Jim Knight MP's speech to the ippr north summit:
A time for rural recognition: can we achieve social justice?
Newcastle, 11 November 2005
Thank you Sue and good morning Conference. I am grateful for the invitation to come and talk to you today.
The title is “A time for rural recognition: can we achieve social justice?
The starting point in answering this is whether we see social injustice in rural areas. They are doing well, lovely places if you can afford to live there, let them look after themselves.
Or at best – yes OK some of the traditional industries, like farming, are going through tough times, so do a better job in dealing with them than the Tories did with mining communities and then get on with areas that really need it.
Well, the truth in rural areas is that is not all doom and gloom.
Quality of life in rural areas is often relatively high, not just in the material sense, but also in the context of community spirit and social capital.
The evidence suggests that most people would prefer to live in a rural area. Of those people living in the countryside 89% would prefer to continue to do so whilst only 21% of people living in an inner city area would prefer to continue doing so.
The British Crime Survey found that rural respondents are most likely to see their neighbours as a source of help and support and are less prone to problems relating to anti-social behavior.
But this picture masks a deeper truth.
We must not lose sight of the fact that, whilst many rural communities display signs of strong social cohesion, they also have notable levels of social isolation amongst vulnerable groups. And, while many people living in rural areas are thriving - both socially and economically, there are also significant numbers of disadvantaged rural residents.
We have, I hope, moved beyond the point where the existence of rural disadvantage was little recognised and poorly understood.
We know that even in the most affluent areas, one in six households are in income poverty. Fifteen percent of rural children and twenty percent of rural pensioners are estimated to be living below the recognised poverty threshold.
We also know that social changes to people’s travel and shopping habits for example, and broader demographic trends leading to growing rural populations can have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable groups in rural areas. The trends are - of ageing, of suburbanisation, of more IT service delivery, of more choice but also more isolation, more car dependency, and thus new challenges of exclusion for the disadvantaged.
These facts have shaped our agenda of more affordable housing, tackling rural service delivery and addressing disadvantage, low pay and productivity.
This reflects Defra’s Rural Strategy, published in July last year, which set a clear vision for bringing about sustainable rural communities.
Central to this work is a strong focus on tackling disadvantage, on devolving decision-making to the regional and local level and greater targeting of resources.
So the need for social justice in rural areas must be, and is being, recognised.
But can we achieve it?
We can’t achieve rural social justice in isolation.
As a Labour government, as politicians from the progressive centre left we must deliver social justice everywhere. As the IPPR rural project recognises, rural and urban areas are interdependent.
So I was particularly heartened by the work commissioned earlier this year by One North East on behalf of the Northern Way to promote the role of rural areas as active contributors to the strategy and its success rather than simply as passive beneficiaries. This is a crucial distinction and forces us to consider not only what rural areas have to gain in development terms but also what they have to offer.
I regret the extent to which the last few years have seen an increase in the sense of conflict between rural and urban. The more we set ourselves apart as the neglected 20% persecuted by the majority 80% the more likely we are to be neglected – the more we subscribe to the concept of rural as something that is peripheral and separate.
Indeed in many cases if we can tackle social disadvantage in the scarcely populated areas we can tackle it anywhere. It could be one of our beloved performance indicators. Public and private sectors alike struggle to make rural delivery work in the absence of economies of scale, but if we can crack it we can also crack it better in areas of urban deprivation, and hidden isolation in the suburbs.
I am pushing my Defra officials on how we identify deprivation. If we can share data across Whitehall, and match it with private sector consumer data, we can surely start to individualise where the social need is and then target resources everywhere more accurately.
Because the Government as a whole is working to tackle disadvantage and promote equality of opportunity. In this context, Defra needs to be an active, influencing Department ensuring that mainstream delivery meets rural needs. That is why we must continue to build a clear, persuasive evidence-base around rural disadvantage to help us make the case with external partners, at national, regional and local level.
My vision as Minister for Rural Affairs is to move this debate into the mainstream. To recognise that we are all responsible for addressing disadvantage wherever it occurs.
The evidence makes it clear that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution; after all there is no single ‘rural’ identity. Different localities will require individually tailored solutions. And that is the rationale for the devolved approach to rural policy set out in Rural Strategy 2004.
