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7.59 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Yvette Cooper): I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Mudie) on choosing to raise the important issue of inner-city poverty in Leeds and on his passionate remarks about his constituency and the lives of the people who live there. He has worked hard for many years to address the problem of poverty. I share his concerns about inner-city poverty and join him in commending the Yorkshire Evening Post for its campaign on the issue. Too often, poverty and inequality are invisible to the majority of people. It is a tribute to a campaigning regional newspaper that it has managed to highlight an issue that newspapers do not always cover. They often do not prioritise poverty and action that tackles inequalities.
I take my hon. Friend's points seriously. I disagree that no progress has been made—important progress has been made on a range of issues. However, I agree that there is more to do. Interestingly, our progress on some things has created new challenges in others. Some of the Government's measures to address poverty are universal; they affect constituents across the country. The family income of the worst-off has increased considerably with the introduction of tax credits, increases in child benefit and the overall substantial increases in support for both those in low-paid work, so that work pays, and those without work. As a result, the number of children in relative income poverty fell from 34 per cent. in 1999–97 to 30 per cent. in 2001–02, which is before the most recent increases. The absolute low income fell from 34 per cent. to 20 per cent. That is a result of the Government's policy changes and can mean a difference of hundreds of pounds a month in the pockets of low-income families who would not have received that money under the Tory Government. Those changes have only been possible because of a Labour Government and their commitment to tackling child poverty.
There is still a long way to go, however. The Chancellor is right to establish a review on how to meet the ambitious target of abolishing child poverty over a 20-year period. No such target has been set by a Government before. The truth is that we cannot achieve that target in six years. I feel passionately about child poverty and will argue continually for more to be done to address the terrible problems that cause it. Equally, however, it is not possible to abolish child poverty in six years. We must recognise that even a 20-year target is ambitious. The issues cut across generations as they pass from one generation to another. We know that people who grow up in poverty are more likely to live in poverty later on.
The debate is not just about income. My hon. Friend gave an eloquent account of the lives that his constituents lead. He mentioned housing on estates, the services that people receive, the opportunities they have and their sense of community, including whether they feel safe on the streets. We need to recognise that Leeds faces huge challenges. It is a city of great contrasts and inequalities. In many ways, Leeds is an amazing city. It is a powerhouse for economic growth in the region. My constituency is benefiting substantially from being close to Leeds and its economic growth. Considerable
regeneration is taking place. It is clear when one drives through the centre that the skyline is crammed with cranes, such is the building and investment in the city.Some areas are not sharing in the growth, however. Some communities are not keeping up and individuals feel shut out of the growth that is taking place elsewhere, and that problem creates substantial challenges. The Government's approach has been to prioritise regeneration in the most deprived wards in the country. We have argued that we need full employment in every region. We need to promote job growth so that everyone shares in the prosperity generated by the economic growth and the growth in jobs of the past few years. The challenge is how to ensure that every ward shares in that prosperity.
Three wards in my hon. Friend's constituency—Burmantofts, Harehills and Seacroft—fall within the 10 per cent. of the most deprived wards in the country. I understand that Leeds city council estimates that the claimant count in those wards varies from 5.3 per cent. in Seacroft to 6.4 per cent. in Harehills. That is higher than the national average but it is considerably lower than it was 10 or 20 years ago. My constituency has experienced substantial employment growth relative to the terrible experiences of the high unemployment of the 1980s and early 1990s. The number of people in the claimant count has dropped substantially since 1997. In the seven most deprived wards in Leeds, it has dropped by 39.3 per cent. The number of people in work is welcome progress. However, the claimant count has fallen faster in other Leeds wards and Leeds as a whole has experienced a 41 per cent. drop over the same period.My hon. Friend is right that economic growth in Leeds is likely to be sustained for the coming period and employment growth will probably follow.
My hon. Friend is also right that we must address the obstacles that people in some communities face in getting jobs that are, perhaps, just down the road. As a result of the new deal, we have made progress on child care and training, but we need to go further. The social exclusion unit is carrying out a detailed analysis on jobs and enterprise. It is considering the jobs gap between different areas and what we need to do to tackle the obstacles that some areas face so that we achieve full employment in every region.
My hon. Friend the Member for Elmet (Colin Burgon) mentioned the close relationship between housing and the economy, in particular the work and jobs that are available at different times of housing development. The relationship between housing and the economy is important. It is the case in some parts of the country, although I cannot say whether this is true of the estates mentioned by my hon. Friends, that there are complex consequences if economic regeneration is not accompanied by rapid change in the housing market to address the problem of housing stock built for previous generations. Some people who get jobs move out of their estates and the position of those left behind becomes even more difficult. That can result in a complete housing market collapse in those areas. For that reason, we are introducing housing market renewal pathfinders in areas with the most severe problems to tackle low demand, and we are making substantial investment.
