“The National Federation of Arm’s Length Management Organisations (NFA) and the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) published the findings of their latest survey of councils and ALMOs today which found one year on from the roll-out of UC across England 79% of around 3,000 tenants that are on UC are in rent arrears compared to 31% of other tenants

The NFA and ARCH are due to meet with Lord Freud, minister for welfare reform, today and will call for the government to abandon the seven day waiting period for Universal Credit, review the in-arrears policyto see if this is causing “unnecessary hardship and long term disadvantage” for UC entitlement and speed up the UC assessment process to three weeks.

The organisations surveyed the same 20 councils and ALMOs it got responses from in a similar survey at the end of last year.

The previous survey found 89% of tenants were in arrears compared to 79% in the latest survey. The report adds: “However households in receipt of UC remain much more likely to be in arrears and also have, on average, larger levels of arrears than tenants in general”. All respondents said the six-week period before a tenant receives their first UC payment is “very frequently or frequently a factor in claimants falling into arrears”.

The report said: “It looks likely that many claimants simply do not have sufficient savings (including their last pay cheque) to get them through this period”.On average tenants on UC owe £321.05, higher than the average for all tenants in arrears which is £294.57.Respondents also said they are seeing an increase in demand for money and debt advice services, food banks and hardship funds.”

This is Lord Heseltine’s independent review of the Tees Valley following a range of discussions with local private and pubic sector leaders and businesses to identify opportunities to unlock, promote and support economic growth.

Here is the report:

Tees_Valley_Opportunity_Unlimited

The gov website says:

“Building on the momentum provided by the Tees Valley devolution deal and the new Combined Authority, the report makes recommendations to further develop the Tees Valley area with the emphasis on creating the conditions for a sustainable prosperous future.

Lord Heseltine worked closely with local leaders to bring forward the creation of the new South Tees Development Corporation, which will set the future vision for the SSI site and surrounding area. This will be the first Mayoral Development Corporation outside of London.”

CfPS has collaborated with Sanofi Pasteur MSD to produce two guides on the scrutiny of local immunisation services. Primarily intended for members of Health O&S committees, 10 Questions to Ask if you’re Scrutinising Local Immunisation Services provides members with the key lines of enquiry needed to scope out a wide review or to focus on a particular area of interest. Point of Impact provides evidence from two case studies about the value of scrutiny in local immunisation services and the lessons that HOSCs up and down the country can learn.

CIH  have produced a helpful guidance note to consider which examines the potential effects of de-pooling service costs from the rent for social landlords in England, following the introduction of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 and The Social Housing Rents (Exceptions and Miscellaneous Provisions) Regulations 2016.

CIH examine the pros and cons of service charge de-pooling for the landlord, and have included some worked examples. These show the effects of de-pooling service costs of £4 a week for an example tenant, who was paying a weekly rent of £100 before the start of rent reductions.

Rent_reduction_service_cost_depooling_concept_note

Housemark and Hyde HA have been revieing this and found:

All housing associations it investigated are aware of the need to meet basic safety requirements, some are content to stop there, while others went further.

There is particular variation in provision of carbon monoxide alarms, as there is no blanket requirement to provide them in social homes in contrast to the private sector.It added:

“The approaches [to carbon monoxide alarms] vary markedly and means some tenants are protected by CO alarms, while others are not.

”The report suggests that voluntary adoption of these carbon monoxide alarm rules in the social housing sector would help avoid further legislation.

The research was based on interviews with eight to 10 social landlords in England, as well as the regulator, National Social Housing Fire Strategy Group, Local Authority Building Control and others.

It also called for fire and carbon monoxide safety rules to be simplified, to replace the “myriad of rules and regulations” with a single set of standards which are easier to maintain and update.

Government statistics show historic improvement in fire deaths in dwellings, with 215 people killed in England in 2013/14 compared to 745 in 1981/2.

Inside housing provdied the following detail:

“The National Housing Group (NHG) data covers 97,501 homes – more than half the shared ownership properties nationwide – and reveals buyers have an average household income of £30,347, which is 26% less a first-time buyer average of £41,000.

