First Ever Event aimed at Tackling Poverty in Dumfries and Galloway
Today Tuesday 28 October, a significant conference aimed at tackling poverty in Dumfries and Galloway was held .
This is the first ever event aimed at addressing poverty in our region. The conference will bring together over 100 representatives from local agencies along with local people, our communities, our businesses, our staff and other organisations. All of these individuals have a part to play in addressing this issue. This includes local businesses, charities, citizen’s advice and other advice services and agencies who are dealing with poverty e.g. through providing food banks in our towns.
Protecting the most vulnerable residents is a key priority for Dumfries and Galloway Council. Addressing poverty in our region is a Council commitment. Our Administration want urgent action so that locally, agencies work together as one to try and combat poverty in Dumfries and Galloway.
Some statistics highlight that:
• There are five identified areas of relative deprivation in the region, which are central Dumfries, Northeast Annan, Northwest Dumfries, Upper Nithsdale and Stranraer but only a minority of income deprived and employment derived people live in them.
• Dumfries and Galloway is one of the most deprived rural areas in Scotland when all three measures of income, employment and access to transport are collated
How poverty affects different people at varying stages in their lives will be analysed and addressed – for example access to housing, transport, health and well-being services, community amenities and social networks. This wider approach will help to better understand the experience and reality of living in poverty and generate better ideas to tackle it.
At the conference, attendees heard about:
• the underlying issues of poverty
• the rise of in-work poverty
• the Living Wage
• benefits and attitudes to poverty
• key facts and figures about the local picture
• listen to real stories from those experiencing poverty
The conference will be hosted by the Council Leader and Chaired by Dr John McKendrick, Senior Lecturer from Glasgow Caledonian University.
Council Leader, Ronnie Nicholson said: “We know that, given the rural nature of our region, we have unacceptably high levels of poverty and the lowest average pay in Scotland. To have people in Dumfries and Galloway living in poverty is not acceptable and as a Council we are committed to tackling this issue by developing our region’s first ever comprehensive anti-poverty strategy. This joint event is about bringing us together to tackle poverty, and we hope it will help us start to work together more efficiently. The Council recognises that we cannot do this alone – there is a need for all of the community to work together to challenge poverty. Doing nothing is not an option. We need to start making a difference for the people of Dumfries and Galloway.”
