Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Bill

moved Amendment No. 246CB: 246CB: After Clause 238, insert the following new Clause— ““Community strategies to promote well-being ( ) In section 4 of the Local Government Act 2000 (c. 22) (strategies for promoting well-being), after subsection (1) insert— ““(1A) A community strategy prepared under subsection (1) or modified under subsection (2) may contain a scheme to allow the local authority to do anything which it would otherwise have been prohibited from doing under section 3(1) or (2). (1B) Where a community strategy includes a scheme under subsection (1A), section 3(1) and (2) shall not apply in relation to the powers set out therein. (1C) The operation of powers mentioned in subsection (1B) shall be restricted to the area of the local authority. (1D) The powers mentioned in subsection (1B) may include any of the following— (a) powers over benefits to the administration of which the Social Security Administration Act 1992 and the Social Security Contributions and Benefits Act 1992 applies; (b) powers to vary the conditions for receipt of payments made under the Jobseekers Act 1995; (c) powers to assume the functions of the Secretary of State specified in sections 2 and 10 of the Employment and Training Act 1973; (d) powers to direct the use of funds by the Learning and Skills Council under Part I of the Learning and Skills Act 2000; and (e) powers to assume the functions of the Secretary of State specified in section 114 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000; and where powers are included in a scheme under subsection (1A), the Secretary of State shall pay to the authority grant as appropriate, out of monies voted by Parliament.”””” The noble Lord said: As the Minister knows, I feel strongly about this amendment. It inserts a new clause to allow local authorities to take full responsibility and have full powers for the issues of worklessness and welfare dependency. I have spoken in your Lordships’ House about this before. It is one of the most serious issues facing our country. I have said previously that it is, I think in everyone’s view, tragic that after a decade or more of a strong economy, social divisions are wider. Recent DWP figures have shown that the least well-off are worst off today. The 10 per cent least well-off saw their incomes fall by 2 per cent last year. The differentials are wider. Many people are leading extremely difficult lives, with high rates of crime, drug-taking and teenage pregnancy and low aspirations. New figures show that the United Kingdom has the highest number of children living in workless homes in Europe. Seven million people between the ages of 16 and 65 are classified by the Government as economically inactive. Five million people are trapped in dependency on the state. We have all agreed that the solutions are not central but local; they are not about the DWP. They are far too complex, multi-faceted and interrelated. They are about education in the broadest sense and the links between school, education, vocational training and businesses. They are about adult education, children leaving care, youth service issues, drugs issues, reoffender programmes, housing, transport and everything that local authorities and their partners do. The complexity means that the issues must be solved locally and in partnership. The amendment seeks to allow local authorities and their partners in the private, community, social enterprise and voluntary sectors to work together to tackle these all-important worklessness issues. They need to work together and harness the capacity within communities to support people through carefully supported steps and allow them to get back into employment, to have greater independence and more fulfilling lives. The amendment seeks to allow this to happen through community strategies. I beg to move.