Posted: Thu 11th Mar 2021
Argument over lack of support for £3.5m Children’s Services cash injection as ‘maths’ and process challenged again by Labour group
The Lead Member of Children’s Services condemned the Labour group on Wrexham council for not raising questions over the department before rejecting a budget that will see £3.5m injected into the service.
Members of the Safeguarding, Communities & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee were examining the reasons why Children’s Services are reporting an overspend of £5.9m for eight months of the financial year, a topic that has had two recent heated debates.
One such debate came during the formal setting of the council’s budget, that had a £3.5m cash injection earmarked for the service. The budget passed Council, however the Labour group did not support it, citing the questions around the overspend as to why.
Updated: Fri 5th Mar
Committee to examine £5.9 million overspend in council’s Children’s Services for first eight months of year
Members of the Safeguarding, Communities & Wellbeing Scrutiny Committee will examine the reasons why Children’s Services are reporting an overspend of £5.9m for eight months of the financial year.
The broad issue of the overspend recently surfaced during public budget discussions, where questions were raised by Cllr Dana Davies over who ‘signed it off’. Last month when the budget was discussed again the matter raised where Cllr Davies referred to an £8m overspend figure – substantially more than in the report before councillors next week.