Social Justice: Action Note 2:
August 2000
Achieving the Targets
We are committed to social justice and equality of opportunity for everyone
in Scotland. Our report Social Justice - a Scotland where everyone matters
- set out targets and milestones to make sure we can measure progress towards
this commitment.
We have targets and milestones for each phase of our lives - as children, as
young people, as families and as older people. Our aim is to achieve lasting
and real change in people's lives. Above all, we are working to put an end to
child poverty.
This Action Note is one of two, which together start to define our social justice
action plan. Achieving the Targets and Empowering Communities
(published in June 2000) outline some of the main programmes and practical action
being taken now to start delivering the Social Justice targets.
This note summarises action by the Scottish Executive and UK Government to
build a society in which everyone can contribute to and benefit from economic
prosperity. Programmes that will tackle the underlying causes of deprivation,
through increasingly joined up policies, in health, education, enterprise, communities
and the environment. Many of these are being delivered by other organisations.
The actions in Achieving the Targets and Empowering Communities
are only our starting point. Our full forward plans to tackle injustice in Scotland
will be presented in the autumn, following the Spending Review discussions.
At this time we will also be publishing the Annual Social Justice Report - which
will measure and report progress against the milestones.
"Our strategy is to end child poverty, deliver full employment and ensure
dignity in old age. Our actions now will start to deliver on these pledges."
(Social Inclusion Network Action Team Report: Local Action to Tackle Poverty)
Children
Our vision is of a Scotland in which every child matters, where every
child, regardless of their family background, has the best possible start in
life. We are:
- Lifting 100,000 children out of poverty - delivered through guaranteeing
incomes for our poorest families - via new Children's Tax Credit, Child
Benefit, Minimum Wage etc
- Guaranteeing 130,000 Scottish families with a parent in work an income
of at least £214 each week
- Making sure single parent families gain from tax and benefit budget
measures - a single parent in work on the minimum wage and dealing with
childcare costs for 2 kids under 5 will be over £100 a week better off
- Administering the Sure Start Maternity Grant of £200 linked to early
health care, check-ups and expert support
- Helping young families from our more deprived areas access health,
local authority and voluntary sector services by bringing these together
under our £42 million Sure Start Scotland programme
- Securing the healthiest start to life by delivering health initiatives
for expectant mothers, babies and toddlers including Starting Well -
one of 4 health demonstration projects costing £15 million and the test
bed for integrated action to improve child health
- Delivering a free part-time pre-school place for all four year olds,
and aiming to provide a free space for all three year olds by the end
of 2002. We are also developing affordable childcare in every neighbourhood,
with resources focused upon areas of deprivation.
- Training 5000 new childcare workers to help meet the demand for childcare
- Giving young children the attention they need by reducing class sizes
to 30 and fewer and appointing 5000 classroom assistants for primary
schools
- Minimising disruption and upheaval for children in temporary accommodation
by providing resources for reducing the use of bed and breakfast accommodation
and developing guidance and support for local authorities
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Young People
Our vision is a Scotland in which every young person has the opportunities,
skills and support to make a successful transition to working life and active
citizenship. We are:
- Encouraging more young people from low-income families to stay in
education and achieve qualifications through the Educational Maintenance
Allowance. The East Ayrshire pilot has 900 young people taking part
- Targeting 20,000 Modern Apprenticeships by 2003 to help young people
make a successful transition to working life. Research is underway to
establish how best to target and market to young people who are under-represented
- Delivering New Deal for 18-24 year olds. Over 25,000 are already into
a job and youth unemployment over 6 months is down 70% since Spring
1997
- Delivering the New Futures Fund -ring-fenced support for our most
disadvantaged young people to help them move towards employability.
