Councillors Condemn Targets Missed and Budgets Overrunning (South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats)

South East Cambridgeshire Liberal Democrats <info@secambslibdems.org.uk>

Councillors Condemn Targets Missed and Budgets Overrunning

November 1, 2007 7:03 PM

The County Council has been forced to admit that Cambridgeshire may face massive mid-year budget cuts again this year as the County Council admits that it is very likely it will once again not balance the books.

The announcement came during the same Council meeting where the Council admitted missing key performance targets. The Liberal Democrat group highlighted a wide range of service areas where the Conservative Cabinet's own figures showed it to be failing. Among the catalogue of poor provision was the percentage of children receiving education other than at school who got the statutory 15 hours tuition per week

has fallen from 45% to 32%, well short of the 70% target and the percentage of young people leaving care with at least one GCSE grade A*-C has fallen from 40% to 37.5%, short of the 77% target.

The council is also failing to provide services to elderly people with only 52.9 per 1000 people aged 65+ helped to live at home, compared to a target of 67 and only 76% of social care equipment delivered within 7 working days against a 90% target.

Lib Dem Corporate Services Spokesperson Nichola Harrison said:

"Last year's overspend crisis had a damaging effect on services affecting vulnerable older people and leaving highways without necessary maintenance as millions of pounds were slashed from budgets mid-year.

"The County Council is admitting that it is already overspending, will we see a similar budget crisis again this year?"

Speaking about the Council's performance targets, Councillor Julian Huppert added:

"This report is a real indictment of the Council's performance in many areas. Performance has actually got worse a number of indicators measuring how the county provides services for both young and old. People in Cambridgeshire are simply not getting the standard of service they deserve."