[UK] 'Millions go to waste' in war against city poverty

from The Scotsman

GARETH ROSE

THE head of the agency charged with tackling poverty in Craigmillar said today it had wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers' money.

The Craigmillar Partnership has spent around £20 million over the last ten years trying to improve life in the area.

But Paul Nolan, chairman of the partnership, said that around half the money it has been spending for at least the last five years has had no positive effect.

The former city councillor was speaking after a senior council official criticised the lack of control over the money being spent in the Capital on anti-poverty projects in a report to the Scottish Parliament.

Mr Nolan, who has led the partnership for five years, said he thought there was a lot of truth in the criticism.

"A lot of money [we receive] is used to employ middle-class professionals who do very little work at tackling deprivation in Craigmillar," he said. "Measures used to evaluate their impact are vague to the extent they are meaningless. A good half of the £1.7m we hand out [annually] has no effect on tackling deprivation."

Mr Nolan said he wanted to see an independent arbitrator brought in to make radical changes to the partnership. One of the projects he criticised was WorkTrack, a scheme aimed at helping the area's unemployed find jobs.

It was founded in Craigmillar in 1999 and now helps jobseekers across the city. It is not known how many of the people the organisation has found employment for have kept their jobs.

Mr Nolan said: "It receives hundreds of thousands of pounds and produces fantastic, pretty picture presentations with graphs.

"Then you ask how many apprentices have they got and it's about three or four."

But Martin Smith, chief executive of WorkTrack, hit back, saying: "We help between 260 and 300 people into work every year. We also work with school leavers and if the number of apprenticeships has dropped it is because more are going on to further education. We see that as a success."

The council spends about £7m a year on special education, health and housing projects aimed at helping the city's poorest residents. A further £7m a year is poured into areas like Broomhouse, Sighthill and Leith by the Scottish Executive and its funding arm, Communities Scotland.

Councillor Ian Perry, deputy leader of the city council and a Craigmillar Partnership member, said questions needed to be asked about the effectiveness of spending, adding: "All the money has been spent on legitimate projects targeting social exclusion.

"However, there is an issue about whether this approach can ever tackle the root causes."

Councillor Iain Whyte, the city's Tory leader, said: "I don't think this will surprise the people of Craigmillar. Huge amounts of money have gone into the area, it's always difficult to see what good it's done for the community."

More than 50,000 people in the Capital are estimated to be living in poverty and relying on handouts to survive.

A report into the effectiveness of public spending on projects to tackle deprivation across the country has just been carried out for the parliament. In the report, a senior city council finance official questioned how effectively the effects of cash being spent in the Capital was being monitored.

He said: "There appears to be a lot going in - but it's not measured effectively."

Councillor Sheila Gilmore, the city's housing leader, said: "Every project that is funded has to put together a report on whether it has met its targets. That information is then passed on to Communities Scotland, so there is a reporting mechanism."

A Scottish Executive spokesman said: "We are ensuring the way funding is allocated is simplified and better co-ordinated."
Who gets what in the great housing estate share-out

Money allocated by Craigmillar Partnership in support of local projects 2005/6:

• Craigmillar Ability Network, creating a network for disabled people - £52,617

• The Capacity Building project, helping people develop skills for community life - £209,595 plus £13,000 for CPB Bingham

• Craigmillar Neighbourhood Alliance - £27,034

• Edinburgh Community Food Initiative - £5250

• Community Voices, which allows residents to have a say - £45,000

• Craigmillar Childcare Services, which runs after-school clubs - £206,356

• Worktrack for employment support and advice - £168,866,

• Cafe K, a youth support group - £56,646

• Haywired, providing computer and internet resources - £100,000

• Womanzone, helping women combat physical and mental health problems - £27,454

• Craigmillar Development Enterprise, a social regeneration group - £170,000

• The Arts and Environmental project - £28,988

• MIME, which oversees the local European Regional Development Fund programme - £60,293

• The Craigmillar Chronicle, a community newspaper - £37,859

• Phonelink, which runs a morning alarm call for families where attendance at school is a problem - £67,859

• The Venchie breakfast club programme for youngsters - £88,240

• The Bingham 50+ Project - £5000

• Lismore Parent Action Group - £12,000

• Bingham Community Planning group - £25,000

• Sexual health support group HOT - £103,922

• The Richmond Cafe, run by Richmond Church in Craigmillar - £8367

• Adult Student Link - £44,597

Tackling Drugs Misuse fund - £50,000
Should organisations given public money be more accountable?

Douglas Smart, 63, retired solicitor, Bellfield Avenue, Musselburgh: "The spending of all public money must be accountable. Having said that, I suspect politicians waste more money than public sector organisations."

Evelyn Robertson, 65, retired, Orchard Bank: "Absolutely, I feel there is a lot of money pouring into Craigmillar and there is very little to show for it."

Darran Quigley, 29, taxi driver, Forrester Park Avenue: "Everyone is entitled to have a shot but you've still got to be accountable for your actions."

David Poole, 73 , retired engineer, Mayfield Road: "They should definitely be more accountable. There's no point having good ideas if they are not put into practice."

Natasha Lobely, 28, PR account manager, Dalmeny Street: "The man in charge of the Craigmillar Partnership should be able to take more responsibility and do more research into whether these projects are going to work."