Agenda item

The Committee considered an update report in relation to the Authority’s approach to and activities in tackling poverty. The report included details of the work of the cross-party Focus Group, the Council’s Tackling Poverty Action Plan and the establishment of a Tackling Poverty Advisory Panel to support the Executive Board member with responsibility for the agenda. 

The following issues were discussed during consideration of the report:

Clarification was sought as to the methods used during the rural poverty study and whether the definition for ‘rural’ was misleading in that the area included parts of the County’s towns. The Performance Governance & Policy Officer informed the Committee that the Corporate Policy Team had undertaken the study and following an initial desktop exercise, a total of 5,000 questionnaires were sent to households across the Rural Development Plan area. Questionnaire were also sent to town and community councils, businesses and schools. A total of 1,099 responses were received. The findings were presented to the Community Scrutiny Committee and would be used to inform future projects in the area. She added that the report could be circulated to the Committee for information. The Assistant Chief Executive (Regeneration & Policy) informed the Committee that the definition of the rural area had been the same for the past twelve years and used by those administering various sources of grants and funding.

Reference was made to assisting individuals into training and volunteering and it was asked how the success, or otherwise, of these activities was being monitored. The Assistant Chief Executive (Regeneration & Policy) informed the Committee that where there was a second programme working alongside such initiatives in order to help individuals find and access employment opportunities, it was possible to monitor the success of these initiatives. However, outside of this, it was extremely difficult to monitor and track individuals, especially if they left the County altogether. In response to a further suggestion, the Assistant Chief Executive (Regeneration & Policy) acknowledged that the use of technology (e.g. email, social media) could be used to follow up on individuals who had been assisted in this way in order to track their progress. She agreed to share this suggestion with officers in the relevant team within her division.

It was asked how many jobs had actually been created through initiatives such as Communities First. The Assistant Chief Executive (Regeneration & Policy) acknowledged that at first, such initiatives had not led to the creation of many jobs but since measures had been introduced to ensure the efficient and effective use of funding, this had led to a significant increase in those now finding employment.

Reference was made to a number of actions relating to Children’s Services which were off target and it was suggested that the health visitor approach was not working, especially as these had been brought in-house from the Third Sector and the Health Board. The Assistant Chief Executive (Regeneration & Policy) informed the Committee that this particular service was the responsibility of the Head of Children’s Services and that she would seek a response for the Committee on this matter.

During discussions it was noted that during the school holidays, some children would not be receiving a cooked meal every day, as they would during term time. It was therefore asked whether the Authority would consider opening school kitchens during the holidays in order to provide those who were eligible with a meal. In response, a member of the Tackling Poverty Focus Group and the Executive Board Member for Communities both informed the Committee that this was an option that had been discussed, possibly employing teaching assistants to provide the service. However, there were issues such as cost and the stigma associated with receiving free meals that would need to be addressed. There were examples of where voluntary organisations within the County had already been offering such services but that there was no overall co-ordinated approach.   

RESOLVED that the report be received.