20 June 2007 - City Strategy Pathfinders launched with access to £65 million deprived areas fund
£65 million will be made available to the Pathfinders that were launched today by Secretary of State for Work and Pensions John Hutton as part of the City Strategy, which gives local areas more power to tackle worklessness.
Speaking in Bimingham today, Mr John Hutton said that the Pathfinders had now agreed business plans and targets to reduce the number of people on benefits in their area and in return they would be supported by money from the Deprived Areas fund which will be worth £65 million over the next two years as well having access to further money upon examples of local success and innovation.
Mr Hutton said he believed that encouraging local providers to become more involved in the delivery of services and using their local expertise will be crucial to reaching 80% employment and the eradication of child poverty.
Mr Hutton said:
“As we have made progress in reducing unemployment and helping those with health conditions and disabilities, so other challenges have come to the fore and these challenges will need new responses.
“In welfare specifically, the task of reaching out to support the hardest to help; to tackle the pockets of worklessness and poverty are still too often concentrated in and around some of our major cities. And the challenges of delivering the most effective and efficient re-employment services anywhere in the world; with the best providers – whether public, private or voluntary – properly incentivised to deliver the best possible services to the customer.
“While in health and education we have made rapid progress in moving towards a more devolved, less centralised, less target-driven model – in welfare reform we’ve got more to do. We need to develop the right framework to encourage and reward investment and improved performance; and we should draw on the full potential of private and voluntary providers - especially the expertise of local organisations to innovate and develop solutions tailored to their local area.
“Local partnership will be crucial for the success of welfare in the coming decade. And combined with the improved contracting at the heart of Freud it offers the prospect of ever more effective support for those out of work.”
To support the Pathfinders John Hutton also announced the launch of the Learning Network. The Network, managed by the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, will provide a forum for the Pathfinders to stimulate new ideas and share good practice.
John Hutton also restated the Government’s commitment to the principle of matching rights with responsibility with the state asking more of lone parents and repeat JSA claimants in return for more tailored help to get them back to work.
Mr Hutton said:
"Despite the progress we have made in increasing the employment rate for lone parents – up more than 11 percentage points since 1997 - it remains the lowest of any major European country. Coupled with this, we ask very little of lone parents on benefit – with a requirement to look for work that only begins when the youngest child reaches 16."
“I am clear that this strengthening of rights and responsibilities is the right directon of travel and the right way to proceed. This is not about cutting the general level of benefits – this would be wrong in principle and damaging to the health and well-being of children in lone parent families. But equally, we must be prepared to learn from other progressive countries; to raise our aspirations for every family in Britain; and help all those who can work to get work."
“This ‘deal’ of increased rights matched by increased responsibilities is central to the values on which our welfare system was founded.”
Note for Editors
- John Hutton was speaking at the Welfare to Work convention in Birmingham.
- His speech is available on the DWP website: www.dwp.gov.uk
Media enquiries: 0203 267 5120
DWP Press Office: 0203 267 5144
Out of hours: 07659 108883
Website: www.dwp.gov.uk