The West Yorkshire Partnership is developing proposals for the regional housing board to fund areas such as Beeston and Harehills. I am worried about some of the housing-related issues that have been mentioned and would be happy to discuss those further. I would, of course, be happy to visit the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, East as well. My right hon. Friend the Minister for Housing and Planning is aware of the issues concerning the Leeds ALMO. Officials are considering that and discussions are under way.
Mr. Battle: We have a problem if the housing policy is to support housing associations. Their rents are structured in such a way that the only people who can afford to live in them are people who are on benefits for ever. People in that accommodation will never be able to get a job, even if we train them, or they will have to move out of the neighbourhood. We must crack that conundrum.
Yvette Cooper: Clearly, such a situation is not the intention of the programme. We are linking programmes around housing policy and economic regeneration more closely than ever before. It has often been the failing of previous programmes that they focused on issues of economic regeneration and jobs, or on housing renewal and improving the physical infrastructure of housing. We must link the two together. That is what the housing market renewal programme is all about. For constituency reasons, I know that that approach is being picked up in west Yorkshire as well. I will be happy to discuss further with my hon. Friend issues related to that.
My other hon. Friends raised various aspects of the matter. Many issues associated with housing would benefit from further discussion with hon. Members, and I know that Members representing Leeds constituencies who are present in the Chamber share these concerns.
Considerable programmes for economic regeneration are under way. Harehills, Burmantofts, Seacroft and Halton are all included in the neighbourhood renewal programme and should be benefiting from the investment of neighbourhood renewal funds, which in 2001-02 were £4.2 million and in 2003–04 were £8.4 million. Over a five-year period there has been a £35 million programme of investment, which is funding, for example, neighbourhood wardens in Harehills, Burmantofts and Seacroft wards.
I am advised that the wardens are working hard to tackle antisocial behaviour, and I would be concerned if my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, East thought that they were not making the difference that others believe they are making in other parts of the country. Again, I would happily talk to him further about that, as I know that the neighbourhood warden programmes have been greeted by many communities as a substantial improvement in tackling antisocial behaviour, addressing concerns such as abandoned cars and graffiti, and strengthening people's sense of community.
My hon. Friend referred to issues around the St. James's partnership and the work that the primary care trust is doing as part of the Harehills neighbourhood renewal scheme. The role of local authorities is vital. My hon. Friend suggested that we were not supportive of
local government's role, but my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister has championed the role of local government in regeneration, particularly in respect of economic issues, which can be so fundamental, and he is supporting greater powers and freedoms for local government. It is an area where we need to go further, and that is happening.My personal view is that the programme that is doing most to tackle inner-city poverty and inequality is sure start. As I recall, I visited the sure start programme in my hon. Friend's constituency some years ago. It is a hugely important programme because it addresses inter-generational inequalities. Because it provides support right at the beginning of a family's life and supports them through the years, it is the most radical programme that we have for addressing child poverty. Again, from memory, the work of the sure start programme there seemed to be extremely popular and successful. I would be concerned if my hon. Friend thought differently, and I should like to discuss the matter further with him.
The Government have had an important impact on poverty and inequality. In my constituency I have seen jobs created on derelict pit sites. I have seen the number of families who are applauding the children's tax credit. I have seen the progress of programmes such as sure start and the new deal for communities, the partnerships that are being built and the substantial investment in mainstream services, reflected in the extra doctors, nurses and teachers whom my hon. Friend mentioned.
We have a long way to go, and we must address the inequalities that exist within such short distances as the centre of Leeds. Such inequalities in health, education and opportunity within a single city, as my hon. Friend described, are morally unacceptable in the modern world. The social exclusion unit is examining the progress that we have made so far and the problems that remain.
As my hon. Friend knows, I wrote to him and many of his colleagues a month or so ago about the work of the social exclusion unit. It is conducting a substantial analysis and hopes to have preliminary findings by the beginning of the new year. As part of that work, I am keen to have the views of hon. Members, particularly those living in low-income areas, and I would be happy to meet Members representing Leeds constituencies to discuss in more detail their views about social exclusion issues in Leeds and what should be fed into the work of the social exclusion unit.
We have made considerable progress, but we have much still to do. We still have far to go before we sleep. We will make more progress and sustain the commitment to substantial investment in the lowest-income areas of the country through the neighbourhood renewal fund and the new deal for communities only if we can also allay people's concern about the injustices that remain, and if we can prove that such programmes are making a difference and changing people's lives. I believe that they are changing people's lives substantially, but we must demonstrate that and maintain the argument that politics can make a difference and is doing so.
We will fail if we do not recognise the scale of the problem, and if we succumb to cynicism. We will fail, too, if we believe that we can solve the problems too quickly and if we raise people's expectations that some of the problems are easy to solve, and then let people become disillusioned. We need to keep the work going
and our eyes on the prize. If we believe that it is right to invest in regeneration and tackling poverty, we must keep arguing for it. I believe that that is the right thing to do, and I know that my hon. Friends representing Leeds constituencies think so as well.
- Adjourned accordingly at sixteen minutes past Eight o'clock.
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