Poverty Dashboard for Dumfries and Galloway

Description

Dumfries and Galloway Council intend to commission an organisation to develop and implement the creation of a local Poverty dashboard, designed to provide a clear, accessible view of child poverty across Dumfries and Galloway. The dashboard should be accessible to partner organisations and any other interested party. Dumfries and Galloway Council serve a region of around 148,000 people across the South West of Scotland, stretching from Stranraer in the West, to Moffat and Annan in the East. We are the 3rd largest local authority by area in Scotland. The latest published statistics show that the rate of child poverty in Dumfries and Galloway is 22.7%. This equates to 5,672 children and young people living in poverty in the region. For example, there are some real challenges around improving health outcomes for those experiencing poverty in the early years and to ensure that all families eligible for free school meals are reached. Lot 1: Dumfries and Galloway have received funding through the Scottish Governments Fairer Futures initiative. The project is early in its inception but has the long-term goal to deliver systematic change in the way public services support parents and families out of poverty. Our approach is to use existing principles and approaches to put families first, focusing on prevention rather than cure. To help achieve this, accurately measuring poverty and low income is crucial, and the availability of real-time data is vital for effective policy-making. The dashboard would have geographic layers, allowing users to explore poverty data at varying levels of granularity, offering insights into where support is most needed, with a particular focus on priority groups identified by the Scottish Government. These include lone-parent households, families with a disabled member, large families, and households with a mother under the age of 25. It is hoped that data can be gathered that will make meaningful impact to household income, targeting those who are not currently accessing all the additional help and support they can. In addition it’s important that we understand the landscape of our household in poverty, not in our dense areas of deprivation. It would be sage if this could also include pertinent health related data around missed appointments, or additional useful information which might allow for a targeted approach to reduce health inequality. The dashboard should; -Filter data by employment status, housing tenure, and age group, enabling a nuanced understanding of the different dimensions of poverty. -Be a dynamic platform with regularly updated data, that can be continually used to inform decision making. -Be publicly accessible, this openness is essential for building trust and ensuring that anti-poverty efforts are responsive to the lived experiences of families across the region. The purpose of the Poverty Dashboard is to make it easier for the Council and its partners, working with our families in poverty, to easily identify the areas of greatest need to support an evidence based and targeted approach when tackling poverty and inequality in the region.. It is anticipated that this procurement requirement will be conducted through Quick Quote portal as a non-regulated procedure, interested organisations are encouraged to express an interest to be added to the quick quote where this goes as planned.