FACT NOT FICTION

Fiction

The Leader of the Conservative group, Ken Maddock spoke on TV and at the Cabinet meeting on 4th November, of the huge debt this administration has inherited from the Liberal Democrats. He compared the present £360m debt to the £15m which was owed when the Conservatives left power in 1993. BOTH figures are wrong and what's really serious about this misinformation is that it is being used to justify job losses and serious cuts to frontline services.

FACT

The truth is that the current borrowing figure is around £200m and the figure we inherited from the Tories in 1993, was over £100m. This borrowing is very similar to a mortgage in that it enables the council for example, to develop large-scale highways projects which need capital investment up-front.

Here are the minutes from April 1993 Full Council meeting:

Liberal Democrat councillor Humphrey Temperley asked the then Chair of the Policy & Resources Committee, Cllr. Mal Treharne:

"Can he confirm that he accepts the Treasurer's figures for the outstanding debt of the County Council? In particular, does he agree that the debt has increased from £72,202.00 on 31 March 1989 (when they took over from the Lib Dems) to an estimated £102,000,000 on 31 March 1993?

Does he accept that the debt of the County Council has increased every year he has been in charge?

Reply:

"Debt has increased every year - not just the last four years. In recent years there has been general unanimity amongst members that the County Council should maximise its capital investment programme - and hence use up all its borrowing approvals. It is often necessary to borrow to take maximum advantage of capital grants."

It is easy to see that the level of borrowing then was not dissimilar to the level of borrowing now. As a rough comparison, the average house price over the same period has risen from £77,979 to £189,316 so it is completely irresponsible to make this the basis of their budget cuts for 2010/11.

Fact & Not Fiction Prior to the County Elections in June 2009

Icelandic Bank investments

Fiction

The Liberal Democrats at County Hall have lost £25m in Icelandic investments.

FACT

The Answer in Brief

It was irresponsible of the opposition to say this money was 'lost', when they knew full well that it was more accurately 'at risk' and Cllr. Margaret Eaton (Conservative Chair of the LGA) said that we should recover the 'lion's share'.

The Answer in More Detail

Somerset County Council's finance officers have invested your money wisely and judiciously for many years now, resulting in above average returns (+3% when compared to other local authorities), which has kept council tax down by approximately 2% (or £4m) year on year.

The average return on investments for the financial year 2008/9 was 5.3% or in cash terms, £12.729m and in previous years this has been even better, for example £15.3m in 2007/08. The safest option would be only to invest in government securities that offer a lower rate of interest, equal to 3.6% last year.

Your county council operates within heavily regulated guidelines that allow 'reasonable speculation' and has always spread its investments to give you, the council tax-payer, the very best return on your money. Many people have made these same choices at some time in their lives.

When the global banking crisis hit us last year, over a quarter of all local authorities in the country had money invested in Icelandic banks. This money is not 'lost' as the opposition would have you believe but 'at risk' until we know how much of it will be returned. You may be sure that the Local Government Association is fighting hard to make sure that this money is returned in full, and as swiftly as possible.

In the meantime, there are no cuts to services because of this. Again operating within heavily regulated guidelines, the council keeps a 'reserve' to protect every service in unforeseen circumstances and as was reported recently, Somerset county's funds 'at risk' represent less than 5% of this, so pose absolutely no threat to vital services for our residents.

Meals on Wheels & Councillors Lunches

Fiction

The Lib Dems at County Hall cut the 'meals on wheels' service to make sure they could still have free lunches in the staff restaurant.

FACT

The wheels on meals service was re-designed to allow for different circumstances, ie. modern freezers and microwaves, whereby a number of frozen meals could be delivered at once, then re-heated at a time more convenient to the user, i.e. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Only councillors who have meetings at County Hall (around the lunch hour) are entitled to a meal in the staff restaurant, which is recorded as 'expenses'. Many choose a sandwich or similar takeaway, to continue working throughout a meeting or at their desk. These lunches are provided by SCC catering staff at a reasonable price, making the system far better than claiming for lunches bought elsewhere.