We are making good progress with the Strategy, including, of course, the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Bill, which has just had its second reading in the House of Lords.
The Bill will formally establish the new Commission for Rural Communities which will have the important role of advocate, adviser and watchdog, speaking on behalf of rural people businesses and communities.
The Commission has been specifically tasked by the Secretary of State, Margaret Beckett, to look out for those suffering from disadvantage in a rural context. They have already embarked on a wide-ranging study into rural disadvantage. The results of which are awaited with interest.
Given that the social justice challenge is one for the whole Government we need the Commission for Rural Communities to enjoy a robust role chasing across Government to ensure our efforts reach everyone regardless of geography as well as background.
For me, this agenda is about maintaining and supporting vibrant and self-sustaining rural communities, in villages and in market towns. The essential needs are the same as for any community but geography dictates that we may require imaginative and innovative delivery solutions.
And those solutions must be sustainable development solutions. We have a clear regional economic lead in the RDAs, we are creating a clear environment lead in Natural England. Parish plans are offering a bottom up integration on the ground to inform the strategic partnerships. The LAAs are developing to give a social lead informed by innovation fostered by rural pathfinders. These delivery bodies must be in balance to achieve sustainability.
As a Government we have rightly focussed on work as the route to prosperity and the end to individual social disadvantage. Social justice is achieved through being equipped to work.
But I think it is becoming more than that.
There is no justice if I am working such long hours I can’t see my kids. If I have enough money but not enough time to enjoy it. If I am surrounded by consumer durables at home and abandoned cars and fridges outside my front door.
The politics is evolving and social justice is now becoming as much about everyone having the right to a decent environment and quality of life, as it is about the right to self advancement through work.
The delivery architecture must address the challenges on the ground.
How can we ensure that they are places where a diverse range of people can both live and work?
Places where we help to create wealth by boosting skills and encouraging entrepreneurship?
Places where everyone can access the public services they need?
How can we meet the very real needs of a disadvantaged minority often spread out across a large geographic area?
How can we maximise the economic benefit of our environment and sustain that environment for future generations?
The Government’s vision is for sustainable rural communities. In this context Defra is focusing action on:
- driving economic growth and enterprise by creating new jobs and prosperity, thereby tackling low pay
- ensuring a range of affordable housing to ensure that people have decent places to live
- fostering inclusive rural communities where people have equitable access to services
- a protected and enhanced landscape and countryside for the benefit of all
A particular priority for me is the prevalence of low pay in rural areas.
Although income levels for much of rural England are higher than urban, the median hourly pay of those working in the most rural districts is more than 10% lower than the English median.
To help rural areas to thrive and become prosperous we need more than just low paid and often seasonal jobs. We need to encourage entrepreneurs to bring business to our market towns and countryside – high value added business like in the knowledge-based and ICT sectors.
Our evidence tells us that for every self-employed incomer to rural areas, an average of 2.4 full time jobs are created. I also know from experience that there is tremendous value in projects which facilitate development of social enterprise like community-owned shops. We need to encourage and nurture this.
Better pay is also about more aspiration. That can be amongst the young people of former mining communities here in the North East. It can also be in the way we think about rural economic development.
Agriculture accounts for just 6% of rural employment, tourism 8%. Manufacturing is 24%. Our aspiration must be to deliver higher skilled and higher paid work through combining connectivity with quality of life in the tranquil rural setting.
Let me now turn to a matter not unconnected with low pay: affordable rural housing.
Housing is not an issue in isolation. It is a basic human need, which we must fulfil.
But in the current climate of high house prices and in the longer-term demographic picture, of an ageing population and increase in the number of households, it is the pinch point of a whole range of issues with regard to sustainable communities.
The complexity of housing issues – planning regulations, regional structures and funding rules – provide us with plenty of scope to see how this great machine of measures can be retuned or rebuilt to deliver better.
So I am delighted that together with the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, we have set up the Affordable Rural Housing Commission, chaired by Elinor Goodman.
I feel that with this and the depth and energy we having going into this issue from a whole range of top flight organisations we really can make some headway. This will help us ensure the government provides the right context and framework to enable local bodies and communities to deliver the right solutions locally.
