One of my many roles representing the council is as chair of the Inverclyde Alliance Board.

But what is ‘the Alliance’ and what does it do?

Chairing the Alliance is quite a significant role but perhaps one that people are not overly familiar with, so I like to take the opportunity where I can to raise awareness of the Alliance.

The Alliance is, in short, the Inverclyde community planning partnership.

It brings together a range of partner organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors to ensure we are all working effectively and efficiently, and that respective aims and objectives are aligned in the best interests of the local community.

The board consists of representatives from the council and health and social care partnership (HSCP) and partners, such as police, fire and rescue service, health board, and third sector groups and we usually meet four times a year to review performance on the delivery of the agreed outcomes for Inverclyde, to develop further partnership activity and to respond to any issues which arise.

There is, of course, much more to the Alliance and lots of work that goes on behind the scenes but that is it in a nutshell.

The key thing about it all is partnership. Partnership working to deliver for the people of Inverclyde.

At the last board meeting earlier this month, there was much to talk about, and it was encouraging to hear about the good work that is happening on a daily basis in our towns and villages.

One item in particular that jumped out at me was the Inverclyde’s Child Poverty Local Action Report (CPLAR).

This was an update on the progress of a three-year strategy from 2022-2025 to address child poverty.

It was quite fitting that the report was presented, and subsequent discussion took place at the start of Challenge Poverty Week 2024, which ran from 7-13 October.

What the update told us was that while there is still much more to be done to tackle child poverty – and hopefully one day eradicate it completely – is that the collective efforts thus far from the council/HSCP and a range of partners are making a difference.

The most recent update given to partners at the Alliance Board highlighted that there have been improvements made in tackling the four local drivers of poverty: increasing income from employment; increasing income from benefits; mitigating the cost of living; and improving communication and participation with families.

Positive actions over the past year include:

A total of 33 families, including 43 children, benefitting from accessible and affordable childcare through the early adopter scheme.

Investing in community and third sector organisations to support targeted families living in poverty with services that meet their needs, for example by working with Home Start Inverclyde for families in Greenock East/Central using the child poverty accelerator fund.

Delivering local food pantries (we have two at Grieve Road in Greenock and John Wood Street in Port Glasgow).

Putting more money in parents’ pockets by extending free school meals to P6 and P7 and linking the school clothing grant with the holiday hunger programme.

Providing wellbeing, welfare and benefits advice and advocacy.

Providing warm spaces for families to access meals safely and with dignity through the Warm Hands of Friendship funding programme.

As I said, and as we all know, more can always be done, and we cannot rest until child poverty and poverty in general is no longer a thing.

But we must look at the improvements that have been made so far and of the many initiatives and projects that are now underway or in the pipeline and use that as inspiration and motivation.

Let it give us renewed hope that we are on the right path to ending poverty for all.

It will not happen overnight, but I hope that shining a light on the Inverclyde Alliance Community Planning Partnership and on this one report (of many) shows that it is not for the want of trying and that in-roads are being made.