Barnet Council chops £30 million from childrens service budgets (and other auditing gems)

I was shocked to see the scale of cutbacks that Barnet Council have made in the last year. These are exposed in this document produced by auditors Grant Thornton.

http://committeepapers.barnet.gov.uk/democracy/reports/reportdetail.asp?ReportID=9644

It seems that £30 million has magically disappeared from the childrens service budget.

Of course not everyone in Barnet has suffered cuts, on top of the five "superleague" salary kings of Barnet, detailed in THIS BLOG, we have all of these "second rung" posts on huge salaries as well.

(click on the image to make more readable).

Perhaps the oddest comment in these accounts is the one about the money deposited with "other local authorities"

What I can't understand is how the note of explanation ties up with the table. None of these authorities actually border on Barnet ????? Whilst I'd probably trust any of these authorities more than I'd trust Barnet with our cash, why are they depositing £21.5 Million pounds in with Southend? 

Anyone care to explain. Do we earn interest on these deals? Is it a necessity for the function of the Borough?