Agenda item

8.1

The Executive Director, Children, Young People and Families, submitted a report on the plans to refresh the Council’s Child and Household Poverty Strategy that was planned to run to the end of 2014, with the aim of addressing the growing need in the City in the context of continuing difficult economic circumstances and reducing resources within the public sector.  Attached to the report were a number of appendices, containing additional information on the Child and Household Poverty Strategy, including an invitation letter explaining what the Council is doing in terms of refreshing the Strategy, a consultation response form, a draft assessment of need in the City, a self-assessment of the 2012-2014 Strategy, and a draft Action Plan, setting out what work was being undertaken and what work could be undertaken in order to tackle child and household poverty in the City, along with links to the Fairness Commission report and the previous Needs Assessment and Strategy.

8.2

The report was supported by a presentation by Anna Brook, Lifelong Learning, Skills and Communities, who reported on the problems of child and household poverty both nationally and in Sheffield, and referred to the timetable with regard to consultation on the new Strategy which, it was hoped, would be published in January 2015.  Ms Brook reported on the proposed structure of the revised Strategy, which involved tackling poverty today and mitigating its worse effects, by improving living standards, tackling some of the root causes of poverty, by supporting people into work and increasing their earnings, and breaking the inter-generational cycle of poverty, by giving children the best start in life and improving educational attainment for children, and referred to a number of themes in each of the areas above.

8.3

Members of the Committee made the following comments:-

·           Whilst appreciating the work undertaken, and the planned work, to attempt to tackle poverty in the City, the Strategy needed to concentrate on the whole City, and not just those areas with higher poverty levels, and also concentrate on breaking the cycle of child and household poverty.  In doing this, there was a need for more radical thinking in terms of the action required on the basis that, despite the best efforts of the Council and partner agencies, such initiatives have not been successful in the past.

·           Specific concerns were raised regarding sanctions imposed by the Job Centre, such as for failing to log into the system.

·           The Strategy needs to focus on the needs of young children, particularly as high numbers were suffering physically in terms of the poverty they faced, which was having an adverse effect on their educational achievements.

·           Consideration needs to be given to the quality of food that families, particularly young children, were eating at home, specifically the high levels of salt and sugar.

·           Schools and other educational establishments needed to focus more on the pupils’ life skills rather than league tables in respect of academic achievement. 

·           There was a need to build on the existing programmes, such as Building Successful Families.

·           Consideration needs to be given to the aspirations of young people, particularly those living in the more deprived areas of the City, and those attending schools and educational establishments with lower attainment levels, in order to give them belief that they could achieve their goals.

·           Need for a qualifying statement to be added to the Needs Assessment (Page 16), relating to the evidence from Dickerson and Popli (Persistent Poverty and Children’s Cognitive Development), to avoid stigmatisation, which could be achieved by providing the reasoning behind the lower test scores.

·           More focus should be placed on young people taking apprenticeships in order to increase the potential for employment opportunities in families.

8.4

RESOLVED: That the Committee:-

(a)       notes the contents of the report now submitted, together with the comments now made; and

(b)       requests that any further individual or group comments or views be forwarded to Anna Brook, as part of the consultation on the Child and Household Poverty Strategy, with the deadline for comments being 30^th September, 2014.