Equal opportunity
I met residents of the Victoria Hostel for the homeless in Westminster yesterday evening. This was my second visit - it followed an invitation from the residents, who wanted to explain to me their situation. They all had different stories to tell but something that came across very strongly was the sense of disempowerment they felt.
I thought about these people when I was working on my speech for the launch of the Fabian Commission report on life chances. The idea of 'life chances' is simple; it refers to the extent to which people are the 'victims of fate' - where they are born, into which class they are born - or whether they're able to make their own choices about the course of their life.
The report focuses on tax and benefits in the early years, and edcuation services. It recommends changes to maternity support and other benefits as well as commenting on school admission.
My perspective is that life chances are obviously affected by income, from work and from Government, but that the power to shape our own lives crucially also depends on power over public services, power as an employee or consumer, and power in the community.
The redistribution of income will only equalise life chances if consistent with the redistribution of power.
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David Miliband
on 30 Mar 06
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It was highly appropriate that in the week of the State of the English Cities report I should have spent the day with six of the smaller towns and cities from Tuesday’s monumental survey. The East of England does not boast a ‘Core City’ but it does have employment above the national average, and GDP per capita also above the average.
Six cities - Peterborough, Luton, Ipswich, Norwich, Colchester and Southend, with the support of Cambridge - are thinking about how to maximise their economic weight and social development. The day of discussion yielded real lessons for the future of urban policy.
First, the regional tier is a vital binding unit, bringing together different authorities for shared endeavour. Second, proximity is key in an age of globalisation, and the East of England is near both London and the continent.
Third, distinctive strengths are based on history and location – for example the coastal strip – but are also man-made, for example through the university developments that are now criss-crossing the region.
I started the day with sixty sixth formers in a discussion hosted by Suffolk College. They were not confining their ambitions to the region, though. There is a battle for talent underway, and the whole country, never mind the region, has a job to convince those young people that the future is better here.
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David Miliband
on 10 Mar 06
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London is the only part of Britain where unemployment is higher than in 1979. This seems incredible given that London is also the wealthiest part of the UK and one of the greatest wealth creating machines in Europe. But it is true that wealth and poverty sit side by side.
The Welfare Reform Green Paper has flagged up options for change at city and neighbourhood level and today I saw one part of the future. Camden Council has contracted with a private/voluntary sector partnership to create Camdenworking - a dedicated and innovative team that uses the trust of the voluntary sector to engage local people and the entrepreneurialism of the private sector to link up with employers.
The first year of the scheme has delivered 280 people into work - either off benefit or from the ranks of the economically inactive. The Camdenworking staff are brokers between the unemployed without skills and businesses without people; the voluntary sector links the unemployed to the staff.
This is the sort of entrepreneurial local government that we should be supporting - led by a Council leader and deputy leader who make me feel very old (they're both 33)...
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David Miliband
on 28 Feb 06
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I went to the Thames Gateway Forum in November; an event for more than a thousand people from both private and public sectors discussing the future of the Thames Gateway.
One of the most memorable parts of the morning was meeting a group of 8-year-olds from the Isle of Sheppey. They were taking part in a 'Planning for Real' exercise and had made a huge model of their local area of Queenborough and Rushenden, showing how they would like it to develop. I still have a photo of it on my desk.
Yesterday I saw the Isle of Sheppey for real. An animated group of children showed me round local sites, including Devil's Island, and I saw how the area was being developed. I met local people and councillors, all of whom were excited about the regeneration of their community.
'Planning for Real' was developed to involve communities in the planning system. It's a striking example of empowering people by getting them involved in 3D.
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David Miliband
on 14 Feb 06
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Yesterday I visited the Universities at Medway and I saw what the future of higher education could be - not cut off from the rest of the education system or of society, but fully integrated into it.
I opened the old drill hall at Chatham Naval dockyard which is now the world's longest university library. It is at the heart of a collaboration between three universities - the University of Greenwich, the University of Kent and Mid-Kent College, and Canterbury Christ Church University.
I met local people who'd left school at the age of 16 and had never thought of university - they've now taken access courses and are studying to be occupational therapists and childcare workers. The most powerful thing for me was how proud their children were of their achievements.
Chatham people had believed that when the dockyard closed that was the end of their part in the history books. Certainly military might is no longer there - but now through the new university Chatham can play its part on the world stage again, in a different way. I met a Ghanaian mature PhD student who was researching ways of counteracting virulent bugs in meat and fish in Africa. He was planning to go back to Ghana to put this new knowledge into practice.
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David Miliband
on 14 Feb 06
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I visited Belfast last week to see for myself how the city is rebuilding itself.
The optimistic vision comes from a visit to Laganside. We all know the dangers of physical regeneration that is not followed up by social regeneration. But the Belfast example shows how physical regeneration - involving land reclamation, leisure venues and housing - can create shared spaces that are the foundation for social regeneration.
In a still-divided city the waterfront development represents neutral space as well as economic opportunity. That doesn't mean there aren't difficult questions - about whether 'neutrality' means the absence of community icons or a balance of them - but it does create opportunities for building bridges between communities.
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David Miliband
on 06 Feb 06
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The North East Really Delivers (or NERD!) campaign is a unique public-private venture to raise aspirations in the North East. The idea is simple - use the aspiration of young people to fuel educational achievement, and raise that aspiration by engagement with the world of work. Launched in November 2004, the campaign is now reaching parts of the region left out of economic success. They even have their own blogger.
One reason I back NERD (formely the Aspire campaign) is that it takes young people seriously. They have designed the concept and the name. They now edit and produce a region-wide newspaper that goes to every teenager in the region. And the 'quite young' who are in work now drive the programme through a recently launched Young Leaders programme.
The project is funded by public sector agencies, but it is private sector engagement that is also critical to success. If you live in the North East I hope you will sign up.
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David Miliband
on 01 Feb 06
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I was interviewed on the BBC Politics Show this morning talking about empowerment - here's the transcript.
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David Miliband
on 22 Jan 06
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The launch of Chris Holmes’ book A New Vision for Housing took place at the Oxo Tower in London, well known for its restaurant, but in fact the home of a great story of social entrepreneurship, supported by enlightened local government.
I wonder how many diners know that in the mid 1980s the GLC helped a community group, Coin Street Community Builders, take over a prime strip of land along the Thames, including the Tower. They have since developed a mixed use development of retail, open space and rented housing.
It is a fantastic symbol of how government and the voluntary sector can work together, and a practical demonstration of the benefits of community ownership and engagement.
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David Miliband
on 12 Jan 06
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I went to Plymouth to launch the Respect Action Plan today.
The plan is packed with practical changes to help people stand up for their rights to live their lives in peace. I saw what this means in practice when I met a couple whose neighbour had been dealing crack cocaine from the next door flat on their council estate.
Finally they had a council and police with the powers to make a difference. The Government's respect agenda is not about legislating for or against human nature; it is about legislating to put the law and public authorities on the side of the law-abiding majority. The problems have complex roots, but the answer cannot be to ignore them.
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David Miliband
on 10 Jan 06
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