Welcome to Have Your Say
A consultation on Council’s budget
With budget planning underway for 2009/10, East Lothian Council wants to hear from you about how Council money should be spent.
- What do you think are the priorities when it comes to maintaining and improving local services and facilities?
- Do you think that the Council should spend its money more wisely to improve your lifestyle, that of your family and the wider community?
- And do you have views on how the Council could save money, improve efficiency and keep the council tax down, or allow money to be spent on more pressing needs?
To read more about the Council’s budget consultation click on You pay - now have your say! A consultation on Council’s budget With budget planning underway for 2009/10, East Lothian Council wants to hear from you about how Council money should be spent.
- What do you think are the priorities when it comes to maintaining and improving local services and facilities?
- Do you think that the Council should spend its money more wisely to improve your lifestyle, that of your family and the wider community?
- And do you have views on how the Council could save money, improve efficiency and keep the council tax down, or allow money to be spent on more pressing needs?
Please click on youpayhaveyoursay@eastlothian.gov.uk and tell us what you would like the money spent on or leave your comment below.
Comments»
I think better facilities could be provided for children with learning difficulties in Musselburgh. Although the Burgh Primary School has an excellent name. The children there dont have their own outdoor space to play.
I think the council should reduce the money spent on gardening, the plants are dug up and replaced far too much, looking nice is OK but surely there is a more cost offective way of doing it. ie., greenery & foliage and just a few flowers.
How about reducing the amount of money wasted on METHADONE, a longer term alternative has to be found to teach these people how to COPE with ordinary life, without the use of drugs. Get them into Re-hab, whether semi self-help then teach them CPOING SKILLS and stop FUNDING NEGATIVE HABITS,
How about not sending two people to replace a keyboard on a school
computer (witnessed), utter madness.
I appreciate the good work you do and for the most part am a happy
resident of Haddington, but all these cuts in education HAVE TO STOP…..Reduce the amount of paperwork teachers have to do, give them more time to teach and nurture the children in their care.
A generation of ner do wells exist now because of red tape, mamby pamby regulations & the decreased disciplining allowed by teachers.
Finally with this new “Curriculum for Excellence” I feel the powers that be are waking up and finally smelling the roses. Life skills and especially COPING with the emotional side of life as well as the sexual education that is being taught at an ever younger age should be PARAMOUNT.
All the money being used up by smokers/drinkers/drug users could
be dramatically reduced if those adults needing support now had been taught how to cope with LIFE at school when they were young.
Iam by no way an expert and apologise if my tone seems passionate, but there you are.
Please keep the money where there is still hope.
Thankyou for reading this.
Savings can be made across the board if we are all prepared to be more vigilant.
Schools, council offices, hospitals could all save money by shutting down computers not just leaving them on stand by.
Documents, leaflets, flyers could all be printed on recyled paper.
If information is going into schools is it really necessary to have a printout for every single child? For example,secondary pupils recently received an information sheet on the ‘Safe Use of Internet and ICT for Pupils’. I can only assume that not every child believed they needed to be reminded of these rules as I have seen a countless number of these ‘flyers’ in bins, hedgerows and abandoned on desks. Surely teachers could raise this issue and have 1 copy per class.
Did the recent ‘Literacy Guidelines’ have to be printed on high quality paper with high quality photos and many blank spaces?
As an opportunity to gain revenue try putting a speed camera at the traffic lights on Dirleton Ave, North Berwick for all the executive commuters who think its perfectly acceptable to drive at speeds well in excess of 30mph between 6-7am every morning in their BMWs, Mercedes etc.
I love living in East Lothian, but I would like to see the council be proactive about saving money.
There wil be a public consultaton on Wednesday 5th December, at 7pm in The Burgh School,Musselburgh,on the proposed move of the Communication Provision at The Burgh School to Meadowpark, Haddington.All parents are welcome.
I’m very concerned about the planned cut in the education budget. Particularly since the number of children in East Lothian is steadily increasing. I have three children, all of whom receive additional support through gifted programs and special needs support.
