Elizabeth Truss:
Does my hon. Friend agree that the launch that took place yesterday at Liverpool Street station showed the sense of purpose of all the MPs of East Anglia in putting their names to a new manifesto,
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and does he think that that should be taken very seriously by the Department for Transport when it is considering our overall national transport strategy?
Ben Gummer: I agree. My hon. Friend will know and I am sure that you, Mr Bone, will know very well that that sense of purpose is unusual in the east of England. When first the railway was driven up to Norwich, the good people of Norwich tried very hard to ensure that it did not go through Ipswich. They preferred a route that went via Cambridge. In the end, they got something approaching both. At that time, the town and the city were at war with each other for the privilege of having the railway. Happily, sense prevailed, but such was the animosity during that period—there is a serious point to this—that the quality of the infrastructure laid down suffered; investment was not forthcoming because there was no political direction to facilitate the backing required. That is why only two lines go between Chelmsford and Ipswich and then from Ipswich to Norwich. The result of that and the rather substandard nature of the track itself in places is that it has never fulfilled the desires and wishes even of the Victorian builders. We have constantly had to catch up since in terms of infrastructure improvements.
We start, therefore, from the position of having a poor railway in our region. It has had running repairs and second-hand rolling stock at every point; it has never had new rolling stock, apart from at its inception in the 1830s and 1840s. That is why all of us coming together as Members of Parliament, county councils, borough councils and local enterprise partnerships across the region is so important. We have established that sense of purpose with a view to obtaining what is a rather modest amount of investment compared with other infrastructure projects across the country.
I impress on my right hon. Friend the Minister both our unity and the fact that what we are asking for is very small compared with the release of economic growth and the possibilities for jobs and prosperity that the investment would give our region. I was not here earlier in the debate, but I am sure that the issue has been brought up. All of us have a vision not just for the railway, but for our region as a whole. It should be the California of Europe. It has a knowledge base that is certainly comparable with that in California, if not greater. It is a place where people want to live; it is a very attractive place in which to live and work. It is also close to the largest finance centre in the world. There is no reason at all why the eastern region should not achieve double-digit growth.
The reason why we are so keen to see that growth is that it will unlock potential for our constituents, especially those in certain areas. In our region—you, Mr Bone, will see this in your own constituency—there are significant pockets of severe deprivation, some of which are in my constituency. If we are to offer the people living there the opportunities that the Government are keen to extend to larger areas of deprivation in London and the north and in the nations of Scotland and Wales, we should also consider areas that may be smaller but suffer from similar levels of deprivation and require the assistance that the Government can provide in terms of investment.
George Freeman:
Does my hon. Friend agree that as well as the importance of the commuter lines down to London, the regional links, not least between Ipswich,
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Cambridge and Norwich, are very important? We could combine Cambridge’s bioscience and digital and Norwich’s agricultural science, cleantech and food and medical science with Ipswich’s wonderful West Suffolk college and the Martlesham BT digital centre of excellence. If we put those together, we would build a very powerful triangle of innovation, to the benefit of all the villages and towns in the area.
Ben Gummer: I entirely agree. It is remarkable—a wonder—to see what has been achieved in Cambridge. It is remarkable also to see what is happening in Norwich—20 years of life science investment and innovation coming right. That is why it is so exciting to see some of the incipient projects in Ipswich. I was at University Campus Suffolk a few weeks ago to hear about some of the joint research projects that it is undertaking with significant universities around the country. It is a brand-new university—the youngest in the country—and it is already doing exciting advanced research. Some of the research, as my hon. Friend will know, involves geriatric science and the life sciences connected with that.
In Ipswich, there is an incipient life sciences industry, based around the largest software research centre in the country—Martlesham, just outside Ipswich, in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey). Together with a very significantly growing food and drink sector and a large tourism sector in the county as a whole, it should contribute to remarkable growth, which could be released to the UK economy. East Anglia is already one of only two regions that are net contributors to the UK economy. Its contribution could be made even more significant.
Elizabeth Truss: We hope soon to get the Cambridge Flyer extended to King’s Lynn and Norwich. Does my hon. Friend agree that if there was a train like the Cambridge Flyer to Ipswich—the Ipswich Flyer—it would help to drive growth in a similar way to what we have seen in Cambridge?
Mr Peter Bone (in the Chair): Order. Before the hon. Gentleman replies, I remind the Chamber and people who may have arrived late that the winding-up speeches are to start in about a minute’s time. The hon. Gentleman might like to bear that in mind.
Ben Gummer: Thank you for your guidance, Mr Bone. I am glad that I have no more than a minute left to contribute to the debate.
I will make one final point because I agree with every point my hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss) made. It is important that the line from Ipswich should benefit towns nearby, such as Colchester, and continue across the east-west link, from Cambridge to Bedford and thence to Oxford, creating an arc of knowledge across the country.
The Minister knows that travellers in East Anglia pay some of highest premiums in the railway industry. That money goes out of the region to subsidise loss-making lines elsewhere. We need to retain some of that money to invest in our area. It is only right that our constituents—
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not only the fortunate and well-off, but those who lack opportunities—can retain a bit more of that investment in our area, so that we can improve our rail links and make the contribution to our local, national and European economy that we aspire to make.
12.10 pm
Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab): It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. I am sorry that Mr Hollobone had to leave, because I know that we share a particular interest in rail investment.
I congratulate the hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) on securing the debate and co-ordinating it so well with the publication of “Once in a generation—A rail prospectus for East Anglia”. She made an eloquent case on behalf of her constituents and the wider region. There may be competition for the title of the Cinderella of the railways—I am thinking of my midland main line—but the importance of improving Ely North junction has been put across strongly today.
The prospectus is a substantial document that presents strong arguments for future transport investment in East Anglia. I congratulate those involved in producing it. The east of England needs and deserves better transport links, particularly given the anticipated population growth, which hon. Members described. As a shadow Transport Minister, I welcome the prospectus’s publication, and I hope that it receives a sympathetic hearing within the Department for Transport. I look forward to the Minister’s response.
