Budget cuts to aid education

The budget cuts sparked protest

Borders councillors have agreed to cuts in other departments to head off a funding crisis in education.

Scottish Borders Council's education service is £3.9m over its budget already and almost £1m had to be found this year to prevent that overspend growing.

At a meeting on Tuesday, councillors sanctioned cuts in social work, trading standards and environmental health as well as corporate and support services.

The council had previously said the crisis in education would not financially hamper other services, but council leader Drew Tully said it was left with little option.

Councillor Drew Tulley: "We've let ourselves down"

He said: "I think the council has been let down, we've let ourselves down.

"The trick now is to make sure we build that confidence back up again.

"We had a reputation of being a very prudent and well-run authority, but we've let ourselves down in the past few months and we've got to get the confidence of the Border people and the wider public back in full as quickly as possible."

The efforts to address budgetary problems in the education service came after an Audit Scotland report criticised the authority.

Demonstrations and protests

The report blamed the financial problems on serious management weaknesses, a lack of control and poor monitoring of budgets.

Councillors had to decide upon a proposal to transfer £850,000 from throughout the authority's departments in an effort to prevent a further overspend within education.

The move represented a significant change of heart as the administration had previously stated that only the education budget should be cut to address the financial crisis.

The planned cuts sparked a fierce reaction

The savings in social work, trading standards, planning and other services, were expected to be more palatable with Borders parents than further cuts within education.

A number of demonstrations against education cuts have been held by parents in the region, and moves have been made to enlist the support of MSPs against such moves.

However, the measures have not pleased everyone.

Councillor JR Scott said: "It's quite clear now the problems are bigger within education and therefore other departments have to be affected.

"But this is going to be very painful for everyone here in the Borders and indeed for every section of this council."