I have seen first hand the effect of a poor education budget on both gifted and special needs children, and it’s ugly. Gifted children dropping out of school because the school can only cater to the ‘average’ child. Autistic spectrum pupils tormented and isolated because the school doesn’t have the resources to train teachers or educate pupils on how to deal with them. Dyslexic children dismissed as stupid or lazy, or not identified as dyslexic until they’re already years behind their peers.
And it’s not just the children outside the norm who suffer. How can an ordinary child make the most of themselves when the school doesn’t have the resources to do anything but the basics? We need to inspire the next generation, and we’re not going to be able to do that on a bargain-basement education.
I am appalled to read about the extensive planned budget cuts for North Berwick High School (and no doubt other schools in East Lothian) .Our children already have to cope with higher than average class sizes and , particularly in the case of Law Primary School, woefully inadequate space for the number of children on the school role.This was clearly highlighted by the recent HMI report.
It has been long established that children of all abilities fare better in smaller classes. The government recently pledged to further reduce class sizes in the early years. Why is this council planning budget cuts that can only be met by reducing teacher numbers and increasing class sizes?
Our children are our future. We should be investing in their education.
The quality of education is the major determinant of the quality of the lives of all residents in East Lothian both now and importantly in the future whether they have children or not. Well educated children will make a greater contribution to the quality of society via better behaviour and happy parents now; and economic and social contribution in the future as they grow up.
The council must not make planned cuts in funding for North Berwick High School or else it will be guilty of a serious erosion of the quality of residents’ lives during an economic downturn when we can least cope with it.
I am very concerned that efficiency savings required by the Scottish government effectively mean that my children’s secondary school is facing a significant budget cut. This will inevitably lead to larger class sizes (contrary to the stated policy of the government), reduced numbers of learning support staff, a reduction in the number of subjects available at standard, higher and advanced higher grades, and cuts in extra-curricular activities. The education of our children should be among the very top priorities of the government and ELC and the budget for Education and Children’s Services should be increased in line with the overall budget.
We agree with all of the comments about N.Berwick High School and all schools facing cuts in East Lothian - we especially agree with the comments from with Liz Ireland (above). Should these outrageous cuts become a reality, we will be organising a very significant and highly effective web-based social media campaign to dismiss the current East Lothian Council administration from office at the next local autority elections. We are not political people - and that is our strength. Parents vote - and there are lots and lots of them. Most of them nowadays have computers. ELC Councillors - be very afraid. You will be accountable for your actions if you do not act now to stop these unacceptable education cuts.
ELPASC
East Lothian Parents Against School Cuts
Email
We are
EastLothianParentsAgainstSchoolCuts (ELPASC)
EMAIL US NOW AT
ELPASC@ymail.com
Or go to facebook and request to join our network at:
http://www.facebook.com (then enter EastLothianParents)
As parent of children at North Berwick primary and secondary schools I am very concerned over the budget cuts proposed for these schools. Both are in my opinion currently underfunded and cutting back further will only make the pressure on class sizes worse, not to mention the poor state of the fabric of these schools. As a tax payer I say quite clearly, educational services are my number one priority for tax spending, an opinion I held before having children and one I will continue to hold after my children leave school.
As a very concerned parent of a pupil that attends Prestonpans Primary School. I am so angry at what our council intends to do. The pupils at Prestonpans are current “below average” with regards to attainmant. So what are the Council planning to do? Not only are they planning to reduce the classroom assistants that are currently in place but they are also planning to reduce the number of teachers. I for one Cllrs Currie and MacKenzie do not accept that “below avaerage” is good enough for the people/children of Prestonpans. What do you think? Given that you are meant to represent the people of Prestonpans what do you think?
As a very concerned parent of a pupil that attends Prestonpans Primary School. I am so angry at what our council intends to do. The pupils at Prestonpans are current “below average” with regards to attainmant. So what are the Council planning to do? Not only are they planning to reduce the classroom assistants that are currently in place but they are also planning to reduce the number of teachers. I, for one, Cllrs Currie and MacKenzie do not accept that “below average” is good enough for the people/children of Prestonpans. Given that you are meant to represent the people of Prestonpans what do you think?