As many have said, the east of England is a net contributor to the Treasury, and better transport links could enhance that contribution. The prospectus reveals the patchwork of provision across East Anglia. Too many lines suffer restrictions on capacity, with passenger numbers on the west Anglia route alone expected to increase by 42% by 2021, leaving 59% of trains overcrowded. With the Government set to allow fares to increase by up to 11% next year, passengers expect and deserve better. As the hon. Members for Suffolk Coastal and for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter) rightly said, improving links to Felixstowe is vital for the expansion of rail freight, and to reduce congestion on the roads, cut carbon emissions and free up extra capacity for passenger services.
The proposals set out today would strengthen East Anglia’s vital economic links to London, but the document’s ambition does not stop there. The previous Government undertook improvements to lines and stations between Oxford and Cambridge, and the prospect of a reopened and revitalised varsity line is worth looking at in detail. The prospectus also presents a strong case for looking at modernisation of stock and track, including electrification, in East Anglia.
There is a compelling case for investment that meets local need and supports wider economic growth. The hon. Members for Witham (Priti Patel) and for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell) made a strong case on behalf of Essex and its potential for generating jobs through inward investment and business expansion. The hon. Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman) set out clearly how Norfolk and East Anglia can contribute to sustainable growth if properly linked to key centres, including the City of London. Perhaps next time I am on a windy Norfolk beach, I will try to remember that East Anglia
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is the California of Europe. The hon. Member for Ipswich (Ben Gummer) made an important point about the development of high-tech industries in that part of the country, particularly around Cambridge.
I agree that better infrastructure is needed to drive up passenger satisfaction rates, which are the lowest in the country. Unfortunately, I am concerned that Government policy may end up holding the proposals back. Labour Members have supported £528 million of efficiency savings in rail, but the Government have pushed ahead with a further £759 million cut to capital spending.
Sir Bob Russell: Will the hon. Lady briefly spell out all the improvements that the Labour Government made to the rail infrastructure in East Anglia in their 13 years in power?
Lilian Greenwood: Labour took action in government, and I am happy to say that transport spending in the eastern region increased in real terms during our time in power. In our last year in office, it stood at £1.494 billion, but I do not deny that a new approach is needed. That is why I will set out our proposals for a real devolution programme with transparent and fair regional funding. Unlike the Government’s proposals on devolution, ours include democratic accountability.
The prospectus makes a powerful case for investment in East Anglia’s rail network, but Government cuts have made it less likely that the funding will be found.
The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mrs Theresa Villiers): It is simply not true that the Government are slashing spending on our railways. We have embarked on the biggest programme of capacity expansion in the rail network since the Victorian era. The hon. Lady should get her facts right.
Lilian Greenwood: I am sorry that the Minister felt the need to spell that out, because she is wrong. She is cutting money from planned rail investment, and there will be an impact when hon. Members seek investment. I look forward to hearing what she has to say on the high-level output specification and what it means for not only East Anglia, but other parts of the country.
The hon. Member for Suffolk Coastal has said that she was reassured that
“it is not on the Government’s Agenda to reduce passenger rail services.”
She will surely hope, therefore, that the Government do not follow the model they adopted when they issued the west coast invitation to tender. The document allowed bidders to reduce daily stops at stations by up to 10%. Any reduction in service would be compounded by the McNulty report’s ticket office closures in the counties represented here today. Colchester Town in Essex, Thetford in Norfolk, and Whittlesford Parkway in Cambridgeshire, to give just a few examples, all face having their staff withdrawn. I am sure that the hon. Lady, having secured the debate, will also put pressure on her Government to ensure that existing services in East Anglia are protected. [Interruption.]
Passengers are already feeling the pinch. Services are overcrowded, and the Government have decided to increase fares by 3% above the retail prices index for the remainder of the Parliament. They have also given train operating companies the freedom to average out the
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rise, leading to fare rises of up to 11% next January. When personal and family budgets are under great pressure, with some commuters paying as much as £4,000 or £5,000 for their annual travel, the Government should be on the side of East Anglia’s commuters, not vested interests in the rail industry.
[
Interruption
.
]
Mr Peter Bone (in the Chair): Order. If Mr Shelbrooke wants to intervene, would he mind standing, rather than grunting from a sedentary position?
Lilian Greenwood: Thank you, Mr Bone.
It is regrettable that the Government have added to the uncertainty about the future of East Anglia’s rail network. When National Express ceased to operate East Anglia rail earlier this year, the Government should have entrusted the franchise to public ownership through Directly Operated Railways, thereby providing stability in the run up to the Olympics. A two-year private tender with no long-term security or incentive for investment was not the solution East Anglia needed.
The Government’s tendering process in East Anglia also raises questions about their commitment to devolution. It is clear from the prospectus, and hon. Members’ contributions today, that there is local appetite for greater involvement in guiding infrastructure spending and delivery in East Anglia. We, in Labour, wish to promote that spirit by working more closely with local authorities to deliver a better transport system. The Government have already entered into negotiations with transport authorities in the north of England on potentially devolving responsibility for railway operations in that region. Why not do the same in East Anglia?
I urge the Government to listen to the calls in the prospectus to strengthen transport links to Stansted airport. Half of all passengers arrive at Stansted by public transport—the highest proportion for any major airport in the UK. Better transport links could help to relieve airport capacity constraints in Greater London without the environmental costs associated with other proposals. The Government are locked in distracting internal arguments on Heathrow expansion and fantasy islands in the middle of the Thames, but would it not be better to listen to those arguments instead?
In conclusion, I welcome the publication of the document and the spirit in which it was compiled. We want closer working between local authorities and other representatives, and we would back them with genuine devolved powers over transport spending. Discussions with the Department for Transport must now begin. There are many other worthy projects to consider at a time when capital budgets have been cut too far and too fast. Nevertheless, the report’s authors must be commended for the case that they have made on behalf of East Anglia, and I wish them all the best in their endeavours.
12.20 pm
The Minister of State, Department for Transport (Mrs Theresa Villiers):
I join other hon. Members in congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal (Dr Coffey) on securing the debate and providing a timely and valuable opportunity to discuss the future of rail services in East Anglia. I take on board the points that many of my hon. Friends made about the unity behind the prospectus that was published yesterday.
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I am well aware that regional rivalries go back to before the time when Boudiccan hordes burned down Colchester, so it is no mean feat to unite Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, and the whole of East Anglia.
