The Shifting the Curve
report on tackling poverty, written by the First Minister’s Independent adviser
on Poverty and Inequality, Naomi Eisenstadt
makes for interesting reading .
As well as laying out the truly appalling state of inequality within
Scotland, it takes a look at the effectiveness (or otherwise) of current
policies and makes suggestions for the future.
From a UNISON perspective there is even more to catch the
eye as (at least) 11 of the fifteen measures that are recommended by as ways of
tackling poverty and inequality are likely to involve UNISON members either directly delivering services or making sure services have the intended
effect.
And even taking into
account the way things here are a wee bit better than they are in the rest of
the UK the details make for painful reading.
“For children, for example, there’s a six percentage point
positive difference between the Scottish figures and the UK ones. The bad news
is that the Scottish AHC poverty figures are still too high, affecting 18% of
all individuals in 2013/14; 22% of children; 19% of working age adults; and 12%
of pensioners”
As you would expect
in a report by someone commissioned individually by the First Minister care is
taken to give the Scottish Government initiatives credit where they are due and
criticism is expressed in a highly diplomatic manner. Given that the ditching the Council Tax freeze is so
explicitly recommended is a testament to how deeply unhelpful this policy
is. (Anyone with doubts as to why the
Council Tax freezer is a bad thing should look here.
)
But it’s some of the
other recommendations that draw the attention. Not the urging of greater social
house building or use of welfare powers as they come on stream, welcome though
both of these are. UNISON members are
at the heart of most of them. Encouraging benefit take up - the responsibility of Welfare Rights Officers
and Housing Staff , improving the quality of childcare – the responsibility of
UNISON members delivering childcare, providing a more focussed delivery of
employment programmes for young people , and more employer engagement with education
– it’s difficult to see how this can be done without involving Careers
Scotland, and so on. These might well
be useful ideas which ought to be implemented, but they are also the responsibility
of bodies which have seen significant cuts in recent years and are about to see
more.
And there’s the rub.
It’s good that the Scottish Government sees poverty and
inequality as an issue worth tackling, and it’s good that there advisor recognises
the role of public services in doing so. It follows from that that cuts will add to,
not help solve, the problem. There is
much in this report to welcome – if it helps prompt a rethink about cuts then
it will have gone part of the way to delivering on its recommendations.
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