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Working Towards Community Cohesion in a Time of Uncertainty

Date of speech	12 November 2008
Location	University of Buckinghamshire, High Wycombe

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Draft text of the speech - may differ from the delivered version.

Introduction

You may have noticed I am not Hazel Blears. Hazel wanted very much to be here. She asked me to pass on her apologies.

I want to thank the University - and Chaudhry Shafique in particular - for extending the invitation. It's a pleasure to be here. I was keen to speak for a number of reasons.

Not just because you have assembled an expert cast of speakers. 

But because High Wycombe has its own unique story of cohesion, of diverse communities coming together to face the challenges head-on and overcome them.

And because this is a pivotal moment for cohesion policy. In tough economic times, it is more important and more relevant than ever.

What I want to do is set out my view on where we are, and where we go from here.

What is Cohesion and Why Does it Matter?

Community cohesion is a relatively new word.

It started to figure in public debate in a serious way in 2001, after the disturbances that rocked Northern Towns.

Like many new words, it gets a lot of stick. Sometimes it gets criticised as political correctness, or as an abstract concept that doesn't mean very much.

I think it's a challenge - for all of us who want to understand how we can help different communities come together - to get the arguments across about what cohesion is, and why it matters.

It is a new word. But it describes processes that have been going on for many years.

For generations people from different backgrounds have made their home here. People of different nationalities, races and faiths. Many towns have their own story dating back long before Empire Windrush.

By 1850, 1 in 8 people living in Wolverhampton were Irish Catholics.

In the early twentieth century, many Jewish families fleeing pogroms settled in Crumpsall, Manchester.

Hundreds of Poles who served in the Allied Forces in World War II settled in Bradford.

People from these places have looked beyond the differences between different communities, have developed a sense of shared belonging, have found ways to live side by side, not just tolerating each other's presence but with a sense of common purpose. Granted, in some places it has not always been straightforward. But it has happened.

And it matters. More often that not, community cohesion hits the headlines when things go wrong. When you have a breakdown of trust that leads to conflict and violence. Of course, it's clearly in everyone's interests to stop things getting to that point.

But I think we're missing a trick if we think of cohesion policy purely in these terms - as if it was all about trying to stop negative events, or address a lack. We should be thinking about it positively.

Who doesn't want to live somewhere with a strong sense of community?
Where people from different backgrounds get along? Where they share a sense of belonging, feel safe and comfortable in their neighbourhood, and have equal chances to get on life?

As Cohesion Minister, it's what I want to help every place achieve - whether they're large or small, rural and urban, well-off or deprived. And whether the challenge is about building bridges between different faiths, different races, or between young and old.

What Have We Learnt About it in Recent Years?

But if cohesion is a process and an idea that's as old as the hills, our understanding of it has come on in leaps and bounds in recent years. We know more about how works - where it's strongest, what factors can help it and hinder it - than ten, or even two years ago.

This is thanks to the work of bodies such as the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, chaired by Darra Singh, which reported last year.

The Commission found that the issue was not so much the one of 'parallel lives' examined by Professor Ted Cantle 5 years earlier. The debate has moved on.

As international travel has grown ever easier, and with the accession of new states to the European Union, some places are experiencing migration at unprecedented rates. Others are experiencing it for the first time. And it is increasingly common for people to want to come and spend, say, 2 years working here before heading on elsewhere, rather than making the UK their permanent home.

That movement of people brings opportunities. Migrants can boost local economies, bring their energy to everything from the highest-skilled engineering jobs, to agricultural work, to vital public services such as social care.

At the same time it can bring challenges. Misunderstandings about local customs, anxiety about access to jobs, home and public services. At worst this can lead to tensions and conflict.

But the report's main findings were that there is plenty to be cheerful about. 82 per cent of us, on average, think people from different backgrounds get on well in our neighbourhood. And where there are challenges, a lot of practical things can be done to address them.

I want to highlight three of the overarching points coming out of the report.

First, that there is a clear role for national leadership - setting the parameters of debate, giving a clear steer on the direction of policy. Take the English language. The commission found that English is one of the essential ingredients for building cohesive communities. For individuals, a good command of English is essential for getting on in education and at work. It helps you play a full and active part in the life of your local neighbourhood. Yet it's clear that at times in the past, some public organisations have gone too far in translating documents - going so far as to translate their entire annual report. We need to draw the line in such a way that we're giving people - such as young mothers - vital information in a way they can understand, while at the same time making sure people have the right encouragement to improve their English too. That's why, in its response to the Commission's report, the Government set out the questions that public bodies should be asking before they translate.
 
