Highland Council Approach To Local Child Poverty
28th November 2024
Communities and Place Committee met yesterday (Wednesday 27 November 2024) and Members agreed the Highland Local Child Poverty Action Report which includes actions for delivery in 2024/25.
Reducing child poverty is a priority for the Council and its partners.
A core priority within the Council's Programme is:
Tackle child poverty and promote access to welfare support.
Reducing poverty is also a core theme within Highland's Integrated Children's Service Plan which sits within a context of the Community Planning Partnership and delivering against the Highland Outcome Improvement Plan.
The priorities for addressing child poverty in Highland are set out the Integrated Children's Services Plan and reported in the Highland Local Child Poverty Action Report.
Communities and Place Committee Chair, Cllr Graham MacKenzie said: "There is a strong commitment in Highland to address poverty and inequality. The vision for the Community Planning Partnership through its Highland Outcome Improvement Plan is ‘To work together to reduce inequality within Highland communities' and requires the continuation of a holistic whole system approach to poverty.
"The impact of poverty varies across the demography/geography of Highland, including rural and urban poverty that impacts our families and communities, and we must continue to strive to address poverty at all social levels particularly during this extremely challenging time for members of our society."
The Highland Local Child Poverty Action Report details progress against the priorities set out in the Integrated Children's Service Plan which runs from 2023/24 - 2025/26. Poverty is a standalone theme, but this also crosscuts across the other themes of the plan, including child protection, health and wellbeing, drugs and alcohol and corporate parenting. It also recognises that child poverty cannot be seen in isolation and that poverty is experienced in many guises.
The full The Highland Local Child Poverty Action Report can be accessed here
Item 8
Related Businesses
Related Articles
The first Highland-wide virtual jobs fair held last month has proved to be a hit with participants and businesses. The week-long virtual event, which was delivered by the Local Employability Partnership for the West - The Highland Council, Skills Development Scotland, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Department for Work and Pensions, Developing the Young Workforce and UHI North West and Hebrides was timed to coincide with Scottish Careers Week 2024.
The Service Centre will close at 5pm on Tuesday 24 December, re-opening on Friday 27 December (opening times 8am to 5pm). It will be closed on 1 and 2 January and open 8am to 5pm from Friday 3 January 2025.
Members have considered an update on the Council's medium term financial plan and the impact of the UK and Scottish Governments’ budgets on the coming year’s funding settlement. The position is currently looking more positive than initially planned for, however more detail needs to be worked through.
In November, The Highland Council launched a public statutory consultation to seek views on the proposed introduction of a Visitor Levy scheme across the Highlands. The Council has announced an extension to this consultation period, which will now give businesses, visitors and communities until 31 March 2025, an additional seven weeks, to take part and have their say.
In the light of the financial forecast for 2025-26, Highland Council is inviting you to tell us more in the budget preparation for the coming financial year. The budget engagement builds on extensive budget participation which took place in the winter of 2023-24.
The information provided is a summary of reports from operational staff and is intended to give a general indication of typical conditions in each area at a point in time. It is not intended to imply that any individual route is entirely snow and ice free and drivers must be aware that conditions can change rapidly and make their own assessment of conditions for travelling.
Every year Highland Council invites all tenants to have their say on the rent levels for the following year. The Council encourages everyone that lives in a council house to take this chance to have their say.
The information provided is a summary of reports from operational staff and is intended to give a general indication of typical conditions in each area at a point in time. It is not intended to imply that any individual route is entirely snow and ice free and drivers must be aware that conditions can change rapidly and make their own assessment of conditions for travelling.
Members of the Highland Council's Community and Place Committee have given their support to an action plan focusing on the operating of public conveniences over the next 10 years. Whilst not a statutory function, the Council is the main provider of public conveniences located throughout Highland, operating 74 sites.
A report published on 27 November 2024 by LGIU (Local Government Information Unit) looks at the state of funding for councils by the Scottish Government. Confidence in the sustainability of council finances is critically low.