Mark Crowe

We have some issues to resolve regarding access to meetings for people with disabilities or particular medical conditions. These include not just physical access to premises, but limited attention spans, hearing difficulties and start or finish times of meetings.

a few weeks ago I attended a consultation on the NHS Constitution. what struck me about the idea of the constitution was that it changed the way the individual will relate to the NHS. My grandparents were proudest of the NHS of all the post-war welfare state reforms and strongly believed in the idea that the NHS was “owned” by the people for the people as a collectibve entity. the proposed NHS Constitution changes this by affirming the relationship between an institution and the individual.

The Yorkshire Futures Report Regional Inequalities discussed here with links to the document here.

Section 3 of the report (download part 2)
looks at Communities and Environment, particularly community cohesion. The findings in section 3.10 ‘Work for the Commission on Integration and Cohesion shows, in summary, that community tensions “do not necessarily arise as an inevitable consequence of new immigration or increased ethnic diversity, but rather from high levels of deprivation. Such deprivation increases competition for scarce resources and fuels animosity between local people, especial ly where resources – or services, or ‘political’ influence – are perceived to be distributed on the basis primarily of ethnicity and to the advantage of one particular section of the community.’

Education, communal facilities and affluence are more important to community cohesion than immigration or ethnicity. The report notes that cohesion produces trust which in turn links to the civil society agenda.

See also the driver for diversity and the driver attitudes towards immigrants

Inequality Between Areas
The Yorkshire Futures Report Regional Inequalities discussed here with links to the document here
Health – download part two of the full report

Section 4.12 identifies the correlation between deprivation and poor health.
Section 4.37 states that “There are clear spatial concentrations of obesity in the region”although these are not axiomatically linked to areas of deprivation identified elsewhere.
Section 4.42 and figure 4.15 show the concentrations of incapacity benefit geographically in the region and sections 4.43 and 4.46 identify mental ill-health, specifically depression, as being a) the highest cause of incapacity benefit claims; and b) linked to inequalities
Section 2.26 identifies unemployment concentrated in urban areas and the coastal strip (figure 2.7).

Housing Market in Yorkshire and Humber
The Yorkshire Futures Report Regional Inequalities discussed here with links to the document here

The section on housing (3.25 to 3.33) was prepared before the credit crunch took hold. People’s ability to more for work reasons is likely to be even move restricted than when the usual laws of supply and demand operate in the housing market. This contributes to the effects of two other drivers in particular labour market and inequality between local areas

This is one example where a single issue based approach to inequality can’t work because demand for labour creates demand forhousing therefore, these two markets will operate in tension. section 3.34 identifies homelessness issues occurring in areas seen as affluent (York, Harrogate).

The Yorkshire Futures Report Regional Inequalities discussed here with links to the document here.

In section 2 (download part 1) this report continues from the theme of income inequality to discuss unemployment as a driver of inequality (section 2.20), the relationship between unemployment and socio-economic status (section 2.23) and the most interesting part on how unemployment can fall but inequalities rise (section 2.30). The increase in high skill and low skill jobs may hav an impact on the VCS as employer and as a provider of services to beneficiaries/ communities who are low waged. ‘In-work poverty’ is one of the unacknowledged problems associated with targets around economic growth.

The discussionn in sections 2.42 (impact of falling wages on BAME groups); 2.44 (impact on women of falling relative wages for lower skilled jobs) and 2.46 (different areas will be affected by the fall in wages of the low skilled) all point to a excluded groups being ‘hardened’ in a position of inequality compared to the most well off.

Education as a gateway to the labour market is discussed in section 2.47 (see download part 2)

In particular the region has below average educational outcomes. Again this is both potentially a workforce issue for service delivery VCO’s or an opportunity to target service developments to beneficiaries.

The Yorkshire Futures Report Regional Inequalities discussed here with links to the document here

In section 2 (download part 1) this report uses measures of income inequality as a proxy for relative poverty. The DWP definition of poverty is 60% of median income level. Using this measure income distribution is more geographically even (section 2.13) although there a areas of North Yorkshire with unequal distribution of income. However 15 out of 21 local authorities had increases in inequality (section 2.15), those areas that became more equal started out from being the most unequal (section 2.16).
The discuussion of income inequality continues and is focussed on the labour market changes and educational attainment levels.

These don’t really fit in any of the other drivers:

Environment
Section 3.20 states that “people in deprived wards have a worse environment” and section 3.24 notes that “there are few areas of low income that are not simultaneously experiencing poor environmental quality”.

Gender issues are discussed in the following sections:
Health 4.14-4.16
teenage pregnancy rates 4.20 – 4.29

The Credit Crunch and the recession has brought government and the regional development agency together to talk about how to spend £900million of regional funding allocations over the current financial year to support sustainable economic growth.

From the HM Treasury website

30 July 2008
The economy – a regional focus
The global economy is facing unprecedented challenges as the twin impact of tighter credit conditions and increases in global commodity prices mean difficult times for the UK economy in the coming months. However, this will affect each region in different ways in line with the different economies of each region, and regions will need to prepare themselves for a more challenging economic climate. The Government has therefore begun a programme of discussion with business, through the regional development agencies, through Summer 2008 to encourage local businesses, the voluntary sector and other local groups to continue communicating to regional bodies and to central Government how the economy is changing in their area, whether current policies are working, and what further needs to done in specific areas or sectors. Documents that provide a framework for these discussions are being published jointly by regional bodies, HM Treasury, the department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform and regional Ministers.

The document is available here: The Yorkshire and Humber Economy – A joint response to changing economic circumstances

The Sub-National review is a key driver for the VCS in the regions outside London. It consolidates economic and social planning roles in the Regional Development Agencies and may have the unintended consequence of removing the participation of the Social, Environmental and Economic Partners from through the dissolution of the regional assemblies.

Two Regional Forum Briefings are available here

and here

You can see the Regional Forum’s response to the consultation here

The consultation runs to the 20th June 2008. More information is on the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform website

See my article on the regional climate change action plan.

Efficiency and effectiveness are not always the same thing! Many commissioners are unaware that what makes 3s organisations effective is their apparent inefficiency! Have a look at this short piece on the Demos website

See also this link