Our South Tyneside A place where people live healthy, happy, and fulfilled lives

The world has changed considerably over the past few years.

The Covid-19 pandemic, the UK’s exit from the European Union, increased global focus on the climate change emergency, rapidly advancing technologies, the cost-of-living crisis, international events such as war in Ukraine, and most recently, a new Prime Minister, have all brought change and evolving pressures, challenges, and opportunities for South Tyneside.

Under our previous Vision – to make South Tyneside ‘an outstanding place to live, invest and bring up families’, and despite the huge challenges posed by national austerity, we delivered a decade of significant investment, transformational physical regeneration, and a range of service improvements of which we can be very proud.

We brought forward multi-million pound schemes such as The Word – The National Centre for the Written Word; new state-of-the-art leisure facilities including Haven Point and Hebburn Central; substantial investment in the Foreshore attracting millions of visitors each year; major road improvements and a new Transport Interchange; the nationally significant International Advanced Manufacturing Park which will bring thousands of new jobs; the development of pioneering renewable energy schemes; huge investment in our schools estate; improvements to our Council housing stock and new award-winning housing schemes across the borough.

We have some real strengths in South Tyneside. Our borough is a wonderful place, with beautiful natural assets, clean neighbourhoods, good quality housing, vibrant local businesses, and a huge amount of pride, belonging and resilience within our communities.

Whilst we recognise our strengths and the many strong foundations we have to build upon; we know that we need to do more to tackle the root causes of the underlying health, social and economic inequalities that were magnified by the pandemic. The events of the last few years have impacted all of us in some way, but they have not been felt equally. Instead, they have exposed and widened the inequality gap between our most and least affluent communities.

Therefore, our refreshed Vision and focus is very much centred around our people. We want South Tyneside to be a place where people live healthy, happy, and fulfilled lives. Over the next 20 years, working alongside key partners, we will focus our ambition, energy, and resources on tackling the biggest and most fundamental societal issues facing our residents.

We have used a wide range of resident and business feedback as well as the most up-to-date data and insight to inform our new 20 Year Vision for South Tyneside. As we move forward with its delivery, we are committed to staying alert to the latest intelligence about our people and our places, and to nurturing ongoing open conversations with our residents and businesses in the ongoing development of our plans.

In shaping this Vision and Strategy, we have built on the Five Community Priorities which guided us through the emergency response and recovery period of the pandemic.

Our new Vision is based on five key ‘Ambitions’. We want all residents in South Tyneside to: be financially secure; be healthy and well throughout their lives; be connected to jobs, skills, and learning; be part of strong communities; and we want to support our residents by targeting support to make things fairer.

As a Council we have produced a ‘Strategy’ to set out what we will do, working closely with our residents and partners, over the next three years to contribute to the delivery of our 20 Year Vision and Ambitions. This includes a clear set of priorities and a high-level action plan for each of the five Ambitions.

We look forward to working together to make South Tyneside a place where all residents live healthy, happy, and fulfilled lives.

We have listened to our communities and reviewed the evidence. This has told us what we need to focus on to make the biggest difference to the lives of our residents.

Our 20-year Vision is: Our South Tyneside – A place where people live healthy, happy, and fulfilled lives

This is Our South Tyneside, and we all have an important part to play in making this Vision a reality.

Our ambitions

We have five ‘Ambitions’ – the things we want to achieve over the next 20 years to help deliver our Vision. These five Ambitions will guide everything we do.

We want all people in South Tyneside to be:

And we want these things for every resident, so we are committed to:

The Council Strategy sets out the actions we will be taking over the next three years to help us achieve our 20 Year Vision.

For each of the five ‘Ambitions’ we have identified some clear Priorities and a detailed Action Plan to guide delivery over the next three years. These are set out in detail in Appendix 1 and summarised below:

What is our Ambition?

Residents will be financially secure. They will have what they need for a good standard of living.

Why is this important?

Our latest figures show that nearly a quarter of our population are living in the most deprived 10% of areas in England, 1 in 5 older people are living in income-deprived households, around 1 in 7 households are living in fuel poverty, and over 1 in 3 children in the borough are living in poverty.

What will we do to help achieve it over the next three years?

We have already supported 4,500 children through the summer holidays, provided financial support to local foodbanks, established a partnership-wide Poverty Group and assisted residents via council tax, benefit advice and vital funding support. Looking forward, we will:

• Work with partners to share intelligence and identify residents close to or experiencing financial hardship and poverty – including by developing a single system to get better at identifying those at risk in the future.
• Promote, signpost, and deliver interventions to support residents through short-term hardship and enable good long-term financial wellbeing - including by supporting more people to take up the benefits they are entitled and exploring ways to give local people access to low-cost credit unions.
• Provide targeted support to those who are disproportionately likely to experience poverty and financial insecurity - including by supporting carers to return to work and households with significant health challenges.
• Find new ways of listening and learning, working with communities to co-produce interventions to tackle poverty - including through new research to identify left behind groups.

What is our Ambition?

Residents will enjoy good mental wellbeing and physical health throughout their lives. They will have the best start in life and be able to live and age well.

Why is this important?

The current data shows that we have comparatively poor physical and mental health outcomes across the life cycle, as well as a high prevalence of behavioural risk factors (physical inactivity, alcohol and drug misuse and smoking), with local people having lower healthy life expectancies and lower overall life expectancies when compared with national averages. We have high numbers of children and families requiring social care support, domestic abuse incidents are high and increasing and admission rates to residential and nursing care homes are double the national average.

