Agenda item

To submit a report by the Head of Housing Services.

Submitted – a report by the Head of Housing Services in relation to the above.

The Housing Services Manager reported that there is no corporate Anti-Poverty Strategy currently within the Council. This document has been recognised as a priority for the work programme of the Housing Services Strategic Unit for 2017/18 which has been driven by the 2017/2022 Corporate Plan.  She noted that one of the strongest messages regarding poverty in Wales currently is that there are more people of working age in poverty compared to 10 years ago.  She further said that the terms ‘poverty’ does not necessarily mean a person with no money, it can equate to people feeling that they are unable to take part in activities within a community level and maybe a lack of ability to source goods or unable to have access to essential services.  The County Council has a role to promote strategies that people are able to access to services available and also to guide people to services that the Council does not afford.    The Anti-Poverty Strategy has been subject to internal discussion within the Council to raise awareness and setting a baseline of activities within services and with partners and developing a method of measuring the effect of services on dealing with poverty within local communities on the Island.  A period of public consultation took place in May 2018 through social media and the Council’s corporate website, but the Housing Services Manager noted that no representations were received by the public but a good response was received by the partnerships who work with the Council and wish to be part of the strategy.

The Housing Services Manager reiterated that the Anti-Poverty Strategy is a corporate document across all services of the Council and should be part of the Annual Delivery Plan. 

The Committee considered the report and raised the following main matters :-

·      Comments were made that Citizens’ Advice Bureau on Anglesey referred that over £1.2m benefits available to the people of Anglesey were not claimed.  Questions were raised as to how services can make sure that these people who are eligible for such benefits to be able to apply and be made aware of their entitlements.  The Housing Services Manager responded that Social Inclusion Officers have been appointed within the Housing Services and one Officer will work within the private sector to raise awareness of benefit entitlements.  She said that people not claiming benefit entitlements is a national issue as is parents not claiming free school meals for their children which they are entitled to.  Comments were further made by the Committee that people are not guided towards their eligibility to available benefits and therefore they miss out on those benefits they eligible for;

·      Clarification was sought as to which partnership working the authority has consulted in regard to this Strategy.  The Housing Services Manager gave an example of the organisation that the Housing Service work closely with i.e.  Medrwn Môn, CAB and Housing Associations.  She further said that other services have partnerships with different organisations which they work with.  Questions were further raised as to how the authority will monitor the progress of the Anti-Poverty Strategy.  The Officer responded that it will be a challenge as regard to this Strategy as it will be a document that every service will need to address and she considered that it should be adopted within each services’ Service Delivery Plan;

·      Reference was made to the appendix 1 within the report which referred to percentage of children in poverty on Anglesey.  Questions were raised as to how this authority’s child poverty ratio compares with other local authorities in Wales.  The Housing Services Manager responded that in some areas the level of child poverty is higher than other areas in Wales.  Comments were made that the lack of social housing and rented accommodation can be a factor and could escalate when the Wylfa Newydd project starts and housing accommodation may be an dire issue on the Island.

·      Reference was made to the comments within the report as regard to the ‘Strengthening families and communities’.  These services provide support families and provide early year’s assistance, timely access to services such as mental health’.  It was considered prejudicial in it suggestion that people in poverty need mental health services more than any other person and that the report needed to be changed to ‘timely access to services such as health’.  Reference was also made that poverty does not necessary mean that people are poor and on benefits; other poverty can be gauge in other aspect i.e. people working on small wages, people with health problems and disabilities and people who are educationally poor.

Members considered that every department within the Council needs to adopt this important document and that training be afforded to all front line staff;

The Portfolio Holder for Housing and Supporting Communities expressed that this is an important document and agreed that the Anti-Poverty Strategy needs to be incorporated and prioritised into each service within the Council.

It was RESOLVED to recommend to the Executive that it approves the Anti-Poverty Strategy and that each service prioritises the strategy in their daily work and that it is an objective for each services to include within their Service Delivery Plan.