Around 100 projects are planned across Scotland involving 1300 people,
working with groups and agencies with expertise across a wide area including
drugs, homelessness and prostitution. £14 million will be invested by
2001/02
- Widening access to further and higher education. As well as creating
42,000 more places we are proposing to provide financial support especially
for those from low income families -non repayable Access Bursaries of
up to £2000, loans of an extra £500, and exemption from the Graduate
Endowment for disabled students or those studying an HNC or HND level
course
- Increasing access to out of school learning activities and study support
to support our poorest performing teenagers and re-affirming in new
legislation Standards in Scotland's Schools etc. Bill that all young
people, whatever their background, have a right to a school education
that develops their full potential
- Consulting on a strategic framework for looked after children and
vulnerable families and providing an extra £3.3 million to local authorities
to develop services
- Supporting initiatives to improve the health and well-being of our
teenagers -tackling teenage pregnancy through, for example, the demonstration
project Healthy Respect to provide a test-bed for integrated action
to improve sexual health nationally
- Establishing the Scottish Health Promotion Schools Unit to drive forward
holistic health promotion in schools, particularly those serving disadvantaged
communities
- Breaking the no-home no-job cycle by making sure no-one has to sleep
rough. The Rough Sleepers Initiative will invest £36 million over 5
years to meet needs across Scotland, including rural areas, on accommodation
needs, personal support and prevention programmes such as rent deposit
schemes so young people especially don't have to sleep rough. New legislation
will benefit rough sleepers by making sure all homeless people should
have a minimum right to temporary accommodation while advice and assistance
is provided.
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Families
Our vision is a Scotland in which every family is able to support itself
- with work for those who can and security for those who can't. We are:
- Increasing employment opportunities with over 50,000 new jobs created
since 1997 - and reducing overall unemployment by 25% and long term
male unemployment by 48% since Spring 1997
- Making work pay, including UK wide schemes to smooth the transition
from benefits into work:
- Families with children will not pay income tax until their earnings
exceed £255 per week, over £13,000 a year - through budget measures
including the Working Families Tax Credit
- A family with 2 children on half-average earnings will be £2,600
a year better off than in 1997
- 100,000 people in Scotland will benefit from the national minimum
wage
- Making use of the various New Deal options so that everyone has a
fair chance to get and keep work. New Deal for Adults is being extended
to provide a more intensive gateway to work from April 2001 and a new
job grant of £100 is being introduced to ease the transfer back to work
- Delivering and reviewing Training for Work, our national training
programme for long term unemployed adults, with a revised programme
planned from April 2001. 14,000 TfW starts are planned for 2000-01,
each person gaining skills and experience to become more employable
- Piloting ONE, the single point of entry to the benefits system, in
the Clyde Coast and Renfrew area. People of working age who claim benefits
will be able to access information on work, benefits, tax credits, training,
housing and other government services in one place. They will be given
a personal adviser who will help them plan a route back to independence,
while also ensuring that they receive the benefits to which they are
entitled
- Encouraging people to invest in their own learning through Individual
Learning Accounts to help improve skills and increase their chances
of keeping a job. A total of 100,000 to be delivered by 2002. Guidance
is being prepared to help those working in Social Inclusion Partnerships
and social economy organisations to better access ILA funding
- Launching the Scottish University for Industry - SUfI's network of
learningdirect scotland learning centres will help bring learning
closer to people's daily lives, whether at home, at work or in their
local community, boosting competitiveness and employability. SUfI will
work with Social Inclusion Partnerships to target additional activity
in our most deprived areas to make sure every one can be involved in
learning
- Improving the health of families in our most deprived areas through
a network of Healthy Living Centres. £34.5 million from the New Opportunities
Fund is available for the network across urban and rural Scotland
- Supporting the Inequalities and Smoking Project - run by ASH
(Scotland) and HEBS, promoting community based schemes to help people
give up smoking - as well as providing an additional £3 million over
3 years to Health Boards for smoking cessation services and nicotine
replacement therapy targeted at people on low incomes
- Delivering The Heart of Scotland, one of the 4 health demonstration
projects, to provide the test- bed for integrated action to improve
coronary heart disease prevention nationally
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Older People
Our vision is a Scotland in which every person beyond working age has
a decent quality of life. We are:
- Supporting our poorest pensioners by guaranteeing a minimum income
of £82 a week for single pensioners and £127 per week for a couple
- Uprating Minimum Income Guarantee in line with earnings from 2001
and doubling the capital limit so that pensioners who have saved for
their retirement still qualify for extra support
- Working to reduce non-take up of income and benefits. As part of Scottish
Better Government for Older People, a joint Stirling Council and Benefits
