Agenda item

            The Committee considered the undernoted report:

 

      “Relevant Background Information

 

1.1The Council has been asked to respond to the Office of the First Ministers and Deputy First Minister’s Child Poverty Plan. The Child Poverty Act 2010 (The Act), see the attached documents, enacted on 25th March, places a statutory obligation on the Executive to develop a child poverty strategy and lay it before the assembly by 25th March 2011.

 

1.2The aim of the strategy is to provide the opportunity for all children and young people to thrive and to address the causes and consequences of disadvantage. The strategy is based on the framework for tackling child poverty, produced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) although in recognising the Northern Ireland context, they have separated childcare and education as these are not represented by one service.

 

1.3The strategy is not intend to replace or replicate existing strategies or work but rather to provide the strategic direction for the eradication of child poverty. The strategy also allows for the current financial climate and the uncertain Budget allocations, therefore it is a high level strategy intended to bring focus to the issue and promote a common aim.

 

1.4The strategy contain four priorities:

 

-     Ensure, as far as possible, that poverty and disadvantage in childhood does not translate into poorer outcomes for children as they move into adulthood

 

-     Support more parents to be in work that pays

 

-     Ensure the child’s environment supports them to thrive

 

-     Target financial support to be responsive to family situations

 

      The elements of the strategy are shown in diagram 1.

 

Diagram 1.

 

      A number of principles will underpin and support the delivery of this strategy:

 

-     A shift towards tackling the root causes of poverty and not just treating its symptoms;

 

-     Putting children at the centre of the Strategy and taking into account their views when developing policies and programmes to tackle child poverty;

 

-     Adopting a Life Cycle approach, breaking the cycle that results in children born into poverty becoming working age adults in low income;

 

-     Promoting excellence in support across a range of key policy areas including employment and skills, education, childcare, health and family support, housing and neighbourhoods, and financial support;

 

-     A gradual shift towards the use of preventative measures to tackle child poverty and, when families face difficulties, intervention at an early stage, reducing the likelihood of more serious problems developing in the future;

 

-     Applying an evidence based approach;

 

-     Adopting a whole family approach which concentrates on all members of the family - children, young people, and their parents and supporting family life;

 

-     Empowering and enabling parents on low income into work and make work pay for those on low pay;

 

-     Promoting partnership working across all sectors including public, private, voluntary, and community sectors;

 

-     Recognising the current economic climate and the need for the Strategy to be balanced against existing financial limits.

 

1.7More information about the strategy can be found online at:

      http://www.ofmdfmni.gov.uk/index/improving-public-services/ofmdfm-consultations/ofmdfm-consultations-current-forthcoming.htm

 

2    Key Issues

 

2.1The main issues for Belfast City Council are:

 

2.2-     The principles of the strategy are complementary to the Council’s Draft Corporate Action Plan to tackle Poverty and Reduce Inequalities.

 

2.3-     The majority of the strategy document sets out the legislation and rationale for having a strategy. There is less detail about the specific actions that will be undertaken. Where actions are proposed, no target, resources or accountabilities are mentioned. Therefore it is difficult to provide much feedback on the document.

 

2.4-     The document does not mention the role of Councils other than to acknowledge our input to workshops and to commit support for local councils, and others, who provide services and programmes which meet the needs of local communities, particularly disadvantaged communities.

 

2.5-     The original deadline for a response was the 6 February 2011. We have managed to secure an extension until the 10 February. This allows us one day after committee to make any changes.

 

3    Resource Implications

 

3.1There are no immediate resource costs associated with this consultation response.

 

4    Equality and Good Relations Considerations

 

4.1There are no equality and good relations considerations associated with this response.

 

5    Recommendations

 

      The Committee is asked to:

 

5.11.   Approve the attached draft consultation response; and

 

5.22.   Raise any issues about the draft response that they wish to be included.

 

      Decision Tracking

 

      Further to approval the response will be sent to the Office of the First Ministers and Deputy First Minister’s Child Poverty Plan

 

      Timeframe: April 2011    Reporting Officer:  Barbary Cook

 

      Key to Abbreviations

 

      Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM)

 

      Documents Attached

 

      Council Response

 

COUNCIL RESPONSE

 

1.1Overall comments

 

1.1.1.   You will be aware that the Council has been working on its own Draft Corporate Action Plan to tackle Poverty and Reduce Inequalities and we believe that the principles of your strategy are complementary to the Council’s.

      We have attended various meetings with you during the development of both strategies, which we believe have been beneficial, and we are keen to continue this dialogue. It is hoped that our draft strategy will be discussed and approved by committee in the near future.

 

1.1.2.   Considering the dialogue that we have had, it is slightly surprising that your strategy document does not mention the role that Councils might play in helping to reduce poverty and the affects of poverty. We are pleased that the document acknowledges our input to workshops and that it commits support for local councils, and others, who provide services and programmes which meet the needs of local communities, particularly disadvantaged communities. However, we feel that it may be useful to highlight specific examples of ways in which councils might be able to support the strategy, subject to resource availability.

 

1.2Responses to the specific questions

 

1.2.1    We have used the template you provided for specific responses. Please see the following pages.

 

Question 1:    Do you agree/disagree with the Framework outlined in chapter 2, section 2.1?

