BUDGETS for school breakfast clubs, support for people with autism and finding missing children will be cut under plans by Newport City Council.

Last week the council presented its draft budget for 2018-2019, including £7.4 million worth of cuts.

Now further details of the planned cuts has been revealed.

Among them are to cut £20,000 from its contribution from a Gwent-wide service finding missing children.

A report said this would bring the council's contribution towards the scheme in line with other organisations also involved.

"Although there is evidence that the service is helpful where children go missing once or twice, there is limited evidence that the service is effective for children who are persistently missing," it said.

It added: "While Newport also has the highest number of missing reports, many of these are for children who already have a significant number of professionals involved in their lives and for whom the benefits of the service could be provided from elsewhere."

The council is also planning on cutting funding from school breakfast clubs by £81,000 by reducing the amount of time supervisors are available for from one hour to 40 minutes. But a council report says the Welsh Government only requires breakfast clubs to run for 30 minutes, and the additional 10 minutes will still allow time for cleaning up.

But, it added: "This may cause staff retention issues as staff may not chose to work for this short amount of time."

Other cuts include £60,000 from transport for children with special needs, £40,000 from activities for people with autism and £22,000 from the £304,000 budget for school kitchen repairs.

The council report said the kitchen repair cuts could result in "poor hygiene ratings and reputational damage".

The authority is also planning on ending an arrangement with the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board through which a psychologist is seconded to support looked-after children and staff, saving £46,000.

A report said: "The majority of children who are looked after experience difficulties with attachment. "The psychologist has been able to provide advice for carers and social workers."

But it added the council would carry out a wider review of how it supports looked-after children.

Although the budget for supporting asylum seekers will also be cut by £20,000, a report said the need for the service had decreased significantly in recent years, with less than £5,000 of its £25,000 budget used this year.

Other cuts include £17,000 from day care services for children, £26,000 from family information services, £14,000 from community regeneration and £10,000 from tourism.

The council will also cut one youth worker post, saving £27,000, as well as a community development worker, saving £14,000.

These plans do not form the section of the budget which is open for public consultation and will not require approval by council members to go ahead.

But a consultation into other areas of the draft budget, including plans to increase council tax by five per cent and begin charging for parking at parks in the city, will begin on Thursday.

To take part visit newport.gov.uk/budget