CUTBACK targets imposed on services for vulnerable adults in East Lothian were described as “very aggressive” by the council’s head of financial services this week.

Jim Lamond told a meeting of East Lothian Council’s cabinet he had described the £2.4million efficiency target set by the council on its adult wellbeing service for the financial year of 2016/2017 as aggressive but added: “I believe it was achievable given more time.”

Mr Lamond was speaking as a review of the council’s budget targets over the first two-thirds of the year revealed children’s and adults’ services were reporting an increased overspend. The council has put an additional £1million into the adult wellbeing budget to help offset the overspend.

However, a report to cabinet said: “By far the most significant contributory factor to the overall service overspend continues to relate to the non-delivery of the planned efficiency programme.”

The report on the council’s performance so far in this financial year revealed an underspend in general services overall of just over £2million.

Mr Lamond described the council’s financial positions as “satisfactory but finely balanced and remaining highly challenged”.

But while council leader Willie Innes hailed the results as proving the local authority was demonstrating a “strong and prudent approach”, opposition councillors condemned the savings, saying the money should have been spent, not saved.

The report listed all services, except the wellbeing services and landscape and gardening, as meeting the efficiency savings set upon them in the budget.

Those at low risk of meeting targets were given a green label, with landscape and gardening at amber for medium risk and wellbeing services in red for high risk.

Councillor Norman Hampshire defended the targets, telling the meeting: “We are a corporate council; every service has a responsibility to try and manage their service and deliver it at minimal cost to the taxpayer.”

Independent councillor Dave Berry said: “There are several services seriously understaffed; the lack of staffing causes underspend but no measures are taken to deliver services, it is an artifical green. Let us not delude ourselves we are being effective.”

He added: “There are serious flaws in the way this administration set its budget.”

His comments provoked an angry response from Councillor Shamin Akhtar, cabinet spokesperson for children’s wellbeing and education, who blamed the Scottish Government for cutting council funding and accused SNP councillors of “sitting on their hands”.

She said: “What I find most disgusting of all is how you are insinuating that this administration is behaving in an inappropriate way by having an underspend.”

SNP councillor Peter MacKenzie said money set out to be spent in a budget should be spent, not saved.

Councillor Stuart Currie, leader of the SNP opposition, said a planned cost recovery plan which was being introduced to adult wellbeing had an impact on people.

He said: “When you talk about recovering plans and monitoring, you are talking about cutting expenditure.

“A demand-led service like adult social care will always overspend.”

But Mr Innes insisted the need to cut costs was not the administration’s fault. He said: “The architect of the problems facing the council is the Scottish Government.”