Response from Eric Pickles' staff.

I received a response to my e-mail to Eric Pickles' department saying due to "significant diary pressures" the Secretary of State would not be able to attend our meeting. I have sent the following response:

"Many thanks for your response.

I might remind the Secretary of State that I did not specify a date for the public meeting we invited him to. Is it the case that the minister is not accepting any invitations to visit local councils so as to avoid difficult questions, rather than because of diary pressures?

Please let us know when the Secretary of State is free to consult with the residents of Sefton. We would be happy to arrange a meeting for a date when he was able to attend.

As the Minister responsible for Communities  and Local Government, Mr Pickles' department has ultimate responsibility for holding Councils to account over their finances and also for ensuring Councils have the funding to be able to fulfill their responsibilities. This is demonstrated in part by the recent legislation forcing councils to publish details of spending over £500. If it is Mr Pickles' department's assertion that Sefton Council have the money they need to provide the services they are obliged or expected to provide, and it is the Council's assertion that cuts to these services such as Children's Centres need to be made because of the cuts handed down from Mr Pickles' department, where does that leave the residents of Sefton? 

We are in somewhat of an impasse. Without proper accountability from the Secretary of State and, when the Council are willing to meet with the public to discuss the matter despite also having an extraordinarily high burden of work, it leaves us as residents feeling that the Department for Communities & Local Government is avoiding us for some reason. Therefore the natural assumption is that the Council is correct in its intimation that the cuts from central government are too deep and too quick to enable them to carry on funding children's centres, charities, orchestras, music services, youth centres, bowling greens e.t.c. Cuts which are likely to adversely affect protected groups.

I would also be grateful if the Secretary of State's department could provide details of the Equalities assessment they carried out on how the cut imposed would potentially impact the residents of Sefton and the services Sefton Council were able to provide. I presume this is what Mr Pickles is basing his assertion that councils should "cut middle management waste" on, a reliably identified waste within middle management in Sefton Council, of a similar amount to the cut they have received.

Regards,

Kat Sumner"