What will we do to help achieve it over the next three years?

We have already refreshed the partner-led Health and Wellbeing Strategy, invested in developing more extra care schemes and facilities, created more school places for pupils with special educational needs, created more community based services, and are supporting more families to foster.

Looking forward, we will:

• Support our children and young people to get the best start in life – by establishing Family Hubs across the borough, developing a youth offer to engage more young people in indoor and outdoor activities and targeting interventions to improve outcomes and safety for unborn babies, under 1s, and their families.
• Enable and inspire our residents to live healthier lives – including by promoting more walking and cycling, putting in place a new food action plan, and developing a preventative exercise programme for residents at high risk of a stroke and diabetes.
• Create the conditions for good mental health and social connectivity at all ages – by developing a Loneliness and Social Isolation Strategy, developing a consistent mental health training offer for frontline staff and voluntary organisations, and providing targeted support for people with long term health conditions.
• Ensure our communities can live safe from harm and access specialist support if they need it – by working with partners to establish a Domestic Abuse Strategy, raising awareness of safeguarding within our communities, and ensuring specialist support is available, including to our Armed Forces and asylum, refugee and migrant communities.
• Empower our residents with choice and independence to live longer, healthier lives in their homes and communities - by providing early help and support, working closely with local communities to shape future services, and delivering our ‘Living Better Lives’ Strategy, a key enabler in supporting people to live in the place they call home with the people and things that they love, in communities where people look out for one another, doing things that matter to them.

What is our Ambition?

Residents will have access to good quality jobs, skills, and learning. They will have the skills and confidence to apply for a wide range of local jobs. These jobs will be in key and growing areas of employment and benefit all our borough.

Why is this important?

The current evidence shows that despite highly rated local schools, an engaged business community and major local strengths in growing employment sectors, we have consistently high rates of people who are unemployed or not looking for work, labour shortages in key sectors, and lower rates of higher-level skills and higher paid jobs (particularly professional occupations) than regional or national comparators. It is important that we enable people from specific groups to achieve their potential through targeted interventions, for example, care leavers, carers, and adults with learning disabilities.

What will we do to help achieve it over the next three years?

We have already started to relocate South Tyneside College into South Shields town centre; set up ‘South Tyneside Works’ to help residents into employment; improved careers advice in schools; delivered major road and public transport improvements; and, attracted a new electric vehicle factory to the International Advanced Manufacturing Park, which is expected to bring 750 new jobs, with the site’s potential to reach over 4,500. Looking forward, we will:

• Build on our strengths in the green economy, advanced manufacturing, social care, and tourism, and capitalise on emerging opportunities – including by working with South Tyneside College to equip local people with the skills and qualifications needed for future opportunities in the low-carbon, digital and advanced manufacturing sectors, and by developing ready-to-go schemes linked to local strengths such as the Centre for Excellence in Renewable Energy in Holborn.
• Equip young people with the skills, confidence, and aspiration to move into a career right for them – by working in partnership with schools, young people, businesses and higher education partners to develop a Skills Strategy and improve careers guidance.
• Work with partners to break down barriers to employment and progression – including by developing a strengthened employment support service and building on the South Tyneside Pledge to support local businesses to play their part on issues such as living wage commitments, flexible working, and work placements for care leavers and those with special educational needs or disabilities.
• Open up opportunities for business growth and job creation – including by engaging with businesses in continuing to revitalise town centres and high streets, helping to create more space for small businesses to grow, tackling land-supply issues and supporting local entrepreneurs to invest in the borough.
• Deliver infrastructure and transport improvements that links people to jobs – including by rolling out improved mobile and broadband connectivity across the borough, ensuring high quality digital connectivity in key new regeneration and housing projects, delivering new walking and cycle ways, and lobbying for more investment in local roads and public transport.

What is our Ambition?

Residents are living in clean, green, and connected communities where they feel safe.

Why is this important?

The current evidence shows that 72% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live (slightly below the national average of 76%). Many residents tell us that the most important factors include clean streets and public areas, low levels of crime and anti-social behaviour, and feeling a sense of belonging in the community. In a recent survey, almost four in five residents felt a strong sense of belonging to their local area, 88% of residents reported feeling safe outside during the day, although this reduces to 47% after dark, and many residents reported barriers, such as a lack of knowledge around reducing their carbon footprint.

What will we do to help achieve it over the next three years?

We have already developed an ambitious yet achievable Sustainability Strategy that is moving us towards Net Zero by 2030, delivered pioneering renewable energy projects, held or supported events across the borough to bring communities together, and started work with community groups and the voluntary sector to enable communities to do more for themselves and each other.

We continue to maintain outstanding public places that are enjoyed by residents and visitors, including our Green Flag award-winning parks and our Sunday Times’ UK Beach of the Year. Looking forward, we will:

• Support green and sustainable choices and behaviours and connection to the natural environment – including by setting an example as an organisation with electric and hybrid fleet vehicles, planting more trees across the borough, and leading the way nationally around coastal recovery.
• Enhance satisfaction in the local area by supporting clean and safe neighbourhoods and public spaces – including by working with partners to tackle crime and anti-social behaviour, launching a community and business response service, delivering a Local Plan which meets future social, economic and environmental needs, and strengthening area management and public spaces design.
• Create opportunities for residents to connect and participate in their local communities – by supporting increased community power and action, through more resident-led engagement, volunteering and interventions, and a new Third Sector Strategy that helps bring communities together and enables more positive engagement in the arts and culture.

