More money needed for care, not cuts

With reference to your story ‘Care cuts could return says councillor’ (The Oban Times, April 26), Councillor Kieron Green, the Scottish Government and others seem to be attempting similar to King Canute.

However, in this case, the tide is a tsunami of ever-increasing ‘disability service, health and social care’. If any reading of the statistics had been done, Councillor Green and the others would not be looking to cut budgets but increase spending commensurate with the exploding statistics supplied by the Scottish Government.

For instance, look at the pupil census’ 2017 table 1.5 for pupils with additional support needs, comparing 2017 with 2007 (http://www.gov.scot/ Topics/ Statistics/Browse/School-Education/dspupcensus/dspupcensus17):

❒ 2007 primary school 4.4 per cent (16, 478);

❒ 2017 primary school 23.5 per cent (94,125);

❒ 2007 secondary 4.3 per cent (13, 355);

❒ 2017 secondary 29.3 per cent

(82,712).

Averaged out, this is a present rate of 26.6 per cent for pupils with additional support needs: a rise of 534 per cent for primary education, and 681 per cent for secondary education in 10 years.

This is just one of the targets for proposed cuts that they tried to implement before. A few years ago in this paper it was reported that the ratio was one in three children at Oban High School had special education needs.

I marched before to Kilmory and protested and will march again if any cuts are made to these services to the most vulnerable, and as before many will join me.

The needs are far more than new carpets and office refurbishment annually distributed at Kilmory, not to mention the ever-increasing wages of the top tier administration. If you are looking for cuts, Mr Green, make them within Kilmory – not at the most vulnerable in society who by nature are the least likely to be able to protest. Angus Files,

The Glebe, Kilmelford.