Health and social care

HEALTH and social care will get an extra £2.14m one- off payment to ‘smooth’ its budget gap, on top of its baseline allocation of £54.22m for 2017-18, Argyll and Bute councillors agreed.

Proposing his administration’s budget, Dick Walsh said: ‘Protecting services for vulnerable people is important to us and to our communities, who reflect this in their consultation participation.

‘That is why in our budget today we are taking steps to meet the Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership’s ( HSCP) cost and demand pressures in the short term and support transition with one- off funding of £2.137m.

‘It will assist in supporting transformational change and with smoothing the projected budget gap.’

He added the baseline allocation will drop to £52.773m for 2018-19, and again to £51.323m for 2019-20.

Opposition SNP group leader Sandy Taylor, pictured, said its budget proposals would have seen funds raised by the three per cent council tax rise ‘paid directly to the cash- strapped HSCP, to be used to establish a Change Fund of £1.239m to directly benefit some of Argyll and Bute’s most vulnerable residents’.

But the SNP’s budget was defeated 20 votes to nine. ‘I’m thoroughly disappointed,’ Councillor Taylor said. ‘Today was a lost opportunity for Argyll and Bute.’