Cabinet Office Strategy

Improving The Prospects Of People Living In Areas Of Multiple Deprivation In England

Second Advisory Group Meeting

21st April 2004

Present

• Joe Montgomery (Director General, NRU) - CHAIR
• David Henshaw (Chief Executive, Liverpool City Council)
• Gareth Wynn (Director of Communication, EDF Energy)
• Sukhvinder Kaur Stubbs (Director, Barrow-Cadbury Trust)
• Jonathan Blackie (Regional Director, Government Office for the North East)
• James Bowler (Head of Housing and Urban Policy, HM Treasury)
• Jon Bright (Head of Neighbourhood Renewal Unit Implementation Division) 
• Martin Gibbs (Senior Policy Advisor, Department of Health)
• Mohammed Haroon (Divisional Manager, Regional and regeneration division, DfES)
• Simon Judge (Divisional Manager, Labour Market Divison, Department for work and pensions)
• Ray Shostak (Director, Public Services Directorate, HMT)
• Nick Dexter (Head of Strategy Division, Regional Co-ordination Unit, ODPM)
• Claire Tyler (Director, Social Exclusion Unit)
• Patricia Greer (Deputy Director, Strategy Unit)

The group discussed the SU/NRU findings from phase two of the project. In particular, they were asked to comment on the cycle of decline that has being developed by the team, options for local levels of the delivery system and priority areas to address in phase 3 of the project.

In discussion the following points were made:

• The varied characteristics of deprived areas were emphasised. It was suggested that Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs) in deprived areas could be differentiated by the challenges they face as well as their performance and that those performing well could earn autonomy to assist them to undertake appropriate actions for particular areas. The timing and level of interventions in an area can also produce different results. However, it may be possible to list commonalties to construct a framework for actions in deprived areas.
• Private sector investment is crucial in deprived areas. A challenge to this is clarity regarding potential obstacles and realistic timescales. The ultimate purpose of private sector investment is wealth creation and companies have choices regarding where they invest. Incentives for investment are variable, but if there is a basket of business incentives then direct financial incentives may be less important. Employer led training may be used to justify investment to shareholders where it adds value to a local workforce. Different areas suffer different challenges but investment is generally driven by the cost of skills sets available. It was suggested that Regional Development Authorities (RDAs) may be able to enhance investment opportunities.
• Education can create a supply of skilled individuals, which can be very important in improving the prospects of people in deprived areas. The best level to measure educational attainment can be variable and it may be unwise to overly emphasise such supply-side indicators.
• The values of governance, local accountability, democracy, leadership and civic entrepeneurship were emphasised and it was suggested that measures should not be introduced that mask challenges to appropriate governance. Structures should not be used in such a manner that the importance of appropriate behaviour is de-emphasised or flexibility discouraged. Where governance challenges exist, involvement at all levels may be required to address such challenges and not just top-down initiatives. Involvement, ownership and sustainability can all be very important in regeneration.
• Retaining a local level focus continues to be important and pilot schemes may assist in evaluating the appropriateness of initiatives to local situations. Efforts to improve the prospects of people living in areas of multiple deprivation should not become isolated from local people's needs.
• The importance of identifying successes and the conditions for success was emphasised. It was suggested that data is available to evaluate conditions for success. The data may show that more radical measures could be necessary to allow all areas to achieve success.
• Initiatives can suffer from challenges of proliferation as well as short term funding. Moves away from ring fenced funding can also can present a new set of challenges. Measuring success by performance indicators other than  funding levels may assist in identifying the most successful initiatives and the conditions that were necessary for their success.
• Effective delivery from all partners is important. Commonality on targets can help ensure this is happening. This could be a part of the agenda for RDAs. The public sector should take the lead in effective delivery but there are good examples of private sector involvement. It may be useful to explore ways to mitigate migration effects.

Strategy Unit / Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, April 2004