Social Inclusion - Opening the door to a better Scotland

2. Social exclusion in Scotland

2.1 The Prime Minister has described social exclusion as

"a shorthand label for what can happen when individuals or areas suffer from a combination of linked problems such as unemployment, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime environments, bad health and family breakdown".

2.2. As this implies, social exclusion manifests itself in a number of ways, many of which are connected and mutually reinforcing: for example, bad health can be both a cause of unemployment and an effect of the poverty which unemployment can bring about. This section looks briefly at the nature and scale of a number of these aspects of social exclusion in Scotland.

Unemployment

2.3 Not having a job is one of the most profound and problematic forms of exclusion. The consequent lack of income can lead to poverty, with its associated problems of ill-health, and dependency; the lack of the informal networks that come with work deprive an individual of the contacts that can lead to new opportunities and provide support in times of difficulty; and access to training and further employment opportunities is generally harder for those who are out of work than for those who are in it. Long-term unemployment, in particular, can have especially damaging consequences.

2.4 Changes in the economy over the last 30 to 40 years have transformed the labour market in Scotland, with adverse effects for many of those who are least able to cope with change. The decline of the heavy industries _ shipbuilding, coal, and steel _ has contributed to a fall in manufacturing employment from 666,000 jobs in 1960 to 285,000 in 1996. These factors have hit some areas especially hard, particularly where large concentrations of the population find themselves without comparable employment opportunities; for example, in the Glasgow area, where unemployment rates of around twice the Scottish average are not untypical. This in turn creates social pressures, impacting on individuals, families and whole communities.

2.5 As at December 1998, overall registered unemployment in Scotland was 132,000 or 5.5% of the workforce. Of these, 31,000 have been unemployed and claiming benefit for over a year. Among people aged 18 to 24, registered unemployment stands at 33,000, or 7.25%, of whom 4,000 have been claiming benefits for over a year.

Poor Skills

2.6 For some, unemployment is a consequence of poor skills. Just as the nature of employment has changed, so have the skills that employers expect of their workers. Around two-thirds of Scottish employers feel that the skills required from the average employee are increasing. The new, more knowledge-based industries which have replaced heavy industry offer fewer opportunities for less-skilled manual work, thereby increasing the risk of exclusion for the unskilled or semi-skilled. More generally, the number of part-time jobs has increased by 70% over the last 10 years. Over three quarters of these jobs are held by women, with the vast majority being in the service sector. These trends are likely to continue, and to accelerate.

2.7 Although around 30% of children in Scotland go on to Higher Education each year, around 4,000 youngsters, 6.5%, leave school without any Standard Grades. For those with poor skills the task of finding, or remaining in, employment is becoming more and more difficult. Skills and qualifications, and the ability to adapt and learn new skills, are likely to be even more important in the future than in the past.

Low Income

2.8 Low income is a key aspect of social exclusion. It is both a frequent consequence of exclusion, most obviously from the labour market, and a cause of exclusion: simply put, a lack of money makes participation in society more difficult. Low incomes are closely associated with ill-health and decreased life expectancy. Living in low income households and areas can also actually increase costs for individuals: for example, insurance and credit are often more expensive for those on low incomes.

2.9 It has been estimated (from the Family Resources Survey) that, in 1996/97 some 1.2 million people in Scotland, or 25% of the population, were living in households with below half the average income for Great Britain (after taking housing costs into account). Of those living in low income households (as so defined), children and pensioners are disproportionately represented: an estimated 34% of Scottish children, 41% of under-5s, and 29% of pensioners are living in households below half UK average income.

Poor housing

2.10 Poor housing excludes both by directly diminishing quality of life and through a range of linked problems, from poor health to children's inability to study at home. Between 1945 and 1975 a massive programme of house-building virtually eliminated overcrowding and slum conditions in the inner cities. Large new housing estates were built, especially on the periphery of Scotland's major cities and, for those moving in, this new housing represented a dramatic improvement in their housing conditions. But more recently some of these estates have fallen into decay and become unpopular. In many communities physical decline has been matched with the economic and social decline described in 'the geography of social exclusion', below.