The data also shows 13.1% of shared owner households are in rent arrears, owing an average of £496. This is much higher than the private rented sector arrears average of 1.6%, but is half the average proportion for social tenants.

In 2014/15 there were 109 repossessions, representing 0.1% of the NHG stock. This is five times more than the average repossession rate of 0.02% in the market sale sector (although there is no comparable data for just first-time buyers).

Just 2.7% of owners bought additional shares in 2014/15.”

Another excellent contribution from IPPR, who have produce this report:

blueprint-for-a-great-north-plan-a1-screen-june2016

In summarising their contribution they say:

“There is broad agreement among stakeholders in the north of England that we need a ‘Great North Plan’ – and that we need to get on with drawing one up. This large-scale blueprint presents the best ideas to emerge on the issue, sets out principles for how the plan should be developed, illustrates the different layers of planning required, and proposes next steps for putting planning into action.

The Blueprint for a Great North Plan document is available to download in a special, A1-format fold-out format,* as well as in the A1 on-screen (pictured below), A4 PDF and e-book editions available via the buttons to the top-right of this page.

To take up our invitation to join other leading northern businesses and local authorities in making a ‘powerhouse pledge’ to help us take the plan forward, fill in the pledge card on the dedicated Great North Plan website.

BACKGROUND

In 2015 IPPR North and the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) issued a call for evidence, and organised 11 roundtable discussions in six northern cities. We also held a Northern Summit in January 2016, with further plenary debates and interactive voting.1

Through all of these activities we asked the question, ‘Do we need a Great North Plan?’. The response was an overwhelming ‘yes’ (93 per cent); and, when asked about their more specific attitudes towards the Great North Plan, 58 per cent of respondents said that, ‘We need to get on and do it’.

A BLUEPRINT FOR A GREAT NORTH PLAN

This blueprint is not the Great North Plan itself – although its centrefold spread is illustrative of what part of the Great North Plan could look like. Instead, it represents the best of the ideas of the more than 350 people who have fed into our thinking on the issue so far. It sets out a series of principles to guide how the Plan should be developed; identifies the suite of documents that might together comprise the Great North Plan; suggests the different themes or ‘layers’ of planning that need to be fitted together through collaborative action involving many stakeholders; and proposes a process for the next steps in moving from blueprint to plan.

In summary, the core principles for collaborative action that would secure buy-in from diverse stakeholders are that a Great North Plan should be:

high-level, strategic and brief, neither statutory nor bland
an ambitious, long-term vision, but supported by clear actions in the short and medium terms
evolutionary and collaborative, but a framework and reference point for all
inclusive, speaking to all places across the North, but asymmetrical in its treatment of places and themes
We propose that the Great North Plan has four main ‘purposes’, which might be best set out as a suite of four interlinking documents:

A vision for the North.
A set of collaborative strategies.
A prospectus for investment.
A programme for action.
We also identify four broad areas for strategic collaboration and mapping.

Economy: Building on the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review, further work must elaborate on the primary and enabling capabilities it identifies, including innovation hubs, supply chains, infrastructure sites and plans.
Transport and connectivity: The current Northern Transport Strategy and the work of Transport for the North offer a starting point and model for pan-northern collaboration.
Environment: The North’s natural environment affords it some vital ‘green’ infrastructure (energy, water, waste and so on), but we need a compelling strategy for making the most of the associated opportunities. This strategy must also consider areas of flood-risk and wider environmental concern.
Population and place: A strategy in this area must set out some of the key places within the North, including: current and future population growth hubs; labour market geographies; and the distinctive attributes of particular cities, towns and areas within the North. This might also cover quality-of-life issues such as culture, recreation and tourism.
Each of these themes could be sub-divided into more detailed planning processes, as in the Northern Transport Strategy; each of these will require supporting processes that spell out different levels of technicality and specificity. However, it is important that strategies within each theme or sub-theme are able to identify their high-level priorities and overall direction, and that they cohere both with the wider vision and with other plans.

Elements of these different co-ordinated plans could also be combined to provide a broadly defined ‘northern infrastructure plan’ that includes scenario modelling and indicative costs and benefits. These different ‘layers’ of planning could also be set out in a series of layered maps – a possibility illustrated in the main illustrated spread of this publication, ‘The North’s key resources, mapped’.

