Agenda item

Purpose: To receive a briefing from Julia Waldman (WBC Service Manager) on family poverty and deprivation within West Berkshire and to consider what scrutiny of the issue is required.

Mrs Julia Waldman (WBC, Service Manager) introduced Item 5 (Agenda Item 5) and gave an overview of the work underway to tackle deprivation and family poverty in West Berkshire.  She described specifically the statutory duty placed on the local authority in relation the Child Poverty Act and how a Needs Assessment had to be completed by March 2011.    

The focus for the current work on family poverty only addressed families with children under 19 years of age and not the entire population.  Work was being undertaken by the Prevention and Early Intervention sub-group of the West Berkshire Children’s Trust.  Mrs Waldman described the Government’s stance of allowing local authorities the flexibility to develop appropriate strategies according to their own local needs.

Mrs Waldman described the requirement for a robust Needs Assessment Tool that would highlight what poverty actually meant and welcomed the toolkit supplied by the Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA).  She explained the complex process of using a wide range of data; e.g. Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA), Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS) and local data, etc.  She explained that Lambourn and Greenham were both identified as ‘place based’ areas of deprivation within the District.   She described how both ‘place based’ and ‘people based’ research methods would need to be used to identify families at risk.

Members asked about whether the Family Poverty Strategy should also consider the needs of the elderly living in poverty.   Mrs Waldman explained the specific remit of the existing work was with families with children under 19 years of age.  Mrs Peberdy described how data sampling methods could be revised to collect this type of information from local General Practitioners (GPs).  

Members enquired as to the role of the Select Committee assisting in this agenda.  Mrs Waldman replied that it would be helpful for the Select Committee to comment upon the Needs Assessment Tool once this had been developed.

A question was asked about the extent to which health issues caused family poverty or whether health related complaints were more a consequence of poverty?  It was explained how substance misuse issues, mental health or physical disabilities were all often associated with a decline into poverty.

Members enquired about the differences between family poverty in rural areas and more urban areas.  It was explained that typically in rural areas, the major risk factors for poverty included lack of transport, lack of employment opportunities, lack of training for jobs, affordable housing availability and accessibility of West Berkshire Council services.  In the urban areas, it was more likely that the factors were those associated with disadvantaged communities such as crime, being a victim of crime, antisocial behaviour, etc.

Members discussed the large divide between those living in poverty and the general affluence of the rest of the District.  It was also mentioned how even in some urban housing estates there could be a large degree of isolation and detachment from basic shops and services.

Members also discussed poverty in rural Lambourn and the low wages that were often associated with jobs in the racing community.  Equally an attainment gap existed within West Berkshire, with deprivation linked to poorer outcomes in academic achievement. 

It was suggested that the Family Poverty Strategy must include intelligence from Ward Councillors to receive their perspective on the issues in their communities.

Equally some Members enquired whether Greenham Common Trust grants might be available for the most deprived families to ensure children that attend school had the necessary Physical Education (PE) kit to undertake sports activities at school.

Members felt that the approach and Family Poverty Strategy should come back to the Select Committee for further consideration.

RESOLVED that a progress report be received in the new year on the Needs Assessment Tool and work underway to develop a Family Poverty Strategy for the District.