People, Partners

and Prosperity

Presentation to: Welfare to Work Conference

St. John’sNovember 16, 2003

Background

• 1996 “What the People Said” Reports of the Social Policy Advisory Committee

• 1998 Strategic Social Plan approved by Government

• Commitment to completion of a Social Audit by the end of 2003

The Vision

A healthy, educated, distinctive,

self-reliant and prosperous people

living in vibrant, supportive communities

within sustainable regions

The Values

• Self-reliance• Social justice• Equity• Fairness• Collaboration

The Goals

• VIBRANT COMMUNITIES where people are actively involved

• SUSTAINABLE REGIONS based on strategic investment in people

• SELF-RELIANT, HEALTHY EDUCATED CITIZENS living in safe communities

• INTEGRATED AND EVIDENCED-BASED policies and programs

SSP Implementation Structures

• Minister responsible for the SSP• SSP Ministerial Committee• Premier’s Council on Social Development• Deputies’ Committee• Six Regional Steering Committees• SSP Office• Newfoundland and Labrador Statistics Agency

Links Between Social and Economic Development

• SSP approach recognizes and actively encourages linkages between social and economic initiatives

• Examples:– Joint socio-economic development conferences

– Funding for expanded literacy survey

Evidence Based Decision Making

• Development and maintenance of the Community Accounts – an innovative and comprehensive online information tool

• Developing capacity to use information• Emphasis in departments on evidence based

decision making• From the Ground Up

– Socio-economic indicators– Snapshot in time

Regional Development

• Six Regional Steering Committees– Representatives from school and health boards,

economic development organizations, 3 orders of government

• Identification of local priorities• Sharing of knowledge and resources• Commitment to joint problem solving

External Advice

• Premier’s Council on Social Development– 19 citizens from across the Province

– Broad perspectives on social and economic development

– Provide advice to government on key social initiatives and the implementation of the SSP

Within Government

• SSP emphasizes internal and external collaboration.

• Sharing of resources.• Involvement of stakeholders in policy and

program development.• Use of evidence in decision making.

Monitoring Outcomes: A Social Audit

• Are we doing the right things?– Choices based on good solid evidence?

• Are we doing them the right way?• Are we making a difference?• How do we know?

Social Audit

• Being conducted in four phases:– Phase 1: public release of the Community Accounts

– Phase 2: Indicators Report From the Ground Up

– Phase 3: External evaluation of how government is doing business

– Phase 4: Evaluation of key programs

From the Ground Up

• A picture of where we are today in terms of well-being indicators

• Future audits will use same indicators to measure progress over time

• Where possible information is provided by region• Premiers Council wanted a living document

– Which people could use– Would provoke discussion– Challenge people to talk about real issues

• Living longer than we used to but … – Compared to Canada we don’t live as long

• NL men 75.2 years, NL women 80.2 years• Cdn men 76.3 years, Cdn women 81.7 years

• Mortality rates for heart attacks and strokes, etc. down by about half since 1979 but …– for heart attacks about 20% higher than Canada for

both men and women– for strokes, etc. about 31% higher for men and 18%

higher for women

Healthy People

Healthy People

Lifestyle• Compared to Canada

– Less physically active; women less active than men

– Smoking rate higher – NL 29%, Canada 26%

– Heavy drinking rate higher• 41% of NL men and 16% of NL women who drink

reported heavy drinking

Educated People

Education levels of population• In 2001 compared to 1979

– Higher proportion has completed high school

– Higher proportion has university degree

• High school graduation rates improving

• Three-quarters of high school graduates now enroll directly in college or university

But Census 2001 tells us that…• Education levels of young people are not

consistent across province– In the St. John’s region

• 28% of 25-29 year olds are university graduates• Only 11% have not completed high school

– Not so good in rural areas of the province • Only 8% to 12% are university graduates; and• From 17%-28% have not completed high school

Educated People

Income• Personal income per capita

– is increasing – about 25% lower than Canada over past decade

• Income equality is similar to CanadaAssets• More people own their own homes in NL• Avg. cost of housing in 1996 was 52% lower than

for Canada

Prosperous and Self Reliant People

Employment• Employment rate for NL aged 20-64 is 59% - up

from 52% in 1976

• In 2001 – 52% in labour market worked all year– 43% worked for an average of 25 weeks– 5% could not find work

Prosperous and Self Reliant People

Poverty Based on Market Basket Measure – 2000

– 32% of NL children living in poverty (Can. 17%)– 61% of NL lone-parent families (Canada 36%)

25% of children aged 0-4 (6200 children) were in families who received social assistance in 2001

NL has the highest percentage of seniors receiving the GIS in Canada (66%)

Prosperous and Self Reliant People

Business Environment• Employment growth was second highest of all

provinces at an average of 2.9% annually• Retail sales have been increasing• Exports have shown real average growth of 2.7%

annually

Vibrant, Distinctive andSupportive Communities

Vibrant, Distinctive and Supportive Communities

Volunteering• 27% of men and 36% of women aged 15 and over

volunteered

• The percentage of volunteers dropped slightly between 1997 and 2000; those who did volunteer gave more hours

Safe Communities

Feeling Safe Most people feel safe or very safe walking alone in

their neighbourhoods at night; considerably higher proportions than Canada

Fewer women than men feel safe walking alone in their neighbourhoods at night

Crime rate is lower than Canada

Demographic changes• Population dropped 10% since 1991; highest

decline in country since 1996• Extent of decline varies in province

– Decline of 1.2% (St. John’s region); high of 11.5% decline in Eastern region (1996-2001)

• Births dropped 62% since 1972• Fertility rate is 1.3 compared to 1.5 for Canada• Number of births and deaths are almost equal

Sustainable Regions

Cross Linkages

Health• Better health is linked to:

– Higher education, higher income, being employed• Worse health is linked to:

– Lower education, lower income, being unemployedLiteracy and Numeracy• Students in top-quarter of socio-economic status

– at national level for reading and science but below for mathematics

• Students in lower three-quarters– below the national level in reading, science and math

• Looking internally to see:– If government has begun to do business in line with the

SSP goals

– Are resources being directed at social and economic priorities

• Program evaluations– Are programs and services achieving desired outcomes?

Ongoing

Successes / Challenges

Successes:• Establishment of the regional process• Commitment and growth of dialogue• Development of Community Accounts• Release of “From the Ground Up”

Challenges:• Community engagement• Linking social and economic development• Next steps for Phase III and Phase IV• Sustaining the directions and momentum of SSP