We fully recognise the importance of good transport links in East Anglia; that is why the vital dualling of the A11 got the go-ahead. My hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Elizabeth Truss) and others were right to highlight the importance of housing growth and the provision of infrastructure to support it. My hon. Friend the Member for Mid Norfolk (George Freeman), with his characteristic insight, analysed the economic benefits of transport improvements and the potential for expanding life sciences in East Anglia. Like everyone else on the coalition side of the House, I acknowledge the importance of getting the cost of running the railways down, so that we can take the pressure off fares and respond to the kinds of points that have been made by several hon. Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for Witham (Priti Patel).
Punctuality and reliability, which are obviously crucial, were raised by my hon. Friends the Members for Suffolk Coastal, for Witham, for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dr Poulter), and for Ipswich (Ben Gummer). The period of poor service that came about with the start of the franchise was very unfortunate. Abellio has apologised to its customers. I am hopeful that lessons have been learned. Performance has improved significantly since a problematic start. I welcome the collaborative work that is now under way between Abellio and Network Rail, with a view to improving infrastructure performance and ensuring that possessions are managed more efficiently.
The resilience and reliability of the infrastructure remains a concern. I have no doubt that the rail regulator will continue to scrutinise Network Rail’s record and press for improvement. Network Rail is, however, working hard to address the problems, with a major renewal of the overhead line equipment, which has been one of the greatest sources of vulnerability over recent years. The Government are also taking action to crack down on cable theft, which Network Rail highlighted for me as a key problem for the reliability of the network.
Improvements are on the way. Parts of the east of England will benefit from Thameslink. Others, in Essex, will benefit from Crossrail, as we have heard. The work on Beccles loop is happening, thanks partly to support from Suffolk county council. I recognise the aspirations for progress on the western section of East West Rail, and the possibility of a future link between Cambridge and Oxford. Of course, progress is being made on the central section, which we hope will provide momentum for further progress. I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Central Suffolk and North Ipswich on the crucial importance of upgrading freight connections, particularly between Felixstowe and Nuneaton, to ensure that we relieve pressure on the roads by providing an attractive freight alternative on the rails. The Government are committed to continuing to invest in improving our railway’s capacity to take freight.
The extent to which we can fulfil all the aspirations that have been talked about today, and to which we can achieve goals of the kind set out in the prospectus, will depend on the funds available, and, of course, a careful assessment of competing priorities around the country. I got the message loudly and clearly—
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Mr Peter Bone (in the Chair): Order. On the point about loudly and clearly, it would help if the Minister faced forward, so that the microphone could pick up what she is saying.
Mrs Villiers: Thank you for that steer, Mr Bone.
Later this month, we will publish our high-level output specification, to cover what we want the rail industry to deliver in the 2014-to-2019 period. Some of the larger headline schemes are likely to be directly mentioned in the statement, but most of the projects needed to deliver the general outputs that we will set in that statement will not be explicitly listed, so the July statement will not have all the answers on exactly how the benefits of rail improvements will be shared around the country. It will be followed by an industry process to decide which upgrades are needed to deliver the specified outputs, overseen by the Office of Rail Regulation. I assure hon. Members that careful consideration will be given to the points made about the Ely North junction and other improvements today. I should mention that this HLOS statement, like the last one, is likely to contain certain general funding pots that are to be made available over the five-year period, which could be used to support various different schemes around the country, including in East Anglia.
The forthcoming long franchise for Greater Anglia will be important in answering the questions we have heard today. We are granting a longer, more flexible franchise, because we believe that that will give the train operator a stronger incentive to invest in the improvements passengers want, including better trains and stations. We expect the next Greater Anglia franchise to start in the summer of 2014, and to last for up to 15 years. Our reforms to franchising put passenger satisfaction and service quality at the heart of the outputs that we require train operators to deliver. We will work closely with bidders and Network Rail to see how we can maximise the opportunity to integrate decision making more effectively between track and train management—that is another aspiration in the prospectus—and we will also require the next franchisee to introduce ITSO smart ticketing across the franchise.
Ben Gummer: Will the Minister reflect on a comment made by my hon. Friend the Member for South Suffolk (Mr Yeo)—that in essence rail travel has not really changed for the past 50 years? The long franchise gives a tenderer a fantastic opportunity to have a rethink about passengers and how the railway experience works, and to do some innovative things. That can be managed only in the 15-year context that the Government are setting.
Mrs Villiers: I agree that a long franchise can give many more opportunities for a train operator to innovate, and for us to draw private sector investment into the railways.
We will launch a public consultation on the next Greater Anglia franchise later this year. A detailed business case will be developed, and, drawing on the results of the consultation, we are likely to appraise a range of improvement options. As to what goes into the franchise, I emphasise that we have no plans to remove daytime passenger services from the Felixstowe branch line, which was a matter of importance to my hon.
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Friend the Member for Suffolk Coastal. Although Hutchison Ports has proposed the change, it has an obligation under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to fund the required infrastructure upgrades.
We have heard many other aspirations: there are the half-hourly services called for by my hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk, and the specific service changes called for by my hon. Friend the Member for Colchester (Sir Bob Russell). Decisions on those will be made only after the consultation has taken place, but I shall ensure that this debate is fed into the process.
Lilian Greenwood: Will the Minister give way?
Mrs Villiers: I am afraid I do not have time; I have only a couple of minutes left.
As for aspirations such as “Norwich in 90”—a campaign for that has been led by my hon. Friend the Member for Norwich North (Miss Smith)—it is too early to say what the franchise will specify for the train service between London and Norwich. However, in making such decisions we will need to take into account the interests of all the communities on the line, and those who live in intermediate destinations such as Chelmsford and Colchester. Whatever train service we adopt, we shall encourage bidders to put together affordable proposals for improved journey times and a better customer experience.
We did some work on options for Norwich to London before letting the short franchise, and that suggested that spending about £10 million to £15 million on new locomotives and refurbishing existing passenger vehicles would make it possible to save about seven minutes on most trains, and that could be funded in a 15-year franchise from additional revenue. However, that is just one option. We hope that franchise bidders will devise alternative plans that either cost less or produce greater benefits for passengers.
