Letter: This is a betrayal of both our children and our future

The rest is not currently being used. At the same time, council spending on private schools for children with special needs has increased in five years from nearly £6 million to £24 million.Our children are being poorly served by DCC.Six years ago, Derbyshire had one of the lowest rates of children in care in the country.We had 56 children’s centres and more than 500 family support staff.Now there are 22 centres and only 220 staff. Furthermore, DCC plans to close 10 more centres and cut more than half the remaining staff.Derbyshire now has one of the highest rates of children in care for any county council. This is not only distressing, it is also extremely expensive in the short-term and economically short-sighted in the long-term.I know that DCC needs to balance the books. Spending millions on placing children in care and on private school places for children with special needs, while millions of pounds of funding goes unspent, is an extraordinary way of saving money.More importantly, it is a betrayal of our children and our future.

A Girolami

Derbyshire

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