Blears unveils 10-point action plan to promote community cohesion

This is part of the Government's response to the 10-month review by the Commission on Integration and Cohesion, which looked at the major challenges Britain faces in responding to increasing change in local communities.

New data out this week confirmed the Commission's finding that the national picture is a positive one. It showed that 81 per cent of people feel that individuals from different backgrounds get on well in their area, 85 per cent of people feel they belong strongly to Britain and 77 per cent feel they belong strongly to their neighbourhood.

However despite this, the Government's initial response will make clear that there are still new and often complex challenges that require action nationally and locally in order to bring communities together and tackle perceptions of unfair treatment.

The new proposals have been set out in a letter from Hazel Blears to the Commission's Chair Darra Singh who is also chief executive of Ealing council.

Key Government action includes:

*£50 million investment over the next three years to promote community cohesion and support local authorities in preventing and managing community tensions. This is an increase from £2m in 2007/08.
 
*Promotion of new 'Citizen Days' across all local areas in England following four successful pilots. All local authorities will receive guidance on how to promote a strong sense of citizenship and civic pride with activities focused around new local 'Citizen Days'. These will celebrate both national and local culture and stress shared local tradition alongside shared British values like respect for rule of law, tolerance and democracy.

*Information packs for new migrants - setting out a series of rights and responsibilities.

*Specialist integration and cohesion teams will work to support local councils in managing any major changes in the local population. This could include integration experts helping in mediation, planning to manage the impact of migration or community relations. These teams will be piloted from next year.

*New national indicators on promoting cohesion will help local authorities focus their attention on what really works in their local area and help other areas learn from it.

*A rebalancing of local translation provision with a much greater emphasis on learning English. The Commission on Integration and Cohesion made clear that not being able to speak English is the biggest barrier to integration. New guidance will be published for local authorities and public bodies in the coming weeks.

*New Cohesion funding guidance. These will stress that funding for public bodies should focus primarily on groups promoting integration and support the coming together of different communities rather a single identity.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears said:
"Britain has a proud tradition of tolerance and different communities living side by side. In addition, migration has always made a tremendous cultural and economic contribution to the country. But whilst this remains the case, we cannot be complacent and must tackle the future challenges head-on.

"As a Government and a country, we must be honest there are issues we need to address as a result of new patterns of migration and ensure that we have the ideas and policies to tackle them over the next 10 years.

She added:

"Our plan includes a comprehensive set of measures to tackle the new issues we face and promote integration and develop strong, resilient communities. It will promote our shared British values like respect for the rule of law, tolerance and fairness. New investment will help spread a stronger sense of civic pride and shared heritage. It also raises to a new level our work direct with local authorities and communities, ensuring they have greater support at a local level in building united communities."

Other actions contained in the plan include:
*Practical support on cohesion. A cohesion web-based 'one-stop shop' will be set up so that any individual, group or organisation who needs help, advice or support on how to develop their cohesion policies or respond to cohesion issues will be able to access expert help and guidance via a dedicated website.

*A new interfaith strategy that will focus on what more needs to be done to promote interaction and dialogue between faiths and develop shared values.