Sue Robb of 4Children talks to Julie Laughton and Alison Britton from the Department for Education about the role of childminders in delivering the 30 hours free entitlement.
A report on Bristol City Council’s finances, conducted Steve Bundred, the former chief executive of the Audit Commission, has concluded that its £29 million deficit was a result of a ‘collective fairly of leadership’.
The report found that the leadership of the council did not recognise the scale of the problems, did not act fast enough to draw up savings plans and its existing frugalities were failing.
The independent review was requested following the mayoral elections in May 2016.
The report maintained that while the council failed to deal with issues in a timely manner, it had ‘taken steps to put things right’, with ‘regular and stronger financial reporting’.
George Ferguson, the former elected mayor of the city said: "I only heard about this review yesterday afternoon - which says it all - this administration is more interested in spending our money on reviews and blame games."
Meanwhile, elected Mayor Marvin Rees commented: “I inherited a deeply troubling financial challenge and promised this independent report to help us understand the causes and how we could put things right. We are undoubtedly making fast and strong progress already. We know where there are issues and are already putting many of the fixes in place. This means the public, our partners and councillors can be confident in our budget plans for next year, something which the report confirms.
“We have new senior finance officers, an excellent interim chief executive and incoming permanent chief executive, so we are in a good position to improve performance, change the council’s culture and be open about our challenges.
“The report suggests that in the past the political leadership was too complacent in trusting that savings could be made without making really hard choices. Scrutiny was focused on our pressures rather than on the savings which needed making. This report proves that our current approach to making savings, whilst very difficult, is absolutely necessary and that we have improved political oversight of our work.”
Sue Robb of 4Children talks to Julie Laughton and Alison Britton from the Department for Education about the role of childminders in delivering the 30 hours free entitlement.
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