Durham, Gateshead, Newcastle Upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Northumberland, South Tyneside and Sunderland Combined Authority Order 2014

Lord Beecham Excerpts

Monday 7th April 2014 Grand Committee

[Lord Beecham (Lab)]

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for making a contribution from outside the north-east today. We have heard from seven speakers from the region and, but for the fact that he is a Whip, I dare say that the noble Lord, Lord Bates, would have been contributing to the debate. We are very glad that we have a Minister from the north-east in the Government, at least for the next year. I hope that during that time he will continue—as I am sure he does quietly behind the scenes—to advocate our cause.

It is also a particular pleasure for me that the noble Lord, Lord Walton, contributed to this debate. He has contributed an enormous amount to the region and its reputation. Like him, I very well remember the occasion when the freedom of the city was conferred upon him and others, including Cardinal Hume. I had the pleasure of nominating them all at that ceremony, and well remember the cardinal’s remarks at that time. Perhaps he might have a celestial word with the powers that be in favour of the team which at least the noble Lord and I support, and perhaps also in favour of the team which the noble Lord, Lord Shipley, supports, which is a little further away in Sunderland. We can certainly do with some divine intervention at the moment. I hope that the noble Baroness will receive some of that benefit this evening.

I also thank my noble friend on my left, Adonis to the north-east’s Venus, as it were, whose report was clearly very influential in promoting the cause of the region.

Like those who spoke in last week’s debate—by the way, there were not as many from those four combined authorities as there have been speaking today for just this one—I extend a very warm and unreserved welcome to this order and congratulate the seven local authorities and the Government on this important measure. It follows the creation of the Greater Manchester combined authority some years ago, currently chaired by my noble friend Lord Smith of Leigh, under the auspices of the Labour Government’s legislation. It is right for us in the north-east to thank the local authorities in Greater Manchester for successfully blazing the trail for this new approach to sub-regional co-operation and development. I am glad that one of the leaders of Greater Manchester at that time is with us today.

Even in the closest families, sibling rivalry is often present, and elements of such tribalism in the north-east have existed, and perhaps always will. Thirty years ago, I circulated anonymously, via the then leader of Northumberland County Council, a paper calling for the creation of a north of England councils association, to speak for the region. The association, now the Association of North East Councils—since Cumbria was subsequently hived off to the north-west—survives to this day. I fear it would have been still-born if its paternity had been revealed at the time.

Happily, however, the seven local authorities in today’s order have now come together. They encompass five metropolitan authorities and two counties, with a rich history and culture, fine cities and attractive coastline and countryside. It is not quite the desolate and underpopulated area described by one of the Minister’s colleagues last year in some remarks about fracking. The region’s coalfields, shipyards and engineering works have made a huge contribution to the UK economy, and its people yearn to do so again. As we have heard, overseas companies such as Nissan, Hitachi and Siemens recognise what the region has to offer. However, as my noble friend Lady Armstrong has pointed out, sadly British business has too often overlooked its potential, though in Sage and other companies operating in the fields of high-tech and the biosciences, there are companies able to compete in world markets.

Welcome though the new authority and the two City Deals which have been negotiated are, we have to recognise that the region comprising both the combined authority and Teesside has been ill served by the abolition of the successful regional development agency, the closure of the government regional office, and particularly by the appalling cuts in local government funding, still to reach their estimated total of 40% of local council budgets. The local authorities comprising the combined authority have demonstrably suffered from an increasingly unfair distribution of government grant and a skewed allocation of infrastructure investment to other better-off areas. Even as we hear of the HS2 programme, which will not reach the area for decades, we learn that the vastly expensive Crossrail line is to be extended to Reading, another example of the much higher infrastructure investment per head in London and the south-east.

The combined authority, the LEP and its business partners will undoubtedly seek to use their powers to maximise investment in skills, infrastructure and business support. To do that they will need a fair allocation of resources to, for example, improve transport links within the region and sub-region and to the conurbations of Yorkshire and the north-west, and, I hope, to see the dualling of the A1 to Scotland.

However, other resources need to be harnessed. As we have heard, there are four very good universities in the area of the authority, and several FE colleges. They need to be involved in developing the skills of the area’s young and linked ever more closely with industry, translating research into production, as so often our economy has failed to do.

Similarly in health, education, the environment, culture, leisure and welfare there needs to be strategic co-operation within the combined authority area across the public sector, together with the private and voluntary sectors. The Labour Government proposed the concept of Total Place, seeking to look at the totality of public expenditure across an area rather than from the perspective of service or departmental silos. Will the Government revive what seems to be a flagging concept in the combined authority area, and play their part in ensuring local accountability and locally driven programmes to achieve major strategic goals? In this way, we can better meet the social and economic needs of an area and its people suffering from high unemployment. At the same time, through a drive to share services, efficiency savings can be engendered.