The most painful cuts? (From The Argus)
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The most painful cuts?
12:40pm Monday 16th January 2012 in News By James Wallin
Balancing the Books
Targets for cuts in children’s services include children’s centres, support for young job hunters and services monitoring truancy.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s Green cabinet is proposing £2.8 million of cuts in 2012/13 to a budget of £62.7 million.
The council will also launch a review into the future of the city’s 20 children’s centres and is suggesting changes to the Youth Employability Service that would mean no drop-in centres for young job seekers in the west or centre of the city.
Other services earmarked for cuts include home-to-school transport, services for children with disabilities and the Youth Offending Service.
Education Welfare Service
Among the most controversial targets is the Educational Welfare Service, which monitors school attendance and supports schools in dealing with the issue.
The service is facing an 85% cut in its £254,000 annual budget with the council admitting “there will not be capacity to monitor children’s attendance on a city wide basis, support schools with this work or work with families where attendance is an issue”.
Conservative group spokesman for children’s services, Andrew Wealls, said: “The idea of this service is to nip problems in the bud before they can develop.
"If a child is missing school from the age of nine or ten then they are going to face serious issues in the future and there is likely to be more pressure on the youth offending services and other public services. Cutting this makes absolutely no sense at all.”
Councillor Jason Kitcat, cabinet member for finance, said the move followed Government guidelines that schools lead on monitoring attendance themselves.
He said: “We will retain our central data collection function and will be able to intervene should there be extreme cases requiring court action.”
Council jobs
Coun Wealls said there was a fundamental flaw at the heart of the budget planning process.
He said: “Everyone understands savings have to be made somewhere but I do have an issue with the way the Greens have gone about this.
“The element that runs through their budget proposals is they have tried to protect council jobs rather than the service.
"I have asked the question as to whether the council has had discussions with the voluntary sector over whether they can take on some of the responsibility for children’s centres and other youth services.”
Coun Kitcat: “We focused on protecting services and those who deliver them.
“I disagree with Tory ideals of returning to a Victorian era when services depended on charity and philanthropy to survive.”
Other areas facing cuts include nurseries, where cuts are proposed to agency staff with apprentices used instead.
The budget proposals warn “any reduction in qualified staff could lead to reduced quality of provision and the capacity to deliver Family Learning.”
Coun Kitcat confirmed apprentices would not start with a qualification but would work towards a qualification under the supervision of nursery staff. He said each nursery would have a maximum of two to three apprentices for every 20 to 30 staff.
Balance the Books
Which areas of Brighton and Hove City Council's budget mean the most to you?
The Argus has chosen ten key areas of the budget proposals to find out which ones out readers think should be treated as a priority in the budget.
Make your choice by filling in our online form at www.theargus.co.uk/news/balancebudget
Comments(9)
mnairb
says...
1:16pm Mon 16 Jan 12
In all the time that I have been paying council tax in Brighton, the biggest secret of all would appear to be the management structure of the council. All we get is enticing little snippets in the Argus about Deputy Director of this department and Assistant Deputy Director of that department but never a complete family tree.
In an organisation of over 9000 people (double that of 1997), there must be some deadwood and empire building. The council will probably run more efficiently for it and there wouldn't be a need to cut frontline services.
elainepkils
says...
2:16pm Mon 16 Jan 12
Reporter1
says...
5:55pm Mon 16 Jan 12
lindi_lmf
says...
6:21pm Mon 16 Jan 12
elainepkils wrote:Typical knee-jerk reaction from someone who hasn't read the facts: Money for yacht proposed to come from private donations not the Government.
So the government want to spend millions of pounds on a new yacht for the Queen. Goody lets cut disability benefits, war injured compensation and then the queen , who dodges taxes every year, can have a new shinny boat.
Mant out-of-work apprentices will help with the construction and there will only be a small number of apartments/cabins given over for the Royal Family.
elainepkils
says...
7:17pm Mon 16 Jan 12
The Queens Jubilee will cost a lot or am i wrong again. My whole reason for my comment was that money seems to be found for royalty but not for others. I will be interested to find out the advantages of building a yacht.And as the queen avoids a lot of tax per year,just check on the internet.
she could help to fund keep services for the disadvantaged to be kept on.
Council leaders get a lot of expenses so cuts would be best made from here.
wippasnapper
says...
10:24pm Mon 16 Jan 12
wippasnapper
says...
10:33pm Mon 16 Jan 12
The Baron Pepperpot
says...
6:16pm Fri 27 Jan 12
wippasnapper wrote:The fees have not been raised as such, the council has withdrawn the subsidy.
And hears a good one the Argus can get there teeth into as well Did you all know that Allotments prices are going sky high. A standard plot is going up from £55.40p to £110.80p from October that’s a (66%) rise.
People who want allotments have to pay the cost rather than have it subsidised by other council tax payers (to put it harshly).
s&k says...
1:12pm Mon 16 Jan 12