One factor, of course, that bidders will have to take into account is the requirement to make modifications to rolling stock by 2020, to provide proper access for people with reduced mobility. In response to all hon. Members who talked about the state of the rolling stock—some of it is fairly elderly—let me say that there will be changes over the next few years because of the deadline. The decision on whether that will involve targeted improvements, full refurbishment, new rolling stock or a combination of all three lies in the future, but change will have to be made. In the meantime, Abellio is pressing ahead with a deep clean of rolling stock.
Mr Peter Bone (in the Chair): Order.
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Police (Surrey)
1 pm
Mr Dominic Raab (Esher and Walton) (Con): It is a great pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Bone. Before the debate had even started, I had already benefited from your advice and wisdom. Thank you. I am also grateful for the opportunity to address the Minister and to discuss police funding in Surrey.
Few issues are of greater importance to people throughout the country than ensuring that their local police force has the resources that it needs. The residents of Esher and Walton, and indeed of the county of Surrey, are no exception. Surrey’s front-line police officers do a first-rate job. I commend the dedication and commitment that they bring to keeping our communities safe. We are also blessed with a top-notch chief constable.
I want to say at the outset that I support the Government’s drive to promote efficiency and reform in the police service, which is in the interests of both law enforcement and the taxpayer. I commend the Minister for his pioneering efforts in that regard. In the current financial climate, all parts of the public sector must do their bit to deliver maximum value for money, and the police cannot be immune.
However, I have concerns about the current consultation on changing or removing the damping mechanism for police funding. The damping mechanism is a critical safeguard for forces such as Surrey, which lose out disproportionately under the central funding formula. In particular, the mitigation provided by the damping mechanism ensures that Surrey police enjoy the same level of increase or decrease in funding as other forces.
Neither Surrey police, Surrey police authority nor I object in principle to a review of the damping mechanism, but logically and fairly, it ought to be part of the wider review of police funding that the Government have pledged to carry out before the next comprehensive spending review. If the anomalies in the current funding formula could be ironed out to create a truly needs-based, fair system, damping could be phased out, but the current consultation, which focuses on the future of the damping mechanism from 2013-14 onwards, risks leaving Surrey financially high and dry through no fault of its own. That cannot be right.
Jonathan Lord (Woking) (Con): Is it not the case that Surrey taxpayers pay some of the highest taxes into our national Exchequer, yet we also end up paying some of the highest precepts? It is not because Surrey police are not efficient; they are. Surely that cannot be fair.
Mr Raab: I thank my hon. Friend. He is absolutely right. As someone who worked in local government before becoming an MP, he knows the details far better than me. That basic logic and flow cannot be right. It cannot be right that we keep paying more and more and get less and less back. It is unsustainable.
That message was borne out in no small part by a 2009 review conducted by Oxford Economics of local application of the central funding formula. Surrey loses out under that formula for various compound reasons. For example, the funding formula takes into account daytime net flows of traffic, but not total traffic or total accidents, which are disproportionately high in Surrey
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compared with the other indices. It takes into account average deprivation, which is relatively low in Surrey, but ignores our proximity to areas of high deprivation, taking little account of cross-border criminals who may target the county. My borough, which is in the north-east, has a lot of that kind of crime. Nor does it take into account the impact of our proximity to Heathrow and Gatwick, which is also linked to crime levels.
Sir Paul Beresford (Mole Valley) (Con): Does my hon. Friend agree that no account is taken of traffic through the county? That is a crucial point. As I understand it, data are available to show that through traffic relates to crime.
Mr Raab: I thank my hon. Friend. He is absolutely right. Oxford Economics considers the issue of flow in some detail. I commend the report to the Minister if he wants to examine the detail of what we are discussing.
Other elements, such as our proximity to high population areas, have also been proven relevant to levels of crime but are not factored into the funding formula, which measures only population levels within the county. Those shortcomings are mitigated by the damping arrangements. It is therefore unfair to remove or revise one without considering the other.
Surrey police do an outstanding job, which is reflected in the public’s 90% confidence rating. Today’s report by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary, “Policing in Austerity: One Year On”, breaks down the situation by individual forces, showing the progress that the Surrey police have made in dealing with austerity.
Mr Sam Gyimah (East Surrey) (Con): Does my hon. Friend acknowledge that we should recognise the achievements of Surrey police in maintaining the same level of service to the public in Surrey, despite reductions of about £7 million in their budget so far, and that further cuts could risk public safety?
Mr Raab: My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The key issue is sustainability. It cannot be right that those who perform best in terms of delivering cost efficiencies while adding further front-line officers should be penalised and find themselves victims of their own success.
Surrey has achieved those net satisfaction ratings despite having faced challenging conditions for a number of years. It is important to put the issue in context; it is not all about austerity under the coalition. Surrey did not share in Labour’s “land of milk and honey” spending spree. While real-terms spending on the police increased nationally by 19% between 1997 and 2010, funding for Surrey police was cut by 39% in real terms. Measured by central funding per person, Surrey got the worst deal of all 43 police forces in England and Wales.
Faced with that legacy, Surrey police responded positively. In July 2010, the Audit Commission and Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary praised Surrey police for their efficiency in work force deployment, the way they centralised cross-cutting functions such as human resources and their rigorous and robust approach to achieving cost savings.
Surrey police followed that up with their policing plan for 2011-14, which rationalised the police estate. That, of course, involved a difficult set of decisions that had to be conveyed, sold and communicated locally. It
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is a very tangible thing to replace police stations or sell off old estate to make way for new hubs. That was difficult. Surrey police also reformed their procurement practices; it is widely accepted that they were in the vanguard in doing so. They cut middle management, which is also difficult, as it creates morale issues in a force. It was not an easy decision, but they took it. Through the net savings, they focused on putting officers into the areas of greatest need, including neighbourhood policing and serious crime investigations, precisely the areas that the public, and I as their MP, want to be priorities for investment.
Over and above all those savings, Surrey police’s rigorous approach and financial discipline allowed the force to reinvest in an extra 200 police constables. That would be extraordinary given the financial straits everyone is in, but it is particularly so for Surrey, given the legacy that it inherited.
Despite the dire financial legacy left by the last Government, Surrey was the only force in England and Wales able to increase officer numbers between September 2010 and September 2011. As the Audit Commission, HMIC and the Home Office have commented, Surrey police are a model of how to get a financial house in order. They did so proactively, before the financial crisis compelled the wider belt-tightening now under way. They did not wait for the waves to hit; they were on the front foot. Like other forces, they are now halfway through a 20% real-terms cut in central Government funding. Surrey police have dealt with all those challenges while improving their record against several key indicators of performance, such as serious crime detection.