What is our Ambition?

We will target support at the residents and parts of our borough that need it the most, reducing inequalities and making things fairer.

Why is this important?

There is a real difference between our most and least affluent wards on outcomes such as life expectancy, health, income, employment and education. Half of our wards are in the UK’s 30% most deprived neighbourhoods, and we know that particular groups often face additional challenges.

What will we do to help achieve it over the next three years?

We are already taking additional steps to target our support – for example, through our new Family Hubs offer, digital skills programmes for particular groups, the upcoming Poverty Truth Commission, and our Social Navigator scheme.

Looking forward, we are committed to making genuine progress in further reducing inequalities. This will involve us developing a much more sophisticated understanding of the current the real issues affecting real people with different needs and experiences in South Tyneside and targeting our resources to make a difference.

To ensure our approach is sustainable and helps make a difference for people in the long-term, we will work with residents, partners, community groups and the voluntary sector, to help empower residents to do more for themselves and each other.

It is important to us that our plans are shaped by evidence.

Over recent months we have updated our evidence base to improve our understanding of the most pressing issues facing South Tyneside in 2022, post pandemic and amid the current cost-of-living crisis.

This updated evidence base includes data from nationally and locally collated statistics, as well as more intelligence gathered through ongoing conversations and engagement with residents, community organisations, businesses, and other key partner agencies.

We have also drawn from insights gathered by our frontline teams and our health and social care services. We have conducted a survey of over 1,000 residents (Ipsos Mori Residents Survey 2022), a survey of over 400 businesses (Business Survey 2022), in-depth interviews with key community groups (Community Insights Research from Newcastle and Northumbria Universities, 2022) engagement with residents and visitors through the ‘Our South Tyneside Conversation’ during the Summer Events programme, as well as a series of workshops involving a range of employees, elected members, community and third sector representatives, and partners. Our analysis has also included an independent assessment of our economy (2022 Economic Assessment), an analysis of the post-pandemic economic landscape and plan to boost economic recovery (Economic Recovery Plan 2022), and a report on how the borough is approaching levelling up (Levelling Up in Practice from the thinktank Onward, 2022).

We consistently asked for views on the biggest challenges and opportunities facing South Tyneside and ideas on what might help improve things. Positively, what people told us through conversation and engagement mirrored the key themes within our data and evidence, providing clear direction for our renewed Vision and Ambitions. We will continue to improve and update our evidence base and listen closely to our residents and businesses.

Headlines from our evidence are provided in the next section.

About South Tyneside

Population

• 147,800 residents
• 48.5% Male, 51.5% Female
• 95.9% white; 2.2% Asian or Asian British; 0.3% Black, African, Caribbean or Black British, 0.9% Mixed or Multiple Ethnic Group; 0.7% other Ethnic Group (2011 Census)
• There are 22.94 people per hectare of land in South Tyneside, a high population density compared to the 3.08 per hectare for the North East and 4.34 per hectare for England
• 16.8% of the population is under 15
• 62.3% are aged 15-64
• 20.9% are 65 and over

Health and Wellbeing

• 59.8% of our children with free school meal eligible status achieve a good level of development at the end of Reception, compared to 57.7% regionally and 56.5% nationally
• 66.3% of our pupils achieve the expected standard across reading, writing and maths at Key Stage 2, similar to the regional and national average
• In 2020/21 over 30% of reception age children and more than half of year six pupils were overweight or obese. By adulthood, this figure more than doubles: 65.9% of over 18s were overweight or obese in 20/21, compared to 63.5% nationally and 69.7% regionally.
• The rate of deaths from drug misuse has nearly doubled in the last decade and an estimated 1 in 5 South Tyneside residents (aged 16+) suffer from depression or anxiety
• We have a thriving voluntary community sector in South Tyneside and a real sense of belonging in our communities, award winning natural assets including 4 Green Flag Parks and a Sunday Times Beach of the Year, as well as affordable state-of-the-art leisure facilities - all things we know can contribute good health and mental wellbeing.
• There were 3,558 incidents of domestic abuse in South Tyneside between January and December 2021 - with higher proportions of incidents reported in people living in the top 20% most deprived areas.

Jobs and Skills

• 26% of jobs in South Tyneside are in the public sector
• South Tyneside’s major strengths are in advanced manufacturing and the energy and offshore wind supply chain
• 29.7% of the working age population has NVQ4 & above qualifications, lower than regionally (34.5%) and GB (43.6)
• A higher proportion of the working age population have no qualifications (8.3%), than regionally (8.2) and GB (6.6%)
• 4 in 5 of businesses surveyed rated South Tyneside a Fair, Good or Excellent place to run a business

Inequalities

• Average life expectancy in the borough is 76.4 years for males and 81.2 years for females, but we know this varies considerably per ward (up to 12.1 years difference for males)
• The 2019 Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) ranked South Tyneside as the 23rd most deprived authority out of England’s 151 upper tier authorities.
• South Tyneside’s gap in the employment rate between people with a physical or mental long-term health condition and the overall employment rate is 14.8 – larger than regionally (13.9) and nationally (10.7)
• Almost 45% of South Tyneside’s population live in the most deprived 20% of England, while around 1% live in the least deprived 10%

Communities

• Coverage of 4G networks, superfast and ultrafast broadband are all above the national average
• Just over 7 in 10 residents surveyed said they were satisfied with South Tyneside as a place to live
• Close to 9 in 10 residents say they feel safe in their local area during the day, less than half said they felt safe after dark
• 7.1m visitors to South Tyneside a year
• 399 metres is average distance to the nearest park, playing field or public garden in South Tyneside, less than half that of national figure of 983.1 metres

