Executive Management Team Cover Sheet

Report Title: Fairness Commission
EMT meeting: 17th January 2012
Report Author:Matthew Borland
Contact Number: 34529 / Directorate:Deputy Chief Executives’ Team
Purpose: (please mark ‘X’)
For Decision / Progress Update / X
For Steer / Other
Report Summary:
This paper provides EMT with a progress update on establishing a Fairness Commission. In summary:
  • The Leader of the Council has requested the establishment of a “Fairness Commission” for Sheffield to inform the way the city should address poverty and advance equality of opportunity.
  • Professor Alan Walker has been approached and agreed to Chair the Commission.
  • A Draft Terms of Reference and draft Ground Rules for members of the Commission is included in the report.
  • The Commission will report back by September 2012.
  • A list of people to invite to become members of the Commission has been agreed with the Leader and the Chair
  • The first meeting of the Commission will be a private meeting on 14th February 2012 and will be followed with a press launch and the call for evidence.

Recommendations
EMT is asked to:
  1. Note progress to date on establishing a Sheffield Fairness Commission

Financial Sign Off: / The financial implications of establishing and supporting the Fairness Commission will be met from existing resources.
Report Approved by: / Lee Adams

Fairness Commission Update for EMT

Purpose

To provide EMT with a progress update on establishing a Fairness Commission.

Background

Poverty, inequalities and social justice are important issues to the Administration.

The Council’s new corporate plan outlines four priorities:

  • Standing up for Sheffield
  • Supporting and protecting communities
  • Focussing on jobs
  • Business friendly

It also outlines the organisations values:

  • Fairness
  • Spend public money wisely
  • Long term view
  • Prevention
  • Enabling individuals and communities
  • Aspirational
  • Working better together

The detail on the Priorities, Values and the ‘Tackling Poverty and Increasing Social Justice’ section of the Corporate Plan are in Appendix A.

As part of its approach to Tackling Poverty and Increasing Social Justice, the Council is exploring how it can move from doing indirect work to alleviate poverty towards direct work which tackles both root causes and addresses short term problems.It also includes continuing to promote equality and taking into account the different needs of people and communities across the city. As part of this overall approach, the Leader of the Council has requested the establishment of a “Fairness Commission” for Sheffield to inform the way the city should address poverty and advance equality of opportunity.

Current picture in the city

In Sheffieldjust over a fifth of households (approx 50,000) are living in poverty. We know more parts of the city have become more deprived and the gap between the worst off and best off people across Sheffield has increased. We also know there are significant inequalities in the city. Appendix B has further details.Therefore poverty and social inequality are real, increasing and pressing problems for the city, that needs some new and radical thinking to make inroads – this is one of the things that we are hoping the Fairness Commission will be able to provide.
0

Draft Terms of Reference

The draft terms of reference are:

“The Commission on Fairness is being established by Sheffield City Council to make a non-partisan strategic assessment of the nature, extent, causes and impact of inequalities in the City and to make recommendations for tackling them. The Commission is composed of invited individuals with proven knowledge and expertise to bring to bear on this major social and economic issue, with an independent chair. Commissioners are expected to contribute expertise rather than represent specific interests, in the spirit of making a collective contribution towards helping Sheffield to be as fair and prosperous as possible, a city in which all residents feel included. The Commission will operate as a Parliamentary Select Committee, mounting a short focussed inquiry, taking evidence and producing a final report. The Commission will hear evidence in public. Its terms of reference are as follows:

  1. To consider the nature, extent and impact of major inequalities on the City of Sheffield.
  1. To invite written evidence from a wide range of interested parties across the city and beyond it and to take oral evidence from a cross-section of those with expertise on this matter.
  1. To consider evidence on what has worked with regard to reducing inequalities and prioritising fairness within the city and elsewhere.
  1. To prepare a report for publication in September 2012 which both details the nature, extent, causes and impact of major inequalities and makes recommendations to the Council and other key bodies about what short and long term measures are required to reduce those inequalities. The priority here should be to identify those actions that can be taken by the city itself and those which require external intervention or a combination of both.
  1. In view of the potential wide scope of this inquiry it is envisaged that the Commission will prioritise a relatively small number of issues for its consideration.

One year after the publication of the Commission’s report the City Council will undertake a review of progress made through its objectives and then subsequently on an annual basis.

The Commission will be supported by Council staff who will provide the Secretariat for the Commission.”

Professor Alan Walker has been approached and agreed to Chair the Commission. The draft terms of reference have been agreed with him and with the Leader, and will also need to be agreed at the first meeting of the Commission, which is scheduled for 14th February.

