Minister snubs North East plea over childcare crisis

A COALITION minister has turned down a plea from the North East to address a childcare crisis.

Councils across the region sent an urgent plea to the Department for Education and other Government departments last month urging ministers to intervene as the number of children in care grows. In the North East, almost 4,000 children are looked after by councils, the figure rising by more than 20% in some areas as social services deal with the legacy of the Baby P care failings.

Across the North East, 12 council leaders came together to tell the Government it must use some of its unexpected £600m business rate windfall to support services which are facing multi-million pound cost increases.

But in a costly snub, education minister Tim Loughton said there will be no “contingency funds” made available, saying instead that he believes continuing early intervention will bring down costs.

In a blunt message, Mr Loughton added that it would be impossible for the Government to “create a system that can anticipate every increase or decrease in pressure or demand that councils might face over the coming years.”

His letter to council leaders adds: “It is for local authorities to manage increases and decreases in demand from within their own budgets, and we have no plans to introduce contingency funds to manage the current pressures you describe.”

Mr Loughton’s refusal to consider the emergency cash handout comes despite a detailed submission to the Government setting out the extent of the funding shortfall.

In Newcastle alone there has been a near 20% increase over the last three years and the council faces £3.56m extra on its care bill as a result. In Northumberland, bills increased from £13m in 2009 to £15m in 2011.

Numbers of children in care have risen sharply since the Baby P case, when social workers faced heavy criticism for not intervening to save a 17-month-old suffering horrific injuries at the hands of his mother and her boyfriend.

Newcastle Council leader Nick Forbes last night said it was important money was found to fund the service in order to help vulnerable children.

He added: “It is a simple enough equation. The number of looked-after children is rising and resources to cope with the increase are falling. Unless the Government recognises the scale of the problem, other services will have to be cut to fund child protection services.

“The minister does not seem to understand that his Government has already cut some of our budgets by more than 40%. Talk of leaving us to fund this increase from existing resources is not only insulting, but shows how out of touch he is.”