 

Strongly Agree	Agree	Neither Agree or Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
	X

 

      Please provide details of any additional areas which you think should be included in the framework

 

      It would be useful if the framework made reference to the importance of measuring outcomes; the monitoring and collection of data; and the supporting infrastructure required to sustain it.

 

Question 2:    Do you agree/disagree with the overarching aim at 2.11?

 

Strongly Agree	Agree	Neither Agree or Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
X

 

      Do you agree/disagree with the strategic priorities at 2.12?

 

Strongly Agree	Agree	Neither Agree or Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
X

 

 

      Do you agree/disagree with the underpinning principles at 2.13?

 

Strongly Agree	Agree	Neither Agree or Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
X

 

      Please provide details of any additional strategic priorities or principles which you think should be included

 

      ‘Whilst recognising that the tax and benefits system is led by the UK Government centrally, the Executive will continue to strenuously advocate for the appropriate level of income resources on behalf of our children and their families.’ The council’s own research into the roots of poverty in Belfast also confirms the primary importance of the tax and benefits system in addressing poverty issues.

 

·         We would note that support for low income families might also be included as a priority and that such families are also at great risk from poverty.

 

·         We would suggest consideration of additional principles:

 

·         Addressing barriers to accessing statutory services caused by poverty.

 

·         Ensuring the meaningful and ongoing engagement of those experiencing poverty (and representative organisations) during the delivery of the strategy

 

·         Encouraging partners to imbed the strategic priorities into their mainstream planning

 

Priority action areas

 

Question 3:    Do you agree/disagree with the priority action areas identified under this strategic priority in section 2.14?

 

Strongly Agree	Agree	Neither Agree or Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
X

 

Support more parents to be in work that pays

 

Question 4:    Do you agree/disagree with the priority action areas identified under this strategic priority in section 2.14?

 

Strongly Agree	Agree	Neither Agree or Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
X

 

      Please provide details of any additional priority action areas which you think should be included

 

      The Council already provides access to parents through basic skills training programmes. These are delivered in our Community Centres that are often in areas at risk of poverty. Programmes include:

 

·         The ACE Scheme;

·         The Job Assist Scheme;

·         Digital Communities;

·         Step up to Work;

·         Volunteering opportunities and;

·         Step up to Learn

 

      Additional funding might enable the Council to extend these programmes.

 

Ensure the child’s environment supports them to thrive

 

Question 5:    Do you agree/disagree with the priority action areas identified under this strategic priority in section 2.14?

 

Strongly Agree	Agree	Neither Agree or Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
X

 

      Please provide details of any additional priority action areas which you think should be included

 

      There is potential for support for this section from existing Council services. As well as the obvious play and leisure support we provide (see separate consultation response on the Play and Leisure implementation plan), the Council could support this through:

 

·         Its funding and delivery of arts, sporting and leisure activities.

 

·         Using its contacts and Community Centres to enable access to parents, especially those in poverty or in danger of poverty.

 

·         Targeting its physical regeneration activities.

 

Target financial support to be responsive to family situations

 

Question 6:    Do you agree/disagree with the priority action areas identified under this strategic priority in section 2.14?

 

Strongly Agree	Agree	Neither Agree or Disagree	Disagree	Strongly Disagree
X

 

Future implementation of the strategy

 

Question 7:    Please provide any comments on how you think the priority action areas in section 2.14 should be taken forward to deliver the overarching aim of the strategy

 

      The priority action areas are comprehensive and we agree with their content. We do have a number of general points, listed below:

 

·         One potential concern is the number of priorities (there are 32 significant priority areas listed). If the strategy has too many priorities then, by definition, they are not actual ‘priorities’. There may be an argument to be made - particularly in times of constrained budget - for a greater focus on those priorities which are likely to have the most significant impact on child poverty in Northern Ireland.

 

·         We would suggest that a critical element of the strategy (as in any strategy) is the robustness of the delivery plan, which we note will be published in due course. It is therefore difficult to make comments on the likelihood of successful implementation without reference to this plan. It would be important to see, against each action, detail of lead departments or organisations, targets, delivery dates, etc.

 

·         There is reference in the document to “those key initiatives and signature projects to progress the strategic priorities”. While such initiatives are important, and to be welcomed, we would also suggest that for a long term, sustainable impact the strategy must influence and re-shape the day-to-day mainstream planning and service delivery of government departments.

 

      Please provide details on how you think the Monitoring framework should be developed, including the identification of appropriate indicators to measure progress

 

      We suggest that monitoring should also include an integrated approach to on-going engagement with those in poverty (and their representative organisations). While statistical data is important in measuring impact, it is not the compete picture and the views and experience of those for which the strategy is being developed will inform an important and more nuanced measure.

 

      Please provide any other comments you wish to make

 

      While we appreciate the efforts made to make the consultation response process easier to complete, we would suggest that more work is required to make the process more convenient.

 

      The Department might like to consider the use of more modern electronic tools and techniques to allow commenting and consideration of the strategy (eg, wikis, comment-able web pages, or other online collaboration tools).

 

      We’d also be keen to see feedback on the consultation process – in terms of how and why comments and suggestions have (or have not) be incorporated into the final draft.”

 

            After discussion, during which the Committee agreed that the vital role which local community-based organisations played in combating child poverty be emphasised, the Committee endorsed the Council’s attached response to the aforementioned consultation.