News

Details of the Borough of Poole’s accounts for 2001/02 will be discussed at the Borough’s Executive Meeting on Wednesday 5 June.

The report breaks down how the Borough’s £170million was spent compared with the budget set and highlights any additional pressures faced or income received in the last year. As a result, the report shows how an additional £635,000 has been provided to support services in Poole.

Cllr Brian Clements, Leader of the Council, said; "Poole remains a low spending authority, however last year we faced some tough decisions, particularly in Social Services where our commitment to help vulnerable people wasn’t reflected in our funding from the Government. This meant that during the year the Council had to support care services with an additional £1.7million. Increasingly much of the funding we receive is ring-fenced and whilst this has rightly been in areas such as education, it does not allow us the flexibility to deal with many of the pressures we face and the services local people demand. As a result, difficult decisions had to be made about increasing Council Tax this year. A great deal of soul searching went into this decision but in spite of scrutinising budgets, our services are under increasing pressure as this report shows."

Some of the areas under pressure highlighted in the report include:

An additional £726,000 for Social Services due to:

• increasing costs of looking after children in the Council’s care
• additional repair and maintenance for day care centres and residential homes
• preventative work to help children in need such as providing play groups (section 17 responsibilities)

£106,000 for the increasing cost of providing bed and breakfast accommodation for homeless families

An additional £120,000 in waste disposal due to an increase in the amount of rubbish produced and collected in Poole

Cllr Jane James, Executive Spokesperson for Tackling Disadvantage, said: "We are delighted that our commitment to providing high quality Social Services in Poole has been recognised by the Government this week with Poole being judged as one of the top Unitaries Authorities in the country. However this has not been without cost caused by increasing demands in particular areas and Poole is no exception. Councils across the country are facing difficulties in meeting the needs of the most vulnerable people and in Poole there are particular pressures on providing services for young people in care. Whilst we work with other Councils to lobby the Government for more funding, helping those most in need will continue to be one of our priorities."

In addition, the report highlights an increase in school balances from an estimated £2.7million to £4.5million.

Cllr Brian Clements, Leader of the Council, said: "Increases in funding for schools has been the top priority in Poole, where for too many years our teachers have been expected to deliver high standards with too few resources. Since 1997 we have continued to press for more funding for education and the success of this campaign is demonstrated in the change in their financial position. Our commitment has been to give schools the highest level of funding possible as they, together with their Governors are best placed to make choices about how their funding should be used for the benefit of the school, its teachers and pupils. These resources are made available in order to achieve lower class sizes, not to swell schools bank accounts. Now we need to work with our schools to make sure they have the confidence to plan for the future and use their funding to invest in our children’s education."

He added: "In spite of considerable pressures, we still continue to be the lowest spending Council per head in Dorset and one of the lowest spending Councils in the country. Overall, our finances are in good order. What we have to do is achieve the right balance and make sure we provide quality services which are valued by local people at a fair price."

Michelle Holland, PR Manager, Borough of Poole, tel: 01202 633029, email: m.holland@poole.gov.uk