Finally, we identify some concrete next steps and clear milestones against which progress can be measured, which will be necessary if the Plan is to move forward.

SEVEN WORKSTREAMS:

A vision for the North that sets the broad direction for the North and its economy up to 2050.

Four broad collaborative strategies:

A northern transport strategy
A northern economic strategy
A northern natural assets strategy
A people and place strategy
Together, these four workstreams need to feed into:
A prospectus for the North
And finally, we need a:
governance and delivery workstream
NEXT STEPS

We do not believe that producing a Great North Plan must be a long or complicated process. The key issue is the will to do it. In order to move the process forward we make the following three recommendations.

The five Core Cities in the north of England – working closely with TfN, Business North and central government – should identify and communicate a clear and inclusive process for much broader engagement in strategic planning for the northern powerhouse, along the lines of this blueprint.

As part of this process, a taskforce should be established for each of the seven workstreams identified above, other than transport.

Recognising that to date the Great North Plan has been a business-led initiative, businesses in the north of England should continue to support its development by pledging time, expertise and resources in relation to the different workstreams identified above. This can be done via the Great North Plan website, or by emailing GreatNorthPlan@ippr.org.
*How to fold your printed blueprint
1. Trim any white space around the outer borders of the image.
2. In landscape format, with the map artwork spread facing you, fold the top left and right corners over towards the bottom left and right corners respectively, giving you a horizontal fold.
3. Fold page 1 (‘Background…’) over from left to right, to show the ‘Blueprint for a Great North Plan’ front cover.
4. Fold that doubled-up page over backwards so that only pages 3 and 4 are visible.
5. Finally, fold page 3 leftwards onto page 4, so that the front cover is on top and you are left with a concertina that has page 7 (‘How to take forward…’) at the back. “

Cabinet Office Updates:

• Register to vote
• Consultation launched into distribution of Big Lottery Fund
• Charities Act Implementation Plan published
• Board Members for the Charity Commission for England and Wales
• Understanding mission-led businesses – Call for Evidence
• Government Outcomes Lab and Life Chances Fund

Updates relevant to Cabinet Office policy themes:

• Queen’s Speech
• Public Service Mutuals: How to Grow, Diversify and Compete

Updates from other Government Departments:

• Coastal Communities Fund (CCF)
• New Neighbourhood Planning microsite launched

Stakeholder Updates:

• Comic Relief Grants Strategy
• 1-12 June – Volunteers’ Week – The Big Celebration 2016
• 13-18 June Small Charity Week
• Community Organisers 2016 (CO16): Sustaining the Energy – 21st-22nd June

Cabinet Office updates:

1.    Register to vote – There’s only 1 month left until the EU Referendum #RegisterToVote for the #EUreferendum.  Don’t lose your vote – register to vote by 7 June 2016
2.    Consultation launched into distribution of Big Lottery Fund – Minister for Civil Society, Rob Wilson welcomes views from the public in a 12-week consultation to help guide the policy direction for the Big Lottery Fund. The consultation seeks opinions on the Fund’s distribution of National Lottery money across England and programmes covering the whole of the UK.  For more details see the consultation document and response form, the consultation will close on the 12 August 2016.
3.    Charities Act Implementation Plan published.  The plan sets out how Office for Civil Society and Innovation (OCSI), working closely with the Charity Commission, will carry out the implementation of the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 and prepare charities for the changes to come.

To accompany the implementation plan, the Charities Commission has published a blog to explain How will the new Charities Act affect your charity?

The Charity Commission has also launched a consultation on their proposed approach to using the new statutory power to disqualify individuals from acting as trustees.  Online responses are invited by 22 August 2016.

4.    Board Members for the Charity Commission for England and Wales – We are recruiting three new board members for the Charity Commission for England and Wales to ensure the regulator’s board has the right mix of skills and expertise to oversee the regulation of charities and implement its transformation programme.

