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7.36 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Angela Eagle): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for South Thanet (Dr. Ladyman) on his success in achieving this Adjournment debate and on his election success. I visited his constituency a couple of years ago to look into some employment issues with the local employment service as a member of the Select Committee on Education and Employment. I remember thinking that his constituency was very like mine--Wallasey--and wondering why it had a Conservative Member of Parliament. At the election, he put that right.
Thanet gained European Union objective 2 status in 1994, reflecting the economic decline that the area has suffered in recent years--a decline that my hon. Friend highlighted well. Objective 2 programmes tend to be of three-year duration. The first ended in 1996 and involved about £11 million of grant aid. The new programme started from January and will mean another £14 million of grant aid to support a range of local initiatives. My hon. Friend's point about the high levels of unemployment was well taken--my constituency suffers similar levels. To date, Thanet has received £13.6 million in regional selective assistance, with further investment of £85 million levered in as a result of the grants, to create more than 1,800 jobs. In addition, £9 million spread over five years was allocated to the Thanet Regeneration Partnership in 1995-96 under round 1 of the single regeneration budget and a range of projects are already under way and achieving results. The partnership also submitted a bid under round 3 and secured a further award of just under £6 million.
Thanet also benefits from European funding under the INTERREG Community initiative, which includes two initiatives that will spend £3.2 million in Thanet alone. Taken together, those grants represent a substantial commitment to Thanet by the Government and the European Union and they reflect confidence in Thanet's ability to deliver results.
Since coming to power, the Government have spelt out the new approach that we want to bring to regeneration. We do not regard regeneration as being only about schemes and projects or bricks and mortar; it is also about social regeneration--people are as important as buildings. In our approach to round 4 of the single regeneration budget, we have spelt out our concern to attack the causes of social and economic decline and exclusion and to tackle the needs of deprived communities. That means collaboration and partnership at local level.
We want an integrated approach, and we have started at the top with the new Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions. We also want integration at regional level. My hon. Friend mentioned bodies in the
south-east such as East Kent Initiative and Locate in Kent. National bodies such as English Partnerships also have a role to play in the region. I sympathise with my hon. Friend because more than 40 such organisations are operating in Merseyside. I am certain that a more integrated approach would bring real benefits and avoid some of the duplication and confusion that has arisen from current arrangements. That is where our proposals for regional development agencies come in.
I am pleased that my hon. Friend supports the move to regional development agencies. The Government regard them as an essential first step to effective, co-ordinated, strategic regional economic development that will enable the English regions to improve their competitiveness. One of our important jobs will be to bring together the various regional organisations and help them work together to ensure that the regions gain the greatest possible benefit from their efforts.
Ministers are still considering what arrangements are appropriate to the specific needs of each region. That is why the Government Offices in all regions are carrying out a national consultation exercise to ensure that Ministers have access to as wide a range of views about future structures as possible. Local authorities are included in the process and I am sure that they will make a valuable contribution to the development of that policy. I look forward to Thanet district council's contribution. A consultation event, one of a series organised by the Government Office for the South East, takes place in Kent next week. The opinions expressed then will be weighed carefully.
My hon. Friend mentioned the membership of the monitoring committee that steers and oversees Thanet's objective 2 European funding. The approach taken by the Government Office for the South East reflects current Government policy. However, those of us who represent constituencies that receive European Union structural funds are only too well aware of the frustrations that some of these arrangements have created. It is a question of balancing proper monitoring with efficiency and accountability, a balance with which Government Offices continue to wrestle. The arrangements are set out in the single programme document and the European Union expects them to be fulfilled.
I am aware that the Member of the European Parliament for Kent, East has written to my hon. Friend the Minister for the Regions, Regeneration and Planning raising his possible membership of the monitoring committee. Of course Members of the European Parliament have a legitimate interest in the way in which programmes are implemented. I am aware of the views of several of them on the matter, which I shall take up with colleagues.
I should also like to take this opportunity to assure my hon. Friend that the Government Office for the South East is working actively and closely with Thanet district council and local partners to ensure that the forthcoming 1997 to 1999 phase of the objective 2 programme delivers maximum benefit for the regeneration of the area.
The Ramsgate harbour approach road is part of the pilot capital challenge scheme announced last year by the previous Government. Kent county council was successful in securing credit approval worth more than £25.9 million over three years to build the road. More than a third of the allocation available for the whole south-east region
has been set aside for that one scheme. As my hon. Friend knows, the scheme seeks to provide a new link between the strategic road network and Ramsgate harbour and is regarded as a major catalyst in the diversification of Ramsgate port, creating environmental benefits for the town while aiding the economic regeneration of the Thanet area.
