Scottish Parliament e-Brief
Issue 210, 12^th July 2004

SECTION 1 - BUSINESS THIS WEEK

Parliament is in recess.

SECTION 2 – NEWS

New £104 million anti-poverty Fund
A new £104 million Community Regeneration Fund has been established to bring improvements to Scotland's most deprived areas and help individuals and families escape poverty. The fund combines and replaces existing programmes like Social Inclusion Partnerships and will be targeted on the communities identified last month in the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation.

The Community Regeneration Fund will be the main tool to help regenerate the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods, so that people living there can take advantage of job opportunities and improve their quality of life.

And, together with other programmes, the aim is to:

• Lift vulnerable and disadvantaged groups permanently out of poverty by increasing their chances of sustained employment;
• Provide the most disadvantaged children with the greatest chance of avoiding poverty when they leave school by improving their confidence and skills;
• Reduce the vulnerability of low income families to financial exclusion and multiple debt;
• Increase the rate of health improvement for people living in the most deprived communities; and
• Improve access to high quality services for the most disadvantaged groups and individuals in rural communities.

The Community Regeneration Fund replaces the SIP fund (£61 million for 2004/05), the Better Neighbourhood Services Fund (£31.2 million for 2004/05) and the Tackling Drugs Misuse Fund (£3 million for 2004/05).

The Scottish Index ranks areas of around 750 people, called data zones, from the most deprived (No. 1) to the least deprived (No. 6,505). Two thirds of the Community Regeneration Fund has been allocated to the most deprived 15% of data zones (i.e. Nos. 1 to 976).  The remaining funds have been allocated to those Community Planning Partnerships with above average (i.e. more than 15%) concentration of deprivation in their area. Transitional arrangements to smooth the change from existing programmes to the new Fund are also in place.

The Community Regeneration Fund allocations to each Community Planning Partnership are indicative allocations showing the potential grant which can be attracted to support community regeneration in each of the Community Planning partnership areas.  For Inverclyde in 2005/06 this is £5,381,000.

Full story

Youth Court said to be 'effective'
The pilot Youth Court running in Hamilton Sheriff Court is working well, according to a report by university researchers.

The report, published today by the University of Stirling, has found that “there was almost universal agreement that the early phase of the pilot was working effectively.”  In particular, one of the main strengths was found to be the fast-track process, where offenders appear in court generally no later than ten days after charge.

The pilot Youth Court was introduced in Hamilton Sheriff Court in June 2003 and is targeted at alleged offenders aged 16 and 17 years who are resident in North and South Lanarkshire and who have had three separate incidents of offending in the previous six months.  Between June and December 2003, a total of 147 referrals were made. 

The research found that, because of the fast track process and the rolling up of all offences under one complaint, most young offenders referred to the Youth Court were tendering early guilty pleas and taking responsibility for their actions.  The pilot was extended to Airdrie Sheriff Court last month to test the effectiveness of the Youth Court approach on a wider basis.

Full story

SECTION 3 - NOTES ON THIS WEEK’S CHAMBER BUSINESS

Parliament is in recess.

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