It was agreed by the Chairman to vary the order of the Agenda and for Members to discuss Item 8 after Item 5.

Members received the report of the Head of Housing and Community which gave details of the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy to go out to consultation with key stakeholders and the wider population of Rother.  The Chairman welcomed Claire Cordell, Chief Executive Officer Rother Voluntary Action (RVA), to the meeting.

In January 2020, the Overview and Scrutiny Committee approved the formation of an Anti-Poverty Task and Finish Group (APT&FG), with the aim to investigate the effects of income, health and housing poverty on local people and the local services that support them.  In June 2021, the APT&FG made recommendations to Cabinet that an Anti-Poverty Strategy be developed for Council approval, for statutory and community services operating in the Rother district to work together to reduce levels of poverty.  It was also recommended that the development and delivery of the strategy be coordinated through existing partnership structures such as the Local Strategic Partnership (LSP).

On 4 November 2021, a multi-agency event was held at The Pelham, led by the Council in partnership with RVA. The purpose of the event was to review the recommended objectives and identify the high level aims and actions that would support the Council to achieve these.  Attendees were presented with feedback and case studies that had been secured by RVA, in addition to the findings of the APT&FG based on the evidence gathering sessions it had undertaken.  The objectives were reviewed and supported by those present at the event with a series of high level aims and actions also identified. The actions had been captured within the draft Action Plan appended to the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy at Appendix A to the report.

The group also identified that the aims and actions identified within the strategy and its action plan need to be delivered by a multi-agency Anti-Poverty Strategy Steering Group (APSSG) to ensure objectives remain achievable, with progress reports on the action plan fed to the Rother LSP who would support and monitor progress.

The consultation plan was attached at Appendix B to the report which set out the groups to be consulted with and the methods to be used.  The majority of the consultation would take place via an online questionnaire; however, telephone and written consultation responses would be accepted.  The consultation questionnaire was attached at the end of Appendix B to the report which related to the draft document and proposed strategy objectives and action plan.

Members were given the opportunity to ask questions and the following points were noted during the discussions:

•           Members thanked the APT&FG, the Head of Housing and Community, officers and the RVA for their work in creating the Strategy;

•           Members acknowledged that poverty was difficult to resolve at a local level;

•           the APSSG would report regularly to the LSP as well as to this Committee;

•           any future comments from Members could be fed through Councillor Coleman as the Council’s spokesperson for Young Persons and Child Poverty; and

•           Members were invited to contact the Head of Housing and Community with details of any charities to be included in the consultation who were not already on the list.

The strategy proposed had been developed between key local partners to ensure that the objectives identified were relevant and that the actions proposed ambitious, while being achievable within the resources available locally. The Strategy would be regarded as an important first step towards developing a more comprehensive response to tackling poverty locally. 

The Chairman thanked Claire Cordell for attending the meeting and praised the work of the RVA.

RESOLVED: That Cabinet be requested to approve the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy for consultation with key stakeholders and the wider population of Rother.