§ (Mr. John Prescott)The Deputy Prime Minister The Chief Secretary to the Treasury and I are pleased to present the Annual Report of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for 2004 to Parliament. It sets out the achievements of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister.
The aim of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is to create sustainable communities—places where people want to live. It is about revitalising communities, 67WS delivering sustainable economic growth, revitalising areas of neglect, improving the quality of local environment and protecting the countryside.
This, our second annual report, details an impressive array of achievements in every area of our work. We are driving up the quality and supply of housing, speeding up the planning system, reducing the incidence of rough sleeping and the number of homeless families in B&B accommodation, improving our public spaces and giving people a bigger say in what happens in their regions. We are delivering strong, effective local government services and devolving power to local neighbourhoods. We are also renewing and regenerating neighbourhoods particularly in our most deprived areas and reducing social exclusion.
68WSBut we must not be complacent and we know more remains to be done. We will therefore continue to work hard to deliver our aim of creating sustainable communities that provide a better quality of life, now and in future generations.