However, Surrey has reached its limits. If the damping mechanism is removed, the force stands to lose, in total—there are two components—£4 million in funding, the equivalent of losing 83 police constables. That would be a serious blow to the force and a kick in the teeth, not only to the force, which has taken such steps to be a model of cost-efficiency, but to the people of Surrey, who pay such high levels of tax, too little of which returns as investment in local public services.
Our police need to be properly funded to deal with the wide range of challenges that they face daily. There is a perception of Surrey as a leafy backwater with no crime, challenges or deprivation, whose sleepy towns and villages are the last place where crime or antisocial behaviour is a real issue; but as my colleagues who have spoken, and others, know, that is a myth. The reality is, as has been said time and again, that Surrey is a county force grappling with metropolitan issues.
Jonathan Lord: My wonderful ward of Maybury and Sheerwater is deprived by national standards and has a diverse ethnic mix. Does my hon. Friend agree that we can ill afford to lose 80-odd police constables in Surrey?
Mr Raab:
I thank my hon. Friend for that intervention and I agree with him. One of the problems with the myth about Surrey—it is as true of his constituency as it is of mine—is that average levels of affluence hide pockets of deprivation and real social challenges, which play out in terms of law enforcement, policing, crime and antisocial behaviour. Having made difficult financial sacrifices and tightened their purse strings, communities want to be able to keep the savings for front-line policing. The key issue in my hon. Friend’s and my constituencies,
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and in those of my hon. Friends the Members for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) and for East Surrey (Mr Gyimah), is visible and responsive policing. We are seeking to make sure that that is safeguarded, and the damping mechanism is critical.
It is precisely because, overall and on average, Surrey is an affluent area that it has become something of a target for professional criminals from other areas. During my time as an MP, I have seen professionals targeting shops and businesses in Cobham, Thames Ditton and other areas, which also suffer from antisocial behaviour, robbery and other crimes. Overall, almost 50% of crime in the county is committed by non-Surrey residents, while in 2008, 59% of the organised crime gangs affecting Surrey operated from London. That cross-border crime is a serious concern.
Equally, as my hon. Friend the Member for Mole Valley mentioned, Surrey roads require constant policing. The county is in the top 6% of local areas for volume of traffic per resident, and in the top 15% for accidents per resident. None of that is accurately reflected in the funding formula. Unsurprisingly, despite all Surrey police’s good work, those factors, which are not picked up by the funding formula, have affected law enforcement capability, which is being measured against finite and shrinking resources.
One specific issue that I have raised with Surrey police authority and the chief constable is Surrey’s sanctioned detection rate, which is the percentage of crimes for which someone is charged, summonsed or cautioned. Surrey’s rate has been either the lowest or second lowest in England and Wales for each of the past three years. In 2010-11, it was 8% below the national average. That is a visible, tangible symptom of the difficult challenges with which the force is grappling with regard to finances and law enforcement capability. Although the figure is improving, the one thing that Surrey police cannot afford is to lose scores of officers, which is the risk we face as a result of the review of the damping mechanism.
The people of Surrey should not be short-changed when it comes to the police. Let us bear in mind that in 2010 Surrey contributed £5.5 billion to the Treasury, but we got back just one third of the national average level of funding for local public services. The residents of Surrey—the taxpayers of Surrey—understand that they need to do their bit. They also understand the need for Britain to cut her coat according to her financial cloth. They have been some of the most proactive participants in that regard, given all that has been said about the discipline that Surrey police have shown in the past few years. However, those residents and my constituents will neither understand nor support changes that result in Surrey police losing millions of pounds every year if their protection from a skewed funding formula is stripped away.
The future of police funding is an important and contentious issue. I know why Ministers are nervous about tinkering with the police funding formula, and a full discussion on how to reform it is beyond the scope of today’s debate. However, that wider debate needs to take place before changes to the damping mechanism can reasonably be pushed through. I urge the Minister to give an assurance that the damping mechanism will only be altered, phased out or reduced as part of a coherent package of reforms, and not in isolation.
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Neither Surrey police nor the people of Surrey are asking for special treatment. This is not about a subsidy; it is about mitigation of the knock-on effect of a funding formula that does not accurately reflect local needs in Surrey, and the same is true for other forces. We are not asking for special treatment; we are asking for a fair deal. The damping mechanism gives Surrey some mitigation from the flaws of the funding formula, and until that formula is properly reviewed and reformed, that protection should remain intact.
1.15 pm
The Minister for Policing and Criminal Justice (Nick Herbert): Welcome to the Chair, Mr Bone. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Esher and Walton (Mr Raab) on his forceful speech and on securing the debate and the support of his colleagues. I take Members who represent Surrey constituencies seriously when they hunt in a pack, as they have done today, and will pay the closest attention to what they say.
I join my hon. Friend in paying tribute to the Surrey force, which is ably led by its new chief constable. It emerged with a good review, from the report issued yesterday by Her Majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary, of how it is dealing with the inevitable reductions in spending that the Government have asked police forces to make. The review said that the force has a good history of bringing down costs and changing how services are delivered. It began to transform how it operates in 2009, before the 2010 comprehensive spending review. As a result, it is in a good position to achieve its savings target by 2015.
The force has plans in place that, if delivered, will achieve 100% of the £27 million-worth of savings that it is required to make between 2011 and 2015. In making those savings, and in contrast to every other force, Surrey plans to increase the number of police officers by 50—that is a 3% increase compared with other forces, which are losing officers. It is the only force in the country able to do that over the spending review period. Within that total, the force is reducing the number of officers in more senior ranks by not replacing retiring managers, and increasing the number of constables by up to 200. Surrey also plans to increase the number of police community support officers by 50, while reducing the number of police staff by some 8%.
That all means that, by 2015, 80% of Surrey’s work force will be on the front line, which is a considerably higher proportion than most other forces, where the average is about two thirds. In common with other forces, Surrey is increasing the proportion of its police officers on the front line from 78% to 90%, which is exactly what I think the public want to see.