Like housing, the accessibility of rural services is another core issue - one that plays a crucial role in ensuring the sustainability of communities; and in addressing rural disadvantage.
Seventy-three percent of all journeys made by people living in rural areas are made by car. But fifteen percent of people living in rural areas do not have access to a car. This means that although the majority can get to the services they need, a significant minority may experience difficulties in accessing essential services. These are often older people and those on low incomes.
Conventional transport solutions like scheduled services are one solution here, and Defra works closely with other Government Departments to ensure that they consider rural residents when developing service provision, and access to this.
Alongside this, communities can play a bigger role in articulating their own transport needs, and playing a role in providing them – developing local solutions to local problems. There are already many examples of excellent community transport schemes, and volunteer driving schemes – if based on evidence of need, this can provide a focused way to meet the challenges of disadvantage in a rural community.
Beyond transport in rural services is the challenge of rural retail.
Until 2008, Government provides support of up to £150m each year for the rural Post Office network – which consists of about 5,500 branches in England alone – some of these branches are located in thriving market towns and others in hamlets where they are the only commercial business.
The functions of a typical rural Post Office branch aren’t just about stamps: they provide access to cash, they are often co-located with a local retail shop, and for some, provide a focal point, and a place ‘to go and catch up on what’s happening’.
However, each of these outlets costs around £20,000 a year to support and over 20% have fewer than 200 customers per week.
As with all interventions, Government needs to be sure that the services are delivered in the most cost effective way, and meet the needs of the community concerned. Government funding is limited, and we need to be sure that the services provided are carefully targeted and within available resources.
A delicate balancing act for Government.
My challenge is to ensure that future support meets the needs of rural communities, and particularly the most disadvantaged.
This poses a challenging rural policy dilemma. What services for rural communities should a limited funding pot be supporting? How can limited rural development funds lever real change from public and private sector providers?
I have already mentioned the relatively high levels of community cohesion in rural areas. Defra’s policy has been to build on and sustain these strong community ties by working through the voluntary and parish councils sectors and seeking opportunities to build the capacity of rural communities to meet their own needs where possible.
This week Defra published its response to the consultation on a new Rural Social and Community programme. Respondents reinforced the importance of on-the-ground local activities in support of socially excluded people and rural communities generally.
The programme, which is due to start next April, is tangible evidence of our determination to rationalise and simplify rural funding arrangements.
The fund will provide new opportunities for local partnerships of rural voluntary and community and parish council sector groups, working with local authorities and others, to design their own, bespoke, measures based on evidence of local need, to address the causes of disadvantage in rural communities. To lever funds for their priorities and not just pander to the priorities of others.
The important point here is that the design and the delivery of the solutions will be by those who work in and with rural communities and not by civil servants. Local communities accessing a fund of around £9 million a year for two years.
Because I want this to build capacity. And above all to build the capacity for the final piece in this jigsaw – local leadership.
I can try to provide leadership centrally. We can set up structures to try to generate leadership regionally. But all this must be to enable communities to help themselves.
And that needs local leadership. People who can take risks, who can engage their communities and who want to deliver social justice on the ground.
To conclude: the agenda for this session asks – “can we achieve social justice in rural areas?” I hope I have made it clear that I believe that we can.
I believe we will do it by:
- strengthening rural economies, through embracing small as well as large projects
- by sustainable development that develops the environment as an economic driver
- by early rural-proofing of service provision to ensure it meets the needs of rural communities
- by enabling rural communities to develop bespoke solutions to local needs
- by influencing partners across Government and beyond to reflect the rural dimension in what they do
I aspire to be a champion for rural issues within the Government.
Working in partnership with organisations like those represented here and with my colleagues in other Government departments –
I am determined to lift the economic aspiration of rural people and rural economic development to tackle low pay and address issues around social exclusion and disadvantage.
I am determined to find some answers on affordable rural housing and on public and private sector rural services.
I am determined to give rural communities a sustainable future by playing to their environmental strengths.
And, in the sessions that follow I look forward to your insights on how best to deliver on these priorities in future.
Thank you.