NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD RENEWAL

Early day motion 642, tabled 13 April 2000 by Ashok Kumar (Labour). Signed by 41 members.

That this House warmly welcomes the work that the Government has done in analysing and then tackling the problems facing deprived neighbourhoods - through the New Deal, the expansion of the working families tax credit, the introduction of the national minimum wage, the increased attention to literacy and numeracy levels and school standards in general, and the steady progress on crime reduction; notes that many of the recommendations from the 18 policy action teams established by the Social Exclusion Unit to look more closely at issues such as better management of housing estates, dealing with anti-social behaviour and ensuring investment leads to jobs that last (involving hundreds of people from inside and outside government, academics and those on the sharp end) have already been put into practice with new action to foster employment in high unemployment areas, new support for neighbourhood wardens, and a concerted strategy to bring IT access to all areas and narrow the digital divide; and believes that the neighbourhood renewal strategy is to be supported for finally addressing the issues affecting the poorest and most disadvantaged communities.

Signatures by party: Labour 34, Labour/Co-operative 7.