From: "John Reynolds" To: "Lolworth Parish Council" ; "Irish Nick-Dry Drayton" ; "Girton Website" ; "Girton Parish News" ; "Girton Parish Council" ; "Dry Drayton Website" ; "Dry Drayton News" ; "Binnie Harvey-Boxworth" ; "Bar Hill website" ; "Bar Hill News" ; "Bar Hill Parish Council" Subject: Fw: Cabinet budget Date: 29 January 2008 23:11 CABINET TO PROPOSE BUDGET - WITH CASH INCREASES FOR OLDER PEOPLE AND CHILDREN'S SERVICES Top public priorities of caring for older people and services for children are set for a cash boost when Cambridgeshire County Council's Cabinet meets next Friday (1 February). Despite receiving the worst Government settlement in its history, the County Council has embarked on an ambitious efficiency and cost-saving programme in order to provide a cash increase of £7.6m (6.6%) in support for older people and a further £6m (8.5%) on services for children and young people. The increase in the Council's Government grant settlement of just 2% was effectively a cut in grant and compared with an average of 5.6% for County Councils across England. Neighbouring Suffolk received a 7.3% increase and Norfolk an increase of 9.3%. Councillors are planning to bridge their funding gap by increasing council tax by 5% - 90p a week extra for an average property. At present, only two County Councils in England have a council tax lower than Cambridgeshire's. In all, the County Council is proposing to spend almost £315 million next year, up from £292 million in the current year. Conservative Council Leader Keith Walters has written to the Local Government Minister to make his feelings known about the Council's grant settlement, but said he didn't hold out much hope of the grant settlement improving. "All we are asking for is a fair deal. Once again council taxpayers in Cambridgeshire have lost out to a Government system that subsidises other parts of the country. "We listened carefully to views expressed in our autumn priorities consultation and people said that we should focus on caring for older people and services for children and young people. We will be putting more money into these areas, but our growing population will soon eat into that cash. "We have identified a total of £16m of efficiencies and other savings and will be spending significantly less on central office services in order to balance our budget. Some of these savings will inevitably impact on services, but if we want to protect priority areas such as support for older people and children, we have no option given our appalling Government grant." John Reynolds