Agenda item

(i)              Report of the Assistant Chief Executive.

(ii)             Presentation by the Head of Policy and Communications, Assistant Chief Executive’s.

The Committee considered the report of the Assistant Chief Executive which provided Members with background information concerning the consultation on the draft County Durham poverty action plan, a copy of which had been circulated with the papers (for copy of report, see file of minutes).

Mr R Goodes, Head of Policy and Communications was in attendance to provide Members with an overview of the action plan as part of the consultation process (for copy of slides, see file of minutes).

The Head of Policy and Communications advised Members that the recession in 2008 lasted for six quarters in a row. In 2010 there was a change in government which resulted in the introduction of austerity measures with the biggest UK spending cuts for decades. In addition, the introduction of the Welfare Reform Act 2012 reduced welfare spending by £18bn by 2015 with the Welfare Reform and Work Bill in July 2015 reducing welfare spending by a further £12bn by 2018.

In relation to County Durham the highest rates of unemployment are in the North East but Durham was slightly better than the average, economic growth was slower than expected during and after the recession and the gross disposable household income was less than the national average.

The child poverty gap between County Durham and England continued to widen and fuel is at its highest which added to fuel poverty in particular those areas which were off gas.

Members were shown a map of deprived areas which had lost most from austerity measures with County Durham ranking 7^th in the table, resulting in a loss of £188m per annum to the county equating to a loss of £560 per annum per adult.

Members were also provided with a graph which showed unemployment trends identifying that Durham’s unemployment rate was lower than the North East rate but higher than the rate for Great Britain.

Members were advised that the Department of Works and Pensions introduced a new sanctions regime for Job Seekers Allowance from October 2012. The new regime had increased the rate of adverse sanctions for individuals claiming Job Seekers Allowance both nationally and within County Durham. County Durham had an overall higher percentage of claimants affected compared to England.

The total number of households claiming child tax credit and/or working tax credits fell by 18,900 between April 2011 and April 2015 reducing from more than one in four of all households in County Durham to less than one in five.

A summary was provided of the impact of welfare reform in County Durham.

The Universal Credit scheme will be gradually rolled out in County Durham from 21 September 2015 and is currently only affecting new claims from single people without children and without mortgage costs who would previously have claimed Jobseeker’s allowance with 546 universal credit claims received. No details on the further roll out of Universal Credit have been received however the scheme is to be fully rolled out by 2021.

Details were provided of the Council’s response to welfare reform including detail of those partnerships engaged with, the response to poverty and detail of the poverty action plan.

The poverty action plan focuses on the actions necessary to respond to the challenges facing the county’s residents and is based on the following five key themes:-

·       Attitudes to poverty and raising its profile

·       Focus on child poverty

·       Credit and debt

·       Further welfare reform and benefit changes

·       Work and personal wellbeing and sense of worth

The next steps were as follows:-

·       Poverty Action Plan to be shared with partners and stakeholder

·       Comments and feedback invited, including other initiatives that need to be captured

·       Conference for partners and stakeholder to be held in early 2016

·       Partners and Stakeholder to be kept up to date with progress against action plan

The Chairman thanked the officer for his very informative presentation and highlighted the need for the plan particularly with further austerity measures imposed by Government.

Councillor Davinson referred to the conference to target the use of pupil premium which had a timeframe of December 2015 and sought clarification when this would be taking place. He also suggested that they include actions within the draft poverty action plan to raise the aspirations and ambitions of young people as this appeared to be lost when children went to secondary school. He referred to the increase in family learning programmes and sought clarification regarding funding for these programmes. He continued that in relation to promoting financial awareness in young people and working with four schools per year to raise financial awareness and promote savings there is a need for this initiative to be rolled out quicker, to work closely with Credit Unions who are currently working in schools and to target secondary schools particularly prior to pupils leaving so that they are financially aware.

In response to the questions from Councillor Davinson, the Officer indicated that that the conference would be held in the spring next year and he appreciated that it was a slow process but once the benefits were seen the initiative would be rolled out quicker and where Credit Unions were already active within schools the intention would be to work with them.

Councillor Holland referred to the increasing use of sanctions imposed by employment officers and the attitude of Jobcentre Plus staff with sanctions imposed if a claimant is slightly late for an appointment. He continued that there is a need for this vital support provided by Durham County Council working with partners to continue to help local communities respond to the impact of changes in the welfare system and that he hoped budgets would remain untouched to provide the necessary support.

The Officer responded that a collective approach was adopted by Durham County Council and partners in providing support with resources and expertise used from a number of Durham County Council Service Groupings.

The Chairman responded that every part of the council was involved in addressing poverty and the key was partnership working.

Councillor Adam indicated that allowing tax avoidance needed to be addressed. The government were pushing the burden from national to local tax and Durham County Council needed to work hard to reduce the impact.  He also indicated that as well as a conference with partners they should also invite representatives from the voluntary sector, charities, local employers working closely with Business Durham and trade unions. The Officers responded that they would take the comments on board and work closely with Regeneration and Economic Development regarding input from local employers via Business Durham.

Councillor Clare suggested that in relation to promoting financial awareness in young people there is a need to look at the effectiveness of measures already taking place and there is a need to target secondary schools particularly prior to pupils leaving so that they are financially aware. He referred to the welfare assistance scheme and commented that Durham County Council needs to ensure that it is spending the money allocated under the Welfare Assistance scheme. He continued that when he had contacted the department to make enquiries on behalf of his constituents he had been advised that they did not meet the criteria. Was there a need to revise the eligibility criteria of local schemes so that local people can access available funding.

The Officer responded that the money allocated to Durham County Council had not been fully spent in the first two years and that some monies had been given to Area Action Partnerships and an employment scheme. The 2015/16 budget was monitored every month and any monies which were not spent would be transferred to the welfare assistance scheme. The officer commented that he would welcome any suggestions from members aimed at increasing take up.

Councillor Kellett commented that government is continually altering indicators in particular those for child poverty which have been revised.

Councillor Davinson referred to the review of skills development which would include detail of existing employability programmes identifying those that were successful and any gaps within current support and asked if members once the report is complete receive a copy or be given a presentation on the findings.

Resolved: (i) That the report be noted.

(ii) That Members receive a further report and presentation on the progress of the County Durham Poverty Action Plan as part of the refresh of the work programme for 2016/17.