Changes to children's services could save council thousands (From Bournemouth Echo)

Interesting that an article about finding savings and cutting funds to help childrens education and children with problems at a time when the council are struggling to find places for local children and more children than ever are coming into care receives no comments at all. yet if you had put the word 'roads' or 'reef' in you would have got 50 comments

s-pb2 wrote:
Interesting that an article about finding savings and cutting funds to help childrens education and children with problems at a time when the council are struggling to find places for local children and more children than ever are coming into care receives no comments at all. yet if you had put the word 'roads' or 'reef' in you would have got 50 comments

Give us a chance! Only just read it.

So how exactly are they going to be saving the money without cutting services? 'Greater involvement of schools and academies' in what way and where will their funding come from? 'Moving Children’s Centre provision to a wholly commissioned model' means what exactly? Its the same as when they say they will save money by cutting 'waste' but never say what waste and where from.

As a moderately intelligent Bournemouth resident who tries to take an interest in these matters I am confused as to how these savings will be made and what some of the terms used mean.

-greater involvement of schools and academies , in what way? and what contribution will that make to the projected savings of £326,000?
-wholly commissioned model. again what does that mean and what savings will be made?
integrated youth services-what does that mean?
swifter turn around for SEN assessments- how will that be achieved and in a way to ensure maximum sensitivity to concerns of parents?
configured youth centres what does that mean and what contribution will that make to the £326.000?

Before preparing this comment I looked at the Cabinet agenda for 16/1/13 but am still no wiser, and that to my of thinking is a matter of some regret.I hesitate to pass judgement but it should be surely necessary to produce a report which makes it reasonably to all Councillors and Bournemouth residents what is meant; and how the figure of £326,000 is arrived at; that to me is a matter of commons sense ; and quite apart from all the modern buzz words of transparency and openness.

What I do know apart from that concern is that educational provision in Bournemouth as elsewhere is undergoing very profound changes with all the implications for Council funding and admissions policy.and in that respect I think we are sleep walking into a totally different kind of educational provision, but that I accept is a wider issue, but does not obviate the need for reports which are reasonably comprehensible by the average resident.

Gordon Cann wrote:
As a moderately intelligent Bournemouth resident who tries to take an interest in these matters I am confused as to how these savings will be made and what some of the terms used mean.

-greater involvement of schools and academies , in what way? and what contribution will that make to the projected savings of £326,000?
-wholly commissioned model. again what does that mean and what savings will be made?
integrated youth services-what does that mean?
swifter turn around for SEN assessments- how will that be achieved and in a way to ensure maximum sensitivity to concerns of parents?
configured youth centres what does that mean and what contribution will that make to the £326.000?

Before preparing this comment I looked at the Cabinet agenda for 16/1/13 but am still no wiser, and that to my of thinking is a matter of some regret.I hesitate to pass judgement but it should be surely necessary to produce a report which makes it reasonably to all Councillors and Bournemouth residents what is meant; and how the figure of £326,000 is arrived at; that to me is a matter of commons sense ; and quite apart from all the modern buzz words of transparency and openness.

What I do know apart from that concern is that educational provision in Bournemouth as elsewhere is undergoing very profound changes with all the implications for Council funding and admissions policy.and in that respect I think we are sleep walking into a totally different kind of educational provision, but that I accept is a wider issue, but does not obviate the need for reports which are reasonably comprehensible by the average resident.

Some fair points. It is unlikely that many of the councillors would have understood this report. To be honest the vast majority of councillors just arent interested in this area of council work, its not glamorous like ice rinks and so on