Issue - meetings

 To consider a report of the Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture & Sport.

This report contains the proposed Anti-Poverty objectives for 2024-2027.

The proposed objectives are:

·         To ensure a strategic and systematic approach to anti-poverty work is in place which is rooted in the lived experience of people experiencing poverty.

·         To maximise the income of residents through access to fairly paid, flexible and good quality work.

·         To maximise the income of residents through provision of high quality easy to access advice including on benefit entitlements.

·         To provide support to residents in a financial crisis.

·         To prevent next-generation poverty by working with children, young people and their families.

·         To increase the numbers of people in affordable and stable housing and reduce homelessness.

The Cabinet is recommended to note the contents of the report and approve the proposed Anti-Poverty objectives for 2024-2027.

Officer contact: Jilla Burgess-Allen at jilla.burgess-allen@stockport.gov.uk

The Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture & Sport (Councillor Frankie Singleton) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) outlining proposed Anti-Poverty objectives for 2024-2027 that aimed to set out priorities for tackling poverty.

It was commented that there had been positive engagement with the Communities & Transport Scrutiny Committee that had contributed to the development of the proposed objectives.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted and that approval be given to the proposed Anti-Poverty objectives for 2024-2027.

To consider a report of the Director of Public Health.

The report sets out the revised set of Anti-Poverty objectives for approval, prior to being taken to Cabinet.

The Scrutiny Committee is recommended to comment on and note the report.

Officer contact: Jilla Burgess-Allen at jilla.burgess-allen@stockport.gov.uk

The Director of Public Health submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) setting out the revised set of Anti-Poverty objectives for approval, prior to being taken to Cabinet.

The Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture & Sport (Councillor Frankie Singleton) attended the meeting to respond to councillors’ questions.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         Members asked whether the council’s Welfare Rights officers were engaged in the anti-poverty strategy. In response it was reported that frontline staff working with vulnerable residents were poverty aware and they helped to deliver information and advice on welfare rights to residents. It was reported that poverty was a growing issue.

·         The council’s strategy with regard to stable housing was welcomed as the effects upon children who did not have stable accommodation could be lifelong. Members commented that the council’s strategy on accommodation could go further and be more ambitious.

·         It was reported that, as the council moved forward with its Local Plan, more progress on housing was expected and the council would give consideration to the numbers of social and affordable homes it could build. The anti-poverty strategy and housing policies were now linked.

·         Members queried the potential effect of the loss of the Housing Support Fund, along with other forms of government funding, upon Stockport’s resources for housing within the borough. In response it was stated that the assumed budget from the Housing Support Fund in 2024-25 was £0 and that there had been no update from the Department for Work and Pensions on the likely impact on anti-poverty objectives.

·         Members requested that childcare provision be included within the anti-poverty objectives.

·         It was reported that data-gathering related to anti-poverty objectives would be undertaken by way of the development of neighbourhood profiles to enable information to be collated within geographical areas with small pockets of deprivation. Those indicators would be built into the borough outcome framework.

·         The Family Hub service aimed to deliver a team approach and joined-up service in order to support Stockport’s residents. The objective was to listen to the lived experience of families and residents in poverty.

·         In terms of helping schools to tackle poverty, Members were advised that it would benefit schools to undergo a poverty proofing process. This process was currently being rolled out across Stockport’s primary schools and it was aimed to continue the programme for secondary schools. Furthermore, schools were advised to give consideration to the cost of uniform and ensure that it was designed to be affordable for all. Schools were also advised to give consideration to food poverty and the provision of breakfast clubs.

RESOLVED – That the report be noted.