I wish trhat all of the people of East Lothian will just accept that the Cllrs know best. Do not be so naive that you can make a difference.
Say No To Any Cuts
If the level of response to the ‘Have your say’ consultation is indeed representative of the community feeling, the the council will obviously reduce the level of cuts in the education budget.
My worry is that this will just mean other needed services (child protection/ child care, Services for older people, Adults with learning difficulties, etc. will be even harder hit.
Yes, our council were foolish to sign up to the concordat with the Scottish Government, not that they had much choice, and unless there is a renegotiation of the concordat we will be left with the same level of cuts required somewhere across the council services.
The argument really should NOT be with ELC, although they should be showing some leadership in confronting the Scottish Government with the reality of the impact of this round of cuts.
The argument should be with the Scottish Government, to either provide more money or allow ELC to raise more The alternative is that we continue to fight over the deckchairs………
I assume that there is at least one councillor that believes the proposed budget is the way forward, otherwise it would not have been put in place. Could that Councillor please let themself be know, so that their constituents understand the error of their ways in electing them into power, and therefore they can hang their heads in shame. The rest of East Lothian will forgive you though, so long as you do not make the same mistake again.
I welcome & support the response from Dunbar Primary School Parent Council on this issue.
Before cutting budgets in essential areas such as education in a misguided attempt to save money across the board, we should be prepared to examine the ludicrous waste of money that occurs in some areas and nonsensical proposals such as the free school meals to all in P3 and below.
As a parent of children at St. Gabriels, Prestonpans and Preston Lodge High School, I am appalled at the proposed education cuts across the whole of East Lothian. The budget cuts across East Lothian will lead to fewer teachers, larger class sizes and a decrease in learning support from the areas that need it most. Can we expect school closures next ? Shared teachers ?
Education should be priority number 1. A budget cut is so short sighted and is incompatible with the promises made before the last election. From a Preston / Seton / Gosford perspective, Cllrs Mackenzie and Currie should hang their heads in shame.
I am contacting you to raise my real concern about this significant reduction in finance going in to the education of our children.
We have two boys at the North Berwick High School and I would like to see far greater activity by the School in contesting this proposed budget from the Local Council.
I find the proposed budget reductions and subsequent implications totally unacceptable.
How is it that the government can bail out the Banks (with all the financing that they have), whilst schools are looking to cut the quality of the education they provide due to insufficent funding from local government?
Many thanks for submitting my concerns to the relevant authorities.
I agree with many of the comments above with regards to the implications of the proposed ‘efficiency savings’ for Education in East Lothian. However, I feel that we are perhaps missing a point here.
Efficiency should be measured in terms of cost per output of the system. In education the output should be motivated individuals who are successful learners and able to take a positive, active and constructive role in society. To this end the increase in extracurricular activities in schools during recent years is a marker of the success and increased ‘efficiency’ of the school funding policies over the past few years - not that the school system does not still suffer from underfunding - it does, but the recent McCrone changes HAVE succeded in motivating teachers and hence motivating children. THIS IS IN DANGER OF BEING REVERSED. If we define education merely in ‘financial cost’ terms per annum without considering the output in terms of educated children, then saving 6% of costs is an ‘efficiency’ saving, but if this results in a reduction in the quality of the ‘output of the system’ it may not be an efficiency saving at all. Since over 90% of school budgets are spent on staffing, a 6% cut in funding means that either non-staffing costs be reduced by about 50% (for schools that don’t have sufficient funds at the moment to ensure one textbook per child in some classes!) or staffing levels need to be reduced (or more senior staff pensioned off and junior staff recruited - with the associated reduction in experience base!).
This will inevitably mean more pressure on the remaining staff via increased cover and teaching outwith their own individual area of specialisation or to larger classes. This is unlikely to result in a similar level of ’service’ following the efficiency savings. A 6% reduction in costs with an associated, let’s say, 6% reduction in quality of educational experience does not make an EFFICIENCY saving. In my book 6% reduction in costs and output is NEUTRAL with effect to efficiency and for individual children could be completely detrimental to their educational experience. A child leaving school early with insufficient education skills may well become a real financial burden on the society of the future rather than an active contributor, wasting ALL the money that had been spent on them throughout their ediucation. When faced with the financial downturn we should be investing in our children not trying to reduce the basic costs, as this can only be an INefficiency in the long run.
