Labour’s John Ennis challenges Tory Minister on cuts to children’s services

READING & DISTRICT LABOUR PARTY MEDIA RELEASE

11 September 2011

Labour’s John Ennis challenges Tory Minister on cuts to children’s services

Labour Lead Councillor for Education and Children’s Services John Ennis took the opportunity on Wednesday of an invitation to Lead Councillors across the region to meet Tory Children’s Minister Tim Loughton MP to stand up for Reading and challenge the Minister about how Reading could protect children and children’s services when the Tory-led Government was giving the Borough worse funding than any local other authority in Berkshire.

Cllr. Ennis pressed the Minister about how Reading needed to assist young people find further education or training to help them get a career and to maintain good youth services or risk the sort of problems that erupted elsewhere last month, but the Minister replied that he did not have a pot of money to give to important services and that councils like Reading would just have to make do and prioritise services.

Mr Loughton also rejected warnings from many professional groups that the Tories’ changes to the NHS did not make any provision for child protection and would put the safety of children at risk.

John Ennis says: “It was quite frightening to be talking to a Minister for Children who was totally oblivious about the impact on children of the changes and cuts that his Government is making. And those cuts go on and on – the Children’s Society had just published a report saying that benefit cuts in the Welfare Reform Bill will make over 80,000 children homeless, but that too I am sure will pass Mr Loughton by. Under this Government is not a good time to be young – or to be a parent.”

//ENDS
For further information contact John Ennis 0789 1382672
or R&DLP Press Officer Pete Ruhemann0782 1609206
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