Tackling child poverty means people will see themselves in the jobs we create
4 min read
There is no value to growth unless its benefits are felt by everyone.
There is no point telling people about investment on their doorstep unless they believe the jobs we create are jobs they can get and hold down.
This thinking drives our vision to make the North East the home of real opportunity. Our investment is in both jobs and people – a concerted effort to build skills, break down the barriers to work and address the drag of poor-quality jobs. We work equally with the voluntary sector, with our unions and with business in all three areas.
Our draft Local Growth Plan sets ambitious targets and starts from a stronger base than many give the North East credit for – we are home to the country’s most productive car plant and first battery giga factory, we are building the largest hyper-scale data centre and we are uniquely placed to be home to the green energy revolution.
Investing in business alone is not enough, however. I have consistently argued tackling child poverty is central to growth. Last year we set up the country’s first Child Poverty Reduction Unit at a summit which brought together experts in the field, social activists and the business community. We are all bought in to tackling child poverty together with good reason.
The biggest driver of long-term prosperity is people. We have tried to ignore this fact for too long and paid the price nationally in rising economic activity figures and a fragile labour market.
Investors need workforces made up of people with great places to live and bring up their families, towns and cities with thriving cultures and identities, and a skills pipeline. Our vision recognises the role of the foundational economy, the importance of SMEs and the creative sector, and the need to give people the opportunity and freedom to work.
Last month, we launch the £70m North East Fund to support the SMEs which pump energy through our high streets, business parks and back lanes. This will generate £350m in total investment, support more than 430 local firms to grow and create 2,300 jobs.
We can’t afford to make a binary choice between growth and public service – and in the North East we don’t. Devolution gives us the opportunity to join up budgets to make social interventions that can drive economic outputs, as well as the reverse.
We have put an emphasis on public service reform, including providing new money to support teachers and raise standards in education, to fund 33 grassroot community-led initiatives across the region, to provide free public transport for all care leavers up to age 25, and to cap bus and Metro travel for everyone at £1 up to the age of 21. These are impactful examples of working in partnership around our common goal.
We are using £50m of devolved funding on skills to reach out in new ways to people who have until now been locked out of the labour market by health problems. This spring I will go a step further and pilot new childcare grants for people returning to work, closing the holes in existing provision.
Business, meanwhile, must recognise that it holds some of the biggest levers. We will this summer launch a New Deal for North East Workers including a good employee programme with a laser focus on decent wages, apprenticeships, inclusion and wellbeing. I want to see more than 300 local businesses sign up within the first year, reaching more than 200,000 working people.
Growth can only truly be generated by recognising its social determinants. Increasing inward investment and boosting our key sectors is vital, but the true measure of success will be for local people to see themselves in the jobs we create.
