Introduction
Tackling poverty and promoting equality of opportunity lie at the heart of the United Kingdom (UK) Government’s policy agenda and its vision for the future. Since 1999, Opportunity for all has presented an annual overview of Government action to tackle poverty and social exclusion. During this time, there has been considerable progress in many areas as the indicators in this publication reveal.
However, the Government recognises that many challenges still remain. Tackling these challenges requires a new focus, with more emphasis on, for example, action at a local level and an increased focus on those for whom existing strategies may not have provided the necessary support. We are not publishing an updated account of the strategy in the traditional Opportunity for all format this year given the change in emphasis. We do intend, though, to continue to update the indicators included in this document on the Department for Work and Pensions' website, and our resolve to tackle the challenges of creating opportunity for all remains strong.
Other publications will provide information on key developments in our poverty and social exclusion strategy. For example, the UK’s National Action Plan on Social Inclusion will be updated in 2008 and the Social Exclusion Task Force will continue its work on increasing and rationalising the support for the most excluded. And many strands of the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review (and the associated Public Service Agreements (PSAs)) will report how further progress will be made.
This report contains information on the indicators used to monitor our progress on poverty and social exclusion. The indicators chosen are designed to reflect the multi-dimensional nature of poverty and social exclusion at different stages in people’s lives, including their health, education, housing, income and financial well-being. The indicators were first established in 1999, when we published the first annual Opportunity for all report.
The indicators
Generally, indicators are reviewed annually and are agreed by the Indicators Steering Group to
ensure that they capture our evolving strategy and use the best available information.[1]
Consequently, the original set of indicators has been added to and some definitions have
been refined. We also ask for feedback on the indicators.[2] This year the indicators were not reviewed. This is because it was more appropriate to review the indicators following the introduction of the new cross-government PSAs outlined in the Comprehensive Spending Review. Whilst the Opportunity for all indicators differ from the existing PSAs, there are some close links between them. These are outlined in the Annex (21KB )
.
As in previous reports, the indicators are organised according to stages of the life-cycle. There are sets of indicators for children and young people, working-age people and older people. A set of communities indicators monitors the progress of our strategies to narrow the gap between areas with the worst performance and other areas.
The geographical coverage of the indicators is set out for each individual indicator. Some cover England only, while others (such as those for employment and low income) cover Great Britain. The indicators reported here concentrate on those matters that continue to be reserved to the UK Parliament. The devolved administrations of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales report on their devolved strategies separately.
Changes have been made to a number of indicators to take into account changes in the way the data are analysed or collected. For example, a number of the indicators use the Labour Force Survey as their source are now reported using calendar rather than seasonal quarterly data. This means that the data for several indicators this year are not directly comparable with the data reported in Opportunity for all in previous years.
This affects employment and worklessness-related indicators 1, 19, 21 and 35. In addition there are several indicators where an assessment of the trend since the baseline year has not been possible because there are insufficient data to do so or because changes to the methodology for calculating the data have been made between the baseline year and the latest available data. This affects Indicators 4, 7, 31 and 32b. In one case, Indicator 7, we have moved the baseline year to reflect a long-term move to the use of administrative rather than survey data in reporting progress. This will allow comparisons over time for future years.
Web-based indicators
The indicators are also available on this website.[3] This means that we can update indicators as new data become available, rather than relying on the once-a-year publication of the report. These updates will be available on the Opportunity for all website listed under the heading 'What's New'.[4]
The website also includes additional information relevant to the indicator where appropriate. This is set out in a separate box at the end of each indicator labelled 'further information'. For example, the indicator on health inequalities (indicator 39) provides web links to the source data and other information covering different aspects of the indicator, such as a breakdown by social class, as well as links to related research evidence.
We are also producing ethnicity and urban/rural comparisons for a selected number of indicators.
National Action Plan
The Lisbon and Nice European Councils (in March and December 2000 respectively) set out a strategy for combating poverty and social exclusion in Europe. It was agreed that all member states of the European Union (EU) should aim to make a ‘decisive impact’ on social exclusion by 2010. The strategy is built on the Open Method of Co-ordination, which requires member states to produce their own policies within EU-level guidelines. In 2006, all EU countries, including the UK, produced annual national reports on strategies for social protection and social inclusion. These reports covered the period from 2006 to 2008. The UK’s National Action Plan for social inclusion formed Chapter Two of the National Strategy Report. Given the importance that stakeholders attach to the social inclusion strategy in the UK, the National Action Plan was also published as a stand-alone document.
The National Action Plan sets out an account of action to tackle poverty and social exclusion across the UK. In addition to policies and services developed at UK national government level, the National Action Plan provides an account of work at the level of devolved and local government. The contribution of the voluntary and community sector, and the views of people experiencing poverty also form an important part of the National Action Plan. Continuing engagement with people at grass-roots level and with people across government provides a significant contribution to the development of the anti-poverty strategy and to the next National Action Plan, which will be prepared in 2008.
The national action plans include a set of indicator which are common to all EU member states and which allow direct comparison of key poverty and social inclusion outcomes across the EU. The UK National Action Plan also includes UK-specific indicators to highlight areas of particular interest to this country. While some of the National Action Plan indicators are similar to the indicators reported in Opportunity for all, the sources are often different and, as a result, the data cannot always be directly compared.
Opportunity Age
Opportunity Age is the Government's strategy for an ageing society. The strategy aims to end the perception of older people as dependent; to ensure that longer life is healthy and fulfilling; and that older people can participate fully in society.
The effect of central and local government strategies on the lives of today's and tomorrow's older people will be measured using a suite of indicators of older people's independence and well-being. It will use some of the same indicators as those contained within this report to monitor poverty and social exclusion for those aged 50+. Opportunity Age indicators are designed to be the first stage in developing a balanced national assessment of quality of life for older people.[5]
Details of the indicators that have been selected are available on this website at: www.dwp.gov.uk/opportunity_age/indicators/. A baseline report including data was published in summer 2006.
Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People
In 2005, the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit published Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People[6]. The report clearly set out the Government’s commitment to an ambitious programme of change to achieve its vision of equality for disabled people by 2025. It outlined the real and practical changes it would make to transform the lives of disabled people to ensure they have the same opportunities and choices as everyone else, are respected as equal members of society, and are able to participate as equals.
The Office for Disability Issues (ODI) was set up to make sure that government departments work together to deliver the fundamental shift in how public services are designed and delivered and to bring about a real change in attitudes towards disabled people. The ODI has involved disabled people and other stakeholders in developing measures of progress towards equality, including through a formal consultation in spring 2007.[7]
An initial set of indicators and baseline data will be included in the next ODI annual report, expected to be published in December 2007, along with plans for future development.