Agency initiative is working to break down the barriers to benefits
uptake by older people
- Introducing Second State Pensions to increase the pensions of those
who have been on low earnings over their lives - and to make sure carers
and disabled people with broken work records can build up a pension
for when they retire
- Relieving income burdens and helping people to live in greater comfort
by increasing the Winter Fuel Payment to £150, investing £40 million
in Warm Deal grants and giving priority to the elderly through the Healthy
Homes Initiative
- Promoting improved concessionary travel through new legislation and
establishing a Scottish group to look at ways of improving access to
transport for older people and people with disabilities
- Helping older people keep their independence by promoting joined up
health and social work services, to provide person-centred community
care, and reviewing the balance between residential care and home based
care to shift the balance to home based care
- Improving the lives of carers and the cared for through the Carers'
Strategy, including doubling the amount of money available for carers'
services, particularly respite care
- Reviewing the provision of secondary prevention, treatment and rehabilitation
for coronary heart disease and cancer. For example, better screening
to reduce inequalities in health amongst older people. The Heart of
Scotland health demonstration project will benefit older people
- Ensuring all new homes built by Registered Social Landlords are, where
practical, constructed to 'barrier free' standards to make it possible
for older people to live independently in their own homes for as long
as possible
- Reducing the fear of crime felt by older people by delivering Community
Safety Partnerships, investing £3 million in CCTV and building in Secured
by Design principles into new houses developed for social rent and affordable
homes
- Increasing active living through sports and leisure, education, and
health and fitness initiatives
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Communities
Our vision is a Scotland in which every person both contributes to,
and benefits from, the community in which they live. We are:
- Funding 47 Social Inclusion Partnerships to tackle injustice and exclusion
at a local level, in urban and rural areas. Core funding of £146 million
for SIPs over 3 years is backed by contributions from others, including
local authorities, health boards, local enterprise companies, Scottish
Homes and voluntary organisations to deliver locally agreed plans
- Tackling unemployment in deprived areas with the highest unemployment
through Action Teams to help match unemployed people to job vacancies
and an Employment Zone in Glasgow
- Providing new support for enterprise and business start-ups in deprived
areas and for disadvantaged groups including £1.5 million support targeted
at enterprise awareness and micro-credit schemes for women
- Improving deprived neighbourhoods by tackling drug misuse and delivering
drug treatment pilots. As well as benefiting from the extra £29 million,
including over £14 million for treatment and prevention, committed through
the drugs strategy, Tackling Drugs in Scotland, SIPs will have an extra
£2 million to work with Drug Action Teams on joint action to tackle
drugs in disadvantaged areas
- Improving the quality and variety of homes in our most disadvantaged
areas by investing £337 million in New Housing Partnerships during 1999-2002.
We expect this to generate around £2 billion private investment for
housing renewal; promote community empowerment through the transfer
with tenants' consent of 150,000 houses in the local authority sector
to registered social landlords; and assist regeneration and development
partnerships provide 7,000 new and improved homes as well as employment
and wider regeneration opportunities
- Providing at least 18,000 new houses for social rent and low cost
home ownership over 3 years through Scottish Homes
- Increasing Scottish Homes' funding to £45 million to rural areas to
tackle shortfalls in socially rented housing and piloting the Rural
Partnership for Change programme to deliver more houses in the right
places with value for money
- Introducing technical standards for new homes to provide better access
and facilities for people with disabilities and developing proposals
for better home energy efficiency
- Tackling financial exclusion by working with Scotland's major clearing
banks to provide Basic Bank Accounts that offer full direct debit and
standing order capability, and by working with Money Advice Scotland
to provide good quality advice and support through the Scottish Debtline
- Increasing the number of people from all communities taking part in
voluntary activities by promoting the Millennium Volunteers initiative.
Encouraging young people to undertake 200 hours of voluntary work that
will support self-development and which is of benefit to communities.
1,000 young people are being supported to complete the Scheme by 2001
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The programmes summarised in this Action Note are of mixed Scottish
and UK origin. They show what we are doing today to start making progress
towards our social justice targets. Even so, the vision we have for each
stage of our lives and for the communities we live in can only be delivered
over time. So we are building on these programmes to make sure our most
vulnerable people and places will share in this vision. These forward
plans will be presented in the autumn.
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If you want to know more about these programmes or wish to contribute to or
comment on the summer work programme please contact the Social Inclusion Division,
Scottish Executive, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh EH6 6QQ. Phone 0131 244 7376; email
socialjustice@scotland.gov.uk.
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