Finance

• Nearly one quarter (24.6%) of South Tyneside’s working age population was economically inactive between July 2021 and June 2022, of which long term sickness was the leading cause (41.4%)
• In April 2021, half of full-time employees in South Tyneside earned less than £450 per week
• 39.1% of under 16’s are living in poverty and 27.1% of children in the borough are eligible for free school meals
• 5.6% of the working age population were claiming out of work benefits in September 2022, compared to 4.1% (North East) and 3.7% (Great Britain)
• 8% of people aged 18-24 were claiming unemployment benefits in September 2022, compared to 5.5% (North East) and 4.6% (Great Britain)

We are launching our renewed Vision from some very strong foundations.

Over the last decade there has been substantial investment in the people, places, and services across South Tyneside, supporting some remarkable schemes and achievements, including:

Like all local authorities, South Tyneside Council operates within a framework of statutory obligations that are shaped by wider political and legislative factors.

This Vision and Strategy is being published at a time of considerable economic, social, technological, and political change.

Wider factors which influence what we can deliver

National legislation

For example, introduction of new local responsibilities or changing relationships such as with schools or health partners.

Funding decided at a national level

Including funding pots which areas must compete for, or changes to business rates or Council Tax affecting expected revenue.

Economic environment

Including rising inflation, impacting on energy bills, staff wages and goods and services.

Societal changes

Including new technology and changing global priorities, such as around climate action, the shift to increasingly remote working, or political conflict.

National policy and guidance

For example, new inspection frameworks or standards.

The different powers and functions devolved to different levels of Government

For example, around skills or transport.

Changes in demand

For example an aging population meaning a greater number of residents requiring support to live independently, or a birth rate increase meaning more nursery and primary school places.

We continue to adapt to our evolving circumstances and explore new and different ways to deliver our services in the context of a reducing core Government grant. This includes the exploration of other income streams which could accompany the devolution of Government powers to a regional footprint. The Council is also facing rising demand, increasing costs and inflation, unforeseen responsibilities because of national and global events, and shorter-term funding settlements from Government, meaning less certainty.

Due to significant cuts in Government funding, the Council has had to make savings of over £190m since 2010. The Council now has an annual ‘revenue’ budget of around £136m to spend on services. This is separate to the Council’s spending on ‘capital’ projects, which is currently £366m over the next five years and is used for projects such as town centre regeneration, housing and improvements to roads and footpaths.

The Council’s annual ‘revenue’ budget is currently spent on the following services:

Where does the money go?

Over 60% of the Council’s budget is spent on Children’s and Adult’s Social Care, and the pressures within these services are continually rising. These are ‘statutory services’- things that the Council must provide by law and relate to the health and safety of the population. As well as the safeguarding of children, young people and adults from harm, other services in this category include: licensing, planning, homelessness prevention, environmental health, street parking, street trading, waste collection and disposal, highways, rights of way and parks and green spaces.

The Council’s budget has reduced significantly over recent years. Therefore, prioritising in line with our statutory responsibilities and our renewed Vision and Ambitions is very important.

Every person in South Tyneside – including those who live, work, represent or invest in the area – has an important part to play in helping make the Vision and Ambitions a reality. The Council recognises its role as a key service provider but also in convening and enabling others to contribute. Some of the key stakeholders, influencers and decision-makers are shown below:

Working in Partnership

The Council works closely with a range of public, private and third sector partners to deliver against its duties and ambitions for the local community.

Partnership working is a strength in South Tyneside. We are a small borough with well-established, positive joint-working arrangements with our partners. In recent years we have launched positive campaigns such as #LoveSouthTyneside and the South Tyneside Pledge to further strengthen the role of the voluntary, community and business sectors in delivering improvements for our communities.

The Council also plays a key role in several regional multi-agency partnerships. Our more formal partnership arrangements include the overarching South Tyneside Partnership Board, and sub-boards. These arrangements will be refreshed in line with the new Vision & Ambitions. Partners have committed to working more closely to tackle cross-cutting issues together. This will include more shared resource, risk and effort, and joint decisions with better intelligence and data sharing.

The Council also plays a key role in several multi-agency partnerships on a regional or sub-regional footprint. This includes collaboration with neighbouring authorities and relevant partners on cross-cutting matters such as transport, skills and the economy via regional combined authorities and informal networks, to the new Integrated Care Board and engaging with Police and other partners involved in emergency response work through the Regional Local Resilience Forum.

In addition, the Council contributes to regional and national networks, including participating in the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS); Directors of Children’s Social Care; Directors of Public Health (ADCS); the Association for Public Service Excellence (APSE) and the Local Government Association (LGA), as well as leading the LGA Coastal Special Interest Group.

How the Council will work to deliver the Vision and Strategy

New Council ‘Values’

Our Council ‘Values’ are the things that matter most to us in terms of how we behave and work.

They are our guiding principles, and they apply to every person who works for or represents South Tyneside Council – all 4593 employees and 54 elected members.

Our Council ‘Values’ have been refined through extensive listening and consultation with our residents, employees, elected members, and partners. They are the things we most care about and are our promise to residents, each other and to all who interact with the Council.

We are progressing with an exciting programme of engagement to ensure Our Council ‘Values’ are deeply ingrained principles at the heart of our workplace culture and guide all that we do, individually and collectively.