On outcomes, crime is still decreasing in Surrey, although at a slightly lower rate than in England and Wales as a whole. It is important that the force maintains its focus in adapting to the changed spending environment and continues to deliver a high-quality service to the public and to reduce crime, which is, of course, the most important outcome for members of the public. My hon. Friend drew attention to the particular circumstances of Surrey’s funding and set out the ways in which he believes Surrey is disadvantaged. First, he mentioned that Surrey has raised a much higher proportion of its funding from its local precept than other forces; indeed,
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I think it raises more of its money from the local precept than any other force in England and Wales. There is a greater call on local taxpayers than in other parts of the country, but equally, Surrey has been relatively protected from the reduction in central Government funding. The forces that raise less money from their precept have suffered a proportionately greater reduction in funding than those that raised more, such as Surrey. That is merely a statement of the fact.
Let me elaborate. By 2012-13, the current financial year, Surrey was raising nearly half its overall funding from the precept. When we were allocating the funding for all forces in England and Wales at the beginning of the spending review period, a question arose. Since other forces were going to be affected to a greater extent by not raising more money from the local precept, should they have a lower reduction in their spending than forces such as Surrey? It was argued, including in this Chamber, by various hon. Members whose constituencies are policed by the forces concerned, that it would be wrong to penalise them when forces such as Surrey were more able to withstand the reduction in central funding.
The Government took the view that it was not right in principle to penalise local taxpayers for the fact that they were already contributing more for their local policing service. At the time, forces, police authorities and chief constables were expecting a 20% reduction in central Government funding. We had not indicated or confirmed that it would be an even 20% reduction for each force, so it was open to us to adjust the amount according to the money that was raised through the precept. Through the damping mechanism, we decided that the equitable solution, taking all factors into account, was to do what they expected us to do, which was to use the damping mechanism to achieve an even reduction in funding for all forces, including Surrey. From that point of view, I do not believe that Surrey was disadvantaged by our decision.
Sir Paul Beresford: The Minister will be aware that after Labour entered government in 1997, the tendency to shift money away from the south and south-east was to such a degree that even the Audit Commission commented on it. That included local government, schools, the national health service and the police. His argument is based on a funding formula that we want reviewed because it is flawed. We feel that we need a review. The damping stays, and after the review, he will have to have another form of damping, because he will have the arguments much the same way, but at least Surrey will be getting what we anticipate to be a fair share of the cake.
Nick Herbert:
I hear what my hon. Friend says, but I disagree that the formula is not fit for purpose. It allocates funding according to need. The Government’s position is that we wish to move towards a full application of the formula. The question is not whether we do that, but at what rate and how. It would have been a great deal easier for the previous Government to move to full application of the formula and away from the distorting effects of damping when there were increases in funding for all forces. It is a great deal harder to do that when funding for forces is declining. Had we done so, some forces that benefit from damping, including Surrey—to
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the extent of an additional £3.2 million in the current financial year, as my hon. Friend the Member for Esher and Walton pointed out—would have seen a greater reduction in central Government funding.
For the reasons that I have set out, we felt that the equitable approach was not to move away from damping towards full application of the formula in the first two years of the spending review. However, we reserved our position in relation to years three and four. I have just consulted police authorities about what we should do regarding damping in those years. That consultation has just closed, and we will analyse the responses carefully. I will not prejudge our decision, but the points expressed by my hon. Friends the Members for Esher and Walton and for Mole Valley (Sir Paul Beresford) are well made.
Jonathan Lord: If the current funding formula truly reflects need, why do Surrey taxpayers, in addition to all the taxes that they pay nationally, have to pay the highest precept in the country? The Minister has already accepted that we have an excellent and efficient force.
Nick Herbert: The formula takes into account the need in an area. Taking a step back, if we look at the other end of the spectrum, towards a force in an urban area, where there is particular social deprivation, much higher levels of crime and all the complexities that arise because of that, it is obvious that the need is higher, and the formula reflects that. I accept that there has been a greater call on local taxpayers as a result of the amount provided to Surrey by central Government, but my point is that our decisions on spending reductions for all forces in years one and two, far from disadvantaging Surrey, treated all forces evenly, because those that raise much less from their council tax would have seen a much greater reduction in funding.
I should point out that Surrey has increased its precept in the current financial year. It has chosen not to freeze the precept, despite the Government’s offer. That increases the funding for the force. If Surrey were to increase its precept again in the last two years of the spending review, assuming the increases suggested by the Office for Budget Responsibility and no change in the current damping arrangements, the real terms reduction in funding over the whole spending review period would be just over 10%, which does not approach the 20% suggested for other forces. That is a 1.4% reduction in cash terms. Surrey is therefore in a relatively advantageous position, enabling it, for instance, to increase its officer numbers. Even if Surrey does not increase the precept in the last two years, the real-terms reduction in overall funding will be about 13%, or less than 5% in cash terms.
I am just stating the factual position that, as local taxpayers have been forced to contribute more, which I accept, Surrey has been relatively protected from central Government funding reductions over the past two years. The consequence is that it has not had the reductions in police officer numbers that other forces have had to make. Nevertheless, my hon. Friends have made strong points about the application of damping, and I will take those into careful consideration when I decide what to do in years three and four of the spending review. Their points about damping and the application of the formula were well made, and I assure them that they will be noted.
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Millennium Development Goals
1.30 pm
Mr Virendra Sharma (Ealing, Southall) (Lab): It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship on this important issue, Mr Bone. I thank the Minister in advance for responding to my concerns, and I thank hon. Members for attending the debate.
An estimated 24 million children worldwide grow up without parental care. In some regions, as many as 30% live apart from their parents, and research suggests that that figure is increasing. Every child deserves to grow up, to go to school and to live their childhood free from hunger and disease, exploitation, abuse and violence. Experience has shown that this happens best when children are loved and cared for in a family setting.
The millennium development goals have focused global efforts to improve the lives of the world’s poorest people, yet many of the crucial targets are in danger of not being reached by 2015. That would have a devastating impact on the well-being of children throughout the world. Failure to provide proper care and protection for children is hindering progress in achieving many MDGs. Future development goals, which are currently being developed, need to recognise and eradicate those mistakes.
There are huge gaps in child protection systems around the world. Such systems are crucial to ensuring the protection of children who are without parental care. Therefore, addressing child protection in the MDGs and the successor framework is key in supporting the rights of such children. I will outline how children’s rights to care and protection are the missing link in achieving the MDGs. Children without the care and protection of their family are particularly vulnerable and hard to reach.