Post Office Closures

Lib Dem campaigns were successful in keeping two POs open, Street West and Hinton St. George

Fiction

If you vote for the Tories on 4th June, they will save your local Post Office (Conservative campaign literature May '09).

FACT

The Answer in Brief

The last Tory government (from 1987-1997) closed a record number of post offices, including 20% of those operating in the South West - so this is a bit of a u-turn on policy, isn't it?

The Answer in More Detail

Between 1987 and 1997, under the last Tory government, the number of post offices in the south west fell by 20%. During their ten years in office nearly four and a half thousand post offices were shut down nationally and not replaced. Their record similarly showed they cared more about profit than public services. By 1995, the Treasury had taken £1billion from the Post Office. Over the next two and a half years, an additional £1billion was taken from the income received - money that could have been used to re-invest in the network and prevent the situation we're in now.

Small Schools

Fiction

Under the Lib Dems, a record number of small schools have closed. (Conservative Group Manifesto 2009)

FACT

The Answer in Brief

This is simply untrue! Under the council's small schools policy, 14 schools have now federated, i.e. joined together to share resources and just one school has closed because it simply wasn't viable with less than 20 pupils, in a catchment area of over 70.

The Answer in More Detail

We are absolutely committed to local schools for local children but had to make difficult decisions regarding our smallest schools in order to save our smaller schools, otherwise they would all experience difficulties. By 2011 the government has decided that where there are under 31 pupils on roll, only one teacher will be budgeted for, to deliver the whole curriculum. With this in mind, we put together our Small Schools Policy in 2005, which encourages schools to federate and share resources (+ headteacher, governors, etc.) to secure their future.

We have always put our schools first, so much so that we traditionally spent £10m more each year than the government allocated to Somerset. We are currently the 136th worst-funded local authority for education (out of 150) in the country. The grant is a fixed amount, which can only be spent on education, meaning any savings made always flow back into the county's schools.

We have long argued with the government that their funding doesn't recognise the rural nature of our county where the 'average' per pupil is £2,616 and yet in the city of London it's £7,362.

Council Tax

Fiction

The Tories promise to freeze council tax for two years. (Conservative Group manifesto 2009)

FACT

The Answer in Brief

Ken Maddock (who is the group leader) promised this every year when he was Leader of Mendip District Council - but never delivered!

The Answer in More Detail

The Tories could only achieve this by a) following our fully costed budget for the next two years, which they've already said they won't or b) being elected to national government again and then keeping their promises.

We have seen the county group's manifesto, which would cost around £10m more to deliver and we know they are cutting borrowing, so with zero % council tax too, they would have nowhere to go except swingeing cuts in vital services.

At the Full Council meeting on 20 May 09, three Tory councillors abstained, whilst all the rest voted AGAINST urging the Government to review the unfair system of property-based council tax and replace it with a fairer system based on ability to pay. This could well be because they introduced the present system of Council Tax and still believe in it.

Potholes

Fiction

The Lib Dems scrapped the County's backlog highways repairs and maintenance budget and have now had to admit that Somerset's roads are getting worse as a result. (Conservative group manifesto 2009)

FACT

The Answer in Brief

In the early part of this administration we committed to an extra £3.9m per year on road maintenance and spent £26m on highways in the last year alone, bringing the standard of our roads into the 'top quartile' of authorities across the country.

The Answer in More Detail

As we all know, last winter saw the worst weather for 27 years, so the roads were bound to suffer from the freezing temperatures, floods, snow & then thawing, etc. and the Tories knew that too! They also know that you can't spend ridiculous amounts keeping equipment 'at the ready' for something that only happens very rarely.

Having said that, the Lib Dems were praised by officers for investing an extra £1m in this year's budget on 14 new dedicated gritters that were delivered throughout the winter. Due to careful planning, we also had enough salt stockpiled (unlike some other councils) and were even able to help out others, e.g. Bristol Airport, to keep services moving.

