All posts for the month April, 2012

Gathering Evidence for Diversity of Place

The Delivery of Place team  have planned a number of neighbourhood visits across the City to ask local people and practitioners about how they feel about their neighbourhoods as a place to live or work t. Last week  the team  visited neighbourhoods in the North of the City . We got some really interesting view points about how people felt about their sense of belonging within their neighbourhood!

We will keep you updated as we gather our evidence, so keep your eye out for future posts and really welcome views in the comments.

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by suwinder on 30th April 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by suwinder on 30th April 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/gathering-evidence-for-diversity-of-place/

getting started with diversity of place

I’ve recently joined the Diversity of Place task group and am excited to get started with finding out about what people in Birmingham think about their city and their neighbourhood. I admit that I come to this with my own perspective as a person who has pretty much always lived in the city and who has worked for the Council for the last 9 years.

During this time my perceptions of neighbourhoods have often been informed by statistics and reports rather than getting out and about and speaking to local people. So I’m coming to this with my own pre-conceptions, but am looking forward to having these challenged and perhaps overturned.

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by mikewalsh8921 on 30th April 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by mikewalsh8921 on 30th April 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/getting-started-with-diversity-of-place/

Blogging about Fair Brum

As the process continues more people are getting involved with the conversation and hopefully will also be sharing the material they create here on the blog. Today more people from Be Birmingham are at Podnosh to receive training on how to share their consultation and hopefully invite you to talk with them about their findings.

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by Steph Jennings on 30th April 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steph Jennings on 30th April 2012

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Fuel Poverty and a Birmingham affordable warmth partnership

Fuel Poverty is an urgent and growing problem in Birmingham affecting some of the most vulnerable in our society, Tony Thapar from the Moseley Community Development Trust calls for an “Affordable Warmth partnership” to tackle this issue

Last year, 3000 people died from problems related to fuel poverty in the UK. At the same time, the coalition Government commissioned an independent review of fuel poverty. Professor John Hills from the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion carried out the study It considered the definition of fuel poverty, targets for its reduction and the effectiveness of policies. Prof. Hills, warns that the problem is likely to worsen despite measures to try and eradicate it. It is likely to be worse in 2016 than it was in 2009.

But what’s situation like in Birmingham? Sadly, the scale of the problem is not clear. There have been a number of initiatives over the years, from different perspectives, energy conservation, decent homes, winter related deaths, income maximisation, all related to short term funding opportunities. These have been delivered by a combination of public private and voluntary sectors. However, there hasn’t been an over-arching definition of fuel poverty in the City along with a co-ordinated approach to ensure it is eliminated.

Fuel Poverty was defined by the Government as, when your energy costs where 10% or more of your income. Put simply, if you have high fuel costs and a low income and we know that fuel costs have continued to rise whilst earnings have fallen. Prof. Hill’s report recommends  that a new indicator for fuel poverty is used to measure the extent of fuel poverty and a fuel poverty gap to measure its depth. Using this approach, Prof. Hills study demonstrates a growing and widespread problem in the country.

Be Birmingham’s social inclusion process has five key lines of enquiry. If we are not careful the issue of fuel poverty will be missed by all of them since tackling fuel poverty means a co-ordinated approach from all of these KLOE. The social inclusion process should lead to the creation of an Affordable Warmth Partnership for Birmingham.  Other cities have one, why not Birmingham?

Over this last winter there has been the opportunity to pilot an affordable warmth partnership (AWP) in Birmingham, through the Stay Warm Stay Well project, it has worked as an AWP might  and demonstrated the value of the public sector working closely with the third sector. It has also shown how multiple solutions are required:  energy advice; health and housing support, money advice and crisis funds. The voluntary sector working on the ground and was able to uncover hundreds of cases of people in Birmingham living in poverty , in cold homes and without hope. It is important that a strategy for next winter and beyond is developed and the existing public and private resources are shared to tackle fuel poverty to  avoid unnecessary deaths in our City. In addition we need to work out how to measure the size of this growing and urgent problem.

