LEARNING TO COUNT

Staff numbers at County Hall will now be monitored.

The Conservatives at Somerset County Council are pleased to announce an important step forward in the management of Council Tax payers money, as the Liberal Democrats in charge have conceded that it is important to regularly monitor the number of people employed by the Council.

David Huxtable, the Conservative Finance Spokesman said, “We have argued for years that the organisation must monitor its staff numbers properly. After the Liberal Democrats set another big Council Tax increase this year, the Conservatives demanded information on staff numbers at every meeting.”

“We were horrified when we uncovered official statistics that showed the number of full time equivalent staff had gone up by over 700 between February 2004 and February 2006. Clearly, Council Tax is going to be very difficult to control if you are taking on that many people.”

“We are therefore pleased that staff numbers will now be scrutinised closely at regular meetings. We believe this will be the single most effective action in efforts to keep Council Tax low”.

Ends

Notes for Editors:

1) This year the Liberal Democrat Administration at Somerset County Council raised Council Tax by 5%. It is generally agreed that the Government would not have allowed the rise to be any steeper.

2) The Conservatives opposed the budget, citing the huge increase in staff numbers (up by 422 in January 2006 compared to January 2005 according to official Somerset County Council statistics), and offered to monitor staff numbers on behalf of the Administration in order to help keep future Council Tax increases down.

3) On 11 July 2006, the Executive Board of the Council agreed a methodology for regular monitoring of staff numbers.

4) For further information or comment, please contact David Huxtable, Finance Spokesman for the Conservative Group at Somerset County Council, on 01278 723120

www.somersetconservatives.com