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everyone matters - Delivering Social Justice for Scotland

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What is social justice anyway?

As the Minister for Social Justice, I am often asked what "social justice" means. There is no short answer to the question. Social justice is about every one of us having the chances and opportunities that will allow us to make the most of our lives and to use our talents to the full. Social justice touches on all aspects of life _ from our health as babies to our care as older people.

We have focused on the problems where most help is needed and we have identified 29 areas for action. For example, we are helping more parents, including lone parents, take up work. This means less children living in families where no one works. We are also working hard to improve the health of Scottish people.

We want to stamp out inequalities _ where you live should not determine your health, wellbeing and employment chances for your whole life. We want to close the opportunity gap between those who succeed in life and those who fall behind.

Certain groups of people, for example disabled people or minority ethnic groups, face particular problems or even suffer discrimination. These difficulties are often related to the experience of poverty and exclusion. We are working to increase our understanding of these problems to help us find the right solutions.

This leaflet explains the progress we are making to deliver a fair and decent society for everyone in Scotland. A society where no one is held back because of where they live and no one is discriminated against for whatever reason.

Margaret Curran
Minister for Social Justice

Minister and Driver for Change

Margaret Curran became Minister for Social Justice in May 2002, after being the Deputy Minister for Social Justice since November 2000. Her role is two-fold. One is as the Minister responsible for housing _ including homelessness _ planning, equality issues, domestic violence, the voluntary sector, digital inclusion and community regeneration. All these issues are important for social justice.

But of course, social justice is at the heart of the Executive's work. The people's priorities _ jobs, education, health, crime and transport _ are all linked to our aim for a fair and decent society where no one is held back by disadvantage or denied opportunity. Each of these priorities fall under the responsibility of other Ministers, but it is clear that the Executive must work together if it is to close the opportunity gap.

Margaret Curran's second role is to chair the Cabinet Sub Committee on Social Justice and to drive the need for social justice solutions across all the Executive's work. Policies from all parts of the Executive impact on the lives of those from disadvantaged areas and groups to a greater or lesser degree. We are ensuring that everyone has the chance of an equal outcome and access to decent services. Part of this work involves joint working and joint funding of particular initiatives across Departments. Last year Social Justice, Education and Enterprise and Lifelong Learning got together to fund a 24 million package to help parents, particularly lone parents, back into further or higher education by helping with childcare costs. The Changing Children's Services Fund is also a collaboration from Social Justice, Education and Health. This programme would not have been possible without joint working and joint funding from Departments.

We have had successes and are changing the lives of Scots for the better, but we are not complacent. We are concentrating our efforts. Under the new Scottish Budget 2003-06, unprecedented levels of resources are now available to tackle social injustice in Scotland. In October, we published the Closing the Opportunity Gap: Scottish Budget 2003-2006 document which set out very clearly how, with work across the Executive, we are going to use these new resources to close the opportunity gap. We are setting ourselves challenging targets but we are determined to succeed.

Making a Difference

Since we were elected in 1999 we have made real progress in many areas. We inherited many deep-rooted problems and it will take time to put things right. But already services are improving and people's lives are getting back on track.

The Early Years

All our children deserve the best start in life. The Executive promotes healthy living for mothers to be. Fewer mothers now smoke during pregnancy and more mothers are also recognising the health benefits from breastfeeding.

A child's early years are also crucial. Children who are stimulated through play and given the chance to experience and learn new things will perform better when they start school. Those who don't have this headstart will fall further behind as the years go on but our classroom assistants and parenting support will help them minimise the gap. Our Sure Start Scotland programme helps vulnerable families with very young children in areas of greatest need, giving every child a better chance in life. It aims to improve children's social and emotional development and their health and ability to learn. It also strengthens the family and community structure. It delivers support in a variety of ways, including mobile provision in rural areas, and at differing levels of intensity to reflect the needs of the individual children. In its first two years, Sure Start Scotland has delivered support for over 15,000 extra children and 6,000 extra parents.

From listening to parents we knew pre-school education for 3-4 year olds was needed. We set a goal of providing places for all 3-4 year olds whose parents want one and we have
achieved it.

In the past some children with problems needed help from different people, but the help was patchy and not co-ordinated and so the child was given a poor service. With the help of our Changing Children's Services Fund, these people are now able to work together better, to give a better service that meets all the needs of the child.