Draft Ground Rules for all members of the Commission are attached as Appendix C, these have also been agreed by the Leader.

It is anticipated the recommendations produced by the Commission:

  • would include some effective short and medium term measures to alleviate the impact of poverty.
  • would include medium and long term recommendations to tackle root causes, extend wealth and extend opportunity.
  • might not be in the gift of local agencies and require lobbying of national government
  • other bodies as appropriate.

Membership

The Commissioners willinclude people from a range of sectors including academia, VCS, education, health, housing, and communities of interest.

Professor Alan Walker has been approached and agreed to Chair the Commission. Alan Walker is a professor of social policy at the University of Sheffield. His research interests span a wide range including social analysis, social policy and social planning. A founding Academician of the Academy for Learned Societies in the Social Sciences, and in 2007, was given lifetime achievement awards by both the British Society of Gerontology and the Social Policy Association.

Alan Walker met with Cllr Julie Dore, Cllr Mick Rooney, Lee Adams and Matthew Borland on 22nd December 2011. It was agreed to ask organisations, eg, the Chamber of Commerce, for nominations for people to invite to be Commissioners. We also sent out personal invitations which do not represent anyone or an organisation.

  1. Julie Dore, Leader of the Council and Leader of the Labour Group
  2. Shaffaq Mohammed, Leader, Liberal Democrat Group, Sheffield City Council
  3. Jillian Creasy, Leader, Green Group, Sheffield City Council
  4. The Bishop of Sheffield
  5. Jeremy Wight, Director of Public Health
  6. A GP (Lee Adams to informally approach Dr Tim Moorhead to see who)
  7. Tony Peddar, NHS Sheffield
  8. Tim Roach, Regional President TUC
  9. Alan Carter of Third Sector Assembly to be asked to nominate a representative
  10. Abtisam Mohammed - BME Network
  11. Young Member Representative - from the Youth Council
  12. University of Sheffield – Vice Chancellor to be asked to nominate
  13. SheffieldHallamUniversity – Vice Chancellor to be asked to nominate
  14. Jeremy Clifford, Editor of the Star
  15. Tony Stacey – South Yorkshire Housing Association
  16. Morgan Killick, Social Entrepreneur
  17. David Child, Chamber of Commerce
  18. Steve Slack, Director, Centre for HIV and Sexual Health
  19. Lee Adams, Deputy Chief Executive, Sheffield City Council
  20. Tony Maltby, Sheffield 50+
  21. Jacqui Stubbs, Independent Living Board

Officer support will be provided by Richard Webb, James Henderson and Matthew Borland.

Engagement and openness

This work provides an opportunity to get local people involved, in both helping the Commission understand and analyse needs and influencing recommendations. We will need to have appropriate communication and engagement strategies, that maximise involvement and ensure the Commission reaches into seldom heard communities, potentially encompassing events (city and neighbourhood based), online (social media), surveys, focus groups, open calls for evidence etc.The Commission will take evidence in public, but in the way a Parliamentary Select Committee operates will also have private discussions. We could also look at publishing all the evidence.The new Tackling Poverty and Increasing Social Justice Group will be responsible for implementing the Commission’s recommendations.

Timescale

The Commission will report back to the Council by September 2012, in order for its findings to be able to influence the budget process. A detailed timetable is being developed.

Recommendations

EMT is asked to:

  1. Note progress to date on establishing a Sheffield Fairness Commission.

1 of 10

Council’s Priorities

Standing up for Sheffield

We will always stand up for what we believe is the right thing to do for the people and businesses of Sheffield. We will provide a voice for Sheffield to make sure we get a fair deal from Government and all of the organisations that work with Sheffield.At the same time, we recognise how important it is to raiseSheffield’s profile – nationally and internationally – to attract business and tourists into our city. We must not lose sight, in the face of budget cuts, of what makes people want to come here: our fantastic theatres, our great sports facilities, our history and heritage, our festivals and events, all the things that make us stand out from the crowd.

Supporting and protecting communities

We need to make the best possible use of our resources to meet the needs of Sheffield and its people. For the services that we provide to everyone in the city this means making sure that we are only investing in efficient services that people and local communities really need. For the services that we provide to those that need extra help and support from the Council, like the older people we care for, or the young people with disabilities that we help get to school, we need to make sure that we are targeting our support at the people and families that need it most - whoever they are and wherever they live. We recognise that the Council has a role in tackling inequalities.

