STATEMENT FROM CLLR HAZEL WATSON ON TODAY’S BUDGET

Cllr Hazel Watson said today:

"I welcome the £1bn of new money towards plugging the gap in social care funding but I am concerned that this does not go far enough to tackle the funding shortfall. The Liberal Democrats had called for an extra £2bn of funding for adult social care in 2017/18 in order to tackle the national crisis in adult social care. The government has only allocated half of what is needed and so I fear that the problems that we have here in Surrey will continue.

"On schools, I am concerned that the funding gap in Surrey will not be met and that the measures outlined by the government are skewed towards extra money for free schools. I believe that all children, whichever type of school they attend, deserve an excellent standard of education with adequate funding levels to support that. There should be a level playing field between schools whether they are comprehensive, academies, free schools or selective, to ensure fairness.

"The government has announced £690m of funding to tackle traffic congestion in England. Whilst this is welcome, we do not yet know whether Surrey will benefit from this although the county does have areas of congestion within some of its towns. There was however no extra funding announced to tackle road and footway maintenance. Many Surrey residents raise concerns about the poor condition of Surrey's roads and footways with me on a regular basis".