Tony Thapar

Moseley Community Development Trust

On behalf of the Stay Warm Stay Well delivery partners.

For more information about the report can be found at: https://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/funding/fuel_poverty/hills_review/hills_review.aspx .

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by fairbrum on 25th April 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Diversity of Place, Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by fairbrum on 25th April 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/04/25/fuel-poverty-and-a-birmingham-affordable-warmth-partnership/

What on Earth is Superdiversity?

Over the last few years people from over 180 countries have come to Birmingham to make the city home, meaning Birmingham has become “superdiverse”.  Jenny Phillimore from the University of Birmingham outlines what superdiversity means, and what the implications are for the city.

The past twenty years have seen enormous changes in the way we live, as societies and cultures across the world have become integrated through communication, transportation, and trade.   Globalisation as this process has become known, has impacted on almost every area of life.  Globalisation has accelerated the speed and scale of migration, brought changes to migration patterns, and led to the development of the phenomena of new migration.  The “old” post-colonial migrations of the 1950s to 1980s brought large numbers of relatively homogenous groups of people to a small number of places with which they had some kind of connection, in particular Indians, Bangladeshi, African-Caribbeans and Pakistanis to the UK.  New migration sees relatively small numbers of people from countries across the world arriving to very many places with which they have little or even no historical connection (Vertovec 2007).  Vertovec (2007) argues new migration is superdiverse because new migrants are diverse across a wide range of variables including ethnicity, immigration status, rights and entitlements, labour market experiences, gender and age profiles, and patterns of spatial distribution.  The scale, complexity, heterogeneity and pace of new migration far exceeds that of the early post-Commonwealth arrivals.

Birmingham provides the perfect example of a superdiverse city.  Although decent data is hard to come by, work undertaken by the PCTs for the Universityof Birmingham’s Healthy and Wealthy http://www.wmpho.org.uk/topics/page.aspx?id=6513 project gives us a good insight into just how diverseBirmingham is.  In the three years from 2007 people moved toBirmingham from 187 different countries, that’s nearly all the countries in the world.  They came to live here as workers, marriage migrants, students and, to a lesser extent, asylum seekers. Birmingham still has its well established minority communities but only 25% of new arrivals came from new or old Commonwealth countries.  Significant numbers arrived from countries such as Poland, China, Romania, Afghanistan and Nigeria.  While there are important new communities being established inBirmingham, the city also demonstrates another of the key characteristics of superdiversity: fragmentation.  Rather than being part of established or emerging ethnic or community clusters, many of the arrivals come in such small numbers that they are not part of a group at all.  They may have few or no social connections in the city and are pretty isolated.  For example fewer than five people arrived fromKyrgyzstan, Porto Rico,Nicaragua, andMontenegro.  AlthoughBirmingham has its global neighbourhoods, where no ethnic group dominates and superdiversity is the norm, every part ofBirmingham has seen the arrival of at least some newcomers from countries that previously were not represented in the city.

So what does this all mean for Birmingham?  There is no doubt that the high numbers of arrivals and sheer diversity of newcomers brings both challenges and opportunities.  Service providers struggle to meet the needs of everyone when they know little about the problems facing new groups.  Consultation and communication can be difficult for departments such as housings and social services, when they do not know who lives in the city or how to connect with them.  Our research shows that some new arrivals experience very high levels of deprivation and exclusion because they do not know how to access services or who to talk to get advice.  Superdiversity offers Birmingham unprecedented opportunity.  The people who come here are those who had the motivation, initiative and courage to leave their families and possessions behind and move somewhere totally new.  They are often well qualified, they learn quickly, are hard working and determined.  The levels of diversity within the city mean thatBirminghamcan benefit from cultural and linguistic diversity, and perhaps most importantly in these times of economic hardship, connections with almost every country in the world.  If we can find a mechanism to harness these skills and connections then we may a way to help accelerate economic recovery.  There is also growing evidence that as areas which have previously been ethnically divided become superdiverse there is a reduction in community tensions as no one group, or groups, dominate, and old ethnic cleavages are reduced.

