Senior councillor's anger over £1m youth services cuts leak
Oct 29 2009 by John Marsden, Birmingham Post
The senior politician responsible for children’s services in Birmingham has called on a council officer to consider their position after planned cuts were leaked.
Coun Les Lawrence, Cabinet member for Children, Young People and Families, has accused an unnamed officer of revealing a council document to the press.
The document outlines a range of cutbacks to youth services across Birmingham in a push to save nearly £1 million. The plans will affect schemes that aim to drive down under-age drinking, drug abuse and teenage pregnancies in some of the city’s poorest areas.
Cutbacks will also lead to the complete closure of some youth clubs and youth projects, while there will also be a job freeze in the bid to claw back the cash. But Coun Lawrence, addressing yesterday’s children’s and education scrutiny committee, denied that any cuts had been made.
He said: “We haven’t reached the stage of next year’s budget because it hasn’t been finalised.”
And, in a direct reference to who he considers to be the source of the leak, he added: “I will be seeking to ensure that this officer considers his position. It is very, very rare that I ever make critical comments about an officer of the council, but this person has behaved in a way that is totally out of the principles and protocols of local government.”
Coun Lawrence also claimed that one of the responsibilities under the officer’s jurisdiction was “underperforming” but nothing had been done about it.
The council document, which listed specific posts at risk, said: “All departments of the city council are currently required to reduce their budgets.
In the case of youth services this amounts to 7.5 per cent this year and 7.5 per cent next year. In pure monetary terms this amounts to a saving of £980,000 from an overall budget of approximately £7 million.
“As part of the plans to achieve this saving all area youth officers have been instructed that they cannot fill any vacant posts this financial year and cannot review any fixed term contracts. These instructions apply to all vacancies and fixed term contracts across the city. There are significant implications for work with young people and it would be disingenuous to pretend otherwise.”
In the Erdington constituency it means that the Pype Hayes Community Focus group will close in December and the Green Door Project, on the Wyrley Birch estate, is now under threat. Green Door provides one-to-one support for 11-25 year olds within the community and local schools.
Erdington’s Labour MP Sion Simon said: “I am shocked at this assault on the few youth services we currently have in Erdington.
“At a time when the Government has invested heavily in youth services and young people for the last few years with things like Youth Capital Funds, Youth Opportunity Funds, Youth sector development funds and Myplace funding, you have to ask why we have seen so little, if any of this used in Erdington.
“The answer is simple. Birmingham City Council already ranks among the worst authorities for investing in young people in the country and they simply continue to fail to make it a priority.”
Tony Howell, Strategic Director for Children, Young People and Families, said: “The budget for the Children, Young People and Families directorate was agreed by the Cabinet Member in April taking into account funding allocated by the city council based on the expected demand on services.
“Recently it has been necessary to make some adjustments to the budget in order to manage increased spending pressures in particular areas. All services – apart from Social Care – have been asked to look for opportunities to reduce expenditure and ways of working more efficiently. This has included not filling some vacant posts and ensuring that we make the best possible use of external grant funding.
“As a result of these measures the Youth Service has reduced its expenditure this year by £300,000, against an original budget of £7.6 million – a saving of four per cent.”