It is therefore surprising that Kent county council is holding up the scheme that it championed so effectively when it made the bid. The county council changed hands when the Conservatives took control at the last election. It is reviewing the system of road schemes in its area. I hope that it comes to a conclusion quickly but I note that my hon. Friend's predecessor, Jonathan Aitken, said:
By far the largest road building scheme being funded in Kent is the A299-A253 extension, which is the Isle of Thanet's link to the M2 and the strategic road network. My Department is funding Kent county council's scheme to upgrade the road to dual carriageway standard with grade-separated junctions at a total estimated cost of more than £170 million. There are no short-term plans to improve the A253 between Prospect Inn and Lord of the Manor. It is for Kent county council as the local highway authority to develop proposals for that section of the road and bid for funding of the scheme in the usual way.
From a local transport point of view, Kent has done extremely well in recent settlements, taking more than 10 per cent. of national resources. In 1997-98, it will receive £77.3 million in financial support. In a year when the financial constraints bit hard, that compares well with the previous year's figure of £81.6 million.
I note my hon. Friend's comments about rail services in Thanet. The area is served by three trains per hour from London, provided by Connex South Eastern. As he said, the journey time is about one hour 45 minutes. I understand that that will be reduced when the channel tunnel rail link comes into operation. He mentioned a fast connection via Ashford. The Stour Valley line between Thanet and Ashford via Canterbury has been identified as needing upgrading to become a strategic link between Thanet and London linking into the channel tunnel rail link at Ashford. I am sure that he will be watching for progress.
The franchising director has powers to support and encourage investment in new railway services. He has developed criteria for appraising proposals to support new services that offer wide public benefit but may not be viable on a purely commercial basis. He has made recommendations on that criterion that Ministers are considering, but it will be for potential operators of new services to approach him with their proposals.
On attracting quality jobs, I strongly agree with my hon. Friend that casualised or low-paid jobs are not the answer to creating proper, sensibly based regeneration. I am pleased that he supports the Government's intention to legislate for a national minimum wage. I am not aware of the case that he described where an applicant for
regional selective assistance apparently received less grant because the previous Government thought that the wages that he was paying were too high. Conservative Members were boasting only yesterday in another Adjournment debate about how low agricultural wages were. They never seem to learn. Rest assured, this Government do not share those opinions.
My hon. Friend also asked about RAF Manston. Naturally, Government Office for the South East officials wish to maintain a close working relationship with local partners to monitor developments with regard to the future of RAF Manston and to evaluate how the site may be used to assist in Thanet's economic regeneration. In view of the announcement earlier this week by the Ministry of Defence on the proposed withdrawal of the RAF from Manston, the Government and local partners are examining the potential civil development of the site with renewed urgency. However he will appreciate that at this stage I am not in a position to be more definite.
The administration of housing benefit is a matter for the Department of Social Security, but I will pass on my hon. Friend's observations. As he knows, 95 per cent. of private sector housing benefit expenditure by authorities is returned direct to them. The remaining 5 per cent. is fed into authorities' general funds through the revenue support grant mechanism. An additional 0.5 per cent. is fed into the general fund in recognition of authorities' expenditure in what are known as incentive areas, where they stand most chance of controlling their administrative expenditure through their own efficiency.
I understand that in some circumstances an authority may lose out, for example when a rent determined by the rent officer is lower than the actual rent that the authority is required to meet. However, changes to the housing benefit rules in 1996 have reduced that problem and a discretionary lump sum is available from the Department for Social Security to meet extra cases of hardship.
I am aware that the council made representations to my Department through the then sponsor Minister for the south coast at the end of last year. The council wanted the capping regime amended so that its expenditure on housing benefit would be disregarded. The previous Government refused to do that and my hon. Friend will not expect me to give a commitment on such a complex issue tonight. The funding regime for 1997-98 is now fixed, but it will be open to Thanet to make representations for next year at the appropriate time.
This has been a wide-ranging debate. Indeed, my hon. Friend set me a formidable task of trying to answer the many questions that he asked. I am sure that I have not dealt with all of them, but he has left the Government in no doubt about the needs of his area. He is already proving that he is a doughty fighter for his constituents. Some of the issues that he brought up tonight are already being addressed and local partnerships and individual members of the community deserve much credit. There is still much to do, and my hon. Friend has illustrated the wide range of departments and agencies with responsibilities in the area. The challenge now faced by Thanet and its partnerships is to use all the resources available to secure a successful future for their people.
Question put and agreed to.
"Our town of Ramsgate needs and deserves this road."
In the same debate, he was supported in his plea by the hon. Member for North Thanet (Mr. Gale), who said:
"I endorse his arguments utterly and whole-heartedly."--[Official Report, 4 December 1996; Vol. 286, c. 1181.]
I sincerely hope that whatever its decision, Kent county council will get on with it and remove the uncertainty.
Adjourned accordingly at ten minutes to Eight o'clock.
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