House of Commons debate - Social Exlusion Christine Russell (City of Chester) (Lab): Thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker, for giving me the opportunity to speak in this important debate. I thank the Ministers because they are doing a remarkable job of spearheading the renewed drive to tackle deep-seated social exclusion. I listened with compete incredulity to some of the speeches. Sadly, my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Mudie) left the Chamber fairly promptly after finishing his speech. If the situation is as bad as he makes out, he should be having a dialogue with his chief executive and local politicians in his constituency as a matter of urgency. Unfortunately, the hon. Member for Bournemouth, East (Mr. Ellwood) has also left the Chamber. I would have liked to assure him that there is no evidence that the new licensing laws have increased alcohol-related disorder on our streets throughout the country. I agree with him that there is a connection between homelessness and social exclusion, but I would have liked the opportunity to remind him in person that much of the homelessness that we have in our society today is a result of the complete collapse over the 18 years of the previous Government of not only social house building but repairs and maintenance work... I wish to share with the House some examples from my constituency of really good practice to tackle social exclusion. As many hon. Members have said—Conservative Members have acknowledged this—the Government have every reason to be proud of their achievements. We have heard that 700,000 children and more than 1 million pensioners have been lifted out of poverty. In my constituency, which is fairly affluent, there was 15 per cent unemployment in some wards in 1997. Thousands of jobs have been created since then and there is now virtually full employment. ...A number of hon. Members mentioned Sure Start. The establishment of children’s centres, in which all the services for young children and their parents are brought together under one roof, is one of the Government’s best achievements so far. We all know that children who miss out on caring and learning opportunities in their early years will probably never achieve their full potential... 
For the full content of this debate on Hansard please follow the link: Thursday, 11 January 2007 | 
