For Fairness in Dundee and Broughty Ferry

I welcome the draft For Fairness in Dundee Strategy and Action Plan on the Agenda of the Policy and Resources Committee on Monday 25 June 2012.  At a time when many household incomes are depressed by wage freezes or reductions, benefits are being cut back and household bills are rising, we need a strategy and action plan that will address poverty and deprivation throughout our city. While the statistics in the report show that inequalities are most concentrated in certain areas of the city, they also show that a smaller but significant minority of households in Broughty Ferry are affected by many of the indicators of poverty.

At the meeting, I will be asking whether the planned responses by the Council and agencies in the Dundee Partnership will really be fair if they exclude people living in parts of the city like Broughty Ferry. While The Ferry is generally more affluent, this is not universally true. This was illustrated by the statistics produced by the Dundee Citizens' Advice Bureau. Their annual report for 2011/12 shows that while the inquiry rate from people with Broughty Ferry addresses was lower than folk from other areas in the city, the problems that folk brought forward were the same across the city: benefit advice, debt and consumer issues.

I note in the report that we will be considering at the Policy and Resources Committee that advance consultation did not include the Broughty Ferry Local Community Planning Partnership. That and references to focusing responses on areas of multiple deprivation suggest that For Fairness in Dundee will be exactly that and will not extend to folk in Broughty Ferry. My job is to try to ensure that the benefits from the new strategy and action plan are widespread. Fairness needs to be seen to be fair not excluding people from participating in programmes and initiatives just because of their DD5 address.

SNP's Mistaken & Meanest Cut of All?

Surely, one of the meanest and most mistaken cuts so far anticipated in Dundee has been set in train by the SNP led City Council. They have initiated a short term review of welfare rights services in the city. This is part of the Changing for the Future measures they devised to identify savings to deal with the anticipated £20 million shortfall in the council's budget for the next financial year.

Recent news on the Dundee economy have made for grim reading. Rising levels of unemployment, combined with job losses at Realtime Worlds and low vacancy rates. And the prospects are not looking good with alarming levels of combined public sector cuts in the city amounting to 1000 jobs disappearing. Add to that the impact on low income households of proposed cuts in social security benefits announced by the Conservative/Liberal Democrat coalition. Already some agencies such as CAB in Dundee are reporting that demand for welfare benefits advice and debt counselling are stretching their resources.

Councillor Laurie Bidwell said:

"At a point when many Dundee folk are exposed to the negative side effects of the bankers' excesses, why do our SNP councillors think that there is any scope for significant savings to be made in welfare rights agencies in Dundee? As a council, I think its our civic duty to protect the citizens of Dundee when they experience reductions in household income. If we don't have a vibrant range of free and independent advice agencies in the city, we can't guarantee the rights of our citizens when they are experiencing financial hardship or treated unfairly by public bodies and private organisations. Without access to free and independent advice services, these rights would only be reserved for people who can afford to buy their own financial and legal advice from solicitors and accountants. It's also common sense that if you maximise a household's income by helping them claim the welfare benefits they are entitled to, it not only raises the household's income but also increases the money circulating in the local economy in Dundee. It's a 'no brainer' that the demand for debt counselling and welfare rights advice in our city is likely to escalate rather than reduce in the near future. Why are the SNP being so unsympathetic to our citizens at times in their lives when they are experiencing real hardship?"

Councillor Richard McCready said:

"I am outraged at these proposals. The welfare rights services across the city offer a diverse service to a diverse group of users. We need to ensure that there is as much support as possible for those who need welfare rights advice. I think that proposals which might lead to a diminution of the service available to the people of Dundee are misguided. Our top priority must be prosperity and we need to do all we can to promote jobs in the city and for those who need welfare rights assistance we need to support the best service possible."

Notes

As part of the wide ranging 'Changing for the Future' package of measures, approved at the Policy & Resources Committee of Dundee City Council on Monday 23rd August, there was a Review of Welfare Rights provision.

Link to the Policy & Resources Committee Agenda and Papers which run to 204 pages. NB you will only need to examine/print out pages 7 - 16.
http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/reports/agendas/pr230810-1.pdf

The Review of Welfare Rights was one of the reasons why Labour Councillors voted against the 'Changing for the Future' agenda but the SNP group pushed ahead using their majority on the Council.

There is a thirteen week time frame for the review, led by the Assistant Chief Executive, Chris Ward, concluding at the end of November 2010.