Agenda item

Northumberland Inequalities Plan 2022 - 2032

To present the Northumberland Inequalities Plan 2022 – 2032 and share with Full Council the proposals for system development and enablers, focused areas of action and short, medium and long-term indicators of progress. The report has been developed as a result of a series of locally based engagement workshops, triggered by the Leader’s commitment to prioritise reducing inequalities, with a call to our partners to tackle this key issue for the benefit of Northumberland residents. The report is a statement of intent to work on these actions and deliver better outcomes over the next 10 years. The report recognises the importance of governance and accountability, requesting that a cross party members group is established to monitor the progress of the plan (see pages 41-70).

Northumberland Inequalities Plan 2022 - 2032?

The report presented the Northumberland Inequalities Plan 2022 – 2032 and shared with Council the proposals for system development and enablers, focused areas of action and short, medium and long-term indicators of progress. The report had been developed as a result of a series of locally based engagement workshops, triggered by the Leader’s commitment to prioritise reducing inequalities, with a call to partners to tackle this key issue for the benefit of Northumberland residents. The report was a statement of intent to work on these actions and deliver better outcomes over the next 10 years. The report recognised the importance of governance and accountability, requesting that a cross party members group be established to monitor the progress of the plan.

Members received a presentation on the key point of the Plan from Liz Morgan, Executive Director of Public Health and Community Services.

•         Councillor Morphet felt members should not underestimate the size of the challenge. The Plan was just the first step in reversing the harm done by many years of austerity but it was a step in the right direction. A critical element would be the provision of increased support to town and parish councils and community groups. His Group welcomed the plan for a transport equity audit. Given that 22% of households in Northumberland didn’t own a car, improvements to public transport and active travel were critical steps on the path to equality. His group also welcomed the proposal for community allotments.

•         Councillor Hunter asked how the Council would actually deliver what was in the Plan. Only the voices of those who responded would be heard and as many parish councils were struggling to attract councillors, they couldn’t always be relied upon to reach right across the community.

•         Councillor Dale queried how this would relate to the Combined Authority wellbeing framework already in existence.    

The Leader replied that the policy conference on the 12th October would allow members to feed in their ideas. He acknowledged that some of the proposals would take some time to implement but there was some funding available and a start had to be made. There was good joint working already ongoing on a number of projects with the Combined Authority and there was no reason why these should not continue.

In response to Councillor Hunter, Liz Morgan replied that in conducting the residents’ survey, officers wanted to ensure that they did hear from those that didn’t make themselves heard as often so a variety of approaches would be taken.

•         Councillor Ball reported that 2 in 5 children in the north east were in poverty. She fully supported the Plan taking things into the longer term because this was not just a current issue and it was time now to get on with it. She looked forward to working with all members to make a difference to those who needed it.

•         Councillor Pattison commented that the Council was extremely committed to closing the inequalities gap in Northumberland and officers from the relevant teams had worked very hard on this Plan. She was also concerned about the prevalence of child poverty.

•         Councillor Reid asked what the volunteers were actually going to do to help the Council tackle inequality. In his view, the only way of doing this  was to treat everyone fairly, making sure kids had the education they needed whatever it cost (such as keeping rural schools open), feeding them properly, advising people not to smoke or drink as much. He also felt these volunteers would be difficult to recruit.

•         Councillor Dale felt that things had gone backwards and she referred to the work which had been done previously on the marmot review and every child matters. The best way of growing communities was giving them something to do and the report reflected on that. She felt the Council needed a briefing on the structure of the NHS and the Council’s involvement in it. She also felt the Corporate Plan needed to be reviewed to align it with the Inequalities Plan. She supported the Plan and thanked Liz and her team for their work.  

•         Councillor Castle felt that the Government was not telling people what to do but enabling them to make choices which were better and more real. It was within the Council’s power to improve the choices that were available. The role of Government was to enable people to live better lives and have better opportunities, and to make the economic conditions which made this possible. He was concerned about the levels of life expectancy and felt something had to be done to improve that.

•         Councillor Hill agreed with comments about the sense of urgency and the specific measures and interventions with the current cost of living crisis. The gravity of the situation couldn’t be overstated and specific interventions were needed. She acknowledged that the Plan was a critical part of that.

•         Councillor Jones congratulated Matfen Parish Council who had set up a support network across the Parish working with volunteers to support the community to provide future resilience against events such as the pandemic and storm Arwen. They had also accepted what they could not do for themselves and were working with NCT to provide some of the support they would need in such a situation.

•         Councillor Bowman commented that communities did work together when there was a need and he looked forward to the Plan being put into action to rid communities of poverty.

•         Councillor Gallacher commented that every ward in the County had this problem and there had been a deterioration in the position since 2010 because of the Government. In children under 3, the number of children in poverty was 50%. He welcomed the Plan and acknowledged that it would need to be adjusted as time progressed. He referred to an article on Sky News that morning about poverty in the north east and recommended that officers and members watch it. He agreed that some families would not admit that they were struggling and that this would be a problem. However, his Group would be happy to provide any information they could.

•         Councillor Grimshaw commented that she had been shocked by the levels of deprivation in communities but she applauded the work which was being done by NCT. Her fear was that there wouldn’t be sufficient funding from Government to deliver the Plan and she asked the Leader to lobby the Government for support for it.

•         Councillor Wearmouth was frustrated that party politics was being brought into the discussion on this now especially when the Government had provided so much financial support to the Council recently. The Plan would work because it would be part of every policy.

•         Councillor Fairless Aitken thanked the team for their work on the Plan and agreed that education, money and community involvement were key to making this work. There was a lot happening in her own area already on this.   

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As the member lead on this, Councillor Ferguson summed up the position for members. He understood that members would have questions about the specific details of the Plan and he urged members to attend the Policy Conference on 12 October. In response to some of the questions which had been raised he informed members that there were locality co-ordinators within NCT who were linking into different community groups and encouraging them to work together to have a better chance of securing investment. The Working Group would identify areas of existing good practice which could be shared.

The Government wouldn’t be telling people how to live, the aim was for communities to identify what they wanted for themselves because they would know best what would work for them. The Council needed to work with the communities to identify the reasons behind the existing deprivation whilst at the same time providing the support which was needed through foodbanks etc and helping them to help themselves.

The Leader made some final remarks, encouraging all members to support the Plan and attend the Policy Conference on 12 October 2022.

RESOLVED that:-

(a)      the Northumberland Inequalities Plan 2022 – 2032 be agreed;

(b)      Council agree the proposals for the shorter-term culture change to support the enabling actions as set out in table 1 of the report:

a. Residents voice equal to data

b. Workforce development and coordination

c. Developing, commissioning and delivering services differently

d. Inequalities lens (includes a poverty and hardship dedicated action plan)

e. Maximising our civic/statutory level responsibilities;

(c)      Council agree proposed short, medium and long-term indicators as set out in table 2 of the report:

a. Best start in life (shorter term)

b. Living conditions (medium term)

c. Employment (medium term); and

(d)      Council agree to establish a cross party members group who will govern the plan (as set out in Appendix 4), detail of this to be delegated to the Executive Director for Public Health, in consultation Cllr David Ferguson.