Community Relations
Communities and Local Government
Written answers and statements, 5 November 2009
Caroline Spelman (Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Communities and Local Government; Meriden, Conservative)
To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government what steps his Department plans to take to counter extremism in areas predominantly populated by white, working class people; how such neighbourhoods will be identified; and what funding his Department plans to allocate to such activities.
Shahid Malik (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Communities and Local Government; Dewsbury, Labour)
The Government have announced £12 million this financial year to help neighbourhoods feeling the pressure from recession most acutely and address the legitimate fears which, if neglected, can prove fertile territory for extremism and those who would divide our communities. Neighbourhoods have been identified by examining a range of hard and soft data around cohesion, deprivation and crime, perceived unfairness in the allocation of resources and feedback from people working locally. Although there are modest additional resources available for support specific to the individual area, the focus will be on working through mainstream government programmes operating in the target areas. The aim is for local authorities to ensure people are aware of opportunities and services and have the opportunity to influence what happens in their local area. This is one element of wider work to understand and tackle perceptions of unfairness and disaffection, reduce tensions which threaten community cohesion, and build resilience in communities to resist negative messages from extremists and far right groups.