 8,000 vouchers of over £100 to eligible pensions, delivered vouchers to over 15,000 families to support them with free school meals over the holidays and provided over 95,000 residents with an energy rebate payment of £150 to help them with the energy crisis. And we are not stopping there.

 

There is a straight blue line between Liz Truss’s failed mini-budget and the multi-billion-pound blackhole in the nation’s finances: The Conservatives crashed the economy and now they want someone else to pick up the tab. They must not take it out on our communities.

 

That is why we are also providing £100k to voluntary sector organisations to support the most vulnerable in their local communities and make sure everyone across our seven towns has access to necessary support.

 

While the Conservatives have been crashing the economy, we have been fighting to provide the support and services people need. Our residents shouldn’t pay the price for their failure.

 

We are doing all we can in the face of rising inflation, escalating energy costs and unsustainable price increases. But we know more needs to be done. Over a decade of Tory and Lib Dem austerity has hacked away at people’s social security – and has left families on the breadline.

 

As Ealing Labour, we want to see people not just survive but thrive. Alongside our generous support packages and scheme - we continue to campaign to get the Government to do more, acknowledge the challenges and demand action in the face of this crisis.

 

Councillor Ball asked Councillor Mason:

 

Does the Leader agree with Labour Party Conference that “Labour must make a commitment to introduce proportional representation for general elections in the next manifesto”?

 

Councillor Mason responded:

 

I know many people are dissatisfied with our political system and I appreciate that voters in safe seats can sometimes feel disenfranchised because of a sense that their vote does not count.

 

Parliament must be representative of our communities and reflect different views and concerns, and we must make it easier for people to vote and engage in politics. In particular, the scale of the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic should have been the time for the Government to work with and empower local communities to bring the country together by devolving power down from Westminster to regions and local councils.

 

Labour would like to see a new long-term political and constitutional consensus developed through consultation with communities across the UK. This could be facilitated through a UK-wide Constitutional Commission – such as the one established by the Official Opposition – which could consider the case for electoral reform while also looking at wider democratic renewal.

 

There are, of course, strengths and weaknesses to all voting systems and we must recognise that changing the voting system alone would not address the disconnect that some voters feel about our political process. I think we should therefore consider this question as part of a wider package of constitutional reform to address the growing democratic deficit across the country.

 

As a Labour Council, we are already creating a more democratic and more inclusive local system which allows as many people as possible to be engaged in the process, which can be seen through how we have involved the community in our Travel in Ealing charter, the Southall Reset, Warren Farm and Gurnell redevelopment.

 

Councillor Baaklini asked Councillor Costigan:

 

Can the portfolio holder confirm whether the Government is providing sufficient support to local authorities to retrofit homes, which saves residents money and tackles the climate crisis?

 

Councillor Costigan responded:

 

The catastrophic situation we are facing right now shows us that we need to act on the energy efficiency of our homes. Action to retrofit housing to deliver warmer homes, lower household bills and good jobs, while reducing energy use and emissions, is an obvious part of the solution for the multiple crises we are facing, from the cost-of-living crisis to the climate emergency, to the need to increase energy security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Unfortunately, I believe the Government has failed to take this issue seriously for a decade and is still not doing enough. Indeed, the independent Committee on Climate Change has said there is “a shocking gap” in Government policy when it comes to energy efficiency in homes. While it promised significant public spending in 2019 and committed to new policies last year, it is yet to deliver on either. Installations of insulation remain at rock bottom – the average annual energy bill for UK households is around £40 higher than if insulation rates from pre-2012 had continued for the last decade. Furthermore, when the Government published its energy security strategy in April, it once again missed the opportunity to act in this most basic and obvious area, by failing to provide any additional funding for energy efficiency.

 

UK homes contribute around 14% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions and are much worse insulated than those in Europe. Indeed, emissions from buildings are higher now than in 2015. Properly insulating our homes would allow us to cut household energy bills by up to £400. It would cut gas demand by 7-8% and gas imports by 15% and reduce fuel poverty. Insulation should therefore be a national mission and is something that we could start doing right now.

 

Labour back plans to retrofit 19 million homes, backed by investment of £6 billion a year. I will continue to support efforts to press the Government on this issue, to get it to invest at the scale we need in the solutions we need for energy security, the climate crisis and cutting bills.

 

Councillor Wesson asked Councillor Nagpal:

Can the portfolio holder update members on the Young Adults Centre in Southall?

 

Councillor Nagpal responded:

 

Last year we made a commitment to find a new permanent home for the Southall Young Adult Centre. We started a big conversation with young people and the public in Southall about how we would do that. 

 

Over 3,000 young people from across Southall came together to make clear that they wanted to keep the YAC where it is, and from listening to them– we agree.

 

At the core of our consultation, was a commitment to co-design our proposals with young people – putting them at the heart of what we do. This has not gone away. We will continue to work with them as we improve the centre, upgrading and revamping the facilities to make sure the centre is truly reflective of the needs of the community.

 

We will be carrying out the necessary improvements over the next year, with the hope of having the centre back open by summer 2023.

 

We are also developing a sustainable funding model to ensure the YAC gets the necessary improvements to meet its important requirement of being a safe inclusive place for young people and an important community asset that can be used by all. 

 

And the improvements will help us reach our ambitious targets of having 20,000 attendees across our three wonderful youth services this year alone, increasing year-on-year.

 

Not only that, but we will also be working with our young people across Southall to make the YAC even better and to find a way to put it into their hands permanently, for good.

 

We know that the best decisions are the ones taken together, and as part of our commitment to running an open, transparent, and inclusive council we will continue to work with our young people who need the YAC most to find out how we can make it even better for all who use or will use it.