Superdiversity is here to stay.  The phenomenon, whilst pronounced in Birmingham, is in evidence across much of the developed world.  As one of the cities likely to become a majority/minority city in the next few years Birmingham is at the forefront of the global trend.  With vision and imagination Birmingham can use this to the city’s advantage and use the knowledge, expertise and connections from across the world to become one of the world’s leading convivial, cosmopolitan cities.

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by fairbrum on 23rd April 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by fairbrum on 23rd April 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/what-on-earth-is-superdiversity/

Qualifications Skills or Networking? What really gets us employed and into jobs in Birmingham?

Job Centre

I’ve come across another quote in the Latchford report into the riots that has got me thinking. If we’re going to look at “inclusive growth” as one of the key lines of enquiry this will inevitably include employment  - but what does it take to become employed or simply employable?

Is it all down to qualifications?  5 years in senior school studying for your GCSE’s, another 2 in higher education for A levels or similar and then maybe a further 3 at University for a degree? Or have we oversold just how far diplomas and degrees can get us and it there much more involved than a rubber stamp on a certificate.

The report says;

“People don’t get jobs as a result of having qualifications (see the experience of well-qualified mental health service users) – they get jobs because they are connected. Some people need to be educated about social norms. We have a growing “underclass” who do not know what is considered acceptable in mainstream society and who are therefore preventing from  participating – in jobs and other benefits.  They need to be educated about the basics – hygiene, sexual behaviour, conflict management. This is not cultural imperialism – it’s fairness. Yet our official position is that if you get a qualification you get a job. These false promises create resentment.”

For me this reads simply as social skills. We need to teach a whole host of people how to communicate, how to behave and how best to manage and sell themselves – If you have this core foundation you could then develop skills “on the job”.

“You can teach a bubbly person to repair shoes but you can’t put the personality into a grumpy cobbler”

– John Timpson, Chairman of Timpsons.

There are of course career paths that require the “rubber stamp” of education and training; lawyers, doctors etc. But what about the rest of the workforce? Is further education really THAT relevant?

This is where I put my hand up and admit – I didn’t go to university I am one of those people without a rubber stamp. So why did  my manager employ me? Why did he take on my colleagues?

I don’t need to ask him as he has blogged about it recently on his company website, he says;

“Podnosh recruits for values.

We are driven by making things better: improving public services, helping active citizens have a greater impact, allowing individual civil servants more freedom to improve lives, supporting good third sector organisations to help more people. We don’t work with anyone – if potential clients don’t share a good chunk of our passions or values we’d rather they found someone else to help them.

So for this we employ or work with people who:

  • believe in what we do
  • care about it
  • are accountable
  • transparent
  • honest
  • have integrity
  • are networked

In turn they often know what they want and believe in and are leaders in their own worlds….

…One thing I haven’t mentioned? A certificate in anything.”

-Nick Booth, Podnosh

Looking at the comments on Nick’s original post he’s not the only one who thinks this way. Karl Binder of Adhere wrote his own response to this on his own site “Employing people on aptitude rather than skills…” and an array of other people have commented on the subject – but what do you think?

If Nick employs for values and Karl’s company employs for aptitude what really is the best approach to finding work?  Do you think it’s through education? Is it attitude? Or are these answers too simplistic and  is it through something else I’ve missed entirely?

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by Steph Jennings on 19th April 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by Steph Jennings on 19th April 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/04/19/qualifications-skills-or-networking-what-really-gets-us-employed/

Creating a more inclusive economy – new research to feed into FairBrum

Our economy “has become more and more centralised…and as power becomes centralised, ordinary individuals feel as if they have less and less influence over critical decisions…and that when decisions are made, they are not responsive to local situations and local needs”

The man who said this was Professor Gary Hamel, described by the Wall Street Journal as ‘the world’s most influential business thinker’. The problem he describes is raised by all sorts of other people from regeneration practitioners, community groups, the Occupy movement and economists; one which is at the root of social and economic exclusion and inequality across the world, and certainly here in Birmingham.

