European Social Fund (EUC Report)

Lord Cotter Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd November 2010 Lords Chamber

[Lord Cotter]

My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, for opening this debate so well. I will do my best to follow on as a member of her committee that was. We are living through difficult times when social issues and the provision of jobs are more important than ever, so it is valuable and timely to be addressing the examination that has been conducted of the European Social Fund. Every possible initiative has to be sustained and encouraged; that is to say, in my view, to help in particular people into work.

There are many views and outlooks when it comes to this. For example, in evidence given to the committee in 2009, Off the Streets and into Work—one organisation among many that came to talk to us—said:

“As unemployment rates rise, there has been increased investment at national and regional level targeting support at those at risk of redundancy or who have recently lost their jobs. Whilst this is wholly reasonable and appropriate, there is a risk ESF resources will be diverted away for the long-term unemployed, many of whom face multiple and complex barriers to employment. We”—

that is, the organisation—

“firmly believe ESF resources should be used to address the needs of participants not well served by mainstream programmes. Without it, we will see a growing ‘underclass’ of the unemployed who are consistently overlooked by successive welfare to work initiatives.”

That is just a bit of the evidence that we had. We had much evidence that was of great interest.

I shall now raise a point that the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, has already raised, since it needs emphasising: to look ahead. We in the committee and many witnesses were very concerned at the previous Government’s view that there should be an end to the availability of structural funds directed towards more prosperous states, including the UK, after 2013. It is great to see the then Minister in his place. I thought that he gave us very good responses on many points and I congratulate him, as I congratulate many people, on the contributions that they made to our deliberations. However, there is that concern. At the time, it was stated that there was no plan for how the ESF should be replaced, so I am not alone in wondering what approach the new Government will be taking, up to and beyond 2013, towards the Social Fund itself. We need to take advantage of every possible opportunity to create and encourage jobs. I hope that the Government will be taking this on board. That is why it is important for them to clarify their long-term objective on the continuation of ESF funding.

There is an immediate risk that the new Government’s welfare to work programme—now called the work programme—will be delayed next year. I may be wrong, but if it is it will leave a hiatus during which the role of the ESF may tail off and get lost. Will the Minister assure the House that any delay involved in introducing the work programme next year, were it to happen, will take proper account of the importance of the contribution being made by ESF funding to local programmes? The real value of ESF projects in the past has been their small-scale, bespoke nature, working with the hardest-to-reach clients in neighbourhood developments. There is therefore a risk or concern that smaller-scale projects could be put to one side and may not be concentrated upon as they should be. I have one more point for the Minister. Can he assure the House that ESF-type projects will not fall by the wayside because they are less able to produce clients who are able to get and sustain work?

Those are a few points to consider, but here I want to refer to a point that came up in the evidence to the committee. I know that the coalition Government are very committed to addressing the issue of bureaucracy. A number of people who came to the committee said that we must get the balance right between the need to ensure that projects will be delivering what is required, and so on, and keeping bureaucracy to the minimum. This debate has become more important than ever. A programme of necessary cutbacks is in hand but there can always be unseen, unanticipated and, indeed, unwanted consequences.

Recently, I saw for myself the great benefit obtained by small, local projects. In this case, it was a small wood recycling project in Weston-super-Mare, near where I live. It gets financial support, without which it would not be able to deliver what it is delivering: assistance in getting young people who have been unemployed for six months into work and in giving people with mental health problems an opportunity to get into work. It also assists people on probation who are having difficulty getting into work. That did not have ESF funding, but it is an example of the small projects that we need to keep our eyes on while ensuring that we keep them in mind. I hope that the debate today will help to stimulate and encourage schemes—in this case, obviously, those which are ESF-funded—and encourage the very necessary approach that we need in this country: to keep giving people the opportunity to get into work and to enable this country to offer employment to those many, many people who need it.