In spite of some complaints (which are inevitable) the facts are that we treated 143,000km of network (equal to 3.5 times the circumference of the earth).12,420 hours were worked by the gritter drivers, who went out at night, often in treacherous conditions and gritted our 1431km network in 12-hour shifts.

Potholes: In spite of all the above precautions the extreme weather left us with a rise in category 1 safety defects (normally potholes) of 326% in February and another 72% by March. In other words, a rise from around 200 to 900!

In spite of an over-spend on budget (which is already allowed for), these are being dealt with as a matter of urgency, to ensure the public's safety and reduce damage to vehicles. There is no question that the cut in borrowing for Highways in the 2009/10 budget is delaying or preventing this work.

Finally, the Tories who were present at the meeting expressed nothing but admiration for the way Highways had dealt with the weather and Tory Cllr. David Huxtable said: "..It would be all too easy to blame the party in charge...but what we did was sensible and well done to everyone involved."

The Council's Borrowing

Fiction

Lib Dems have run Somerset's reserves right down and have trebled borrowing to fund their crazy schemes (Conservative campaign literature May '09).

FACT

The Conservatives were last in power at SCC in 1993. When they stood down, they left lower than average reserves (around £3m) and maximum prudential borrowing, because: " It is often necessary to borrow to take maximum advantage of capital grants." (This quote was taken from the final Full Council meeting at the time - see below.)

We borrow in the same way people take out a mortgage, because we need to invest in larger, longer-term projects, which will benefit not only today's residents but their childen & grandchildren too.

The Answer in More Detail

At the Full Council meeting in April '93 (the last time the Tories were in administration), Cllr. Humphrey Temperley asked the Chairman of the Policy & Resources Committee, Cllr. Treharne:

"Can he confirm that he accepts the Treasurer's figures for the outstanding debt of the County Council? In particular, does he agree that the debt has increased from £72,202,000 on 31 March 1989 (when they took over from the Lib Dems) to an estimated £102,000,000 on 31 March 1993?

Does he accept that the debt of the County Council has increased every year he has been in charge?"

Reply:

"Debt has increased every year - not just the last 4 years. In recent years there has been general unanimity amongst members that the County Council should maximise its capital investment programme - and hence use up all its borrowing approvals. It is often necessary to borrow to take maximum advantage of capital grants."

Flooding

Fiction

2008 was the worst year for flooding in Somerset for ages, yet the Lib Dems have slashed the budget for drains maintenance (Conservative campaign literature May '09).

FACT

Each year, every service has to thoroughly examine its budget and decide where any savings / efficiencies can be made and therefore reductions in the burden of council tax. Every service pares a little where it can and this year, Environment reduced their £1m budget for drains maintenance by a relatively small amount - £50K.

Subsequently, the flooding and road damage that occurred during the worst Somerset winter for 27 years, was in excess of what was allowed for and so it has been quite acceptable to overspend (i.e. draw on 'reserves' ) so that the service provided is always up to the standard the public had come to expect from us.

The Unitary Bid

Fiction

Lib Dems tried to abolish all the main councils in Somerset - how can they stand for a council they wanted to abolish? (Conservative campaign literature May '09.)

FACT

We didn't try to abolish all the main councils in Somerset, but we did recommend to the government that we had a unitary council for the whole county, which would have meant disbanding SCC too! We are in a situation now (particularly aggravated by the present recession) where central government funding will be severely reduced and yet we will need to maintain the present high standards in all our services. Bringing all six councils together, cutting waste and duplication was a logical and sensible way to address this. So, we were disappointed at the government's decision but instead decided to build on a project called 'Pioneer Somerset', which looked at how all six councils could work together to achieve some of the savings, albeit on a smaller scale. As soon as the Tories came into power, they abandoned the 'Pioneer Somerset' initiative, thus preventing this excellent work from going any further.