Conference delegates pass motion stating NHS will “never be for sale”

Conference delegates have passed a motion stating that the NHS will “never be for sale” and calling on Labour to “build an NHS fit for the future”, as well as a motion on ensuring “fair pay” for school support staff by relaunching a national pay body.

Delegates voted on two final motions today – composite motion 12, Industrial strategy, education and skills 2, and composite motion 13, NHS fit for the future – both of which passed on a show of hands.

Labour conference this year debated motions on 12 topics, which were selected by local parties and affiliated organisations in the priorities ballot on Sunday.

Delegates voted on seven composite motions on Monday all of which passed on a show of hands. Delegates subsequently voted on four composite motions on Tuesday, as well as two motions from women’s conference, all of which also carried on a show of hands.

Below is the full text of today’s motions:

Composite 12 – Industrial strategy, education and skills 2

Conference welcomes Labour’s pledge to reform the childcare, education and skills systems, raising standards everywhere, and preparing people for work and life.

From early years, to schools, colleges, universities and adult education, conference believes success is built on the whole education workforce being recognised and rewarded for the work they do.

Conference also believes that good industrial jobs and education are built on good early years and childcare provision.

Conference recognises the importance of lifelong learning, skills development and training and the institutions and services that provide them. Workers having the right skills, as well as opportunities for lifelong learning, developing new skills, and retraining, is crucial to securing good jobs and adapting to a continually changing work environment. As such, the skills system is an important tool of Labour’s industrial strategy.

Conference believes that a priority for Labour is to re-establish the Schools Support Staff Negotiating Body and welcomes the pledge to do so.

This body must establish and sustain national terms and conditions, training, career progression routes, ensuring fair pay rates for support staff. Such reform will ensure Labour can support schools [to] recruit and retain the staff needed to deliver a high-quality, inclusive life-long education.

Conference welcomes Labour’s commitment to developing and supporting a modern skills system and recognition of the vital role of trade unions in encouraging workers to take up training opportunities. Conference recognises the progress made by Welsh Labour through its responsive approach to skills and employability, including extra support for young people, low-paid workers, and workers facing redundancy, and welcomes Labour’s commitment to explore the lessons learned from these initiatives.

Conference recognises recruitment and retention problems in further education undermined and underfunded by the Tories, damaging their ability to teach the skills required for economic growth and green jobs and give young people a full range of opportunities.

Conference resolves that Labour:

• Support the further education institutions and training providers that are crucial to the delivery of meaningful and effective lifelong learning for workers.
• Believes that universities need a funding model that provides high-quality education to students and supports the research and excellence for which they are known.
• Ensure that workers have a right for time-off for training.
• Ensure that the reform of the apprenticeship levy into a ‘growth and skills levy’ is focused on supporting all workers, especially those facing disadvantages in the labour market, to benefit from meaningful training and development opportunities.
• Ensure that workers have a voice in decisions made, locally and nationally, about Labour’s skills strategy and how the skills budget is used.
• Conference recognises the sector suffers from low pay and a lack of planning. Plans for education, skills and childcare provision are central to electoral success built on a well-rewarded and skilled workforce.

Mover: UNISON
Seconder: Usdaw

Composite 13 – NHS fit for the future

Conference notes:

• 13 years of Conservative mismanagement and 16 years of SNP neglect has meant that the NHS is no longer there for people when they need it.
• Month-long waits to see a GP, ambulances that can’t get to people in time to save lives, dangerously long queues in A&E, and over seven million on waiting lists in the UK and 820,000 in Scotland.
• That the system is at breaking point.
• The health system is becoming two-tier, with creaking NHS care for those who can’t afford to pay, and timely care only for those with the money to go private.

Conference resolves that

• Under Labour, the NHS will never be for sale. Labour created the NHS and should be the primary defender of its founding principles; that it remain free at the point of delivery, available to all, based on need not ability to pay.
• Labour will:
  • Build an NHS fit for the future that is there when people need it; with fewer lives lost to the biggest killers; in a fairer Britain, where everyone lives well for longer.
  • Improve mental health services and cut waiting times, particularly for children and young people.
  • Train the next generation of doctors, nurses and community health staff.
  • Streamline NHS procurement to get the best modern technology to staff.
  • Repair and strengthen social care and primary care.
  • Create a working environment that motivates and retains staff.
  • Create a neighbourhood health service and tackle public health challenges.

Mover: Penistone and Stocksbridge CLP
Seconder: Feltham and Heston CLP