Too often, when we talk about social inclusion, we talk as if communities don’t do economics, they get economics done to them, while we try to fit social inclusion around the aftermath. But can we not organise our economy so that we involve people, so that more of them have a stake, so that they are involved as collaborators and not as pawns: as owners, financers, buyers, sellers, makers, providers and as community activists? And if we did this, doesn’t it in itself create stronger, more inclusive communities and greater equality in which economic participation becomes more immediate and accessible – even to the habitually excluded?

LWM has recently won funding from the Barrow Cadbury Trust to address exactly this – not only to identify good practice but to learn from it how such approaches can be integrated into the macro and mainstream economy. There are good examples everywhere. America, in particular, has a thriving Community Economic Development movement helping communities lead their own economic change. Closer to home, regeneration projects in Atwood Green, Castle Vale and plenty more have aimed to grow the local economy through developing local supply chains, businesses and skills, involving local people at every stage. Less intentionally, our city’s wholesale markets and their customers are a diverse, proactive range of suppliers, middlemen and buyers making up an informal network that is essential to the more accessible, affordable and diverse parts of Birmingham’s food supply. Sandwell Council is working on food sector economic development that combines benefits to health, food access, and, all importantly, self-led enterprise and job creation.

These good examples can be ignored by or supported by policy and by what mainstream economic development does and it is these wider changes that we will identify. We are looking forward to feeding in this thinking to the Social Inclusion Process key line of enquiry on an inclusive economy over the coming weeks.

Karen Leach
Coordinator – Localise WM

Localise WM promotes a localised approach to supply chains, money flow and decisionmaking for a more just and sustainable economy. More about Localise WM and their research project can be found at www.localisewestmidlands.org.uk/mainstreaming_CED. The Barrow Cadbury Trust is an independent, charitable foundation, committed to supporting vulnerable and marginalised people in society. The Trust provides grants to grassroots voluntary and community groups working in deprived communities in the UK, with a focus on Birmingham and the Black Country.

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by localisewm on 18th April 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by localisewm on 18th April 2012

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Do language barriers stifle inclusion and growth?

Birmingham New Street Station - the void - Mind The Gap

Creative Commmons Ell Brown

Here’s a thought. If you as an English speaking person with no second language moved to a none English speaking city in somewhere like Russia, you move yourself, your family, everything lock, stock and barrel how would you fare?

Would you easily make friends? Go shopping? Meet new people? Or would you  seek out other English speaking immigrants and associate only with those?

How would you find a job?  What if you were a fully functional, intelligent person, How would you go about portraying that to potential employers and move beyond anything other than the most menial tasks? How could you fill your potential and fulfil your aspirations if others around you had no idea of what you could achieve?

This situation is faced daily in neighbourhoods across Birmingham.

In the cities schools  English is a second language to a large proportion of pupils and with a percentage of  those listed as having special education needs I can’t help but wonder if there really is a SEN in these pupils or is it that some are highly intelligent, fully functioning individuals that simply don’t understand what is being told them because of the barrier of language?

In fact a report to the Children and Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 29th February 2011 identified that of the pupils that completed Key Stage 1 in 2011  43% had English as an additional language, 25% were on the SEN code of practice, 65% were from minority ethnic groups, and 3% were possible new arrivals during the key stage.

The Peter Latchford report “They Moved Like Fish” looking into the Birmingham riots of August 2011 also identifies with this. When looking at the demographic of the offenders he wrote;

“Two thirds of those arrested were below 25 years old. About a quarter were under 18. 45% were described as African Caribbean, 34% White European, and 19% Asian. 80% of those arrested had previously been logged by the police computer system. About 100 under-18s were arrested, 29 of which were previously known to the Youth Offending Service. 13 of these were on an active order. If national figures apply, a high proportion of those arrested had special educational needs.”

