"In the past two years, the number of teachers in Carmarthenshire have reduced by 60, with a further 199 teaching assistants being lost as a result of recent austerity measure. Would the Executive Board Member for Education indicate how many teachers and teaching assistants he believes may be lost with the proposed £4,989,000 cut to the schools delegated budget for 2018/19?.
Minutes:
"In the past two years, the number of teachers in Carmarthenshire has been reduced by 60, with a further 199 teaching assistants being lost as a result of recent austerity measures. Would the Executive Board Member for Education indicate how many teachers and teaching assistants he believes may be lost with the proposed £4,9m cut to the schools delegated budget for 2018/19?.
Response by Councillor Glynog Davies, Executive Board Member for Education and Children:-
I’ve already noted that we are unfortunately in the seventh year of austerity and the public sector has had a real real hit. We read constantly, we see it in our papers, radio, television, fewer nurses in our hospitals, fewer bobbies on the beat, and only this morning Councillor Madge noted the concerns in the Fire Brigade. The workforce within local authorities across Wales has been slashed. We, as an authority, we’ve had a budget cut of £53m, in the past five years. This has had an effect. Our task is to do the best we can with the budget which is given to us. Money from London which arrives via Cardiff. The numbers you quote are correct but, can I remind council that there were also reductions in 2013, further reductions in 2014 when this authority was Labour led. Now, we have to accept that staffing in our schools changes for a variety of reasons, not only due to budgets. Schools regularly review staffing structures, that is the role of the Governing Body and, as a result, some staff are released if they are surplus to the school’s requirement. We have falling pupil numbers. I cannot force people to go and live in rural Carmarthenshire and, very often, those people living in rural areas are ferrying their children into the towns on their way to work. Yes, there have been changes to school budgets, there have been reductions in grants which go to schools from Cardiff. Some staff of a certain age might wish to be considered for voluntary redundancy. The situation is quite complex, and numbers are falling for a variety of reasons. Across Wales, there has been a reduction in the period you mention of 583 teachers. We are not unique, this has happened in 19 of the 22 local authorities across Wales. How can I, or anyone else, quantify the question on future numbers. I want to protect front line staff. We have had as, we all know, a new TIC (Transform, Innovate, Change) officer who will assist governing bodies, and I think some governing bodies do need guidance and assistance. Things must be looked at radically. They, at the end of the day, decide on the staffing structure. The new TIC officer will outline the range of other initiatives which could save money. We are looking currently at supply costs, they are huge, the repairs and maintenance budgets. We are trying to offer assistance to schools. Savings could be made in other areas. But, once again, I stress individual governing bodies decide on their staffing levels.
Councillor James asked the following supplementary question:-
A survey of the education workforce earlier this year stated that 88% of teachers already found it difficult to manage their case load. What policies do you have in place to ensure that any future cuts will not impact on staff workloads?
Response by Councillor Glynog Davies, Executive Board Member for Education and Children:-
I would like to remind the questioner of what I heard this week that Welsh Government are looking at this. They are preparing a plan which we will consider. I am concerned that teachers are being burdened by additional loads, bureaucracy unfortunately has crept into the system. I will listen carefully to what is being offered to us and I will bring any proposal to this chamber.