§ 5. Mr. Andrew Dismore (Hendon)What discussions she has had with ministerial colleagues in her role as chair of the ministerial network on social exclusion.[116388]
§ The Minister for the Cabinet Office (Marjorie Mowlam)Since I was appointed chair of the ministerial network in December 1999, I have held one meeting, in January, at which I agreed with ministerial colleagues a future work programme to chase progress on the implementation of previous social exclusion reports. I plan to hold three further meetings in May and June to follow up implementation on school exclusions, truancy, rough sleeping and teenage pregnancy.
§ Mr. DismoreIn welcoming my right hon. Friend's role in ensuring that Government policy on social exclusion is implemented on the ground, I remind her that in London teenage pregnancy is an especially serious problem. Will she congratulate organisations such as Homestart, a voluntary group in my constituency? It supports the valuable work of Barnet health authority and Barnet council in advising young teenagers who are at particular risk of becoming pregnant, and works with them to ensure that they get the best help to improve their parenting skills if they become young mothers.
§ Marjorie MowlamI join my hon. Friend in acknowledging the contribution of organisations such as Homestart, which work in partnership with the Government and use some of the £60 million that we have put in to try to meet our target of ensuring that the number of teenage pregnancies is halved in 10 years. We have one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in Europe. We hope that, by working with local groups and using the extra money, and through better education and support, the numbers will be reduced drastically.
§ Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham)Given that the social exclusion unit undertook, as long ago as June 1998, to devise approaches to tackling some of the problems on our worst housing estates, will the Minister tell the House what discussions she has held this week with the Deputy Prime Minister about the Audit Commission's report? It stated that the five local authorities that perform worst on empty properties, and thus deny people the opportunity of having a home, were all run at the relevant time by the Labour party.
§ Marjorie MowlamThe hon. Gentleman should consider the seriousness of the matter. He tries to score political points by counting councils; Conservative Members have few to count. We do our best to work with all councils—Labour, Liberal or Conservative—on housing. As my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister made clear in the housing package that he announced yesterday, money will be available for all communities to get more housing at lower cost and fairer rents.
964 If the hon. Gentleman has visited estates that suffer serious social exclusion problems, he will know that they are not caused only by housing. If problems such as boarded-up houses and rubbish in gardens are tackled on their own, the problem returns. We must ensure that housing, poor health, poor education, unemployment, bad environment and so on are tackled, and that that is done through co-operation. That is the way in which to regenerate a neighbourhood, and the social exclusion unit is working on that.
The social exclusion unit is also considering issues such as teenage pregnancy and rough sleeping, which can fall between Departments, to try to ensure that they are tackled, too.
§ Mr. Phil Hope (Corby)My right hon. Friend knows that last week the social exclusion unit published a report on young people. It suggested that a ministerial group at the highest level, with representatives from each Department, should consider young people's interests and how each Department affects their lives. We can thus join up the thinking across Government to ensure that young people get a decent service. That national structure should be reflected locally through local youth forums in which young people would have a voice. It is essential to implement that new strategy for young people as soon as possible.
§ Marjorie MowlamI thank my hon. Friend for his contribution. I agree that a strategy for Departments to join up to consider young people's interests is a positive step, which will make a difference to many young people. Again, the suggestion of doing the same locally has a lot to offer. However, I add a footnote and a warning. We must ensure that we do not tell people in our communities how best to implement a policy. There must be flexibility so that local communities can make decisions, which depend on factors such as size and urban-rural mix, for themselves.