I want to cover two issues related to the MDGs: the importance of including protection and care concerns in efforts to monitor the MDGs; and the need to address the absence of an explicit reference to child protection and care in the current MDGs, if the post-MDG framework is to be effective in improving children’s well-being in the future.
MDG 1 aims to end poverty and hunger. Children who are in the care of the state, either in residential care or in detention, may fail to receive adequate food, despite the obligation on Governments to provide it, while children who are not in conventional households, such as those living on the streets, in migrant families, or in child-only households, are often excluded from social protection schemes. Poorly designed social protection systems are, at best, failing to reach children who are without adequate care and protection, and, at worst, actively encouraging family separation or child labour. In South Africa and Ukraine, payments to foster or extended family carers mean that children will be in better resourced households if parents give them up to other forms of care.
Anas Sarwar (Glasgow Central) (Lab): I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this important debate. In an answer to a parliamentary question I tabled, I was surprised to discover that the Department for International Development does not have a dedicated child protection policy. Does my hon. Friend think that that is something DFID should have, signalling post-MDG intentions?
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Mr Sharma: I thank my hon. Friend for that appropriate intervention. I am sure that the Minister has taken note and will respond to it. I agree with my hon. Friend and share his concerns.
MDGs 2 and 3 seek universal education and gender equality. In its 2012 annual report, DFID acknowledges that to meet the target of universal primary education, efforts need to shift to the hardest-to-reach children. Education for all will not be achieved unless the current widespread exclusion of young married girls and children in extended family care, prison or work is addressed. Children who have lost both parents are 12% less likely to be in school than other children. The vast majority of children living and working on the streets do not attend school, while children in detention often have no access to formal school during their sentences. For the 13.6% of children who are child labourers, including a quarter of children in sub-Saharan Africa, combining work with school often has a negative impact on learning achievements, with long working hours preventing children from attending school at all.
International recognition of the links between child labour and education have not translated into policy change on the part of many Governments. To get education for their children, the only option for some families, who are in poverty or are far from a school, is to send their children away to live in institutions that provide education but are detrimental to their well-being in other ways. Long distances to school mean that some children have to find alternative accommodation, making them vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.
MDG 4 addresses child health. The widespread use of residential care for children under three places many children and infants at greater risk of dying young. In Russia, official statistics suggest that the mortality rate for children under four years old in residential care is 10 times higher than that of the general population. In Sudan, of 2,500 infants admitted to one institution in a five-year period, only 400 survived. There are currently at least 8 million children in residential care, with evidence to suggest a growth in this form of care in many countries in the former Soviet Union, sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia.
Finally, MDGs 5 and 6 address maternal health and combating HIV/AIDS. Ensuring that children have adequate care and protection is essential for improving maternal health and combating the spread of HIV. Preventing early marriage is essential for stemming the spread of HIV and preventing girls from becoming mothers at an early age when the risks of maternal and child mortality are highest. Trafficked children, child domestic workers and other working children often face sexual abuse. An estimated 2 million children, mainly girls, are sexually exploited in the commercial sex trade each year. Street children are often sexually active at a very young age.
Early sexual activity has profound implications for maternal and child health. Forced sex and limited power in relationships mean that girls without adequate care and protection often face early motherhood, with severe consequences for the health of both young mothers and babies. Pregnancy-related deaths are the leading cause of mortality for 15 to 19-year-old girls. Those who give birth aged under 15 are five times more likely to die than women aged over 20. Babies born to young mothers are also less likely to survive. Early and often forced
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sexual activity among children lacking adequate care and protection increases the risk of HIV infection. Lack of control over contraceptive use, inadequate knowledge of reproductive health, frequent sexual activity and having sex with often older husbands all result in such children being more vulnerable to HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Children on the streets are often discriminated against by service providers and unable to access health care or advice about contraceptive use. DFID is committed to achieving education for all, including the most hard-to-reach groups. What is it doing to ensure that children who are outside parental care receive an education, and that their parents do not have to make agonising choices between schooling and care and protection?
DFID makes substantial investments in social protection programmes around the world. What is it doing to ensure that social protection reaches the most vulnerable and is designed in a way that keeps families together and does not push them apart? Through its commitment to achieving the MDGs, DFID is working to reduce child and maternal mortality and the spread of HIV. What is it doing to reduce separation from parents and deal with the abuse and exploitation that is so often the cause of dangerous early pregnancy and HIV infection?
DFID is focusing more on fragile and conflict-affected states and is working to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. What is DFID doing to ensure that, in dealing with preparedness and responses to conflict and disasters, emphasis is put on preventing families separating and on protecting children whose families are torn apart by war?
It is important that DFID ensures the development of indicators of impacts on children who are outside parental care and/or facing situations of abuse or exploitation.
Tom Greatrex (Rutherglen and Hamilton West) (Lab/Co-op): Will my hon. Friend give way?
Mr Sharma: I am sorry, I shall continue.
DFID must invest more in appropriate, integrated child protection systems that adhere to the UN guidelines for the alternative care of children. The Prime Minister has recently been appointed co-chair of the UN Secretary-General’s high-level panel, looking at what comes after 2015 when the targets for the millennium development goals end. The first presentation of the panel’s work will be made in September.
The coalition Government recognise the importance of strong families in improving the lives of children in the UK, yet in their work in the developing world not enough is being done to keep families together. The UN is co-ordinating a global process to develop a post-MDG framework and there is an opportunity for the UK to influence the process, and the outcomes of the development of these goals, by promoting specific reference to children’s rights to care and protection in any framework and by ensuring that extra effort is made to consult hard-to-reach children, so that their voices are heard in the global debates on a framework that could shape their future. I should like the Minister to address his Department’s role in those two areas.
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The post-MDG framework should include specific targets on children’s protection and care, for example, by measuring reductions in numbers growing up in large institutions, in detention, in harmful child labour, living and working on the streets, or experiencing violence, abuse or neglect in homes and schools. A consideration of children’s protective rights will also help to ensure the equitable achievement of the millennium development goals. Only through a consideration of such basic rights will it be possible to make wide-reaching and sustainable progress in efforts to alleviate child poverty, increase access to education, improve maternal and child health, and reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS.