At South Tyneside Council…we are PROUD:

‘Our Council’ Change Programme

We are working hard to implement our ambitious ‘Our Council’ Change Programme which will modernise how we work.

As part of ‘Our Council’ we are also investing in employee and elected member training and development to ensure our people have the tools and resources they need to succeed in their important roles. As part of this, equality, diversity, and inclusion are at the forefront of our approach. We have agreed a comprehensive and structured two-year organisational development plan to transform how we work across the Council.

‘Our Council’ will also drive changes to make services more efficient, effective, and accessible for users.

As part of ‘Our Council’ we have strong ambitions to strengthen our approach to:

Listening, collaborating, and empowering others

To deliver services that will make a real difference, we must have a thorough and up-to-date understanding of what matters to our residents and businesses.

To do this, we need to create regular opportunities to listen and learn from our local communities, making sure that we hear from people with a range of perspectives and experiences. This needs to be an ongoing conversation that genuinely shapes service design and delivery for the better.

We also recognise the value of moving beyond consultation and engagement towards co-production. This is where the people who services are centred around are given a leading role in developing solutions. Work is underway to further develop community engagement and co-production approaches across the Council and system, learning from those who already do this well.

As part of this, we want to explore solutions that allow residents to do more for themselves and others. We are interested in exploring the potential in developing a ‘Charter’ with residents, businesses, and others, to help explore our individual and collective roles in helping achieve our Vision to make South Tyneside a place where people live healthy, happy, and fulfilled lives.

Making fair, transparent and evidence-based decisions

Fairness, openness, and transparency are crucial in building trust and confidence between people and the Council. To ensure we get this right, we are taking steps to improve our communications and the accessibility of our information and services.

To make real and meaningful progress towards our Vision and Ambitions, we know that our decisions must be led by the best available evidence. To do this, we are committed to strengthening our data and insight base and exploring new and innovative ways to collect the information we need.

In the context of increasing pressures on public finances and deep-rooted inequalities within our communities, we need to make our money go further and ensure we use our resources wisely. We want everyone in South Tyneside to be supported to live a healthy, happy, and fulfilled life and the evidence tells us that making things fairer benefits everyone. This is our focus of Ambition 5 and to achieve it, we must be prepared to make bold decisions - prioritising our resources in line with the evidence on who and where needs them the most.

Prioritising Prevention

Prevention is a key theme underpinning much of our work and runs through our approaches across Health and Wellbeing, Adult Social Care and Children’s Services.

Prioritising prevention means intervening early and seeking to tackle problems before they start or get worse. Many health, social and economic issues are related and often their causes are interlinked. From ensuring our young people are well equipped for adult life, to supporting residents to live healthier lives with the skills and training they need to enjoy a good standard of living, prevention is an important part of everything we do. Not only does prioritising prevention mean people can live healthier and happier for longer in their own homes and communities, but it is also more cost effective for the Council and partners, providing better value for money in the long run.

A Modern, Fit-for-Purpose Council

We are committed to modernising the Council to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future. This includes ensuring our services are accessible, fit for purpose and efficient. It also includes ensuring our employees and Elected Members are enabled to undertake their roles in an agile and responsive way. We are working to become a much more digitally enabled Council, using technology to help us operate more efficiently, resulting in better outcomes for service users, and reduced pressure and cost for the Council.

Following a decade of austerity, we know we have some catching up to do. In recent years we have invested significantly in upgrading our core ICT infrastructure and systems. We are now starting to deliver improved ways of working through our Modern Workplace Programme. We will further modernise how we work, both internally and across the borough, by expanding our service design capacity and increasing the rollout of secure and easy to use digital services built upon a modern, secure, and resilient ICT infrastructure.

We have been deliberately ambitious in setting out our renewed Vision and Strategy.

Our 20 Year ‘Ambitions’ are huge, cross-cutting issues and we know it will take a sustained and joint partnership effort, and significant resource, to make a big difference to them. We have identified some headline indicators for each of the Ambitions over the 20 year Vision period, as we know that it is unlikely that we will see significant shifts in these in the short or medium-term. Many of these are longstanding and intergenerational issues. To tackle them we need to hold true to our Ambitions and remain focused on the long-term Vision.

Breaking big, long-term plans into smaller milestones makes them more achievable. Given the huge uncertainty that exists nationally and across the public sector. Our ‘Strategy’ is therefore broken down into a set of Priorities and three year. Action Plans per Ambition (Appendix 1). We have identified a list of measures to help us review what difference our three year plans are making for the people of South Tyneside.

Our initial views on key measures are listed below and will be refined as we continue to grow and improve our evidence base:

Measuring the success of the 20 Year Ambitions

Ambition 1: Financially Secure

Headline measure

Indices of Multiple Deprivation – deprivation related to low income

Supporting measures

Child Poverty; Households claiming Universal Credit

Ambition 2: Healthy and Well

Headline measure

Healthy Life Expectancy

Supporting measures

Excess weight; hospital admissions related to alcohol; incidents of domestic abuse; adults still living independently

Ambition 3: Connected to Jobs

Headline measure

Employment Rate

Supporting measures

Economic activity rate; residents with qualifications, claimant counts, average wage levels.