Candidates will have expertise in one or more of the following categories:

• Detailed knowledge of charities, including an understanding of the charity sector’s role in building a bigger, stronger society;
• Digital expertise, with an understanding of major IT-enabled change;
• Extensive understanding of law enforcement or national security, or other agencies undertaking proactive and robust investigations.

Details of the roles and how to apply are available here.  The closing date for applications is 20 June.

5.    Mission-led business review – The Minister for Civil Society has launched a review to increase the economic and social impact of mission-led businesses in the UK economy.

Do you run or advise a mission-led business? If so, we want to hear your views via the Cabinet Office’s Call for Evidence.  The call for evidence is open until 8 July 2016.

6.    Government Outcomes Lab – Cabinet Office will work with the University of Oxford to create a new centre for excellence for Social Impact Bonds.

The formal launch of the Government Outcomes Lab will take place in July, alongside the launch of the £80M Life Chances Fund. This new Fund is specifically designed to support the development of locally commissioned Social Impact Bonds. You can register your interest here if you are interested in finding out more.

Updates relevant to Cabinet Office policy themes:

7.    Queen’s Speech  The Queen’s Speech sets out the government’s policies and proposed legislative programme for the new parliamentary session.

The Government have produced a policy paper about the key announcements in the Queen’s Speech 2016 and what they could mean for you.  A more detailed document providing background briefing notes on the announcements has also been published.

8.    Public Service Mutuals: How to Grow, Diversify and Compete – conference hosted by the Employee Ownership Association and supported by the Cabinet Office, Social Enterprise UK, Prospects, and sponsor Fieldfisher in London on 6th July.

A one-day conference for ambitious, employee owned or employee led public service mutuals and other businesses in the social economy to learn more about business growth, diversification and competition.  Click here to find out more / book.

Updates from other Government Departments:

9.     The Coastal Communities Fund (CCF) is a UK-wide programme designed to support the economic development of coastal communities by promoting sustainable economic growth and jobs, so that people are better able to respond to the changing economic needs and opportunities of their area.  Now a further £90 million is available over the next 4 years to help boost tourism, create jobs and provide quality training for local people.

Grants of between £50,000 and £4 million are available to a range of organisations including:

• coastal community teams
• charities
• councils
• development agencies
• local enterprise partnerships
• private sector companies
• social enterprises
• voluntary and community sector organisations

The closing date for submitting expressions of interest in England is 30 June 2016. The Big Lottery Fund is helping to deliver CCF round 4 on behalf of the government. Full details of eligibility and how to apply for a grant for round 4 are available on the Big Lottery Fund website.

10.     New Neighbourhood Planning microsite launched – DCLG have created a new neighbourhood planning microsite which is the place for people to go to find out how to get started, with a step by step guide through the process, resources include a downloadable leaflet and customisable poster for use in local neighbourhoods. The microsite is hosted on the My Community website, where more neighbourhood planning information, resources, and case studies can be found, along with details about how to access grants.

Stakeholder Updates:

11. Comic Relief Grants Strategy launched along with updates on current open grant initiatives

Current funding stands include:

• Maternal Mental Health – Comic Relief are looking for proposals which will ensure that more women experiencing maternal mental health issues will have access to high–quality, local, community based support. Funding is available in selected geographic areas, so check the website for eligible areas. Deadline for applications is Midday 15^th June 2016.
• Girls in Gangs initiative – open to applications from across the UK, Comic Relief is seeking to fund a number of multi-partner projects that will provide a positive and safe future for girls and young women associated with gangs.  Deadline for applications is 13th July, 2016 (midday).
• Sport in Communities initiative, in selected geographic areas. Comic Relief are seeking proposals which use sport as a catalyst for change. Deadline for applications is 11th July, 2016 (midday)

Comic Relief will also be opening a new fund in mid-June for small to medium organisations across the UK called Core Strength. Funding of up to £40,000 over 2 years will be available to locally significant organisations working in our theme areas of Children and Young People, Women and Girls, Health and Wellbeing and Strengthening Communities with turnovers of between £100,000 and £500,000 to support core running costs and work to increase the capacity and stability of organisations.  Further information will be available on the grants pages of their website shortly.  Comic Relief also anticipate launching further funding initiatives in Autumn 2016.

