This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007
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New focus and targets for anti-poverty work
09/12/2004
Ten new targets aimed at delivering better life
opportunities for Scotland's vulnerable people and deprived
communities were announced today.
Malcolm Chisholm said the Closing the Opportunity Gap
(CtOG) targets were challenging, built on previous targets,
and would help ensure that the Executive's renewed focus on
anti-poverty work would involve action across all
Departments.
At the same time, the Communities Minister announced
details of the £318 million Community Regeneration Fund
(CRF), which will play a vital role in helping to meet the
new targets in Scotland's most disadvantaged
neighbourhoods.
Visiting a regeneration project in Glasgow's
Easterhouse, Mr Chisholm said the CtOG targets would help
improve life for thousands of people, lifting them out of
the poverty trap with sustained support to improve health,
job prospects, training or education.
The Minister said:
"We are determined to give everyone in Scotland
increased opportunities in life, especially the most
vulnerable and those living in our most deprived areas.
"The problems associated with living in poverty can be
complex and far reaching, and our challenge is to not just
deal with the existing problem but to prevent poverty in
the first place.
"We will face this challenge head-on, in a targeted and
co-ordinated way, and underpinned by the sort of major
investment we are announcing today through the Community
Regeneration Fund."
Earlier this year the Executive outlined six key
objectives for tackling poverty and deprivation, and today
the Minister announced the 10 targets which will drive
delivery of the objectives.
Mr Chisholm added:
"Our ten targets focus effort on achieving real
improvements for people's lives through enhancing the
education, health and job prospects of people in Scotland's
most disadvantaged communities.
"We are investing resources in the long term and I want
to be sure that these are being spent and targeted
effectively.
"If we are serious about closing the opportunity gap,
then councils, the health service, the police, the
enterprise networks and others must work with us and with
the communities they serve to help secure these
improvements."
The targets include:
- Increasing employment and tackling
worklessness
- Tackling aspects of in-work poverty by providing
employees with the opportunity to develop skills
- Reducing the proportion of 16-19 year olds who are
not in education training or employment
- Reducing health inequalities
- Regenerating the most disadvantaged
neighbourhoods
- Ensuring that children and young people who need it
have an integrated package of appropriate health, care
and education support
- Ensuring 'looked after' young people leaving care
can enter education, employment or training
- Improving the quality and accessibility of services
for those living in remote and disadvantaged rural
communities
- Increasing the availability of appropriate
financial services and money advice to disadvantaged
communities to reduce their vulnerability to financial
exclusion and multiple debts
Scotland's 32 Community Planning Partnerships were today
given details of their three-year (2005-08) allocations
under the new CRF.
Of the new targets, this funding will particularly help
promote community regeneration of Scotland's most deprived
neighbourhoods, through improvements by 2008 in
employability, education, health, access to local services
and quality of the local environment.
Mr Chisholm said:
"Our commitment and drive to break the cycle of
deprivation has never been stronger. This £318 million is a
substantial investment which will improve the lives of
thousands of Scots and is targeted at the most deprived
areas across the country.
"I am proud of our record to date, but recognise there
is more work to do to ensure opportunities for all. Nobody,
however, can deny that real improvements have been made and
I'm confident this funding will provide even greater
impetus to regenerate communities and reduce poverty."
Additional regeneration support is to be made available
to three areas through their granting of 'Pathfinder' Urban
Regeneration (URC) status - Clydebank, Craigmillar
(Edinburgh) and Raploch (Stirling). Funding in principle of
£20 million was announced in June, and it is expected that
more detailed funding announcements will be made
shortly.
Closing the Opportunity Gap Targets in
full
TARGET A: Reduce the number of workless
people dependent on DWP benefits in Glasgow, North &
South Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire & Inverclyde, Dundee,
and West Dunbartonshire by 2007 and further by 2010. For
this Target, local employment partnerships will be asked to
agree the size and nature of the target for their area, by
February 2005. For example, the Glasgow Welfare to Work
Forum set targets in 2003, to reduce the number of working
age people claiming key benefits by 15,000 by the end of
2007 and 30,000 by the end of 2010.
TARGET B: Reduce the proportion of 16-19
year olds who are not in education training or employment
by 2008. For this Target, as part of our work to develop an
employability framework, we will analyse the make-up of the
NEET group and their reasons for disengagement from school,
work or further education. We will then specify the level
of reduction that we seek to achieve.
TARGET C: Public sector and large
employers to tackle aspects of in-work poverty by providing
employees with the opportunity to develop skills and
progress in their career. NHSScotland will set an example
by providing 1000 job opportunities, with support for
training and progression once in post, between 2004 and
2006 to people who are currently economically inactive or
unemployed.
TARGET D: To reduce health inequalities by
increasing the rate of improvement for under 75 Coronary
Heart Disease mortality and under 75 cancer mortality
(1995-2010) for the most deprived communities by 15 per
cent by 2008.
TARGET E: By 2008, ensure that children
and young people who need it have an integrated package of
appropriate health, care and education support.
TARGET F: Increase the average tariff
score of the lowest attaining 20 per cent of S4 pupils by 5
per cent by 2008.
TARGET G: By 2007 ensure that at least 50
per cent of all 'looked after' young people leaving care
have entered education, employment or training.