Ambition 4: Strong Communities

Headline measure

Resident satisfaction with South Tyneside as a place to live

Supporting measures

Crime; CO2 Emissions

Ambition 5: Targeting support to make things fairer

Headline measure

Improvement in least affluent wards to close the gap with the most affluent (life expectancy, health, income, employment & education)

Supporting measures

Council workforce profile closer to local population

Measuring the success of the Three-Year Strategy

Ambition 1: Financially Secure

• Residents claiming Universal Credit
• % Households in Fuel Poverty
• % Claimant count
• Young people aged 18-21 claiming benefits
• Take up of food support: Free School Meals; food banks
• ‘Breathing Space’ registrations
• Rate of debt relief orders
• Number of individual insolvencies

Ambition 2: Healthy and Well

• Rate of ‘Children in Need’
• Rate of open Early Help cases (seek to shift balance toward Early Help - prevention)
• Children Subject to a Child Protection Plan
• Rate of Children Looked After
• Children and young people with a special educational needs and disabilities plan
• School exclusions
• % People who are still at home 91 days after discharge from hospital (65+)
• % People who received short term support
• % People admitted to residential care (aged 18-64 and 65+)
• Social care-related quality of life (service users and carers)
• % of residents who feel lonely or isolated
• Healthy weight in Children in Reception / Year 6
• Breastfeeding prevalence at 6-8 weeks after birth
• Activity rates in adults
• Healthy weight in adults
• Smoking overall and in mothers at time of delivery
• Admission episodes for alcohol related conditions
• Substance abuse
• Self-harm rates / adolescent mental health
• Domestic Abuse incidents
• Homelessness prevented and relieved

Ambition 3: Connected to Jobs

• Employment and unemployment rate
• Employment rates in different groups e.g. % adults with a Learning Disability in employment
• Economic inactivity
• Universal Credit claimant numbers (in-work)
• Average Earnings
• Young people and care leavers in employment, education or training
• School attendance
• % pupils in good and outstanding schools
• Children achieving a Good Level of Development at the end of reception
• Children Achieving Expected Levels in Reading, Writing and Maths at KS2
• Children Achieving Level 4 or above in English and Maths at KS4
• A-level results
• Qualification level in local population
• New business registrations
• Inward investment

Ambition 4: Strong Communities

• % Satisfaction with South Tyneside as a place to live
• Crime & Anti-Social Behaviour rates
• Residents’ perception of crime
• Total household waste produced
• % Waste to recycling, reuse, and composting, and contamination rates
• South Tyneside Homes tenant satisfaction
• Progress towards CO2 neutral/reduction vs 2020 baseline
• Trees planted
• % Homes with Ultrafast broadband connection available

Ambition 5: Targeting support to make things fairer

Measures for this ambition will be identified in line with the new Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Objectives that will be developed as part of this action plan over the coming months.

In addition to the above, the Council monitors a wide range of performance indicators and feedback, from service user numbers to complaints and compliments, to ensure the ongoing health of the organisation and its ability to deliver services on behalf of residents.

Reviewing and reporting progress

Progress in delivering this Strategy will be monitored through a performance management (indicators/ targets/ benchmarking), programme management (delivery against project milestones), finance (using resources effectively and within budget), and risk (proactive approach to barriers to delivery) framework. All these elements are important and help decision-makers manage and review service delivery performance and progress against strategic priorities.

2023 will see a new Quarterly ‘Our Performance’ Report to Cabinet, which will include an update on the delivery of the Strategy from both a performance/ indicator and a programme management/ milestone perspective. These quarterly reports will complement the existing reporting arrangements around finance and risk and will contribute to a new annual ‘Our South Tyneside’ report, which will set out progress and achievements from over the year.

Sitting behind these reports is a wide-ranging framework of performance management, which includes review and ownership across various partner agencies; directorate level ‘assurance’ arrangements particularly in support of our statutory responsibilities; senior board level corporate assurance; and in-depth reviews for areas that require more attention.

The evidence tells us that:

Nationally, the current cost-of-living crisis is an issue important to most people. Even before now, many communities in South Tyneside were already struggling to make ends meet. Nearly one quarter (24.6%) of South Tyneside’s working age population was economically inactive between July 2021 and June 2022, of which long term sickness was the leading cause.

In April 2021, half of full-time employees in South Tyneside earned less than £450 per week, and in the year 2020/21, 10,353 children (or 39.1%) in the borough were living in poverty - one of the highest rates in the UK. In the Autumn term of 2020/21, 27.1% of pupils in South Tyneside were eligible for free school meals, a proxy measure for low income.

Although at the time of writing (October 2022), both the number and percentage of people claiming out of work benefits are at their lowest since January 2019, South Tyneside still has larger proportion than the regional and national average. Rising prices are putting significant pressure on household budgets, with reports of increased food bank usage across the borough, and families and households increasingly experiencing significant financial hardship. Between November 2021 and February 2022, almost half of the South Tyneside residents surveyed predicted their personal financial situation would worsen over the next 12 months.

In 2020 (well before the energy price cap increases took effect), 14.5% of households in the borough were fuel poor. In the year prior, almost 45% of South Tyneside’s population were living within the most deprived 20% of England, while around 1% were living in the most affluent 10%. Areas with the highest levels of deprivation are concentrated along the riverside, including in the Beacon and Bents, Simonside and Rekendyke, Bede and Primrose wards, with pockets of deprivation elsewhere, such as in the Biddick and All Saints, Whiteleas and Boldon Colliery wards.

Deprivation has strong links with poor health, and South Tyneside displays worse health outcomes compared to less deprived local authorities as well as worse health outcomes in its most deprived neighbourhoods. This relationship is mutually reinforcing; low income and unemployment can both lead to and be caused by poor health. The consequences of poverty can be catastrophic- holding back the potential of our residents, preventing the best start in life for our children and young people, hindering economic growth and adversely impacting upon life chances.

