A HARD-up local authority has defended its decision to hold a series of seminars for its staff.

Durham County Council has invited all its social services staff, as well as elected members, to a series of seminars on the theme of Managing the Future.

Beginning on Thursday, March 13, the seven sessions are being held at venues throughout the county, including Shotton Hall, near Peterlee, The Royal Derwent Hotel, at Allensford, and the Jersey Farm Hotel, in Barnard Castle.

A letter from social services director Peter Kemp invites social services staff to book a place at one of them. It states: "The department has just come through a gruelling year of inspections and reviews, services are changing rapidly and we have a challenging agenda ahead of us.

"A vision for the future of the department is emerging, but it is important that it explores new ways of thinking and working.

"The forthcoming round of Managing the Future semin-ars is your chance to challenge some of these traditional ways of working and to promote new approaches to service planning and delivery."

But Durham county councillor John Shuttleworth, independent member for Weardale, said that after receiving only a 4.6 per cent funding increase from the Government - the joint fourth lowest settlement for a shire county - social services should curb its spending.

"The last thing social services should be doing is organising this outside County Hall," he said.

"If people are travelling, it's going to cost mileage, and I would naturally assume there would be refreshments."

But a council spokesman said: "We have organised the seminar twice a year for ten years, and it keeps staff in touch with what's happening.

"All of our social services staff are in localities, and it makes a lot more sense to have locations within the locality.

"There are no meals - there's not even biscuits."