1.44 pm
The Minister of State, Department for International Development (Mr Alan Duncan): I thank the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall (Mr Sharma)for calling a debate on a topic that has an important bearing on the lives of so many people around the world. There is little doubt that children who live without parental care or in situations of severe family abuse and neglect are the most vulnerable in any society.
Children in the poorest countries are particularly at risk, especially those living through conflict or humanitarian disasters. In most societies children with disabilities face particular difficulties, as do children living in institutional care. Girls are often the most vulnerable, which is why the UK Government are working closely with partners, such as the Nike Girl Hub, to improve the lives of many thousands of girls living in abject poverty worldwide.
UNICEF estimates that almost 18 million children worldwide have lost both parents and 153 million have lost one parent. Many of those children face real hardships. They are often left without protection and care. Some are fortunate enough to be able to live with relatives or friends, but many more end up on the streets, having to fend for themselves and eke out a living.
Supporting vulnerable girls and boys is an important priority in international development. The UK Government are helping to tackle it in a range of ways, including through specific programmes aimed at improving the lives of the most vulnerable, as well as through our work with others, including overseas Governments, the United Nations, the private sector and civil society.
I can answer the question asked by the hon. Member for Glasgow Central (Anas Sarwar) in his intervention by making it clear that those who work on child rights and child protection receive training and tuition on those subjects. DFID tailors child protection programmes to the context of individual countries and includes child protection clauses in its grants to partners.
Hon. Members will be aware of international statutes that have a bearing on the issue of vulnerable children. The UN convention on the rights of the child and the International Labour Organisation’s convention on child labour provide a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations on human rights for children that must be respected by Governments in all societies, and clear frameworks to hold Governments and others to account. The UK is not just a signatory to those conventions, but is actively working with others to ensure that the standards are put into practice and genuinely help to improve the lives of the poorest and most vulnerable people across the world.
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In answer to the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall, I shall focus on four ways in which we are working to improve the lives of vulnerable children living without parental care. First, international evidence shows that cash transfer programmes are one of the most effective ways of reaching orphans and vulnerable children. In some cases, those are in the form of pensions, because many of the children live with their grandparents. For example, where one or both parents died from HIV/AIDS, such payments provide a vital source of income to help poor families care for children and stick together. In other cases, cash transfer programmes directly target the children themselves. For example, in Kenya, DFID is supporting the Government’s orphans and vulnerable children programme, which directly targets children without parental care, and is reaching more than 55,000 households. Over the past few years, it has resulted in a reduction in the proportion of those aged six to 13 doing paid work from one in 20 to one in 100. It has also helped to reduce the number of people living on less than a dollar a day from one third to one fifth.
In Zimbabwe, DFID is supporting the Zimbabwean Government’s national action plan for orphans and vulnerable children. It will help at least 25,000 children to secure their basic rights and meet essential needs, by providing money for food and school fees and helping orphans to access justice services.
Secondly, the UK is the second largest donor to the UN children’s fund—UNICEF—which works in 190 countries, helping the poorest and most vulnerable children in a huge range of areas, including health and education, child labour, trafficking, and recruitment into armed forces, and giving critical support to children in institutional care. In 2011, for example, UNICEF helped 19 million women and children with nutritional support after natural disasters, and helped 6 million of the most vulnerable children receive schooling in the aftermath of a disaster or humanitarian emergency.
Thirdly, as the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall rightly said, the millennium development goals are central to the UK’s development priorities, which we are ensuring include the poorest and most vulnerable children. For example, we support universal primary education, because we know that the high cost of education is the biggest deterrent to school attendance by the most marginalised children. By supporting countries such as Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi and Uganda to remove school fees we have seen a dramatic surge in school enrolment, helping more than 1 million extra children to go to school in each of those countries. Through the UK’s support to the World Food Programme’s “Food for Education” programme, we are helping to provide high-energy biscuits to 400,000 children in Afghan secondary schools and, therefore, an incentive for very poor children to attend school.
Children are often orphaned because of diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. The MDGs are vital in focusing the international community and Governments on tackling such killer diseases and, as a result, have prevented millions more children from losing their parents in the first place. The MDGs have helped to shape the quickest and biggest improvements in
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poverty reduction, child survival and school enrolment that the world has ever seen. The goals that follow the MDGs after 2015 must build on that success, while learning lessons from them.
I am aware that some people argue that the post-MDG goals should be a continuation of the current MDGs, while others say that the United Nations should completely rewrite them. The UK Government will play a role in helping to shape the new goals and will work to ensure that they meet the needs of the poorest. Our commitment comes right from the top; I am delighted that the Prime Minister will be co-chairing the high-level UN panel that is to lead the process. All may rest assured that he is personally committed to the new framework dealing with the needs of the most vulnerable and marginalised children.
Last, but certainly not least, our support to civil society partners is also vital to reach the most vulnerable children and communities. For example, through Save the Children, the Government are providing vital life-saving support to those affected by the humanitarian crisis in the Sahel. We are assisting Save the Children and other organisations to mobilise early support for the most vulnerable children. Last year, DFID’s funding helped Save the Children to reach 2.7 million people with emergency food, clean water and health care in east Africa.
Through War Child we are helping children in detention centres in Afghanistan; boys are often locked away just for petty theft, and girls are usually locked up for what is called running away or eloping. Conditions in many such centres are deeply shocking; children are often denied education and they are given little food or comfort. War Child’s interventions are helping to improve the justice system as well as conditions in the centres, and children are assisted to reconnect with their families and local communities when they leave the centres.
Our support to Plan International is helping more than 6,000 children who live and work on the streets in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to transform their lives. It provides safe shelters, basic education, health and sanitation facilities, information on issues such as sexual abuse, child labour and trafficking, and counselling for the most vulnerable and traumatised children.
In conclusion, the UK Government are acutely aware of the vulnerability of children around the world, in particular those without safeguards to protect them. We are doing a great deal on this agenda but, clearly, more needs to be done. We will continue to work with others to find effective ways of meeting the needs of those children. We are also fully aware that the post-MDG framework must include a focus on the world’s most marginalised people, including vulnerable children. I thank the hon. Member for Ealing, Southall for raising the issue in today’s debate. He has done a great service to an important cause in the field of development.