Ex-councillor questions SBC on £100,000 cash for kids

CHILDREN in care in the Borders have lost out on around £10,000 of UK Government cash aimed at making their lives better, according to a former senior councillor from Hawick.

Andrew Farquhar, who had responsibility for the region’s schools before losing his seat in the 2007 local authority elections, has also hit out this week over the local authority’s handling of cash earmarked for disabled children.

His comments came in the wake of an article in TheSouthern last week highlighting the failure by Scottish Borders Council (SBC) to spend almost £250,000 of UK Government money on the disabled children it was intended for.

As a result, a coalition of 45 charities has called on SBC to cough up the cash to help disabled children in this region.

Mr Farquhar says he is greatly concerned that the provision of services for disabled children appears to have been compromised by the failure to pass on funds allocated for this purpose.

“There may be some explanation for the undue delay in this case. However, when considered along with a further example involving the disbursement of funding allocated for a specific purpose, a more sinister view may be taken,” he told The Southern this week.

“This relates to the Child Trust Fund £100 top-up allocated to councils to pass on to each child in care since April 2008. Having inquired about this I have learned that these funds have been allocated to the social work portfolio of Scottish Borders Council for the past three years and have not been passed on.”

Mr Farquhar says he has been told by SBC that this failure was due to ‘a lack of clear guidance’ on the nature of the funding and the mechanism for passing it to its intended recipients and making the payments.

Mr Farquhar added that SBC has assured him that matters have been clarified and social work staff are now working to identify the appropriate recipients and make the payments. The total sum involved over three years, he says he was told, is in the region of £10,000.
But he is far from happy. “It is an astonishing revelation and indeed shameful to find that any council should take three years before seeking guidance on any financial matter relating to vulnerable and deserving groups.

“It also brings into question the effectiveness of internal financial control and budgetary scrutiny. The first example involves money apparently being withheld for improving disabled children’s services and the other involves looked-after children who are the responsibility of the council and starting out in life without the usual parental or family support. It is difficult to identify more needy groups.

“Since both these matters came to light as the result of freedom of information requests, this is clearly a system which serves the public interest well in spite of shortcomings recently identified locally.”

Asked about the Child Trust Fund top-up scheme, Stella Everingham, head of integrated children’s service at SBC, told The Southern: “Scottish Borders Council has identified all children who are or have been entitled to a top-up of their Child Trust Fund.

“Sums have been allocated for the purpose and a system to ensure implementation as a matter of course is being put in place.

“Scottish Borders Council treats its role as corporate parent as a matter of the highest importance and has in place a strategic corporate parenting group including elected members and health board members . This group will receive a report detailing plans to support the trust funds.”

However, TheSouthern is still awaiting an explanation from SBC over what has happened to the money earmarked for disabled children. The enquiry is now being treated as a freedom of information request.