12.  1 -12 June Volunteers’ Week – The Big Celebration 2016 – Events are being planned across the country to mark Volunteers’ Week 2016.   Charities across the UK will hold events to thank their volunteers and celebrate the power of volunteering to bring communities together. Last year more than 750 events took place, from awards ceremonies to tea parties and barbecues.
13.  13-18 June Small Charity Week celebrates and raises awareness of the essential work of the UK’s small charity sector who make an invaluable contribution to the lives of millions of individuals, communities and causes across the UK and the rest of the world.  Small Charity Week is brought to you by the Foundation for Social Improvement (FSI), who with the support of partner organisations ensure the work of small charities is recognised and celebrated.  See their website for more information about events and activities.
14. Community Organisers 2016 (CO16): Sustaining the Energy – 21st-22nd June, Yarnfield Park, Staffordshire

This is an open event and the Company of Community Organisers (COLtd) will be running a number of workshops, including an introduction to community organising and what it might means for organisations interested in the community organising model.  Local authorities who are interested in organising are particularly welcome.  Find out more about Community Organising on the COLtd website.

As part of this event, on the 22^nd June, CDLG and COLtd will be hosting a session on Community Organisers and Local Government:

Over the last 5 years 540 community organisers have worked in 99 Local Authorities inspiring 1000s of residents to take action and get involved in shaping the future of their neighbourhoods. To achieve this Community Organisers have listened to individuals and ignited their impulse to act on the matters that they care most about. At the same time, Local Authorities are having to rapidly rethink the way they not only deliver services but also the relationships that they hold with citizens. In part driven by the implementation of The Localism Act 2011 there is a growing desire to engage citizens in a meaningful dialogue to redesign and strengthen services, so that they are not only best placed and serving the needs of those that need them most, but also can maximise the resources and strengths that exist in neighbourhoods.

As Local Authorities take a step back, and enable citizens to take step forward, what role can Community Organisers have in not only building social capital at a neighbourhood level but in bridging social capital between residents, Local Authorities and other stakeholders?

Led by Andrew Donaldson, Staffordshire Council, Nick Gardham COLtd, Miriam Levin, DCLG

Because not everyone is able to attend both days, day rate tickets are available.  Book here.

There is growing recognition that improving schools is a crucial component of efforts to create a ‘northern powerhouse’. Our analysis of education data reveals why northern schools are falling behind those in London:

• The divide between London and the north of England starts before children reach school age. The ‘early years gap’ between children from poorer and wealthier homes is almost twice as large in the North as it is in London.
• The North performs reasonably well on primary school attainment. Places like Redcar and Cleveland, Trafford and Warrington all have results that would be the envy of most London boroughs.
• Secondary school attainment in some parts of the North is a big cause for concern, and is the stage where educational inequalities widen sharply.
• Focusing on failing schools is important but will not be sufficient to eradicate educational inequality. Even good and outstanding schools have attainment gaps.
• Educational inequality is not just a problem for satellite and coastal towns: some major northern cities such as Liverpool, Leeds and Sheffield also struggle to raise attainment among disadvantaged pupils.
• Inputs matter: schools in the North receive significantly less money per pupil than those in London, and can struggle to attract and retain high-quality teachers and leaders.

The North has the potential to build on its burgeoning economic strengths, generating prosperity that will benefit the whole of the country. Addressing educational disadvantage must be at the heart of this transformation.”

There has been a concerted effort to renew the economy in the north of England as part of the chancellor’s ‘northern powerhouse’ agenda. And there is a growing recognition that education and skills need to be at the heart of this project. As Sir Michael Wilshaw argued recently: ‘the northern powerhouse will splutter and die if their youngsters lack the skills to sustain it’.

Given the importance of education for building a stronger economy and society, educational outcomes in the North are a cause for concern. In simple terms, there is a gap in attainment between the north of England and the ‘southern powerhouse’ that is London – whose schools are a success story. This is particularly acute when looking at measures of educational inequality. If the north of England is to maximise its potential, it must improve its educational performance, especially for those children from poorer families. London’s success was not an accident – results for disadvantaged pupils there have increased dramatically over the last decade. With investment, collaboration and strong leadership, London has shown that success is possible.