We have already:

• Supported customers to access £3.5m in owed benefits between March 2021-Feb 2022
• Distributed £600,000 to over 7000 households with children through the Household Support Fund
• Provided over £1m in additional help to those on low incomes to assist with council tax bills
• Established a Social Navigator scheme to work intensively with residents facing chronic financial hardship
• Provided more than 4,500 children and young people with food and activities as part of the Holiday Activity Fund
• Established the ‘South Tyneside Poverty Group’ to bring together teams from across the Council, key partners and practitioners with the aim of reducing and mitigating the impacts of poverty in South Tyneside, holding a Cost-of-Living Summit with partners in October 2022
• Created a dedicated page on the Council’s website to signpost a range of cost-of-living support and started exploring how we can best promote this via the South Tyneside Pledge Network, key local stakeholders and major employers
• Started work with representatives from the local private sector to look at a joint bid against Round 3 of the Green Homes Grant to assist in bringing homes in the sector up to an EPC rating of C or above
• Developed a plan for the provision of ‘warm spaces’ over the winter months in venues across the borough
• Began working with schools to promote opportunities to understand and mitigate the challenges faced by less welloff pupils
• Developed and implemented a Carers Support Strategy informed by carers with lived experience of poverty and financial insecurity

The evidence tells us that:

South Tyneside performs well in some areas that are key in enabling our children and young people to have the best start in life. This includes our community health, children’s, and adoption services, as well as our schools. Our latest data shows that compared with regionally and nationally, a slightly greater percentage of our children with free school meal eligible status achieve a good level of development at the end of Reception, and 66% of our pupils achieve the expected standard across reading, writing, and maths at Key Stage 2.

However, we know we have some real challenges, and our borough falls behind on some key indicators of good health and mental wellbeing. For example, while the figure has nearly halved since 2014/15, 13.3% of mothers in South Tyneside were smokers at the time of delivery in 2020/21, and less than a quarter of babies were being breastfed at 6-8 weeks, compared to nearly half nationally. In the same year, over 30% of reception age children and more than half of year six pupils were overweight or obese. By adulthood, this figure more than doubles: 65.9% of over 18s were overweight or obese in 20/21, compared to 63.5% nationally and 69.7% regionally. Meanwhile, the rate of deaths from drug misuse have nearly doubled in the last decade and an estimated 1 in 5 South Tyneside residents (aged 16+) suffer from depression or anxiety.

In a survey of self-reported wellbeing, South Tyneside adults reported their wellbeing poorly across all four measures in comparison to England wide responses. Not feeling lonely and isolated are conducive to good wellbeing, and the importance of strong social connections was highlighted in a recent Community Insights report. We already have a thriving voluntary community sector in South Tyneside and a real sense of belonging in our communities, award winning natural assets and affordable state-of-the-art leisure facilities all things we know can contribute good health and mental wellbeing.

But we know there is more we need to do. In South Tyneside, the average number of years a male can expect to live in good health is 57.3 years, while females can expect to live 58.9 years in good health. This is around 5 years less than the national average. Average male life expectancy in the borough is 76.4 years, compared to 81.2 years for females, and we know this varies considerable by ward. There is a 12.1 year different in male life expectancy between the most and least affluent wards.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the magnitude of and widened underlying inequalities in the determinants of good health and wellbeing. Well before the events of the last few years, South Tyneside displayed deep-rooted health inequalities - both within the borough and in comparison to other local authorities. By tackling the wider determinants of health, the other ambitions set out in this strategy will make a significant contribution to the health and wellbeing of our population. Likewise, maintaining good health enables people to be financially secure, be socially connected, participate in the economy, and live a long, happy, and fulfilled life.

On this basis, it is crucial that we facilitate the conditions for good health and wellbeing throughout the borough, ensuring our residents and families have healthy places to live, learn and work and can access support if needed.

What we’ve done already:

• Introduced a pioneering ‘Healthy Lives’ fitness class programme in partnership with colleagues at the NHS, using Council leisure facilities to support the successful rehabilitation of patients with cardiac and pulmonary conditions
• Created more school places with special educational needs and disabilities, meaning fewer pupils will have to leave South Tyneside to get an education
• Maintained a smoking in pregnancy programme to reduce the smoking prevalence among pregnant women
• Offered healthy vitamins universally across maternity services, children’s centres and other outlets
• Increased capacity within the substance misuse services to increase access to treatment, as well as supporting the alcohol care team pathway
• Began work with schools and the Youth Parliament to look at how healthy eating is reflected in the curriculum
• Adopted a Local Cycling and Walking Investment Plan and given more than 3,000 school children cycling training
• Implemented a new model to encourage foster caring

The evidence tells us that:

South Tyneside has some major local strengths in growing employment sectors, including those linked to the green economy, advanced manufacturing, social care and tourism and hospitality. Local businesses are engaged and ambitious, with many signed up to the South Tyneside Pledge and committed to creating opportunities for local people and for the local economy. Local schools, colleges and training providers are rated highly and the area is well connected to regional universities through the transport network.

However, South Tyneside also has a number of notable challenges, with lower-than-average skills levels , persistently high unemployment and economic inactivity, and those in work receiving lower than regional and national average pay. There are barriers to our young people reaching their potential, reflected in a tapering off in attainment as young people move from primary to secondary school and lower than average numbers of young people entering higher education. There is currently also a notable skills mismatch, meaning relatively high unemployment and economic inactivity, at the same time as vacancies are going unfilled (particularly in vital industries like social care, hospitality, and manufacturing).

