The Council has slotted in a special council meeting this coming month to debate two issues:

Firstly their plans to cut pay of teaching assistants by up to a quarter. We are yet to see the final proposal and will be discussing it in the next few weeks.

The second issue to be debated – and it is only 7 years overdue, is the re-re-re-restructuring of the senior management system at County Hall. For years we have pushed for a more slimlined top level. Finally it appears Labour may have listened. Had the Labour Party agreed with us all those years ago, we would now have had over a millions of pounds more to spend every year on frontline services – that is assuming the proposals we have yet to see make the changes we have previously recommended. They have repeatedly tinkered round the edges on this issue.

We will be looking closely at the plans for what we hope are fewer directors and heads of service to make sure that it is a proper, final reorganisation. I personally would like to see some of the money saved ploughed back into frontline services rather than simply added to reserves once again.