Derbyshire Times news bulletin 17th October

Derbyshire Times news bulletin with editor Phil Bramley

Transcript

00:00 Here's today's Derbyshire Times video bulletin.

00:03 Job cuts at a cash-strapped Derbyshire Council are not being ruled out

00:07 and many questions are still unanswered as it scrambles to plug a £46 million funding black hole.

00:13 Just over a month ago, Derbyshire County Council disclosed that it was ceasing non-essential spending

00:18 and implementing a hiring freeze to curb a forecast £46 million overspend.

00:24 The Council, which is Derbyshire's largest employer with 30,000 staff,

00:28 said it was also reviewing agency staff work in a bid to cut costs.

00:32 It made clear that bailing itself out with its own rainy day fund of reserves

00:36 would not be sufficient after 13 years of funding cuts and tough budgets.

00:41 However, when asked for a list of all the services on which any further spending had been paused

00:46 after being deemed non-essential, the Council said it could not provide that list.

00:50 It added that executive directors are still in the process of deciding what is essential spending and what is not.

00:57 It also cannot provide a list of the projects which have been paused or postponed

01:01 after a further review of spending on key schemes.

01:04 It was asked if there would be any further redundancies, the number of potential redundancies and proposed savings.

01:10 The authority said, "There are no plans for large-scale closures of services,

01:15 significant redundancies or volunteer redundancies to meet our in-year savings.

01:20 We cannot say whether this situation will change."

01:23 Opposition leadership say the authority is now on the edge of bankruptcy,

01:27 with the authority in a position where, if it cannot right the ship by March 2024,

01:32 it may have to declare itself effectively bankrupt, continue its pre-emptive freeze on non-essential spending

01:39 and call for central government assistance.

01:43 Max Palfrey from North East Derbyshire has launched a world-first range of sensory clothing

01:48 to help other autistic children.

01:50 The 11-year-old from North East Derbyshire set up his own business, Comfa,

01:54 a clothing company aimed at children who experience extreme sensitivity to certain materials, seams and labels.

02:01 Max, who is neurodivergent, used his own experiences to help others who face similar challenges.

02:07 The t-shirts are made from a super soft material and have poppets,

02:11 popular fidget toys often used by neurodivergent people to help them soothe and self-regulate in the seams.

02:17 Called the Fidget T, the t-shirts feature unique poppets sewn to the seams where the arms naturally fall,

02:23 so it can be used as a calming technique without being obvious.