Leader pledges plenty of support for people hardest-hit by latest cuts

Council leader John Alexander has pledged support services will be available for any individuals hit by his administration’s budget.

Residents are set to face a double whammy of a council tax rise along with concerns of job losses across the authority’s workforce.

The SNP administration also plans to save further funds through a staff structure review in schools.

The move was branded a “mistake” by West End Labour councillor Richard Mccready last night as he called on colleagues to work together to secure more funding for schools from central government.

Mr Alexander pointed to investments made in tackling “big social issues” such as drugs, poverty and the findings of a recent review of mental health services.

The SNP group leader said people on the street tell him they understand financial pressures mean the council has been forced to make difficult choices.

“I think we need to recognise the situation that the city faces and also the support that is in place,” Mr Alexander said.

“Just recently we increased the hardship fund for council tenants by £250,000, there’s £5 million to mitigate the impact of welfare reforms more generally, to help people who might find themselves in poverty and deprivation.

“There’s a huge wealth of support in terms of advice services to help people who might find themselves in a difficult financial position.

“We’re doing a lot on that agenda to assist people.

“We’ve also got to recognise that we need to generate money to offset some of those savings and continue to provide the services people expect.”

The SNP group came under fire for its school restructure proposals but scrapped planned crossing patroller cuts following public criticism.

Mr Alexander stressed education is “absolutely a priority” for his administration.

“Clearly, the council always works through the proposals in great detail,” he said.

“We don’t look to make anybody redundant and we will be working through the proposals over the coming months to make sure we minimise any impact that might have.

“But the important thing to recognise is that actually our schools do a fantastic job, the staff and the support staff that are in there are doing amazing work and there are other ways we are delivering services – additional monies through PEF (Pupil Equity Funding) and attainment challenge fund, for example.

“So there is a great wealth of things we can call upon to make sure we’re providing the kind of education people expect.”