Developing the Potential of Young People

The move from childhood to adulthood can be difficult. Physical changes are taking place at the same time as young people are trying to make decisions that will affect the rest of their lives. This is a very important time in life and we need to support our young people through it. Young people leaving school with low or no qualifications are more likely to be unemployed and living on a low income in later life.

Some young people need extra support and we are making sure that organisations such as Careers Scotland are able to provide the help needed. We are introducing new ways to help young people who have a discipline problem and schools are now introducing new ways of improving attendance. In some schools, there is now a successful focus on vocational, rather than just academic study.

For young people who are looked after by the local authority we are asking the authorities to ensure that these young people are helped through school. We also want local authorities to continue to give all the support necessary when young people leave care and start to live independently.

We want to encourage young people to make the most of their abilities so we are taking steps to make it easier for those from less well-off backgrounds to go to college and university. The costs involved can be a problem, so we have abolished tuition fees for all eligible Scottish based and EU students studying full-time higher education courses in Scotland. This support is available to eligible students to undertake one first degree, or comparable course, provided they have not previously undertaken such a course with assistance from public funds.

We know that a child born to a very young parent is more likely to suffer from disadvantage. The level of a mother's educational attainment is the best way of forecasting the child's attainment level. As well as impacting on the child, teenage pregnancies has an impact on the mother. Young women who have to leave school, college or work to bring up a child can face difficulty when they are ready to join the workplace. That is why we are tackling the relatively high level of teenage pregnancies.

Healthy living is also important. Bad habits started at this time of life can be hard to shake later in life. Young men are beginning to turn their back on smoking but young women are continuing to smoke at the same level.

Self-harm and suicides are of great concern to the Executive. There are a very small number of suicides each year but every one is a tragedy. The numbers are greatest amongst young men. We are funding a telephone advice line for people who are at risk of suicide. It is particularly aimed at young men. We are also looking at ways to overcome the stigma of suffering from mental health problems and we have developed a strategy and action plan for the reduction and prevention of suicide.

Supporting Families

Helping those who can work into work is crucial. But it's not all about money. A parent in work has a positive effect on a child in other ways as well.

But for some people it will take time before they are able to work. Some parents are going back into education to get the qualifications that they didn't get as a young person. Others want to update their skills for the jobs of today. This will help them get better jobs to support their families. We are making this easier for parents, lone parents in particular, by giving financial support for childcare whilst at college or university. This is part of our campaign to get more people from different backgrounds to go on to college or university.

Parents living in disadvantaged areas can find it particularly difficult to organise their childcare. This is why from 2004 we will make sure that funding affordable childcare is not a barrier for people in such areas who want to get into education, training or employment.

The New Deal is helping people into work who would otherwise have found it difficult. It has already helped 15,900 lone parents, 9,300 over 50s, 44,300 18-24 year olds and 12,300 long term unemployed people1. The Executive is helping people who have difficulty with reading, writing and doing arithmetic. We are helping them to find a job or to make progress in the job they have. We are also helping young people get the training for work they need and providing training and guidance for people of all ages who want to change career.

We are promoting healthy lifestyles for all. From providing smoking cessation services to promoting healthy eating and physical activity for all age groups.

1 Eligibility for the New Deal 25+ related to unemployment for over 2 years until April 2002, when it became 18 months.

Taking care of Scotland's older people

The Executive has made big changes to the lives of pensioners in Scotland. This year we introduced free personal care for people aged 65 and over. There is no more charging for personal care at home for people aged 65+. We value the right of a person's independence and this will help more people to stay at home longer.

The types of care paid for will vary. For example, help with personal hygiene, assistance with dressing, assistance with eating, help with administering medication, assistance with immobility problems and counselling and support may be paid. Free nursing care was introduced for care home residents of all ages.

We also brought in free off-peak local bus travel for pensioners and people with disabilities. This is another way that we are helping older people to keep their independence. But, it will also help keep weekly spending down.