I understand that the Council are in bad situation But we MUST NOT make our children suffer. The Scottish governements commitment to education and the current changes to C for E are a wonderful opportunity to drive our country forward, but if insufficient funds are available at this critical period of transition it is unlikely that the opportunity will be fully exploited.
Rather than cuts to funding education needs more investment right now in order to maximise the efficiency of the system in real terms in the future. I hope that our local council will be brave enough to take this view and to push hard for it with the goverment…..but I doubt it.
I for one would gladly pay another £10 a month in community charge IF I thought it would be properly invested in education - after all the future of our country DEPENDS ON THE QUALITY OF THE EDUCATION OF TODAYS CHILDREN, and each child lost to education is a tremendous drain on the future finance of our country and every individual in it whethere or not they have children themselves.
Albeit from central government, Tony Blair declaired not so long ago, “Education, education, education” We thought it may have filtered through the system by now. So where’s the commitment & the money?
Teachers & especially head teachers don’t need this problem of year on year cuts. They don’t need all this stress of having to juggle staff & other resources to achieve best compromise fit. To a degree it is also stressful for all teaching staff, because they have a foot in both camps; namely being employed by the council & liasing with parents who support their school.
Our teachers are the best childsitters ever, they also educate them as well !!! The point being, support them. Resist the cuts, e-mail or tell a friend.
Because most schools run a tight ship already, if a teaching member of staff is off work, be it from bugs from the children, stress etc, who replaces them? Superwomen, Superman? Sorry they are not good enough, due to lack of teacher training. In reality, we end up with a compromise with other teachers covering between classes and for how long? Make this permanent via the cuts & we will most likely have composite classess.
In most cases years of hard effort by teaching staff to make our children better educated are likely to be wasted. Our children require to evolve better than their fore-bears. We in this small country, without doubt, need to be at the forefront of world education for which this country will eventually benefit. You only need to look at the recently published world stats, WE ARE NOT UP THERE, so don’t kid ourselves. Making do with less resources is not good enough!
In my opinion, the budget administrators are looking in the wrong direction, they need only to look to themselves to see where budget cuts can be really made; in-house. When was the last time they took a really good hard look at their own overhead costs and noted the results with a very sharp pencil? There is inefficiencies in almost all organisations, especially in local government.
At Campie Primary School, Musselburgh, we are sure the building capital expenditure is written off by now, the “main” building is over a hundred years old. So the council has had a good time for a long time at this school.
We in this household say to our councillors, just remember who elected you; do we still have a vote of confidence in you?
NO CUTS or our x’s on the voting paper will go elsewhere! Remember, e-mail can have a comfort list of millions that can swiftly sway opinion. We will use it, just as we did today.
I am very concerned about the effect these proposals will have on local schools, pupils, staff and communities. This is a very exciting time for all in education and to deliver a Curriculum for Excellence, Head Teachers need to be given the money and staff and resources to do this. One only has to look at neighbouring Midlothian’s vision of the future of education - their impressive record of building 8 schools using PPP funding in the last 14 months, 3 schools built using traditional capital funding as well as additional new schools and extensions paid for by developer contributions to start feeling like the poor relation.
I also feel that the committment to reducing class sizes has been quietly swept under the carpet. This issue will not go away and the quicker local and Scottish Government address this the better.
The much spoken about “efficiency savings” can only be delivered if there are efficiencies that can be made. Who came up with the 2% per year for 3 years? It appears not to have been a faceless bureaucrat, in Whitehall or an out of touch politician in Westminster. It seems to be either a facless bureacrat and/or an out of touch politician in Holyrood.
How extensive was the audit that dictated that every department in every Council must make an efficiency saving of 2% p.a. for 3 years? Not very, I would suggest. It seems to be a number plucked out of the air and forced upon every department regardless of how they performed in the past.
