The Scottish published a progress report on its social justice strategy. The report focused on 29 milestones towards tackling poverty and disadvantage experienced by children, young people, families and working age people, older people and communities. Of the 29 milestones, 17 were described as heading in the right direction, while just 2 were heading in the wrong direction (reducing the numbers of households living in temporary accommodation, and reducing days lost every year through exclusion from school and truancy).
Source: Social Justice: A Scotland where everyone matters - Indicators of progress 2003, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Report (pdf) | Report | SE press release
Date: 2003-Dec
A survey showed that the number of fuel poor households in Scotland had fallen from 738,000 in 1996 to 369,000 in 2002. But campaigners said the survey showed that Scottish housing fell far short of standards needed for the 21st century.
Source: Scottish House Condition Survey 2002, Communities Scotland (0131 313 0044) | Press release 14 November 2003, Shelter Scotland (0131 473 7170)
Links: Report (pdf) | Communities Scotland press release | SE press release (1) | SE press release (2) | Shelter press release | Ofgem press release (pdf) | CIH Scotland press release
Date: 2003-Nov
A report highlighted areas for action on poverty in Scotland. It urged the Scottish Executive to secure higher disposable incomes for people at the bottom of the income distribution; improve access to training and higher education; improve services in the most disadvantaged areas; develop genuine participation in the planning and implementation of local and national anti-poverty policies; and improve collaboration with the United Kingdom government on poverty.
Source: An Agenda for Action against Poverty, Poverty Alliance (0141 353 0440)
Links: Report (pdf)
Date: 2003-Oct
The Scottish Executive responded to a report by a committee of MSPs on child poverty. It said the suggestion that the figures for relative child poverty grew in 2000-01 was not statistically robust.
Source: Executive's Response to the Recommendations in the Finance Committee's Report on its Cross-Cutting Expenditure Review of Child Poverty, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Response | MSP report
Date: 2003-Sep
Researchers sought to obtain a better understanding of what life was like for people living in low-income families with children in Scotland, and what people living on a low income thought about poverty. They found that the problems of maintaining self-respect and esteem were as important as the lack of material goods. People experiencing poverty tended to consider themselves to be less well off, but not poor; they thought the government had 'much to do' to address the problems of living on a low income, although many new policy initiatives were welcomed; and they said that although they had enough resources and money to survive, they did not have enough to participate fully in society.
Source: John McKendrick, Sarah Cunningham-Burley and Kathryn Backett-Milburn, Life in Low Income Families in Scotland: Research report, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Report | Summary | Literature review
Date: 2003-Sep
An independent report recommended that the Scottish Executive should begin to develop a measure of deprivation at the individual level in addition to the area-based measures, focusing on the poor material and social living standards which people faced as a result of poverty. The Executive said that the report provided a 'sound basis' for developing a long-term strategy for measuring deprivation, and accepted all the recommendations in principle.
Source: Nick Bailey et al., Measuring Deprivation in Scotland: Developing a long-term strategy - Final report, Scottish Executive (0131 556 8400) | Press release 10 September 2003, Scottish Executive
Links: Report | SE response | SE press release
Date: 2003-Sep
A committee of MSPs highlighted a number of concerns about the way in which the eradication of child poverty was targeted by Scottish Executive funding.
Source: Report on Cross-Cutting Expenditure in Relation to Children in Poverty, 2nd Report 2003, SP Paper 4, Scottish Parliament Finance Committee, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Report | SP press release
Date: 2003-Jun
An interim report was published of a study (commissioned by the Scottish Executive) designed to produce a long-term strategy for measuring deprivation in Scotland. It outlined a definition of deprivation, and explored how it related to other terms used to describe social needs, such as poverty, social exclusion and social justice.
Source: Nick Bailey, John Flint, Robina Goodlad, Mark Shucksmith, Suzanne Fitzpatrick and Gwilym Pryce, Measuring Deprivation in Scotland: Developing a long-term strategy - Interim report, Scottish Centre for Research on Social Justice/University of Glasgow (0141 330 2094)
Links: Report (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2003-May
A Bill was published in Scotland to bring free school meal entitlement in line with changes to the United Kingdom benefits system. The Bill would ensure that the children of families on income support or income-based jobseeker's allowance who moved on to the new child tax credit would continue to be entitled to free school meals. The changes would also extend free school meal entitlement for the first time to children of student parents, and parents or carers with savings over 8,000 but on low income.
Source: Education (School Meals) (Scotland) Bill, Scottish Executive, TSO (0870 606 5566)
Links: Text of Bill (pdf) | SE press release
Date: 2003-May
A report, based on the experiences of disabled people in Scotland, called for more and better advice services for disabled people. It said that 97 per cent of people found the application forms for disability living allowance difficult to complete.
Source: The Struggle for Disability Living Allowance, Disability Agenda Scotland, available from Scottish Association for Mental Health (0141 568 7000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary
Date: 2003-Mar
A report said that the national minimum wage is having a beneficial, but limited, effect in reducing wage inequalities in Scotland.
Source: Carol Murray, Towards a Living Wage?: An analysis of the New Earnings Survey 2001, Scottish Low Pay Unit (0141 552 5922)
Links: SLPU homepage
Date: 2003-Feb
