Social Inclusion - Opening the door to a better Scotland

8. The social inclusion strategy

8.1 This report has described the wide range of action underway in pursuit of the vision set out in section 3. In addition, the Government and the Scottish Social Inclusion Network have developed a complementary programme of work, the social inclusion strategy, aimed at ensuring that ongoing and future action on social inclusion achieves the greatest possible impact. This programme is based on the recognition by Government and the Network of 3 essential requirements for effective future action:

the need to develop new ideas for action and to support good practice in key areas of social inclusion policy; the need to ensure that the success of the programme is effectively monitored and evaluated; and the need to ensure that action is effectively co-ordinated and integrated.

8.2 The strategy sets out a programme of work to achieve these objectives, which the Scottish Social Inclusion Network will take forward, based around the work of 5 Action Teams.

Developing New Ideas for Action

8.3 The Government and the Network have recognised that there is a need continually to develop new ideas for action and to support best practice in key areas of social inclusion policy. The Network has agreed 3 areas for priority attention: excluded young people; inclusive communities; and the impact of local anti-poverty action. Action Teams (including Network members and others, and directed by the Network) will, by 30 September 1999, prepare recommendations on what more could be done in these 3 areas. The Network will also maintain an over-arching interest in other areas relevant to social inclusion, and other subjects for priority action may emerge subsequently during the development of SSIN's work. The work on excluded young people in particular may provide a model for consideration of the problems facing other excluded groups at different stages in life.

8.4 Preparation of each of these 'priority reports' will include surveying available information and current activity; collecting views and proposals; and developing original recommendations and proposals for action. Each Team will be asked to give specific consideration to issues of race, gender and disability and to rural issues as part of their work. Teams will also be asked to identify any examples of policies or practices which exclude individuals or groups, as well as examples of good practice in promoting inclusion.

8.5 The broad remits of these three Action Teams will be as follows:

Excluded young people: what more can be done in relation to excluded young people, with a particular emphasis on 16-21 year-olds; the particular exclusion faced by young people not in education, employment or training; the experience of care-leavers; young homeless people; young drug misusers; young disabled people; plugging gaps in service provision; developing preventive approaches

Inclusive communities: devolving decision-making to community level; widening community participation in decision-making processes; building community capacity; resourcing communities; developing the concept of 'active citizenship' through participation in voluntary and community activity, community and further education, and sport and the arts; broadening participation to include young people and marginalised groups

Impact of local anti-poverty action: assessing the effectiveness and sustainability of local anti-poverty action including food co-operatives, credit unions, local exchange and trading schemes, and fuel poverty initiatives; action to ensure correct entitlements to benefits are met; the potential contribution of labour market initiatives; contribution of the social economy

These recommendations will inform the preparation of the 'Inclusion Plan' described below, which will include specific statements on how each of these areas will be addressed.

Evaluating Success

8.6 The Government and the Network have recognised the need to develop a robust evaluation framework to monitor success in promoting a more inclusive society. A further Action Team will, therefore, by 1 July 1999, prepare a draft 'Evaluation Framework' for assessing the success of action to promote social inclusion. This will include specific objectives and indicators derived from the vision set out in section 3. The Team will take account of indicators already used by Government and other agencies, but will be prepared to develop and/or adopt new indicators; and will ensure race, gender, disability and rural issues are built into the draft framework. Examples of areas where indicators need to be developed or improved include:

educational attainment among the least successful pupils in Scotland; the social, economic and environmental conditions of the most deprived communities in Scotland; the extent of poverty in Scotland.

8.7 After consultation on this draft, a final Evaluation Framework will be prepared, taking into account any additional issues arising from the work of the Action Teams, and will be published alongside the 'Inclusion Plan', described below. This framework will provide the basis by which the success of this Plan will be assessed. The Network will thereafter report on progress in tackling social exclusion, with reference to the evaluation framework, and will select subjects for further priority reports.