2.11 The Scottish House Condition Survey of 1996 confirmed that much of Scotland's housing stock, in both the public and private sectors, is in poor condition. 25% of Scottish houses were found to suffer from dampness and/or condensation; 18% had at least two items requiring urgent repair; fewer than 10% achieved an energy rating at or above the current standard. The total bill to bring Scottish housing up to an acceptable condition is estimated to be at least £7.9 billion.

High Crime Environments

2.12 Unemployment, poor housing, the lack of access to services or opportunities for training, and, above all, drug misuse, can result in some communities suffering abnormally high levels of crime. Crime and the fear of crime can effectively socially exclude people in their own communities. Older people in particular may be afraid to go out on their own, or after dark. Young people can be susceptible to drug dealers and violence may become a feature of everyday life. Shops and services close as a result of crime or prohibitive insurance premiums, and it becomes ever more difficult to attract investment and employment into the area to help turn things around.

2.13 The Scottish Crime Survey (1996) classified neighbourhoods into eight different categories, from those which contain mainly affluent consumers with large houses, to the poorest estates. According to this classification, people in the less well-off areas are much more likely to be the victims of crime than those in the more affluent neighbourhoods. For example, those in the poorest council estates were around twice as likely to have been the victim of a vehicle crime, or of a violent crime in 1995, as those in affluent areas with a high proportion of home-owners. Those in the poorest council estates were more likely than others to have their house broken into (4% as compared with 2.7% for the general population). In addition, the likelihood of having ever been the victim of domestic violence is much higher for those living in the poorest council estates than for those in more affluent areas.

Health

2.14 Scotland's poor health record is partly a record of bad diet, bad housing, and high rates of smoking; it is also a record of poverty. Poor health can very effectively exclude an individual from opportunities to participate in society; and exclusion and poverty can very effectively lead to poor health, not least through the poor diet and poor housing people in poverty often cannot afford to avoid.

2.15 Generally, health in Scotland has been improving but remains poor in comparison with the rest of Western Europe, with socially excluded communities suffering the worst health. Premature deaths from coronary heart disease and cancer have fallen, while general life expectancy has risen (for men, from 67.3 years in 1970 to 72.6 years in 1997; for women, from 73.7 years to 78 years over the same period). There are large differences in some aspects of the health of people living in the more affluent areas of Scotland, compared with the most deprived (as measured by the Carstairs index, which allocated postcodes to one of 7 deprivation categories depending on the characteristics of the area at the time of the 1991 census). For example:

In 1996, 10% of mothers in the most affluent parts of Scotland smoked during pregnancy compared with 52% in the most deprived areas. In 1996, 6% of babies born to mothers from the most affluent areas were of low birthweight, compared with 11% in the most deprived areas. In 1996-97, the pregnancy rate among teenage girls aged 13-15 was 10.5 per 1,000 females in this age range for Scotland as a whole. The rate in the most deprived areas (18.7 per 1,000 females aged 13-15) was 5 times the rate in the most affluent areas (3.7 per 1,000 females aged 13-15). In the period 1991-95 the standardised mortality ratio for 0-64 year olds from coronary heart disease was 48 in the more affluent areas, compared with 140 in the most deprived areas. (The standardised mortality ratio compares the observed number of deaths in an area with the expected level (based on national rates), given the underlying age and sex composition of the population.)

Family Breakdown

2.16 Along with changes in the economy over the last 30 years there have been major changes in family structures which have contributed to poverty and social exclusion. Family breakdown now occurs more frequently. In 1981, lone-parent households accounted for 8.5% of families with children in Glasgow; by 1991 the proportion had more than tripled to 27.9%. In some parts of Glasgow it is over 40%. While there is no right or wrong form of family, the absence of a second adult in the household does put greater responsibility and pressure on the parent who remains, and increases susceptibility to poverty. Other factors, such as the effects of ill health or long-term unemployment, can also threaten the stability of family life.

