Tories try to ambush Tory-chaired Health Scrutiny Panel

1.10.18pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 3rd Oct 2005

At the Council Meeting on 27th September Conservative Council Leader narrowly won a vote as he tried to ambush a report from the Health Scrutiny Panel, chaired by a Conservative, by tabling amendments at the last minute at the Council meeting.

Cllr Jones had failed to give the Panel the benefit of his wisdom despite delaying the panel report by two months and having been invited to attend a meeting.

The Conservatives on the Panel had supported the report at the previous meeting of the panel, and unanimously backed it. Some of their own contributions to the report were removed by the Tory leader's attempt to hi-jack it.

Two principled Conservative Councillors abstained meaning the Conservatives only just won the vote 22-19. The Council meeting, which had been expected to be relatively uncontroversial erupted in uproar as the Tory Council Leader attempted to foist his personal views on the panel report.

A key recommendation, based on witness statements to the panel concerning excercise for children, was removed, while it will now be impossible to measure the extent of the problem in West Berkshire, and whether the council's measures to tackle obesity are having any effect, for over a year, if ever, because a recommendation to coordinate data collection was replaced with a recommendation only to "review" the issue, and then only "if" the government should provide guidelines in a year's time.

Speaking in favour of the original unamended report, Cllr Sue Farrant (Lib Dem, Northcroft), said, "If young people are overweight, they are at risk of diabetes, cancer, osteoporosis, back trouble, fertility problems and early death. This is a serious matter. Liberal Democrats believe we should be tackling it responsibly, not playing party politics."