Councillors at Cambridgeshire County Council backed a series of motions at Full Council yesterday (Tuesday, 21 October) which called for action on key issues.
Councillor Alison Whelan brought a motion that addressed urgent concerns around suicide prevention, with the related debate including many moving contributions from councillors.
The motion emphasised the importance of coordinated mental health support and community-based interventions, setting out actions that included improving the transition from children’s to adult mental health services, expanding PTSD services for veterans and front-line staff, and developing a more integrated, health-led response to mental health crises.
Receiving unanimous support, the motion also called for increased use of street triage teams, a review of Section 136 detentions, and improvements to the NHS 111 Option 2 service.
Cllr Whelan’s motion underlined the importance of involving people with lived experience in service design and the promotion of mental health awareness through education and local partnerships. Progress on these actions will be monitored by the Health Scrutiny Committee, with the first report due by October 2026.
A motion put forward by Councillor Ian Manning, advocated for electoral reform to coincide with local government reorganisation.
Cllr Manning’s motion called on the Council to write to the minister responsible for local government reorganisation, requesting that, as part of the move to unitary councils for Cambridgeshire, all residents over the age of 16 be allowed to vote in local elections, and that elections be held under the Single Transferable Vote (STV) system.
The council will also be asking local schools about how they promote democracy and voter engagement, as part of the national curriculum, with a report to be delivered to Children and Young People Committee.
A third motion, brought forward by Councillor Alex Bulat, focused on the impact of proposed changes to overseas recruitment in the social care sector. It called for a report to the Adults and Health Committee on how the end of overseas care visas will affect local services, and what mitigations can be put in place.
The motion asked the Council’s Chief Executive to write to the Home Secretary highlighting Cambridgeshire’s recruitment challenges and recent successes such as the CARE Academy programme, and to request meaningful consultation with local authorities and care workers. It further urged the Government to launch a national awareness campaign and ensure adequate funding to support fair pay in the sector.
A final supported motion proposed by Cllr Elisa Meschini, with an approved amendment proposed by Cllr Edna Murphy, led to the council committing to publicly support and raise awareness of Usdaw’s ‘Freedom From Fear’ campaign, which seeks to highlight the abuse that retail employees and other frontline staff encounter at work.
The council will be writing to the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Police and Crime Commissioner asking what plans they have in place to ensure attacks on public facing staff are investigated – including attacks on shop workers, bank staff and others.
The Full Council meeting was live streamed on our YouTube channel, where you can now watch it back, and the papers discussed are available to read on our website.
