Agenda item

National Health Service (2)

It was moved by Councillor Jillian Creasy, seconded by Councillor Robert Murphy, that this Council:-

(a)       supports the aims of the 999 Call for the NHS campaign, namely to have a health service which is universally accessible, free at the point of delivery and distributed according to clinical need not ability to pay;

(b)       congratulates Sheffield Save Our NHS for coordinating the welcome, support and publicity for the People’s March for the NHS as it passed through Sheffield on 25^th and 26^th August 2014;

(c)        recognises that one of the greatest threats to the NHS is privatisation of the provision of services which puts profit before people and erodes the open, accountable and democratic nature of this public service;

(d)       therefore notes with alarm the secretive negotiations currently taking place between the EU and the USA to create a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) backed up by Investor-State Dispute Settlements (ISDS) which give corporations legal protection for their profits and powers to sue governments that threaten their interests;

(e)       believes that TTIP could cause ill health, by undermining labour rights, which would affect pay and conditions, and by downgrading EU standards on food, farming and the environment;

(f)        therefore believes that promises to exclude the NHS from TTIP, or to use courts rather than secret ISDS tribunals to enforce it, are insufficient and that any government concerned about the health and well-being of the population should be pursuing trade deals which protect human rights and the environment rather than corporate profits, here and internationally; and

(g)       directs that copies of this motion be forwarded to the Minister for Trade and Investment and all Sheffield MPs.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Mary Lea, seconded by Councillor Jayne Dunn, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words therefor:-

(a)       notes the People’s March for the NHS Jarrow to Parliament which came through Sheffield between 25th and 26th August 2014;

(b)       recognises the threat to our NHS from legislation including the Health and Social Care Act (2012) and the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership; both of which put profits before people;

(c)       values the principle of our NHS to provide free, universal healthcare for all; and

(d)       supports the People’s March for the NHS along with its aims and intentions.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

It was then moved by Councillor Roger Davison, seconded by Councillor Joe Otten, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words therefor:-

(a)       values the principle of our NHS to provide free, universal healthcare for all;

(b)       supports the Government’s decision to protect NHS spending from the spending reductions that were caused by the previous Government’s record national deficit;

(c)       welcomes the £26 million increase in the 2011-12 revenue allocation for Sheffield Primary Care Trust, the additional £27 million increase in 2012-13 and the equivalent £16 million and £14 million increases in 2013-14 and 2014-15 respectively;

(d)       recalls comments by the Shadow Health Secretary, the Rt. Hon. Andy Burnham, MP, in June 2010 that it would be “irresponsible” to increase NHS spending and therefore believes that a Labour government would have cut spending on the NHS rather than increase it;

(e)       believes that with Liberal Democrats in Government the country is seeing improving services across the NHS, with 6,000 more doctors, lower waiting times and new cancer drugs given to 30,000 people;

(f)        laments scaremongering that the Health and Social Care Act will lead to the privatisation of the NHS and notes that, in fact, the Government have prevented preferential contracts being granted to private companies by the previous Labour Government, which saw them paid £250m for operations they didn’t even perform;

(g)       confirms that negotiations on TTIP are at an early stage and that any treaty will have to be scrutinised by both the European, and the UK Parliament long before it comes into force;

(h)       welcomes the comments of the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, the Rt. Hon. Vince Cable MP, that:

            “There is no suggestion whatever that the TTIP negotiations could be used to undermine the fundamental principles of the NHS …The NHS will always be there for everyone who needs it, funded from general taxation, free at the point of use”; and

(i)        supports the Government’s policy of increasing funding for NHS services in Sheffield, as opposed to its belief that the Shadow Health Secretary would cut funding for the NHS.

On being put to the vote, the amendment was negatived.

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-