TARGET H: By 2008, improve service
delivery in rural areas so that agreed improvements to
accessibility and quality are achieved for key services in
remote and disadvantaged communities. For this Target, the
Executive will work with an advisory Group of
representatives from key delivery agencies and rural
communities to agree the rural areas to be targeted,
consult with local communities to identify the key services
to be improved, and agree with the relevant community
planning partnerships the specific targets for improvements
to accessibility and quality to be achieved.
TARGET J: To promote community
regeneration of the most deprived neighbourhoods, through
improvements by 2008 in employability, education, health,
access to local services, and quality of the local
environment.
TARGET K: By 2008 increase the
availability of appropriate financial services and money
advice to disadvantaged communities to reduce their
vulnerability to financial exclusion and multiple
debts.
Community Regeneration Fund
In July 2004, the Executive announced a new Community
Regeneration Fund, established to bring improvements to
Scotland's most deprived areas, which replaces the existing
SIP fund (£61 million for 2004/05), the Better
Neighbourhood Services Fund (£31.2 million for 2004/05) and
the Tackling Drugs Misuse Fund (£3 million for 2004/05).
The new fund will allocate overall sums of £104.45
million/£106 million/£107.275 million over the next three
years.
Indicitive allocations for 2005/06 were announced
on July 12, 2004.
The most deprived areas, identified through the Scottish
Index of Multiple Deprivation 2004, get the most funding
through the CRF.
The Index ranks areas of around 750 people, called data
zones, from the most deprived (No. 1) to the least deprived
(No. 6,505). Two thirds of the CRF has been allocated to
the most deprived 15 per cent of data zones (i.e. Nos. 1 to
976).
The remaining funds have been allocated to those
Community Planning Partnerships with above average (i.e.
more than 15 per cent) concentration of deprivation in
their area (marked with an asterisk below).
To ensure that all CPPs can develop and deliver a
Regeneration Outcome Agreement, a minimum CRF allocation of
£100k will apply from the start of 2005/06. Furthermore, to
help CPPs manage the change from existing funding regimes
to the CRF, CPPs will receive at least 60 percent of their
2004/05 SIP/BNSF allocation in 2006/07 and 40 percent in
2007/08 and/or the reduction in funding will be no more
than #0.5m from 2006/07 to 2007/08.
Subject to agreeing three-year Regeneration Outcome
Agreements, the allocation for each CPP is set out below.
The figures are in £s and relate to financial years
2005/06; 2006/07; 2007/08; and total for the three years
(rounded to nearest £).
Aberdeen City: 1,218,000 ; 1,226,000; 1,282,000 =
3,726,000.
Aberdeenshire: 135,000; 136,000; 142,000 = 413,000.
Angus: 203,000; 204,00; 214,000 = 621,000.
Argyll & Bute: 986,000; 788,000 ; 641,000 =
2,415,000.
*Clackmannanshire: 1,104,000; 1,111,000; 1,162,000 =
3,377,000.
Dumfries & Galloway: 675,000; 613,000; 641,000 =
1,929,000.
*Dundee City: 5,775,000; 5,665,000; 5,927,000 =
17,367,000.
*East Ayrshire: 4,033,000; 3,533,000; 3,254,000 =
10,820,000.
East Dunbartonshire: 271,000; 272,000; 285,000 =
828,000.
East Lothian: 126,000; 101,000; 100,000 = 327,000.
East Renfrewshire: 406,000; 409,000; 427,000;
1,242,000.
Edinburgh, City of : 7,176,000; 6,676,000; 6,176,000 =
20,028,000.
Eilean Siar: 356,000; 285,000; 190,000; 831,000.
Falkirk: 791,000; 953,000; 997,000 = 2,741,000.
Fife: 1,806,000; 2,247,000; 2,351,000 = 6,404,000.
*Glasgow City: 39,886,000; 41,433,000; 43,350,000 =
124,669,000.
Highland: 609,000; 613,000; 641,000 = 1,863,000.
*Inverclyde: 5,381,000; 4,881,000; 4,381,000 =
14,643,000
Midlothian: 100,000; 100,000; 100,000 = 300,000
Moray: 361,000; 289,000; 193,000 = 843,000
*North Ayrshire: 3,403,000; 3,666,000; 3,835,000 =
10,904,000
*North Lanarkshire: 9,847,000; 11,441,000; 11,971,000 =
33,259,000
Orkney Islands: 100,000; 100,000; 100,000 = 300,000
Perth & Kinross: 203,000; 204,000; 214,000 =
621,000
*Renfrewshire: 4,527,000; 4,554,000; 4,765,000 =
13,846,000
Scottish Borders: 203,000; 163,000; 142,000 =
508,000
Shetland Islands: 100,000; 100,000; 100,000 =
300,000
South Ayrshire: 1,767,000; 1,360,000; 926,000 =
4,053,000
*South Lanarkshire: 6,861,000; 7,331,000; 7,670,000 =
21,862,000
Stirling: 406,000; 409,000; 427,000 = 1,242,000
*West Dunbartonshire: 4,956,000; 4,456,000; 3,956,000 =
13,368,000
West Lothian: 677,000; 681,000; 712,000 = 2,070,000