Richard Kemp 0702

It has been another busy year for the County Council with the funding crisis in the Health Service in Suffolk still continuing and the changes in the school structure being proposed.

The County Council met in February to set a council tax of 4.5% for 2007/2008. The County Council is facing a shortfall in its budget of around £21 million.

Reduction in service to people with learning disabilities
Increased charges for day care and transport to day care
Increased charges for community meals
Reduction in support for recycling schemes
Reduction in sponsored bus services
Increased charges for home to school transport

I am concerned about the risks to vulnerable adults and older people these savings will create and will continue to monitor and question the situation closely. The Adult Care and Community Services department again faces an enormous challenge to cope with pressure put on their budgets to find the savings of £12.1 million asked of them.

This year saw the creation of a Suffolk-wide single Primary Care Trust (PCT) for health and the move of the Strategic Health Authority to cover the region, as opposed to the county.

At the last Health Scrutiny meeting of the County Council, the committee voted to refer the health proposals for the West of Suffolk to the Secretary of State, detailing a number of concerns the committee had regarding the proposals for the Sudbury area. The committee also recorded its support for the proposals for community health care for the Newmarket area.

The Secretary of State is considering the issue at present and we expect her decision imminently.

A radical new way of working and delivering services between Local Authorities is to be phased in over the next three years, if the Government gives its approval.

Whilst the county council has made significant strides over recent years in its drive to be more efficient and improve service quality, it still faces financial pressure due to increased costs and increased demand for services.

The county council is proposing to work much more closely with district and borough councils in order to cut out waste and deliver services more efficiently and jointly. The council will also lobby for a reduction in the amount of bureaucracy that the council must comply with, as outlined in the recent Local Government White Paper.

The proposals are currently being considered by the Department for Local Government and Communities and an announcement about them is expected in May.

At its meeting on 22nd March Suffolk County Council voted, by 42 votes to 28, to move to a stage two review of school organisation in Suffolk, with a preferred option of an all two-tier school system. The vote was made after a five hour debate about the proposals during which many opinions and arguments were raised.

At the beginning of the meeting two petitions were received, one containing 16,000 signatures, protesting about the proposals and many membes of the public watched the debate.

More information about the next stages of the proposals will be posted on the County Councils website (link below) or will be available from the telephone number provided by the county council (also below), but I will endeavour to keep you all as up to date as I possibly can.

Over the past year I’m pleased to have been able to help a number of organisations in my division. Some of the projects I have supported are listed through the link below. I’m pleased that the locality budget will be remaining at the same level next year. Should any of you have any projects or organisations which you feel would benefit from some locality money, please do get in touch.

The locality budgets will be suspended for the election period (from 12th March), but as of May (after the elections) I will be able to fund projects once again.

County Council Budget

Health Service

Pathfinder Bid

Schools Organisational Review

Locality budget