We have already:

• Engaged with hundreds of local businesses through the South Tyneside Pledge, which has secured commitments which will increase employment opportunities for residents and maximised the ‘South Tyneside Pound’, keeping money circulating in the local economy
• Established ‘South Tyneside Works’ to provide multi-agency support to help residents into sustained employment
• Drawn some exciting investment to the area, including Envision-AESC who are investing £450m to build a Gigafactory on the International Advanced Manufacturing Park
• Collaborated with partners, schools and further education providers to expand STEM provision, including with the Dogger Bank Skills and Community Fund
• During the pandemic, established a dedicated business hub and distributed £52m in government grants to local businesses to help support the economy, increase investment, and create the conditions for growth
• Delivered transport schemes to improve road and public transport links to jobs, including an A19 lane gain and metro track dualling

The evidence tells us that:

The current evidence shows that 72% of residents are satisfied with their local area as a place to live (slightly below the national average of 76%). Many residents tell us that the most important factors include clean streets and public areas, low levels of crime and anti-social behaviour, and feeling a sense of belonging in the community. In a recent survey, almost four in five residents felt a strong sense of belonging to their local area, 88% of residents reported feeling safe outside during the day, although this reduces to 47% after dark, and many residents reported a lack of knowledge and means around the sustainability agenda preventing them from further reducing their carbon footprint.

South Tyneside has high levels of deprivation, and some residents experience challenges with social isolation, antisocial behaviour, and domestic abuse. The borough has some strong community assets, including award-winning parks and beaches, a strong arts, culture, and events offer, a number state-of-the-art leisure, library and community hubs, and a strong network of third sector community groups.

However only 47% of the population is engaged with arts and culture for example, and good levels of access to green spaces and affordable leisure opportunities does not translate into good physical and mental health outcomes, highlighting that there is a lot more to do to connect residents to these assets and opportunities.

We have already:

• Invested millions into renewable energy and emissions reducing technology, including via through piloting forward-thinking schemes including at Viking Energy Network in Jarrow and Holborn district heating scheme in South Shields, which could together save over 4,000 tonnes of carbon per year
• Extended free, family-friendly cultural events programme right across South Tyneside, including summer parks events and new special markets
• Led a regional partnership called ‘Stronger Shores’ to pilot a £6.4m scheme to understand how protection and restoration of marine habitats can contribute to coastal protection
• Secured funding through the Digital Connectivity Infrastructure Accelerator Fund to help exploit the potential of deployment of open access, gigabit capable, full fibre infrastructure throughout the borough by 2025
• Been named as an Arts Council ‘Priority Place’, a status which will help unlock cultural investment and support opportunities to showcase our cultural offer to wider audiences
• Invested £3.2m to restore the North Marine Park in South Shields back to its original Victorian glory and worked with partners and volunteers to gain prestigious Green Flag awards at a growing number of parks across the borough, including West Park in Jarrow, and West Park, South Marine Park and Readhead Park in South Shields.
• Continued to maintain fantastic beaches, including the Sunday Times’ 2022 Beach of the Year at Sandhaven.

The evidence tells us that:

There are deep-rooted health, social and economic inequalities within our borough. The inequality gap between our least and most affluent communities is also mirrored in outcomes such as life expectancy, health, employment, and education. For example, in Cleadon and East Boldon, residents are twice as likely to have higher level qualifications, over three times less likely to be living in overcrowded homes, over a half less likely to be fuel poor, and year 6 pupils are half as likely to be obese, compared with people living in Beacon and Bents.

Different people experience different obstacles which without support, can impact on their ability to live healthy, happy, and fulfilled lives. For example,12% of our residents have a long-term health condition or disability, 16.9% of school pupils have special educational needs, 5.8% of secondary school pupils speak a first language other than English and 1500 young people are carers. South Tyneside’s gap in the employment rate between people with a physical or mental long-term health condition and the overall employment rate is 14.8 – larger than regionally (13.9) and nationally (10.7). This is likely to have implications for financial security and social isolation.

Councils have a duty under the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 to consider the impact of their decisions on people with ‘protected characteristics’. There are nine protected characteristics identified by the Act: age, disability, gender reassignment and identity, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. There is also a duty on public bodies to address inequalities that result from socio-economic disadvantage.

People can possess more than one characteristic, and the cumulative impacts of this means that people’s experiences can be very different. For example, a person with a disability living in a deprived area of the borough may have very different experiences to a person with a disability living in a more affluent part of the Borough, and an elderly white man is likely to have very different experiences to an elderly Asian woman. This means that to really tackle inequalities, we need to deliver support in a targeted way to the people and places that need it most, in ways that will work for them.

We have already:

• Established Lead Member and Member Champion roles focused on Equalities
• Undertaken a Poverty Commission (through the People Select Committee)
• Put tackling inequalities at the heart of our new Health and Wellbeing Strategy with the ‘Fair Delivery of Service’ crosscutting theme and plans for Health Equality Audits and Health Impact Assessments
• Developed and distributed a workforce equalities survey to collect information about workforce diversity, perceptions of equality and inclusion, and appetite for additional support, and established several collaborative forums to focus on key issues

Throughout the action plans associated with the other Ambitions, there are many actions that link directly to us targeting resources to make things fairer. In addition to these, and to further support our Council-wide approach, we will: