Social services in Cambridgeshire look set to face massive cuts if
education secretary Charles Clarke forces the council to spend its
entire education budget on schools.
The Conservative-controlled council wants to hold back £4.5m
of the £11m local education authority budget increase for next
year to help subsidise other services across the council, including
social care.
But Clarke has vetoed its plan and intends to use his ministerial
powers to make sure the council passes on 100 per cent of the
budget increase. He blames councils that held back LEA money
earmarked for schools for last year's funding crisis which saw some
teachers lose their jobs.
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Three other councils - Halton, South Tyneside, and Bath & North
East Somerset - have been allowed to hold back some of their budget
increase after agreeing to pass it on in full next year. The
remaining 144 councils have agreed to pass on 100 per cent of the
increase.
Cambridgeshire is to hold talks with the Department for Education
and Skills to try and reach a compromise. It has to set its budget
by 10 February.
