Derbyshire County Council

Opened the debate

The debate addresses significant budget cuts to Derbyshire County Council, which have led to severe service reductions. The council's budget has been slashed by £780 million since 2010, leading to a proposal to close 10 children’s centres and potentially impacting over 100 jobs. These centres provide essential services like health visits, speech therapy, and parenting support. Additionally, the authority is looking to close two-thirds of care homes and eight day centres for older people, affecting hundreds of vulnerable residents. The school in Brampton faces cutting 160 teaching hours a week due to budget constraints. There have also been increased private spending on special needs education while public provision falters. Derbyshire County Council is criticised for receiving £17.5 million for special school placements but only using £1.5 million, leaving the rest unspent. The debate highlights issues of inadequate funding, poor governance, and inefficiency within the council that have exacerbated these problems.

Government Response

The Minister acknowledges the debate's concerns but assures that Derbyshire County Council is not on any 'red list' in his Department. He highlights the additional £600 million provided to local government funding and discusses the need for a new local government funding formula reflecting differentials in needs across urban, rural, and coastal areas. The Minister notes that Derbyshire County Council has received a significant increase of 8.3% in core spending power for 2024-25 and details various funds allocated to Derbyshire such as the social care grant, levelling-up capital funding, town deal, accelerated towns fund, etc., totalling over £1 billion. The Minister also supports the East Midlands Combined County Authority proposal and encourages constituents to vote for Ben Bradley in the mayoral elections.