Further on in the report he then goes on to say;

“… The “special educational needs” label is misleading: a good proportion of inner city students will have this designation, reflecting their particular circumstances (for instance, English as a second language) but not their academic or emotional intelligence.”

So how do we overcome this?

If at the end of Key Stage 1 – which is when a child is only 7 years old we have instead of breaking down language barriers we’ve put up yet another barrier by labelling students as having a SEN what does that do to their morale and development? Where does that lead them as adults?

If language is the barrier to academic achievement, to employment to social and community cohesion then in a city as diverse as Birmingham shouldn’t we be leading the way and doing much more to finding a way to resolve these issues?

What are our options is the answer that we should be embracing diversity and employing multi lingual teachers and teaching languages from a primary age to become all inclusive? – or should there be an expectation for everyone one in Birmingham to learn and to be able to speak an adequate level of English? …. or is there another option I haven’t even considered…..?

2 Comments
by Steph Jennings on 16th April 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Diversity of People, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing
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Posted by Steph Jennings on 16th April 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/do-language-barriers-stifle-inclusion-and-growth/

5 ways to wellbeing

One of the Key Lines of Enquiry that we are addressing as part of the process is wellbeing.

Although well established now, but its worth revisiting the New Economic Foundations 5 ways to wellbeing

These are summarised below.  Are they still relevant?  In Birmingham which areas do we need to give more support to people?  How can the city improve its “offer” to support residents?

Connect…
With the people around you. With family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. At home, work, school or in your local community. Think of  these as the cornerstones of your life and invest time in developing  them. Building these connections will support and enrich you every day.
Be active…
Go for a walk or run. Step outside. Cycle. Play a game. Garden. Dance.  Exercising makes you feel good. Most importantly, discover a physical  activity you enjoy and that suits your level of mobility and fitness.

Take notice…
Be curious. Catch sight of the beautiful. Remark on the unusual. Notice the changing seasons. Savour the moment, whether you are walking to work, eating lunch or talking to friends. Be aware of the world around you and what you are feeling. Reflecting on your experiences will help you appreciate what matters to you.

Keep learning…
Try something new. Rediscover an old interest. Sign up for that course. Take on a different responsibility at work. Fix a bike. Learn to play an instrument or how to cook your favourite food. Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving. Learning new things will make you more confident as well as being fun.

Give…
Do something nice for a friend, or a stranger. Thank someone. Smile. Volunteer your time. Join a community group. Look out, as well as in. Seeing yourself, and your happiness, linked to the wider community can be incredibly rewarding and creates connections with the people around you.

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by fairbrum on 11th April 2012  •  Permalink
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Posted by fairbrum on 11th April 2012

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Housing and Benefits Reform – how will it effect the economy of Birmingham?

Image used under creative commons courtesy of Neil Mallett

Last night I attended the Wednesfield and Fallings Park Local Neighbourhood Partnership board meeting, Wednesfield being the area I live in Wolverhampton – At the beginning of the meeting we were given a presentation by the Wolverhampton Federation of Tenants  about the changes the government are making to housing and benefits. I am aware that Fair Brum is about social inclusion in Birmingham most of the points that were raised are very relevant to the people of Birmingham too.

These are my notes from the session so they aren’t a comprehensive look at the changes but an overview  of my understanding of the information we were being given. Feel free to tell me if I’ve got it wrong – I would also be interested in your thoughts of how you think these changes will impact the residents of Birmingham.

Right to Buy

The right to buy discount cap has been raised to £75,000 capped at a maximum of 60% of the value of the house. Tenants would be entitled to a 50% discount after 5 year tenancy with an extra 1% rise for each year after up to the maximum 60%. – this increase is from 2nd April 2012.

