Ernie Clark. Hilperton Division, Wiltshire Council.

This is how some of our council tax is spent.

At the request of a Hilperton resident, I put the following question to the Leader of Wiltshire Council at yesterdays meeting. 'I understand that the Council has a group providing services for ethnic minorities. Bearing in mind that Wiltshire has a tiny ethnic minority population, can you tell me how big this group is, what they cost and what they actually do'.

The answer was as follows;

'All areas within the Council are committed to, and are providing services for all our communities, including Black & Minority Ethic (BME) communities.

In reference to 'groups' in the Council providing services for ethnic minorities, within Department of Children and Education (DCE), the Ethnic Minority Achievement Service (EMAS) deliver educational support to all teaching/school staff and pupils. EMAS support schools to provide equal access to life opportunities for pupils vulnerable to lower attainment levels, and works to deliver national language and literacy strategies to improve access to language learning and attainment of pupils from all ethnic minority groups, including for example Polish migrant workers. EMAS also provides a very successful mentoring service for children and young people who are under achieving and are from lower socio-economic and BME backgrounds.

The mentors are drawn from Wiltshire Council employees and this programme supports attainment and achievement, and also contributes significantly to the linking of Wiltshire Council with its schools and communities.

EMAS have a staff team of 6.5 FTE advisory teachers including the head of service; 1 consultant for equality and diversity; 1 mentoring coordinator; 1 bilingual support teacher (largely funded by Honda); 10 bilingual assistants.

The overall budget for EMAS (2010/11) is £613k, made up of £133k from Standards Fund; £437k from Direct Schools Grant; £31k from donations; £12k from other income such as from running courses, undertaking specific pieces of work that the service is commissioned to do by external parties. The service provides support to 4761 pupils and their families.

Also within DCE, the Traveller Education Service (TES) responds to the educational needs of Gypsy & Traveller children by supporting their inclusion in mainstream schooling, including outreach to families in order for pre-school children to access foundation stage curriculum. This service ensures that the outcomes of ‘Every Child Matters’ is the focus of its support, through implementing the government strategies on the Gypsy & Traveller educational achievements, (for example, the service provides training to teachers and governors so they are able to support Gypsy & Traveller children in education). The service also prepares young people 11 years – 19 years for working life, and to take up opportunities for further lifelong learning.

TES have a staff team of 2.4 FTE Teachers; 0.5 FTE Education Welfare Officer; and 2 teaching assistants covering the whole county, with an overall budget of £287k which is predominately derived from the Direct Schools Grant. The TES service works with 326 pupils (to date), which includes pupils in early years and schools, pupils who received home education support, those who are out of school / disengaged, pupils from fairground and circuses who require on site teaching, and children who use the mobile library provisions for education.

Finally, at a corporate level, the Council has an equality and diversity team to support elected members/chief officers, and departments to work effectively so that we are able to meet our obligations under equality legislation, and promote all aspects of inclusion. The team works with partners to promote good community relations and participation in local democracy. The team currently has 4 staff (2 x FTE and 2 x 0.75 FTE) and an overall budget of £177k (including staffing costs) within the Department of Community Services.'

What more can I add? At least we now know where some of our council tax disappears to.