Assume that a department has been run very efficiently in the past, with no “excess fat”. This department will be punished for being so well run as it has to cut back on vital services to meet this meaningless 2% “efficiency saving”. Assume that another department has been badly run and there are ample of opportunities to make “efficiency savings” without affecting the service delivered. What a perverse way to run Local Government - efficient, well run departments are being punished for being efficient and well run. You couldn’t make it up!
“Efficiency savings” is very much in the minds of executives and managers in the private sector. So, also is a concept called a “cost-benefit analysis”. Looking at the proposed budget I can certianly identify the “costs” in this analysis, namely the education of our children. I have not yet been able to work out what the “benefits” are. As the share of the total budget is being redistributed away from education, to it’s cost exactly where is this money ending up? What benefits will the people of East Lothian see as the education of our children suffers. I have yet to hear any Councillor explain what these benefits are- they really must be something if they think that they take precedence over the education of our children.
Let us not forgot that all of the “efficiency savings” made by the Council are retained by the Council to spend as they see fit. It is therefore a purely political decision taken by the current Administration to cut the share of the budget going to education. Their priorities clearly lie elsewhere.
The true cost of Single Status.
I have read the available budget documents and far from feeling more informed I have the sense that they are produced to confuse and obfuscate the reality of where our money goes. Where did last years savings go? No where can I see how the council has paid for the increased costs of the settlement for ’single status’. Estimates for this are between £4.5m-£6m per year. Is this not a similar ammount to 6% over 3 years?
One is left wondering if the council / government expect us to put single status ahead of our childrens education. I FOR ONE DON’T AND I DON’T KNOW ANY ONE WHO DOES.
With regards to the previous statement, you do not have to put our children’s education before the single status. There is more than enough money available for the Council to deliver on their (SNP) manifesto promises. Well, according to the Education Secretary there is more than enough money, not only to deliver on this promise, but also to deliver the promise to “maintain teacher numbers”, rather than cut teacher numbers. Who should the people of East Lothian believe? It must either be the politicians in Holyrood or the politicians in Haddington. They are both saying opposite things and therefore they both can not be right.
Who should we believe, Mr Berry?
Dear Colin,
Thanks for those kind words of reasurance. I know now that my children’s education is safe in the hands of East Lothian Council and the Scottish Government.
Perhaps you could just get one of them to confirm this for me?
Yours in anticipation
David
Government funding is set aside for community development proposals and strategies that are developed to meet health needs to promote health (and rightly so). If we look closely at these strategies, many target schools in an attempt to reach children to educate them and give them a chance to be the best they can be and hopefully then contribute to society in a positive way. How can it be that the government will recognise that input is required at this point in childrens lives on one hand but is keen to make efficiency savings on the other - surely this will have a detrimental effect not only on the education of our children, but on the window of opportunity to prevent the kind of behaviour that costs money in the long term - this is the time to care for and nurture them so as to reap the benefits and savings at the other end. Who is looking after the needs of the children here?
In response to Mr Wilkie I hope that you are reassured by the following.
I have a letter from the office of Adam Ingram, the Minister for Children and Early Years. I had written to him (and the other 4 Regional SNP MSP’s) concerning the cut in teachers at Prestonpans Primary School for the current academic year and the effect that this may have on the education of the children attending that school.(The majority of the MSPs did not respond! and so I have felt the need to write to them again) Putting this into context, Prestonpans Primary School a couple of years ago was deemed, by HMIe, as failing it’s pupils. The response from the current Administration at East Lothian Council, as indicated above, was to cut the number of teachers and thereby increase class sizes for over 40% of the pupils. (The rest of the pupils stayed in classes of the same size, ie not one pupil was in a smaller class!)
Mr Ingram informed me that “The Scottish Government believes that this overall funding package should have been more than sufficient to ensure that the Council was able to not only maintain existing services but also increase the front-line services it provides for the people of East Lothian”.
