Last Wednesday saw two members of Southampton and District Green Party deliver a deputation to Southampton City Council. As part of full council meeting, Professor Barrie Margetts and Lori Foster delivered a deputation questioning what exactly would be involved in the new transition plans for adult and child social care, following a £42m savings announcement via Newton Europe consultancy (itself costing the tax payer £9m).
Focusing on the already faltering child social care system, Lori and Barrie asked whether outsourcing child care and continuing to use private companies for care was the plan. They shared personal stories of how cuts in other councils resulted in poor outcomes for looked after children and their families. They also asked for reassurances that efficiencies didn’t mean wholesale job cuts and reduced early intervention for struggling families.
Responses were provided by Cllr Anne Marie Finn and Cllr Alexander Winning, offers of in depth transition explanation were given, and Professor Margetts and Lori Foster will follow this up to find out more. However, there were no direct answers about the possibility of job cuts and service reduction.
Notwithstanding, Cllr. Winning did make a commitment to keeping and increasing looked after children’s placements within the city and cited the building of new children’s homes.
Southampton Green Party are dedicated to ensuring that already struggling families are not unduly impacted by money saving schemes and will do their utmost to hold the council and Newton Europe to account.