Conservative Leader of Somerset County Council, Cllr John Osman, has described Wells MP Tessa Munt's latest comments in the House of Commons as "sadly typical, misinformed and blatantly playing party politics".
Cllr John Osman was referring to comments made by Tessa Munt MP in a House of Commons debate on 28th November 2013. The Wells MP used the opportunity to accuse the County Council of mismanaging the consultation exercise in relation to Childrens Services.
Cllr John Osman said " I am disappointed that Tessa Munt has once again failed to engage with the County Councillors and proceed to issue inaccurate press releases. An extensive consultation exercise has already been undertaken asking users of the childrens centres their views. We have decided to go further and launch specific consultations in each childrens centre that may be affected by the changes to listen to view and work towards an acceptable solution".
The Cabinet Member for Children and Families, Cllr Frances Nicholson said "Tessa Munt MP fails to understand that we have proposed to put £1 million more into frontline services and employ 30 new members of staff. We will do this by reducing spending on bureaucracy and building costs. Spending money on services rather than bureaucracy is surely something we can all agree upon."
Cllr Francis Nicholson announced a further consultation on the proposals for Somerset's Childrens Centres during Full Council on 20th November 2013 - 8 clear days before the Wells MP spoke in the House of Commons.
Cllr John Osman concluded by saying "As a County Council we are still clearing up the huge financial mess left by the Wells' MP Lib Dem colleagues as well as keeping services funded and operational in the face of large reductions in our central Government Grant for which the Wells MP voted for".