Jim For myself and at this moment in time I don’t think it’s a matter of how much councillors are expected to award in funding for services, its more a matter of getting to the facts which council tax should be based upon, local need. The bare fact of £157,000,000 being spent on education alone doesn’t to me explain the needs of the residents of the borough. Education covers many age groups from the very young right through to the very old and to my mind should cover every aspect of education from nursery school education through to adult education. What we need are figures from the local authority other local authorities on costs by type so that we can compare the cost of each aspect of education (or any other service for that matter) against comparable local authorities. A figure of £100,000 for a class of 20 assumes that the classroom is fully fitted, well maintained and that all the required resources are in place. But what if the local authority has to spend £40,000 of the £100,000 on maintaining the classroom because the classroom is in an unfit state? If our schools and classrooms are in a bad state of repair, councillors should be able to propose that central government be asked to provide additional funding to improve our schools. Within the education budget staff costs might appear to be high but shouldn’t councillors be free to ask if we are paying teaching staff enough, or are there cases of staff leaving the borough in high numbers, forcing the borough to employ agency staff, which in itself puts up costs? Also, children with behavioural difficulties need more intensive support both inside and outside of the classroom. It follows therefore that the number of staff per child will by necessity be higher. A blanket approach across education is not what is needed, Comparisons with other local authroites and examples of best practise are the way forward. Social Services provide services for many within society. Services provided to protect the very young through to the very old, from adoption through to caring for our elderly. The one thing that they all have in common is vulnerability, potential or otherwise. The mark of a civilised society is the way in which that society cares for those in need. Without information on local needs and costs, I wouldn’t want to be a councillor who had to vote to cut funding to social services, especially after well documented cases where cuts in funding have had a significant factor upon resources and management in situations where abuse has resulted. Its not easy getting a social worker assigned to a case because the needs of society will always outstrip the resources that society are prepared to fund for social care. The Police have reformed and will continue to reform and as for the Fire Fighters, they deserve every single penny they earn and more. There may be a perception out there among many to the effect of "we don't want to change our working practices". I'd say, that there are not many of us who would risk their lives, day in and day out to save the lives of others.
Gareth Evans ● 7384d