Cabinet received Minute OSC22/12 arising from the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee (OSC) held on 18 July 2022 regarding the Anti-Poverty Strategy.  Cabinet had approved the draft strategy for public consultation at its March meeting, following which a number of amendments had been made.  A total of 25 local organisations responded including seven town and parish councils, 13 charities, voluntary agencies alongside three public sector organisations, two political parties (branches) and the Council’s Planning Policy team.

A range of organisations fed back that the delivery of the Strategy would need to be integrated with a range of existing strategies, including the Housing, Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy, Local Plan, Economic Development and the Hastings & Rother Food Network’s ‘Food Insecurity Strategy for Rother’.  In particular, the consultation responses from East Sussex County Council Public Health and the local Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) drew attention to the strong alignment between the objectives within the draft Anti-Poverty Strategy and the drivers of broader health inequalities across the Health and Social Care sectors.

The development of the Strategy had highlighted that the causes of poverty were multiple and complex and its symptoms wide ranging. The effects of poverty were felt by a range of different sectors of the community across different demographic groups and geographic locations. Many of the causes of poverty could not be influenced effectively at a local level and the Council could not effectively tackle the symptoms of poverty on its own. 

The proposed partnership approach that coordinated the ‘whole system’ of services supporting those experiencing poverty was therefore important. The proposed Strategy had been developed between key local partners to ensure that the objectives identified were relevant and that the actions proposed ambitious while being measurable and achievable within the resources available locally.

The proposed Anti-Poverty Steering Group (APSG) would be well placed to deliver the strategy action plan and provide periodic progress updates to the Rother Local Strategic Partnership which could, in turn, monitor APSG performance; further, the APSG would be able to build-upon the work of the Anti-Poverty Task and Finish Group and develop the Anti-Poverty Strategy into a broader Health and Wellbeing approach, that was better aligned to the emerging priority aims of the new Integrated Care System introduced on 1 July 2022 and other existing local strategies. 

Cabinet paid tribute to the efforts of Councillor Coleman, the officers and partners for producing the very timely Anti-Poverty Strategy which provided the framework for a collaborative and holistic approach to poverty and the causes of poverty.   

RECOMMENDED: That

1)     the Anti-Poverty Strategy be approved and adopted; and

2)     it be noted that an Anti-Poverty Steering Group will be formed to oversee the delivery of the Strategy Action Plan as well as inform the development of a broader health and wellbeing strategy for Rother.

(When it first became apparent, Councillors Field and Maynard both declared a personal interest as an elected Member and an Executive Member with responsibility for Adult Social Care and Health of East Sussex County Council respectively, and in accordance with the Members’ Code of Conduct remained in the meeting for the consideration thereof).