Dumfries and Galloway Council will meet on Tuesday 27th of February 2018 to set its Budget for the upcoming 2018/19 financial year. A funding gap of £10.7 million is required to be filled due to the real terms cut to the Council’s budget from the Scottish Government.
No plans from either the Administration nor opposition parties on Dumfries and Galloway Council have been released, but a summary of Budget proposals will be released late on Friday 23rd of February.
The Labour/SNP Administration have today committed that Tackling Poverty will be at the heart of their Budget proposals at Tuesday’s Full Council. It comes as the Council’s Young People’s Champion, Councillor Adam Wilson has made a commitment that Dumfries and Galloway Council will play their part in tackling the increasing poverty rates suffered by people living in region.
The Anti-Poverty Strategy introduced under the previous Labour Administration was continued under the Labour/SNP partnership. Last year this strategy saw £1 million allocated to projects and initiatives which aimed to reduce the poverty that exists today in the region. The £1 million policy development money was allocated to Breakfast Clubs, a participatory budgeting exercise and Area Committee discretionary grants for local organisations carrying out projects which helped to tackle poverty across the region.
Statistics released by the Scottish Government in December 2017 showed that 42% of children in Dumfries and Galloway live in families that were suffering from material deprivation. Only Dundee, Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire local authority areas had rates that were worse than our region. Worryingly Dumfries and Galloway sat 8% higher than the Scottish average of 34%.
The Administration will put tackling poverty at the heart of its Budget proposals next week. The proposals put forward will include;
- Increasing the anti-poverty policy development funding to over £1million.
- Extending free school meals to combat the holiday hunger suffered during school holidays and senior study support.
- Providing free sanitary products in schools to remove period poverty suffered by female pupils in our schools.
- Continuing to fund the costs of the school day in relation to Home Economics and Technical Education subject charges.
- Introducing a discretionary fund which will meet the cost for materials and fieldwork and other activities that arise from studying particular national qualifications in the senior stages of secondary education.
Commenting on the proposals Dumfries and Galloway Council’s Young Peoples Champion, Councillor Adam Wilson said, “The funding gap suffered by Dumfries and Galloway Council will hit our local public services hard. The political choice of austerity means that Councillors in our region will need to make tough choices on how to fill the £10.7 million funding gap.
Along with these tough decisions the Administration is committed to tackling the poverty suffered by families across Dumfries and Galloway. Our council’s Anti-Poverty Strategy will continue and our budget proposals will bring forward more initiatives which will help to tackle the poverty faced by residents in Dumfries and Galloway, in particular child poverty.
Dumfries and Galloway Council alone cannot meet the aim to eradicate poverty, but we are committed to doing all that we can to stop this blight on our region. Action must also come from the UK and Scottish Government to support the work our Council and voluntary organisations are doing locally.That is why we will put forward proposals that will end holiday hunger and period poverty now. And is why we will continue to introduce measures that will help to take families out of poverty in our region so that we can protect our most vulnerable residents and ensure every child has the best start in life.”
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