FROM THE CHAMBER: The challenge of adult social care and what the Conservatives were doing about it

I welcome the words of Clir Clive Jones about working ”in an inclusive and non tribal way with other parties” as detailed in his ”From the leader” column in May 26 edition of Wokingham Today.

I also note the words of Jim Frewin (the ”independent” councillor for Shinfield South) about working as part of ”Team Wokingham”. Sadly there is already a considerable and growing gap between the rhetoric and actions of the Lib Dem-led coalition which now is responsible for Wokingham Borough Council which both men represent.

For people to work together in any part of life there has to be mutual trust and honesty – this is the only way to establish common ground.

For Clive Jones this should include being honest about the past Conservative-led administration and its actions. I will not pretend that the Conservative-led administration did everything perfectly. If this was the case the result of the last local election would have been different.

However, it is wrong for Clive Jones to misrepresent the things it did achieve and continued false claims as per his column will do real harm to any chance of ”inclusive and non-tribal” working within WBC.

If Cllr Frewin is serious about representing ”Team Wokingham” I would hope he would agree with these words and press Cllr Jones to make his actions meet his words.

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In his column Cllr Jones identifies the upcoming finanical burden of central government’s proposed adult social care reforms and then claims Wokingham Conservatives left no plan to address this issue. I was the councillor responsible for this portfolio so was fully involved in the issue.

Our plan was simple – to persuade the government of the financial harm and to get them to change the policy and / or to allocate more funding. Clive Jones’s claim that nothing was done is demonstrably false.

The government first briefed local authorties on the detail of the proposed changes in November 2021.

Wokingham was the first council in the south east to work through the figures and work out the possible financial cost. When we realised the cost we approached all of our neighbouring councils to seek their views and to build a coalition against the changes.

This involved many meetings with RBWM, West Berkshire and Reading politicians and offers to establish their projected costs and to build areas of agreement. Myself and the then leader (Cllr John Halsall) had a monthly meeting with all the relevant players from West Berkshire and Reading from February to build a coalition against the adult social care reforms.

A letter was sent by myself and the lead member for the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in January to the secretary of state for health to raise these issues. This was featured in the Wokingham Today at the time, and on the front page.

I have written and met with three of the four local MPs to brief them on the changes and to gain their support in lobbying to alter the reforms. All three had agreed to support Wokingham in gaining extra funding.

I also wrote to Jeremy Hunt in his role as head of the health select committee to raise our concerns and seek his support. He had agreed to meet me in June for a discussion.

I had raised these concerns with Dr James Kent, the head of the NHS regional management body (the ICS) responsible for Wokingham. In the week before the election I had agreed a set of monthly meetings to progress discussions on this issue and the internal restructuring of the NHS and its effect on Wokingham.

This issue has also been raised several times at the Health and Wellbeing Board in the presence of the new lead member Cllr David Hare.

In late April, central government released more details of the planned reforms. Immediately before the local elections, Wokingham officers were working through these changes and identifying the revised figures. As Cllr Jones quotes the November 2021 cost of £25 million I would question his understanding of this subject.

The previous administration was acting proactively in an attempt to remove this threat to Wokingham. I suspect the only strategy Clive Jones has is to do nothing and try to blame the previous Conservative administration and national government for any problem. This is the behaviour of opposition – not of government. The only people who will lose from this strategy will be the residents of Wokingham.

I would therefore call on Clive Jones to stop misrepresenting the past and start being honest with residents. If he truly does seek an inclusive and non-tribal council he has to act in an inclusive and non-tribal way: he needs to change his approach. There is already a growing gap between his words and his actions.

Therefore it can clearly be seen that lot of work was done and a lot of ground was covered to set up a Wokingham response to adult social care reforms. It is important that politicians of all colours are honest with residents and I will continue to challenge any further ”misrepresentation” from Cllr Jones going forwards.

In his piece Cllr Jones says he will take the following steps – to lobby the government for more funding and to work with other local authorities. This work has all been completed. If he truly understood the issue he would already be aware of this.

It is now time Cllr Jones to stop posturing and to work proactively on behalf of Wokingham residents and to announce their plan on how they will deal with this issue.

The Conservative group is happy to work in an ”inclusive and non-tribal way” on one condition – that he is honest and truthful about what has gone before.

Cllr Charles Margetts is a Conservative councillor for Finchampstead North on Wokingham Borough Council