Agenda item

            The Board received a report of the Strategic Director, Children and Enterprise and the Strategic Director, Policy and Resources which sought endorsement of the Halton Child and Family Poverty Strategy 2011-2013.

            It was reported that the 2010 Child Poverty Act that received all party support, created a Government commitment to eradicate child poverty by 2020. Specific duties imposed upon local authorities and designated partners included co-operation to mitigate the effects of child poverty, undertake a local Child Poverty Needs Assessment, adopt a strategy to tackle child poverty and that the child poverty be taken into account when preparing or revising the Sustainable Community Strategy.

            It was reported that in anticipation of the Child Poverty Act the CES Board had commissioned the development of Liverpool City Region (LCR) Child and Family Poverty Framework with Knowsley MBC acting as the lead City Region authority for Child and Family Poverty through the City Employment Strategy. It was further noted that Halton had been an active partner and participant in this work, which had facilitated the adoption of common definitions, the sharing of data and good practice across the City Region authorities.

            The Board was advised of one of the key outputs of the collaborative approach across the LCR was the report: “A Brighter Future: Working together to tackle child and family poverty”. It was further reported that Halton’s own detailed Child and Family Poverty Needs Assessment was completed and published in December 2010. A copy could be downloaded by following the link set out in the report.

            It was further noted that it was planned to undertake a fresh needs assessment in 2013. The strategy had been subject to extensive consultation and had benefited from input from a range or organisations and groups, particularly with regard to the Development Plan, colleagues engaged on drafting the Liverpool City Region Child Poverty and Wellbeing Strategy and the Halton Child and Family Poverty Steering Group.

            Members were advised that the strategy had been endorsed by Halton Strategic Partnership and Halton Children’s Trust Board and was formally approved at Executive Board on 13^th October 2011. The Strategy was appended to the report for consideration.

            The report further set out key underlying causes of child and family poverty in Halton, identified key priorities to tackle child and family poverty in Halton and key issues and barriers to overcome first to tackle child and family poverty in Halton.

            Members commented on the age of the data and requested whether recent information could be provided in the near future, whether family learning could be increased to all schools in Halton and the need to address mental health issues in relation to becoming barriers for getting people back to work.  In response it was noted the new needs assessment scheduled for 2013 would benefit from more up to date data such as the 2011 Census and the recently completed Halton Residents survey.  The Halton People into Jobs service were dealing with issues around mental health as part of their client assessment.

RESOLVED: That the Halton Child and Family Poverty Strategy 2011-2013 be formally endorsed.