2.17 Further, the stresses within families have given rise to a situation in which teenagers are more likely to leave home, or to be pushed out. As a result in recent years youth homelessness, with all the consequences that flow in terms of difficulties in accessing employment and services, has grown in Scotland, with the outward manifestation of the problem _ youngsters sleeping rough on the streets _ becoming more evident. For example, the number of applications to Scottish Local Authorities under the homelessness legislation has increased from 25,200 in 1986-87 to 41,000 in 1996-97.

The geography of social exclusion

2.18 The combined effects of social exclusion are perhaps most evident where they affect whole communities, characterised by high levels of unemployment, poor housing and health, low educational attainment and poor access to training opportunities. Area concentrations of social exclusion present particular problems since the factors which lead to social exclusion not only reinforce each other within the circumstances of individual families but are also compounded by the wider circumstances of the neighbourhood. There are a number of areas in urban Scotland where these concentrations can be observed. In Easterhouse, for example, the registered unemployment rate is 12.9% (in Scotland as a whole it is 5.5%); 67.4% of primary school pupils were recorded as being entitled to free school meals in 1997-98 (Scotland 22.7%); an estimated 41.2% of households with children are lone-parent households (Scotland 16.1%).

2.19 Proxy measures of this multiple deprivation have been developed to allow us to map the geography of social exclusion in Scotland. Such an analysis was carried out by The Scottish Office Central Research Unit, based on a sample of the 1991 Census. Six indicators were used - unemployment or permanent sickness of the head of the household; low socio-economic group of the head of the household; overcrowding; a large household; presence of a lone-parent family within the household; and an all-elderly household. Households with at least two of these indicators were counted as 'multiply deprived'; households with at least three were counted as 'severely deprived'.

2.20 The analysis was based on the 'most deprived' 10% ('multiply deprived') and 1% ('severely deprived') of the population (roughly 190,000 and 15,000 households respectively). The analysis revealed for example that 74% of multiply deprived households and 80% of severely deprived households lived in the public rented sector. 77% of multiply deprived households were located in predominantly urban areas (settlements with over 10,000 residents). Approximately half of the most deprived districts were in Glasgow, with significant concentrations in other parts of West Central Scotland, in Edinburgh and in Dundee. A recently published revised index of deprivation, developed for The Scottish Office by the University of Glasgow, broadly confirmed the distribution of these concentrations.

2.21 However, in addition to the large-scale concentrations of social exclusion in the Scottish cities and across the Central Belt, there are also smaller concentrations in many of Scotland's small towns, in close proximity to areas of prosperity. And there is also an important rural dimension to social exclusion in Scotland. The CRU study estimated that there were almost 46,000 multiply deprived households in rural areas, and of these around 2,500 severely deprived households in rural areas. These represent 8% and 0.4% of all rural households. These households are scattered across rural Scotland, and tend therefore to be both less visible and more difficult to reach through geographically based programmes.

Indicators of social exclusion

2.22 A range of figures describing aspects of social exclusion in Scotland are available - and some of them have been quoted in this section. There is a need, though, to bring these together and to plug the gaps, to ensure we have a true and comprehensive picture of the extent of social exclusion in Scotland. This is particularly crucial when it comes to evaluating the success - or otherwise - of policies and programmes aimed at tackling exclusion.

2.23 One of the Action Teams established under the social inclusion strategy has, therefore, been dedicated to this subject. The Team will survey existing indicators of social exclusion in Scotland, and develop a draft 'evaluation framework', as a basis for assessing the success of action to promote social inclusion in Scotland. This Team, and the rest of the programme of work set out by the strategy, is described in more detail in section 8.

Conclusion

2.24 In conclusion, social exclusion as a term encompasses a broad range of social problems, centred around low income, lack of opportunity, diminished quality of life and degraded environments. Evidence shows that problems of social exclusion in Scotland are substantial, deep-rooted and long-standing. These problems demand a significant, sustained and fundamental response.