Henry Lodge

 The Finance and Services Committee (F&S) has come under criticism over this year's society budgets with many societies complaining about large budget cuts. F&S member and LSE Students' Union (LSESU) Societies Officer, Carys Morgan, said, "This year, Libby [Meyer, LSESU Treasurer] and the whole of the F&S committee were keen to provide consistency over the kind of activities that the Students' Union funded."

Controlling society budgets is one of the few measures the LSESU has to penalise societies engaging in unfair practices. However, Morgan was keen to emphasise that "this does not mean that those societies receiving much lower budgets than expected were necessarily being punished for unscrupulous behaviour".
In the past, there has been much controversy over F&S’s handling of the society budget – around £33,000 pounds a year – and the close links between F&S and the Debate Society.

Budget claims for 177 societies totalled £66,000 this year, double the £33,000 earmarked for societies. Previous years saw this figure exceeded and this year the emphasis was put on remaining within the budgeted limits. Following meetings on Friday 23 November, it emerged that only £25,717 of the total had been allocated. Since then, a further £3,144 has been allocated following late applications and budget appeals, leaving £4,139 for budget extensions later in the year.

Strict funding rules regarding poster & gift expenses, RAG initiatives, Global Week, joint events and sporting equipment allowed F&S to grant budget appeals without reducing other societies' budgets.
This year, the Debate Society has seen a drop in its budget, down from £2000 to £1200 based partly on a fall in membership, which they blame on poor placement during Freshers' Fair.

In a letter to F&S, Tom Davey, treasurer of the Debate Society, appealed for an increase of  £400 on the £800 initially granted "in order to bring us more in line with the money per member that we received in the year 2005-2006". The appeal was successful, but members are still unhappy.

Peter Barton, vice president of the Debate Society told The Beaver, "Because of budget cuts, the debate society will not be able to pay the registration costs of teams representing the LSE at all debate competitions. It seems that in general this year, there has been a fall in the amounts granted to intellectually stimulating societies in the provisional budget."

Measured in pounds sterling per member, educational societies receive an average of £1.40 per member, behind that of national societies - £1.79 per member. The arts societies received an average of £2.33 per member. These figures do not take into account budget appeals, in which a number of educational societies, such as Debate and UN, received extra money.

Meyer told The Beaver:  "We did not intentionally fund one form of society over another. Each society’s budget is assessed independently of its category. It is down to pure coincidence that some averages are higher than others."

The Colombian Society received £3 per member, well above the average for its classification, but president Alejandro Lloreda told The Beaver, "I’m still not happy – we have seen a drop of £250 in our budget this year." On the other hand Mexican Society president Manolo Reynaud, having received slightly under the average said, "I’m very happy, we got exactly what we asked for. Last year was a very successful year for us, perhaps that is why. That and we threw an amazing party."

The Societies’ Budgets will be ratified at next Thursday’s Union General Meeting (UGM).