Integrating the Poverty Agenda into the SOA – Renfrewshire Perspective

Ian Simpson

Renfrewshire Council:

• Population 170,000• Renfrewshire 100 in 2009

• 18 are children (aged 0-15 years)• 66 are adults (aged 16-64 years)• 16 are elderly (aged 65+)

• Men can expect to live to around 72.5 years and women 78.3 years (wide disparities in 15% SIMD areas)

• 17 live in council housing

The Renfrewshire 100 in 2009

• Of the 66 adults within the Renfrewshire 100:• 7 of these adults are likely to be in receipt of incapacity

benefit• 10 of these adults are income deprived• 49 are employed• 4 work for Renfrewshire Council

• Of the 18 children:• 3 live in workless households

• Of the 100, 7 will probably receive care and support services from the Council and other agencies

Renfrewshire’s Fairer Scotland Fund Programme

• Community Planning Partnership allocates resources• Allocation – £7.043million in 2008/09 tapering to £5.654million in 2010/11• Project portfolio consists of 27 projects of which:

• 15 are Council• 12 are voluntary sector/partner

• Principal activity undertaken by the programme is:• Employment• Money advice• Community Safety• Youth Activity• Community Capacity• Health• Support to vulnerable groups (Women and Children)

• Scale of projects range from £1.7million for the Workforce Plus programme £40k for the Carers Project

Managing the Transition – Community Plan TargetsSafer Healthier Greener Smarter Wealthier & Fairer

Reduce crimes of violence by 17% between 2006/2007 and 2017.

By 2017 reduce by 5% the number of people whose excessive consumption of alcohol leads to hospital admission or alcohol related death.

Recycle 50% of municipal waste collected by 2013.

Increase the educational tariff score of the lowest performing 20% of pupils by 19%.

2,800 new businesses to start up in Renfrewshire

Reduce the number of individual and group incidents of public disorder by 12% by 2017.

Reduce deaths from Coronary Heart Disease in the under 75’s by 60% over 15 years from 1995-2010 and reduce by a further 10% from 2010 to 2017.

Stabilise the growth of traffic in Renfrewshire to 0.5% per annum.

By 2017, 98% of Renfrewshire pupils will leave school with a qualification in literacy and numeracy (SCQF level 3 or national equivalent)

Paisley Town Centre population and employment to increase by 40%.

Reduce arson levels by 3% each year

Stem the rise in the obesity epidemic by reducing the levels of obesity in children by 5% in 2017.

Reduce the carbon footprint of Renfrewshire

Reduce ‘low qualification’ levels among 18-29 year olds from 31% to 25%

15% increase in the turnover of the social economy sector in Renfrewshire.

All social rented housing meets the Scottish Housing Quality Standard by 2015.

Reduce the number of workless people by 40% from the 2004 level.

Retain and attract population within Renfrewshire.

Managing the Transition:

Community Plan 9 years – annual review

Single Outcome Agreement 3 years – annual review

Wealthier and Fairer Action Plan 3 years – annual review

Anti-Poverty Strategy 3 years – annual review

Budget Process 1 year annual review

FSF Review Criteria:-• Fit with national and community planning priorities• Performance against targets• Ability to leverage external resources• Governance of the project• Value for money/cost benefit• Evidence of impact

Process:

• All projects contacted in August• Individual evaluation visits• Production of FSF report• Partner and Community consultation• Budget decision by 31 March 2009• Support to projects• Mainstream resource and programmes• Procurement post 2011

Emerging Anti-Poverty Strategy

• Directly linked to Community Plan and SOA targets• Focus on key groups of:

• Unemployed• Single households• Children• Single parents• MCMC• Elderly• Long term sick and disabled• Homelessness• Looked after children

• Resourcing the strategy• Exiting resources• FSF (residual)• External Funding

Some of the Challenges:

• Diminishing resources after 10 years of growth• Economic downturn leading to increased demand• Effectiveness of partnerships

• Public, private, voluntary• Population change• Resourcing aspirations versus meeting needs• Political ambition lagging fiscal and economic reality• Continuing/concentration of deprivation? SIMD 2009• Long term impact of recession compounding current

inequality

However not all doom and gloomCommunity Planning Partnership in Renfrewshire has between 2006-08:Economic recovery plan leading to:•Benefit claims - £8.8m•Income and tax credits - £5.7m•Debt under management - £29.5m•18% reduction in public disorder•14% reduction in vandalism•13% reduction in those in receipt of out of work benefits (2004-08)•£140m investment to meet Scottish Housing Quality Standards•Development of Paisley Vision and completion of Renfrewshire refurbishment in the town centres•Foster carer households increased by 50%•Educational attainment levels rising•Looked after children educational attainment (1 SCQF level 3 in English or Maths) improved by 17%