Scottish Borders Local Association

Schools savings will top up standby fund

Published Date: 10 June 2010

By Andrew Keddie

THE vast majority of the £627,000 which Scottish Borders Council (SBC) will save in the current financial year by not employing 12 new teachers, axing plans for free school meals in deprived areas and ditching a commitment to extended nursery education will not be diverted to other frontline services. £593,000 of the saving in the education department will be transfered to general fund reserve which stands at about £6million.

The boost to this provision of contingency funding for unforseen events such as major floods and insurance claims, will restore it to more than 2per cent of the council’s annual revenue budget. It is not considered fiscally prudent for reserves to fall below that level.

The balance of Ł34,000 will go to offset a shortfall in income, resulting from cuts in SBC’s in-house catering section.

This week’s decision sends a clear signal to the Scottish Government that national policy aspirations, explicit in the so-called concordat arrangement with councils, are not sacrosanct in the current financial climate and that SBC is not hanging around to take a bigger hit next year, despite the Holyrood administration deciding to defer its Ł322million share of public spending cuts until 2011-12.

SBC will save Ł207,000 by opting out of a Holyrood commitment to offer all children two years of pre-school or nursery education before they are aged five.

The council will save Ł281,000 by not creating 12 new full-time teaching posts in August in a bid to reduce class sizes.

Withdrawing the provision of free school meals to all pupils in 14 primaries in the most deprived areas will save Ł139,000.

Senior councillors endorsed a joint report from education director Glenn Rodger and chief financial officer Sandy Brown.

“Approval of these proposals will allow savings to be accumulated within the general fund reserve to support the resolution of the anticipated funding gaps in future years,” the report said, in a reference to the estimated Ł16million which SBC is expected to save in 2011/12.

“There is a risk if these measures to reduce spending are not taken at this point... it may be more difficult to remove these additional services in future years when funding will not be available to support them.”

Meanwhile, Councillor Neil Calvert said yesterday that a report would be submitted by SBC’s budget working group later this month on how the council can save a further Ł1.8million in the current financial year to fully meet its share of the Ł322million deferred Scottish budget reduction – and how it can prepare for the swingeing cuts in future years.

“We will be looking at our statutory responsibilities [such as education, roads and social work] and those which are discretionary [museums, libraries etc].

“It may well there is a shrinkage in what we are able to do as a council, but I do wish to speculate until we see the report.”

However, it is known that plans are well advance to transfer a variety of functions, including museums, sport and community education, to an external trust.

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