Focusing on jobs

Sheffield people want more jobs in the city and they want jobs that reward them decently for their work. As a Council we will encourage and support businesses to grow, so that more jobs are created in the city. We will build strong relationships with businesses to encourage wealth to stay in Sheffield and we will attract new organisations into the city. We will encourage enterprise, and support people to develop the skills that the city requires. And we will work particularly hard to support young people into work.

Business-friendly

If we want to continue to build relationships with businesses to encourage jobs and growth in the city then it’s important that we’re seen as a business-friendly Council – an organisation that business can work with. Being business friendly is not just about what we do but how we do it. We need to demonstrate, through everything we do, that we want businesses to succeed in Sheffield. It is also about being a business-friendly city. This includes getting the basics right, such as the infrastructure, skills and transport in the city.

Council’s Values

  • Fairness is at the heart of the Council’s values. We believe that everyone should get a fair chance to succeed in Sheffield. We recognise that some people and communities need extra help to reach their full potential, particularly when they face multiple layers of deprivation. We will provide extra help where it is needed to improve the well-being and resilience of local communities. We will also make sure that a ‘core offer’ of services is available to everyone in the city. Tackling inequality is crucial to increasing fairness and social cohesion, reducing health problems, and helping people to have independence and control over their lives. It will underpin all that we do.
  • We have a responsibility to spend public money wisely and get the best outcome. We recognise that the cheapest services and products might not always provide the tax payer with the best value. We will be an enterprising council that seeks out, and finds opportunities to generate income by selling services and products. This will help us maintain services to Sheffield people.
  • When making decisions we will look beyond the short term and take a long term view about what is the right thing to do. Our approach will involve considering the long term economic, social and environmental impacts of our actions on the city and its communities.
  • Linked to this is our approach to prevention. Whilst we strive to get better at tackling issues we will now have an increasing focus on how we can prevent problems arising in the first place. Preventing problems from occurring is clearly much better for the individuals and communities concerned and can also reduce costs in the longer term – a preventative approach will also help lead to a fairer city.
  • We will enable individuals and communities to have more of an influence, get more involved and have the responsibility and ownership for doing some of things that need to happen in our city.
  • We take pride in the whole of our city and will challenge individuals, communities and the city to be more aspirational and to shout more about the city’s successes.
  • We need to make sure we are getting the right services, to the right people and families, at the right time. This means working better together in partnership with local people and other agencies to find solutions together. In some cases, this means trusting other organisations to help us achieve our goals.

1 of 10

Tackling Poverty & Increasing Social Justice

Context

In Sheffield almost one quarter of households – approximately 58,500 households - are living in poverty. Since 2007 the gap between the worst off and best off people across Sheffield has increased. However, poverty is not only about money. It is also about health, education, community and aspiration – and we know that all of these differ markedly across the city. There are also significant inequalities in the city that limit opportunity. For example people from some ethnic backgrounds have lower average rates of employment. Women also have lower rates of employment, with ethnic minority women having much lower rates of employment than all other groups.

What do we want to achieve?

We have a number of shorter term objectives for this area and some longer term ambitions. Above all we want to make tackling poverty and increasing social justice an explicit element of what we do as a Council. We want to maximise people’s available income and make sure that they have access to banking and other financial facilities, and, if people get into financial difficulties, that support and advice is available for them. We want people always to be able to remain in their own homes, and have the basic skills they need to participate in the economy and wider life of the city. We also want to continue to promote equality and make sure that our approach and service delivery takes into account the different needs of people and communities across the city, with local people and communities actively involved in making decisions about their lives and areas.

Most of these objectives are focused on the individual. However, we recognise that it is not possible for improvements made in tackling poverty at an individual level to be sustained without also improving wider economic, social and environmental conditions. So we also need to tackle entrenched neighbourhood poverty and inequalities at the same time.

How are we going to do this?

We will work to tackle poverty and inequality wherever it occurs to make sure that people are able to play a full part in the life of the city, and to ensure that they have fair access to the skills and opportunities to improve their life chances. Our approach will have two key outcomes: tackling poverty today and addressing some of the root causes of poverty and social exclusion.

Our immediate focus on tackling poverty experienced by individuals has three elements. Firstly we will look to maximise people’s income. We will do this by developing the infrastructure in the city to support people financially, working with organisations like the Credit Union, and potentially other, innovative forms of financial support, so that everyone is able to access appropriate banking and other financial services. We want people to be able to accessuniversal services, such as advice and debt services, which are efficient, integrated and responsive, and appropriate to them when they need them. Secondly, we will invest in improving people’s financial capability, giving them the life-skills they need to participate in the economy, as well as greater self-esteem and mental wellbeing. Thirdly, we will develop a whole household / key worker model, which is described on page 7.