Politics

Northamptonshire’s special schools are all full and the cost of educating high needs pupils out-of-county is likely to put the schools budget £3m in the red.

Andrew Christie has been confirmed as the new Children’s Commissioner for Northamptonshire, with Clare Chamberlain also joining as Support Commissioner.

The leader in charge of Northamptonshire County Council when its lengthy PFI deals were first entered into believes it was his successors who in fact failed the public - by not renegotiating the onerous terms.

The cost of dozens of the schools, hospitals and care homes built in Northamptonshire under the controversial PFI scheme will top £1.73 billion by the time all of them have been paid off – even though the value of those buildings will be just a fraction of that amount.

Two concerned county councillors are calling on the national Children’s Commissioner to carry out an independent inquiry into the state of Northamptonshire’s children’s services.

A call for Daventry District Council to write to EU nationals in the area with advice on how to remain a resident in the UK has been rejected.

The Labour opposition at the county council say the departure of the two highest officers in children’s services as well as the commissioner shows that something is ‘rotten’ within the authority.

Plans by Northamptonshire County Council to take £2m away from its staff pension contribution this year have been postponed.

Daventry council’s leader Chris Millar says there needs to be a collective call for a cash injection into the county in the face of the financial troubles at the county council coupled with a government imposed move to a unitary model of local government that will see two new super councils replace the existing eight.

The leader of Northamptonshire County Council has said the biggest problem holding back children’s services improvement is the authority’s inability to recruit and retain staff.

A new children’s commissioner for Northamptonshire will likely be announced this week according to the county council leader.

Forty additional foster carers need to be hired for Northamptonshire County Council to deliver a planned £4million saving over the next three years.

Two Northamptonshire councils have successfully jumped the first hurdle in a £6.5million lawsuit against their pension fund by a former contract holder.