Not being able to heat their home well enough for a reasonable cost was a problem faced by many of Scotland's older people. Over 140,000 people have been given free insulation under the Warm Deal already. We are providing free central heating, worth an average 2,500, for houses across all sectors where there is none. The programme for the over 60s will be completed by 2006. Since 2001, more than 10,000 social sector tenants and pensioners have already been fitted with free central heating. This is on top of the Winter Fuel Payment, which is 200 this year. Giving people a warm and dry home helps with fuel bills but it helps health and quality of life too.

There is also good news with regard to pensions and benefits for older people, which are set by the UK Parliament. The Minimum Income Guarantee increased to 98.15 for a single pensioner and 149.80 for couples. From October 2003, the new Pension Credit will mean another 400 per year for about 350,000 pensioner households in Scotland.

Older people's quality of life does depend a lot on their income and their living expenses. So, with increases in pensions and help with daily living costs we are making a difference. But there are other areas that are also important. People are living longer and healthier lives. We are encouraging more people to take exercise and eat a healthy diet. We are also helping older people to get access to the Internet so that they too can get access to goods and services electronically.

Building strong communities

Quality of life is strongly determined by the communities we live in. Whether the majority of local people are in or out of work; whether or not public services, such as buses and refuse collection, are efficient and reliable; whether or not people live in a good standard of housing; whether people feel safe in their homes and on the streets, or if fear of crime is a real concern.

Building strong, successful communities means tackling a large range of issues from education to work and from health to the environment and more. We believe that we are setting in place the structures that will deliver better and more responsive services for people in deprived communities (both urban and rural).

In order to deal with all of the difficulties faced in our most deprived communities, the Executive established Social Inclusion Partnerships (SIPs). SIPs are partnerships which comprise the local authority and other public agencies, such as health boards, along with the voluntary and private sectors. These partnerships focus special effort on tackling the particular problems of the community through a variety of projects. Over the next two years funding of 120 million will be allocated to each of the 48 SIPs.

In addition to the SIPs, the majority of which are based in urban areas, but which also include a few in rural settings, we have a number of other initiatives to tackle social exclusion and promote local development. These include Local Rural Partnerships (LRPs) which exist in many of our rural communities, and are intended to strengthen rural communities and encourage community-level representation throughout rural Scotland.

But as well as funding the partnerships, the Executive is tackling some of the problems which are common to all areas of disadvantage, wherever it occurs, from inner cities to remote rural settlements.

We want neighbourhoods that people can be proud of, where they can live without fear of crime. We are investing in new approaches to neighbourhood management, tackling anti-social behaviour and poor quality of the environment and helping local people to build strong safe communities. This will include a network of neighbourhood wardens across Scotland, with up to 50 schemes.

The Scottish Executive considers the voluntary sector as a key partner in joint work to meet our priorities. The voluntary sector can reach local communities, in particular those who are most excluded, in ways that the statutory sector cannot. As part of broader work to empower and build all communities, we have set up a national network of Councils for Voluntary Service across the whole of Scotland. We are also working to strengthen the infrastructure of the voluntary and volunteering sectors.

Closing the Opportunity Gap

The people's priorities - jobs, education, health, crime and transport - are mentioned earlier in the leaflet. Across all of these priorities, our aim is to close the opportunity gap between the most disadvantaged and the average for Scotland. We have set objectives to measure our success:

This leaflet describes some - though by no means all - of the ways in which the Scottish Executive is tackling the many different forms of poverty, disadvantage and inequality ('social exclusion') which exist in Scotland. Exclusion, in one form or another, can affect our children and parents, men and women, young and old. It can be felt by those living in busy cities and those in quiet rural communities.

So, the Executive is fighting social exclusion in Scotland in many different ways, in many different places, for different groups. All the policies join up together to tackle the various difficulties that can damage people's lives or hold them back from reaching their full potential. Taken together, these policies create a strategy for social justice. We want a Scotland where everyone matters.

Additional information and contact details

If you would like more information on the Executive's social justice policies, you may wish to see our full Social Justice Annual Report 2002.

This publication is available free of charge in Braille, audio tape, large print format, Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi, Bengali, Arabic, Chinese and Gaelic.

Contact: Scottish Executive, Social Inclusion Division, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ
Telephone: 0131 244 7376
e-mail: socialjustice@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

This document, our full Social Justice Annual Report, the technical volume and Closing the Opportunity Gap are also available on the Scottish Executive website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/socialjustice/index.htm