Stoke-on-Trent City Council faces record numbers of children in care

Jane Ashworth was elected as council leader after Labour retook the local authority in elections at the beginning of May

The new leader of Stoke-on-Trent City Council is looking to make changes to children's services, to help address a budget shortfall of more than £10m.

Jane Ashworth took over when Labour took the council back from the Conservatives in the recent council elections.

She said the budget problems were partly caused by the increasing cost of children's services.

The city has about 1,100 children in care, the highest number on record.

Ms Ashworth said: "Other cities in the country with a similar economic profile to us have got far less children in care, but now we've got more than we've ever had and there doesn't seem to be a clear reason for it."

She said she wanted to see "far more preventative work going on in the city, rather than waiting for the problem to become so acute that it's a disaster for everybody".

Daniel Jellyman, the leader of the Conservative opposition, said his party had put money into children's services to help them improve, after they were given an inadequate rating by Ofsted.

But he said "the pressures continue to grow" and he challenged Labour to make children "their number one priority".

The Labour administration plans to draw up a mini budget and said it would ask the government for help.