Joining It Up

8.8 The Government and the Network have recognised the need to identify new ways of 'joining it up' at all levels. This strategy proposes to develop better co-ordination and integration of social inclusion programmes by:

ensuring that community plans address issues of social inclusion; setting up an Action Team to explore barriers to 'making it happen' in practice; and the development in the longer term of an integrated social inclusion action plan.

8.9 The need to join up action derives both from the complex nature of social exclusion - it is a combination of linked problems - and from the fact that action to promote social inclusion is taken forward by a large number of different agencies and organisations. Central Government, its agencies, and public bodies like Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Homes all direct and fund programmes which contribute to promoting social inclusion. At a more local level, local authorities and the services they enable or provide, for example through their Education or Social Work departments, play a key role, as do the National Health Service, Local Enterprise Companies, and further and higher education institutions. The great range of voluntary sector and community activity provides essential and irreplaceable support to many vulnerable people in Scotland. And community groups and organisations across Scotland are committed to taking action to improve the areas in which they live, both through the direct organisation of services like credit unions, playgroups, or community-based housing associations, and through their determination to influence service providers.

8.10 Action to promote social inclusion is funded by a variety of sources and through a variety of routes. Government itself funds action to promote social inclusion in a number of ways. Grant schemes like the Urban Programme and the Excellence Fund provide funding on specific subjects to local authorities and voluntary and community organisations, and the Government also provides general financial support for local authorities. The Government supports the voluntary sector through a range of funding mechanisms, both direct and indirect: direct funding amounts to around £23m a year and indirect funding, including that distributed through agencies such as Scottish Homes and grant schemes like the Urban Programme, amounts to some £283m a year. Other funding for action to promote social inclusion comes through local authorities from their local income-raising powers, from European programmes, from the Lottery, and from direct personal and corporate donations to voluntary organisations.

8.11 There is a need, then, to ensure that the policies and programmes of the various authorities and agencies complement one another, both across and between the different levels at which they operate - national, local, community and individual.

Community Planning

8.12 The primary responsibility for local integration of action will rest with local authorities and their partners working within the community planning framework. Scottish local authorities and their partners have been asked to develop and publish Community Plans. The Government and the Network expect that social inclusion objectives will be prominent in the vision for the local authority area set out in each Community Plan, and propose that each Plan should specifically state what action each local partner is taking to promote social inclusion. Each Plan will also set out how local partners intend to ensure that action is effectively integrated at a service-delivery level, and appropriately reflects the expressed needs and aspirations of communities.

8.13 Each Plan should also set out how other local partnerships, including city-wide regeneration partnerships, Social Inclusion Partnerships and Rural Development Partnerships, are linked to the over-arching community planning partnership, and contribute towards the objectives of the Community Plan.

Making It Happen

8.14 The Government and the Network believe there is a widespread commitment within organisations and agencies to develop new ways of working to tackle exclusion. These can best be developed where there is a culture which provides for organisational flexibility; a sound understanding of the priorities of other organisations; a willingness to delegate budgets or decisions to more local levels; a willingness to take risks with innovative approaches; and an ability to understand problems from the community or client perspective.

8.15 The Government and the Network recognise, however, that there are also major challenges to establishing and maintaining such a culture. A fifth Action Team will, therefore, be established: this Team will consider examples of good practice, explore the opportunities presented by new organisational arrangements such as Local Health Care Co-operatives, Working for Communities Pathfinders and Social Inclusion Partnerships, and make recommendations about ways of overcoming professional, organisational, and cultural barriers to promoting social inclusion. The Team will report by 30 September 1999.

Inclusion Plan

8.16 The Network will, by 31 December 1999, prepare a joint statement of continuing and further action: an 'Inclusion Plan'. The aims of this process will be to ensure integration of action at both a national and local level, by identifying and addressing conflicts and gaps between programmes, and to build into programmes new action taking forward the recommendations of the priority reports.

8.17 The Network anticipates that, in preparing the Inclusion Plan, it will want to see statements of current programmes of national organisations and agencies like Scottish Homes and Scottish Enterprise, to allow gaps and conflicts to be addressed. This statement of the Government's programme of action on social inclusion should provide a useful first step in the development of this integrated plan.