I received a similar response from Alasdair Morgan, one of our Regional SNP MSP’s who could be bothered to reply, who stated when I asked if East Lothian Council has the resources in place to deliver on the promise to maintain teacher numbers: “I believe it has, but individual councils must make their own decisions.”
So there you have it Mr Wilkie. We have the money not only to maintain the current “front-line services” but indeed “increase” them.
So I do not know what all this Consultation Process is all about- just give us the manifesto promises that you were elected on and which you can deliver (according to Cabinet Members in Holyrood).
I trust you will sleep easy now Mr Wilkie.
We are very disappointed to hear of the planned budget cuts for NBHS. My husband is a tax payer and we expect a much better investment in the future of our children’s schooling - not the threat of larger class sizes and a shortfall of funding for necessary resources.
And incidentally why should pressure be constantly put on the parents to fundraise and contribute donations in the attempt to boost school funds left greatly short by government.
I find it very worrying that front line education services are constantly targetted for cutbacks. If you speak to our councillors they seem under the illusion that there is still plenty of fat left to be trimmed in schools. Yet at the schools my children attend, most of the classes are at their maximum legal size, bigger than the rooms were intended to hold, and the strain is showing. We have been warned that next year we can look forward to no learning support, and resources such as jotters and pencils not being supplied. These cannot be described as improvements in efficiency.
This process, where they set an arbitrary and across-the-board budget cut, is surely the wrong way round. Is the value-add of every coordination meeting, quality improvement process or who-knows-what administrative procedure really as great as having a learning support teacher in the classroom?
It seems crazy to cut the education budget, and not give our children as good a start as we can manage. If kids are struggling, the problems won’t go away because we choose to ignore them, and we’ll pay more to sort them out at some later stage. But then maybe this administration sees that as someone else’s problem.
Sadly I did not sleep very well last night.
Mr Yorkston, whilst I’m sure well meaning managed to raise a number of anxieties about my childrens education which I’m sure my local and national politicians have excellent answers for. Surely they would not be so nieve as to cut the services that they promised us in their manifesto and still expect us to re-elect them? No thats a silly idea, just part of one of my nightmares last night.
(I still believe in the tooth fairy)
Having just had a meeting with Mr MacKenzie tonight it appears that Adam Ingram (a Cabinet Member in the Scottish Government) is misleading us! East Lothian Council does not have the resources at hand to deliver the promises that the SNP were elected on, according to Mr MacKenzie. Mr Ingram is clearly wrong in his claims that ELC do have the resources!
Mr MacKenzie repeatedly returned to the outdated formula used to determine the number of teachers that the Council employs. Given that the SNP were elected on a promise to “maintain teacher numbers in the face of falling school roles in order to reduce class sizes”(p.52) it should be clear that the 10/11 teachers that were lost last year should not have been lost. The formula that should have been used was: How many teachers do we have and therefore this is the number of teachers we will have. Indeed Mr MacKenzie tried to suggest that we, at Prestonpans Primary School, were lucky because we were “threatened with losing two teachers last year”, although we only lost one. My argument is that we should not have lost any teachers at all if the SNP had delivered their manifesto promise, which is what Mr Ingram (Cabinet Minister) is saying we should have had.
I do not think that I am being unreasonable: all I want is what I was promised when I voted for SNP last year, and what SNP Cabinet Members at Holyrood are saying I should be getting.
Why are the children of East Lothian being let down?
I very much agree with Colin Yorkston. What really concerns me is that these are in no way “efficiency savings”, they are cuts in service.
How can a reduction in teaching staff be an “efficiency saving”?
Fiona Hyslop, Education Secretary, said that staffing cuts would NOT be considered “efficiency savings” as they would not lead to more efficient services. Yet the reality is that the only way most schools can save the sums being asked is by cutting teacher numbers.
So these are education CUTS - being carried out by spineless councillors under orders from a Machiavellian government which has pledged not to reduce teacher numbers. How does that work?
The SNP has forced councils into a corner. But let’s have some honesty about what is going on here - councillors and ministers all know that education budget cuts aren’t about cutting back on paper or saving money on school outings. These cuts mean losing teachers and support staff - and this will affect our children’s education.
