Midden.

Carnegie reads that the finger pointing has begun within Fife Council about the appalling state of the Council's finances and the consequent negative impact on the provision of council services.

"THE FUNDING crisis affecting Fife Council’s social work service has been blamed squarely on a “financial midden” left by the previous Labour administration. In a no-holds-barred attack, senior SNP councillor David Alexander claimed yesterday that the controversial decisions the council had been forced to take were a direct result of a “totally inadequate” budget pushed through by a discredited administration in February. He accused that administration of a “craven failure” to take difficult decisions before the local elections in May."

Carnegie will let Fifers decided whether this analysis is correct or is simply an attempt by the new administration to pass the buck back to its predecessor administration.

Carnegie liked Cllr Alexander's suggestion that those Labour Councillors who stood down at May's election hand back their £20,000 golden goodbyes which they got for standing down, but Carnegie suspects that really isn't very likely.

Bed blocking.

Carnegie reads that "FIFE COUNCIL’S social work service is still facing a “vigorous challenge” to avoid a budget overspend this financial year. That was the stark warning from department head Stephen Moore, who this week told councillors further action would have to be taken to address the funding gap. A number of containment measures have already been implemented after Mr Moore predicted in August the service would otherwise end the year £3.8 million in the red. That action, which includes savings of £600,000 in home care and an increase in home care charges, has reduced the predicted overspend to £1.96 million ..."

The article goes on to say that one of the cuts which the Council are considering is slowing down the speed at which elderly patients being discharged form hospitals are allocated a place in a residential care home, which basically means that Fife will see a return to "bed-blocking" in the Kingdom's hospitals as elderly patients aren't discharged when they should be, something which Fife Council and all of Scotland's other councils were given additional funding to do away with a few years ago.

Carnegie is concerned that after May's elections, and indeed probably well before it, someone took their eye off the ball and that the most vulnerable will be made to suffer. Whatever else Fife Council does to tackle the problem, allowing the return of bed blocking shouldn't even be on the table. It just transfers their problem onto other agencies and keeps old people in hospital when they don't need to be there.

Cut. Cut. And cut again.

Carnegie reads that Fife Council is currently heading for a budget overspend of £4.5 million by next March unless it trims its budgets even further. He is sadly not reassured by the fact that the Council's Social Work Department is making cuts of £4.585 million, Education a "further cut of "£2.008 million" and Transportation a saving of £718,000.

He asks which Departments overspent in the first place and what action has been taken in relation to disciplinary proceedings against the Council officials responsible?