Conservatives re-affirm commitment to Surrey's voluntary sector 7th March

Surrey Conservatives have re-affirmed their commitment to supporting Surrey’s voluntary sector following an amending motion tabled by the Conservative Group at today’s full meeting of the County Council.

The Conservative amended motion, which was endorsed by the Council, recognised, valued, and celebrated the excellent work done by the many voluntary organisations in Surrey that provide very cost effective support services and information to Surrey’s residents, and Conservatives have pledged to maintain substantial funding for Surrey’s voluntary organisations in 2006/07 with a thorough review of existing grants.

The amended motion came in response to a flawed Liberal Democrat motion, which claimed that the Council was seeking a budget reduction of £838,000 from the voluntary sector, yet neglected to mention that this was created by chronic under-funding from the Government. The motion failed to acknowledge the fact that the Council gives grants in excess of £5m per year to the voluntary sector and has contracts through the Compact to the value of £50m.

The Lib Dems also omitted to mention that the Council has an obligation to monitor each grant and the fact that certain grants may be amended and occasionally stopped if they fail to provide value for money or a good service.

Commenting Sally Marks, Executive Member for Adults & Community Care, said:

“The voluntary sector is uniquely placed to be able to offer certain services that would just not be possible by the statutory bodies, or where perhaps they can provide them in a better way, and I am delighted to be able to re-state the fact that Surrey Conservatives highly value many of our partner organisations. We all know that there is much speculation about possible changes and some cuts to a few voluntary organisations. I want to put on record the commitment of this Conservative administration in its support to the voluntary sector where it provides services to Surrey’s residents that are of high quality and offer verifiable value for money.

However, it would be foolhardy in the extreme to support a motion, as tabled by the Liberal Democrats, which seeks to give a blank cheque to continue funding all of the Council’s commitments with the voluntary sector without giving any reassurance on value for money or quality service provision.

Given the current financial situation imposed upon us by the Government, difficult decisions will have to be made, however, I want to reassure Surrey’s residents that this council continues to have their interest at heart and will deliver on its promise to be an efficient organisation.”