All this really, really stinks.
I have recently finished my probation as an Newly Qualified Teacher. Having decided to give up my previous career, I have spent thousands of pounds re-training to join a profession which I love. My probation year in East Lothian was challenging, rewarding and the most enjoyable of my life. At the end of my year, I was told there was no permanent position for me in East Lothian.
Efficiency cuts have meant that permanent teaching posts in East Lothian are few and far between.
I have family and financial commitments in East Lothian and am unable to re-locate at present. Currently I have been able to secure only part-time temporary work in East Lothian.
Being and effective teacher involves building relationships with young people; often this can take months, even years. I would ask the council to SERIOUSLY consider the effect employing teachers on a piecemeal basis is having on the educational experiences of our children.
We can all complain but the Council (our voted representatives) need to find real efficiencies that could save a lot of money. No one likes to have their budget cut.
Here are a few suggestions:
a) Install video conferencing in all secondary schools to allow teaching of fifth and sixth years across the county. New classes could be run; the best use of specialist teachers could be made. Other Councils are already doing it. ELC could improve the standard of education and reduce running costs. There would be a large capital outlay but this could be quickly recovered.
b) The PPP contracts (Building Costs) need to be reviewed and any energy or interest savings need to be passed back to the school involved.
c) The transport budget is very large. Is it spent in the best way? People who use school and social work busses need to suggest efficiencies (not cuts).
d) ELC needs to push re-cycling harder. The people of East Lothian need to know what dumping rubbish really costs! True re-cycling (or reduction in usage) could save our Council a great deal of money.
e) Has the Council reviewed the use of all its buildings? Some are lying empty!
We have all seen the Council in different areas of our lives. We all need to look at how the Council spends our money, stop moaning and come up with real ways of doing things better!
Recently I attended a PArent Council meeting at Campie PS where we learned that the proposed ‘efficiency savings’ could reduce income by £34000. Since so much of the budget is already fixed, in terms of teachers’ salaries, that leaves very little room for manoevre in obtaining the proposed saving. The headteacher’s stark conclusion - that 3 parttime classroom assistant places would need to be cut - would have a large negative impacton the smooth running of the school, and the opportunities for school trips and extra-mural activities, which are vital for a rounded education.
Cutting primary school provision is not an efficiency! It is a false economy that will come back to bite us when the chilfdren move on to secondary school and beyond.
(1) The consultancy is not widely publicised, and, although on-line blogs may be the way of the 21st century (I’m in IT myself) it’s not great for those folk without the technology – so we’re excluding many older folk from this type of response. I think 35 responses so far says it all - do a proper consultation and get it right. Some school parent councils (even with councillors as members of the parent council) were not made aware the consulation was taking place!
(2) Efficiency savings are ONLY that when they deliver the same level and quality of service, otherwise they are cuts.
(3) Schools are particularly badly hit – operating on a low cost-per-pupil basis. Primary schools in particular, often meaning the loss of one fully qualified teacher or three support staff. Losing staff is really the only way schools can make these cost reductions. The Scottish government promised a reduction in class sizes, and losing teachers in not the way forward. Why on earth are we jeopardizing our children’s education? How many teaching staff will go in East Lothian as a whole – 20, 30? You can’t be serious? The staff in our East Lothian schools do a fantastic job and deserve the support of their employers. Urgent action is needed to remove the threat of ANY reduction in budget for schools.
(4) The consultation was prepared based on a pre-October budget, which does not take into account a reduction of 2.5% in the base rate. The debt repayment accounts for a significant part of the council budget. The base rate is likely to remain low for at least the next 12 months, and the budget basis of the consultation is therefore flawed and needs to be re-worked. Auditors take note.
(5) Work has recently taken place to replace a considerable entire streets of streetlights in Musselburgh Stoneybank & Mucklets area. Obviously this type of maintenance is necessary, but to the untrained eye the majority of existing lampposts served adequately. Currently work is being carried out in Stoneybank Crescent and surrounding streets – digging up a narrow strip of pavement adjacent to garden fencing and relaying – to what purpose! Spending for no reason while our schools suffer the trauma of attempting to lose teachers.