But the report's second main finding is that national leadership only goes so far. Ultimately it's local action that makes neighbourhoods cohesive - or not. That's because you have such a different picture in different places. In rural areas, such as Cornwall or around the Wash, the biggest challenge might be about helping new migrant workers understand their rights and responsibilities. In urban areas, such as London boroughs, it might be tackling 'super-diversity': how you find a common language, and a common sense of identity, when you have people living in the area from literally more than a hundred ethnic backgrounds. And in some specific places, such as parts of East London, it might be about tackling head-on the myths spread by far right groups.

All these different types of areas are finding ways - often very practical, starting at the grass roots - to face these challenges. These range from information packs for new arrivals, to citizens days celebrating what makes a particular place special, to working closely with the local media to challenge misperceptions.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge what's happened here in High Wycombe and how important local leadership has been. For many years it has been home to people of different backgrounds - Christian and Muslim, Black and Asian. And in recent years an increasing number of Eastern Europeans have settled here. By and large those diverse communities have got on well together.

But In 2006, high-profile arrests created stresses and scrutiny that would test even the strongest bonds. And yet Wycombe's diverse communities have found ways to come together. This University in particular, and its staff, have been at the heart of local efforts. It's just over a year since the Council for Christian and Muslim Relations got off the ground, based here at the University. Its aim - to spread understanding between people of different faiths, to create a space where people can meet and overcome prejudices, and to celebrate how High Wycombe is strengthened, not divided, by its diversity - is an excellent example of local leadership. Especially because you have sought to involve not just churches and mosques but schools, the Thames Valley Police, and community groups too. After all, cohesion is not and should not be a minority concern. It's part of business for a whole range of public bodies.

The third point from the report that I want to highlight is that we need a new kind of partnership, to bridge the gap between national leadership and local action. We need to see Whitehall, councils and their local partners working together, sharing information, sharing expertise. This idea underpins Government's response to the report: and I believe we have already made good progress translating that response into practical action.

• Government has confirmed £34m of funding over the next 3 years for local projects in the areas where cohesion poses the biggest challenges
• The first Specialist Cohesion Teams have already gone out into communities to learn more about how places such as Breckland in Norfolk have dealt with the issues, so that their experience can inform and enrich Government's approach, and help other councils too
• A new website hosted by the Institute for Community Cohesion and supported by my Department has gone live. It brings together in one place everything that people who want to understand what cohesion is, why it matters, and how they can make a difference - reports, research, examples of innovative approaches
• And schools are getting support to meet their new duty to promote cohesion, making sure we get this right from an early age

So overall, I think we're heading in the right direction, and have got the basic framework in place to help communities everywhere continue to grow those links of common purpose.

What Next? Financial Crisis

The final point I want to make is about cohesion and the global financial crisis.

Without beating about the bush, there are tougher times on the horizon. Lots of people are worried about their jobs and homes. Budgets will be tight. For this Government there's no more important priority than helping people get through.

But this doesn't mean cohesion no longer matters. On the contrary. In difficult economic circumstances you can go one of two ways. On one hand, you could get people worried about access to public services and jobs. At the worst this could create competition between different groups that could corrode local cohesion. No-one wants to see that.

On the other hand, strong, cohesive communities could be best placed to ride out the worst of the downturn. Places where people band together - united by community spirit - and secure in their support for each other - will have an advantage.

So the financial crisis is not an excuse to stop thinking about cohesion, but to take it to the next level. Budgets are likely to be constrained so the answer cannot be to throw to money at the challenge - but then it never was. This is a challenge that calls for local ingenuity, flexibility, working across public bodies, sharing resources and expertise, forging links with charities, community and voluntary groups. And very often the answer doesn't lie in creating extra meetings but making sure that existing events people already care about - whether it's about local food, parenting or sports facilities - are designed in such a way to bring different people together.

My message to local authorities and their partners is clear: no-one can afford to leave this to chance. But you won't be alone. The Government is also adapting its approach to cohesion to make sure we get it right at this crucial point.

We will be keeping closely in touch with councils to build up a clear picture of the difference that the financial crisis is making to cohesion on the ground.

We will be ready to be creative about support for those places facing new challenges as a result of the downturn - for example, we might consider asking the specialist cohesion teams to get involved.

And as we look to allocating the next set of local budgets, we will make sure that the money is going to those places where it will make the most difference.

Conclusion

Finally, thank you again for the chance to speak. I said at the start that cohesion was a new word. As circumstances change we are always keen to learn and understand more. So I very much look forward to hearing your thoughts and reactions today, and to continuing the wider debate in the months to come.