The Lib Dem Budget - Putting Children First

12.39.59pm GMT Mon 4th Feb 2008

Liberal Democrats have been pressing for better youth provision for many years. "Yet again, the Tory County Council has failed to recognize the needs of Oxfordshire's young people. We have been appalled to discover that the youth support service is so far underfunded that £200,000 a year is needed just to enable it to keep all posts filled. We are proposing this be remedied at once," said Jean Fooks, Liberal Democrat spokesperson on children.

The Liberal Democrats are putting more money into youth centres as well as youth workers. Jean said,

"Youth centres across the county are in need of repair and refurbishment. We are prioritizing this work in the capital programme and are additionally proposing that £500,000 be allocated to refurbish those youth centres provided by local communities."

The Liberal Democrat budget also proposes an extra £100,000 a year to augment support for children in care, and earmarks over £2m to adapt schools to cater for older children with special needs. Jean said,

"We are concerned about the needs of our more vulnerable children and propose that extra social workers should be funded to support our looked-after children, for whom life is particularly difficult. By the same token, while we are very pleased that at last 16-18 year old children with special needs will be able to stay on at special schools in Oxfordshire, we are concerned that the necessary building work to provide properly for them must be done as soon as possible. We have earmarked funds to allow adaptations to be made immediately and more extensive works programmed for the following two years."