(6) Freezing council tax may all seem very well, but a simple rate-of-inflation rise (even half the rate of inflation which is currently 4.1%) would adequately cover the required 2% efficiency savings. It’s not too much to ask us of us.
With regard to the budget proposals for education in East Lothian, can the council assure us that cutting the budget will not have an impact on every child within the education system? If so, we would dearly love to know how they think this is achievable.
Budgets for the schools are tight enough now without introducing cuts over the next 3 years.
Why would the council want, for example;
class sizes to increase;
the number of subjects offered to pupils reduced, at any level of the school;
no new text books;
reduction of staffing be it teaching, admin or staff required for those pupils requiring additional support?
Quite simply, the concept does not make sense. The council has got to invest in the future of the children - move forward not backwards!
A number of the other messages criticise the budgets to be allocated to education and I can only say I agree with them and the reasons given for those criticisms. It is vital when overall budgets are under pressure that priorities are set properly and it as a distortion of proper priorities for cuts in real terms to be imposed on education relative to other services. Funding is already inadequate when, for example, pupils do not all have textbooks they can take home - it is tragic to suggest that additional cuts which will be required in teacher/pupil ratios, course availability, specialist support and other basic requirements might be considered “efficiency savings”. Provision of good education must be the first priority of a local authority. My two children at North Berwick High School appear to be very low in the council’s priorities,
I wish to express my concern about the proposed “efficiency savings” of 2.25% to education across East Lothian next year. I fear that this will have a detrimental effect on the education and learning experiences of all children in East Lothian.
My three children attend Longniddry Primary School and its spending will have to decrease by approximately £17,000 next year, to be followed by further “efficiency savings” in the next again year. I cannot imagine how the school can accommodate this level of saving without becoming LESS efficient in educating our children. If these cuts in the school budget mean that there will be a member of support staff less, then that will put more pressure on the teaching staff and may mean that they have less time to spend teaching. Perhaps these savings will mean that faulty equipment will not be replaced or that there will be fewer books or that certain activities will be terminated. These savings can only have a negative effect on the children and the quality of education that they receive. Our school already has many composite classes where teachers are teaching two different years in the same class. This must already be a compromise, as it has to place an extra burden on the teacher.
I realise that there is less money to spend and that hard choices will have to be made with regard to where that money is spent. Obviously, this means that certain departments will lose out. Education should not suffer cuts which affect the standard of teaching. My view is that a well educated population has to be a goal that we aspire to, for it is an investment in all of our futures, not only our children’s. It is an extremely short-sighted policy that makes cuts in education. I’m sure that there must be other areas where money is spent unnecessarily within the council.
I am opposed to these “efficiency savings” on behalf of my children and all the children of East Lothian, who need the best education possible to arm them with the necessary tools to deal with this complicated world in which we live, and to enable them to make the right choices in the future, choices that will have far-reaching consequences for us all.
As a parent of children at North Berwick High School, I am extremely concerned at the scale of these so called efficiency savings. My understanding of the Scottish Government policy is that neither staff reductions in schools or cuts in support for learning constitute efficiency savings, because they reduce service provision. Why then is East Lothian Council effectively forcing North Berwick High School (and probably all the other schools in East Lothian) to reduce service provision in order to meet these cuts? The bulk of the school’s budget is spent on salaries with very little scope for true efficiency savings. I am very concerned about the negative impact this will have on my children’s education as I don’t see how true efficiency savings can be made without a reduction in service provision.
I’m more than slightly worried at the the proposed cuts in secondary school funding. Maybe cuts are required in the overall East Lothian budget but I would have expected costs relating to education to be ring-fenced and MANDATORY. There are a vast list of costs that could be deemed to be non-mandatory or cosmetic. Other respondants to this blog have mentioned some of the costs that could come into that category. Any cut in funding that leads to an increase in class sizes, a reduction in the subjects being offered, or reduction in administration support that puts extra pressure on teachers should be avoided at all costs.
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