Rents

Council/Social housing will be “self financed” this will been that social landlords can keep all the rent that is paid to them without some of it going to central government, BUT this will mean that landlords will have to set their own business plan, paying for all repairs etc. without a government subsidy. The maximum rate of rent increases will still be in line with the national equation of inflation plus a little bit – but individual landlords can choose to set rents lower than this maximum rate.

Housing Associations and Affordable Rents, HA’s can now charge higher than social rent, but this is linked into building new homes. Existing tenants shouldn’t be effected but if housing associations build new homes they can charge  up to 80% of the market rent –  This used to be capped at 60%.

Housing Benefits

In 2013 Council and Housing Association tenants at working age will lose benefits for “spare rooms” so if you are under occupying a house you will lose some of your Housing Benefits. This is looking like an average lose of £13 per week and would affect 32% of working age tenants. This is in line with the benefits cap to private renting. This has been dubbed a “Bedroom Tax”

It’s a average of £11 per week for one spare bedroom up to £20 per week if there was more than one empty bedroom. If you are in an under occupied house you would need to pay the difference yourself – or downsize. This will not apply to pensioners.

Tenancies

The Localism Bill has introduced the option of Flexible Tenancies to social Landlords. This would mean tenants could be offered a fixed term tenancy of least 2 years (but with a recommendation for 5 years) in a council house, with an option of a 6 month notice period to move. This is to encourage people to move out of social housing once their social need has been dealt with.  This flexible tenancy is only an option that councils can chose to offer and isn’t a definitive change  to tenancies.

All councils must have tenancy strategy by 2013, Even councils that don’t currently offer council/social housing need to do this. This will set out if they will offer flexible tenancies.

Lettings

Councils will be able to decide on their own waiting list needs, based on the demographics of their areas.  Priority statutory needs like homelessness, illness etc will still be in place –  Homeless people can now be offered private rental properties as well as social housing.

Transfers / mutual exchanges can now be made with having to prove the “need” – but changes to housing benefits will come in if you move into a property you’ll end up under occupying.

Tenancy fraud (ie subletting) could become a criminal offence and would carry a custodial sentence.

Housing Regulation

The Tenants Services Authority (TSA) no longer exists and the regulator is the Homes and Community Agency (HSA).

The onus is going to move to consumer regulation with more tenant control on things like repairs management with scrutiny panels looking at services and the regulator only stepping in if an issue is seriously detrimental.  Tenants panels could be set up to help manage and control complaints but it is up to individual councils to decide if they will recognise such panels.

Community Power

The Localisn Bill is putting more emphasis back on community and neighbourhoods and so is suggesting changes at a local level, Some of these are:

- The right to challenge – groups can put in an expression of interest to provide services for any council service, litter collection instance. If the council accept it this will trigger a tender process for the service where community groups can bid along side other providers.

- The right to buy. Communities can request for any building or piece of land to be listed as a community asset. If accepted this would mean that the “asset” would be added to a  list so the owners cant sell without offering the community an opportunity to buy it – This could delay sales by up to 6 months.

- Neighbourhood forums could become neighbourhood councils, operating similar to parish councils, charging neighbourhood taxes to spend in communities. These forums could also help shape neighbourhood planning

ASB

There arewere some proposed changes to anti social behaviour legislation, this would essential be a re-branding of Anti Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs)  to Community Protection Orders, Criminal Behaviour Orders and Crime Prevention Injunctions – these would include new  eviction processes for tenants and residents convicted of ASB and would include a proposal for a “Community Trigger” this means if a few people effected by ASB in a single area make a complaint, or an individual makes repeated complaints and nothing seems to be resolved it should automatically trigger a response by community partners where they will be compelled look into the issue.

No one at last nights meeting could say if the ASB changes were going to go ahead but I’d still be interested in your thoughts….

2 Comments
by Steph Jennings on 4th April 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Fair Brum, Inclusive Growth, Wellbeing, Young People
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Posted by Steph Jennings on 4th April 2012

http://fairbrum.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/housing-and-benefits-reform-how-will-it-effect-the-economy-of-birmingham/

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