The father of a boy who had his life turned around by in-school speech and language therapy said the leader of Aberdeenshire Council should “consider her position”.
The council voted to cut its funding of the speech and language therapy service at last month’s budget meeting.
This has left parents of thousands of children in Aberdeenshire worried about losing “vital” in-school therapy.
David Crichton took issue with several points Gillian Owen made during her recent interview with The P&J.
His son Ben needed two years of intensive speech therapy to come to terms with his mum’s death when he was just four years old.
David is particularly irked by the fact that there isn’t a plan in place for how speech and language therapy will be delivered after the removal of council funding.
Aberdeenshire Council accused of ‘prioritising a tiny budget saving over the education of children’
“This isn’t good enough,” he said.
“The council should have discussed and had a plan for this before they made the cuts.
“The very fact that they didn’t indicates that they prioritised a tiny budget saving over the education of children.
“Education was certainly not their ‘priority’.”
Ms Owen told us she had asked NHS Grampian and members of the council’s education committee what the situation is regarding the future of speech and language therapists in schools.
David said: “This is an admission that the council did not do a thorough impact assessment of the consequences of their cut.
“They should have discussed the service with all stakeholders before they voted to cut it.
“To have voted to cut it without knowing what they were doing is reckless and incompetent.”
‘This isn’t grass cutting. This is the life chances of vulnerable children’
He added: “When asked about the impact of behavioural issues for children, she doesn’t even answer the question. She just talks about the Service Level Agreement (SLA).
“It is quite clear that she has no understanding whatsoever about the issues she was voting on. It’s simply not good enough.
“She admits that it is ‘probably not’ unfair to say that councillors don’t understand what speech and language therapists do.
“Again, this is not good enough. We’re talking about educational services to vulnerable children.
“It is councillors’ job to be fully informed of the impact of cuts they make.
“This is not the same as reducing the amount of grass cutting or something like that. This is the education and life chances of vulnerable children.”
Aberdeenshire Council are waiting to find out how much extra money they are going to receive from the Scottish Government after local authority leaders found out from finance secretary Shona Robison last month about a forthcoming cash boost. This could be as much as £3 million.
David said: “It is difficult to imagine what services this money will be used for which will be more impactful than using £200,000 of it to fund in-school speech therapy for over 6,000 children. It’s not a difficult decision to make.
“It’s as though the councillors are being deliberately stubborn in the face of widespread public outrage and concern at this cut.”
Gillian Owen ‘cannot grasp the basics of what she was voting on’
Ms Owen said that speech and language therapy would not be stopping, only that it would be “delivered differently”.
However, she was unable to tell us what this will mean in practice, and crucially, whether or not the service will be removed from schools.
“This is exactly the point that parents are making that she seems not to understand,” said David.
“The delivery of this service, in schools, is the key.
“It means parents are not left trying to work out how they transport their children to NHS clinics during school time.
“It is fundamental to the service working properly and reaching the maximum number of children.
“She says herself that the SLA was there to ensure ‘seamless delivery’, yet she voted to remove that seamless delivery without even a discussion or thought of what would be in its place.
“It appears she simply cannot grasp the basics of what she was voting on.”
‘Thousands of families have been let down…she’s clearly not up to the job’
He added: “This whole thing has been a mess.
“Gillian Owen and the other councillors who voted for this cut have let thousands of children and their families down.
“They’ve been reckless and incompetent in their decision-making and all of us who live in Aberdeenshire and rely on vital services deserve better.
“If cuts are to be made, the consequences of those cuts should be fully understood, especially in relation to special educational needs.
“The fact that Gillian Owen leads a council who did not do this, leads me to question her suitability for the job.
“She should consider her position as she clearly is not up to the job.”
A parents’ petition to reverse the decision to defund speech and language therapy has now reached nearly 5,000 signatures.
Confusion over true impact of speech and language cuts in Aberdeenshire schools
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