Statistics for the whole of the North, however, obscure important differences about school performance. Our analysis of education data reveals a more complicated story about why northern schools are falling behind and the role that policy should play in addressing this issue.

KEY LESSONS FOR POLICYMAKERS

1. The divide between London and the North starts before children reach school age

In London, 59 per cent of children who are eligible for free school meals achieve a ‘good level of development’ when they complete reception class at age five. Meanwhile in the north of England only 49 per cent of similar pupils do so. What’s more, the ‘early years gap’ between children from poorer and wealthier homes is almost twice as large in the North as it is in London. Given the strong correlation between early education and outcomes later in life, any efforts to tackle educational inequality in the North must start before children have reached school age.

2. The North performs reasonably well on primary school attainment, and high-performing local authorities are a source of expertise in the system

At the end of primary school, 80 per cent of pupils in the North achieve level 4 or above in reading, mathematics and writing – the same proportion as across England. What’s more, the performance of disadvantaged pupils is higher in the North East and North West than it is in the rest of the country, with 67 per cent of pupils eligible for free school meals achieving level 4 or above, compared to a national average of 66 per cent. At a local authority level, around half of the North’s local authorities outperform the national average. Redcar and Cleveland, Trafford and Warrington all have results that would be the envy of most London boroughs. It is important that the expertise of these local authorities is not lost as more schools become academies.

3. Secondary school attainment is a big cause for concern, and should be the policy focus

Secondary school attainment in the north of England lags behind that in London. This is also the stage where educational inequalities widen sharply. Outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in northern local authorities are rarely above the national average of 36.7 per cent, and less than 3 per cent of schools in the North have managed to eradicate the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their wealthier peers. School improvement policies and activities in the North should be focused towards the secondary stage.

4. Focusing on failing schools is not enough – even good and outstanding schools have attainment gaps

Tackling failing schools is a necessary but not sufficient measure to address educational inequality: even schools which are performing well still exhibit attainment gaps between wealthier and poorer pupils. In northern schools that are rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted there is a gap of 22 percentage points between pupils on free school meals and their better-off peers. This suggests that policymakers should focus on tackling the variation in performance that occurs within each school, for example by ensuring that schools spend their pupil premium resources effectively.

5. Educational inequality is not just a problem for satellite and coastal towns

Many commentators have focused on the difficulties facing deprived coastal towns and satellite towns, such as Blackpool and Oldham. It is right to highlight the poor performance of these areas, but this should not obscure the fact that some major cities also struggle to raise attainment among disadvantaged pupils at secondary school age. In Liverpool, Sheffield and Leeds, less than a third of disadvantaged pupils achieve five good GCSEs including English and maths. This is a reminder that policymakers should not take their eye off the ball when it comes to school improvement in big cities.

6. Northern schools have a harder job, and should be compensated for this

Once school intake has been controlled for, the North East and North West come out as two of the highest-performing regions in the country (alongside London). Contextual value-added scores should not be used to make an ‘excuse’ for low overall attainment: raw results are hugely important for the individual pupils concerned. Rather, they should be used to show that schools in the north of England may actually have a harder job than those in other parts of the country, due to their more challenging intake, and need to be adequately compensated for this.

7. Schools in the North receive fewer resources than those in London

Despite often operating in harder contexts, schools in the north of England do not receive the same level of inputs as those in London. On average, northern primary schools receive £4,600 per pupil, which is £900 less than in London; northern secondary schools receive £5,700 per pupil, which is £1,300 less than in London. Some areas of the North can also find it particularly difficult to recruit and retain teachers, and there are more ‘cold spots’ without access to support from teaching schools. This suggests that the government should use its forthcoming review of the national funding formula to actively weight funding more heavily towards areas of the country which have high levels of disadvantage and which find it difficult to recruit teachers. It should also find ways to target teaching and leadership support to these cold spots – for example, by establishing professional development programmes or introducing student loan write-offs for those working in challenging contexts, and embedding programmes such as the National Teaching Service and Teach First, which are already geographically targeted.