There are some key messages to absorb. First, the double whammy: a 12 per cent Department for Education cut in non-schools services, coupled with a 28 per cent cut to council grants. That will hurt services for young people, children in care, family support and a range of preventative programmes. Next, a glimmer of hope: Sure Start is protected in "cash terms" (a real terms cut but not the wholesale dismantlement feared), and there is a £2bn early intervention grant for local authorities. And now for the dose of caution: next to nothing is protected any more. Ringfencing is removed apart from grants for schools and public health. What's more, obligations to report on a huge number of national indicators are gone. So there is nothing to stop councils spending part of that early intervention grant on potholes or rubbish collection.
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