Youth Violence (London)

Debate between Jane Ellison and Chuka Umunna

Thursday 16th September 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Umunna]

Hear, hear. I agree with my hon. Friend—Leap does fantastic work in London. Such community and voluntary organisations are literally saving lives. They have a role, and the family has a big role, but so do Government. I have several deep concerns, which I hope the Minister will address, about the Government’s future role.

Some youth services in my area are delivered directly by the local authority, but it also commissions local community groups to provide many services. Of course, the authority gets much of its funding from central Government. That pattern is repeated throughout London. We are essentially drinking from the same trough and have been receiving moneys from the same central Government funds.

Let me start with Lambeth’s youth offending team—there are many youth offending teams across London. It works with young people in the community to prevent them from offending and getting involved in serious crime. It is funded by the Youth Justice Board and does hugely important work. On 20 August, during the recess, Community Care reported that the Youth Justice Board was to be abolished in the name of efficiency. Is that correct? If so, where will the youth offending teams in London get their funding? Will they be funded by the same amount?

The previous Government put in place the youth crime action plan, which was doing many positive things in my constituency, including getting former gang members to engage with young people and establishing youth worker street teams. That helped to prevent disorder and crime, and we were also looking to expand youth centre provision. My borough received £350,000 for this year and another £350,000 for next year. No doubt other boroughs received those funds too. Will the Government continue to fund the implementation of the plan when the money runs out next year? Will the level of funding be maintained?

We also received funding from the working neighbourhoods fund this year, and we have moneys for 2011 from the Department for Communities and Local Government, which we used to address worklessness in our area. We have a disproportionately high youth unemployment rate in Lambeth. The Government announced the abolition of the fund in June. What will they replace it with?

As part of Lambeth’s area-based grant, it receives £9 million for a range of preventive services, from Connexions to school grants. The cuts that have been demanded of Lambeth this year mean that we have to make cuts of around £2.5 million to the grants. I do not understand how our youth provision will not be affected by that. Does the Minister have any idea of the effect that that will have on youth provision in my community? What will the Government do about it?

Again, the list of funds and support is not exhaustive, but it is substantial. It is crucial that we have the moneys so that we can channel the energy of our youth in a positive direction, away from the activities that lead to violence and, tragically, sometimes to the loss of young lives.

Policing is another big issue. While we must properly fund youth provision, we also need effective, visible policing to help deal with problems when they flare up. I pay tribute to the work of the many police in my borough, who do a fantastic job of keeping our streets safe.

Last Friday, the Police Federation chair said that a touch of ideology and bad advice to Government from think-tanks had left the police service facing cuts that could leave up to 40,000 officers out of a job. Yesterday, as the Minister will know, the Home Secretary responded at the Superintendents Association conference. She said:

“The front line is the last place police should look to make savings—not the first.”

I spoke with some members of a safer neighbourhood team in my constituency on Saturday. We have eight safer neighbourhood teams which do sterling work and are very much supported by the community. They made it clear to me that they have already made savings by systematically attacking overheads throughout the force, not least at headquarters, in the way that the Home Secretary has demanded. They are already cut to the bone. What guarantees can the Minister give my community, and London in general, that police numbers will not be reduced?

Many of these funding cuts have been implemented in the name of deficit reduction.

[Jane Ellison (Battersea) (Con)]

I have great empathy with everything that the hon. Gentleman says as we have the same issues in my neighbouring constituency. However, in his original list, he did not touch on family as one of the elements involved. Chaotic family situations need to be addressed over the next generation, and it would be a shame if he concluded his remarks without acknowledging that.

[Mr Umunna]

I did mention the role of the family, when I referred to community groups. However, I agree with the hon. Lady and I thank her for bringing the matter up. In fact, I have just been discussing that very issue at length with the young people who are watching us in the Gallery. The importance of the family, and support for it, is a big issue. In our borough—the hon. Lady will know this as a neighbour—one problem is with children having children, as we have quite a high rate of teenage pregnancy. We have fantastic groups such as the St Michael’s Fellowship which works with young mums and dads to teach them and support them in becoming fantastic parents. However, that also requires funding. I do not think that funding is the only answer, but if we are to have more youth workers and people who can sit down with young parents and teach them what it is to be a parent, the money will have to come from somewhere. In the current economic climate, corporate social responsibility funds from the private sector and charitable foundations are not what they were five or six years ago. That is why the role of the Government is so important—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Bedford (Richard Fuller) shakes his head, but that role is important.

If we invest in prevention—in occupying our young people with decent things to do that can expand their horizons and increase their opportunities—it reduces the chances of them entering the criminal justice system. We know how much it costs to put a young person through that system. In the long term, therefore, it would actually cost us more as a community not to spend money addressing this issue than it would to invest the money now.

The youth activities and services that are being funded in London are helping not only to provide the future opportunities that I have mentioned, and to ensure that our young people can achieve their full potential, but to divert them away from violence. It is worth emphasising again that the people working in this arena are saving lives. We cannot put a price on reducing youth violence on London’s streets. We have to do everything that we can to reduce that. What my constituents want to know is what the new Government will do about this. Will they cut off the support that we have and need, or will they live up to their duty to our young people?