:01:30. > :01:40.In the artist: Well plans to set up more free schools mean greater
:01:40. > :01:40.
:01:40. > :31:41.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1801 seconds
:31:41. > :31:46.choice for parents or chaos in the Welcome to your part of the show.
:31:46. > :31:50.Coming up: Three new free schools are planned for Newcastle. Is it
:31:50. > :31:55.widening choice for parents or is it a recipe for educational chaos
:31:55. > :32:00.and the City? Joining me to talk about that and the latest news on
:32:00. > :32:04.employment is the Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham and Sunderland
:32:04. > :32:09.Conservative councillor Robert Oliver. We will also have our very
:32:09. > :32:13.own singing MP. First, unemployment may have fallen nationally but it
:32:14. > :32:18.has gone up in the north. 6,000 more people were added, according
:32:18. > :32:28.to the latest figures, pushing the unemployment rate to 11.5%, the
:32:28. > :32:32.highest in the UK. It was also up in Cumbria. Here is Mark Denton.
:32:32. > :32:38.This man lost his job last July in a railway call centre, and is still
:32:38. > :32:45.out at work. I am looking all the time, in the papers, TV, and I am
:32:45. > :32:50.not getting anywhere. I have got a wealth of knowledge of the railway,
:32:50. > :32:55.and it is not being used. Sometimes I don't want to get a because I
:32:55. > :33:01.wonder why I should. Robert says the government is for getting older
:33:01. > :33:05.unemployed people like a him. tend to look at the youngsters.
:33:05. > :33:10.Kids leaving school, late 20s, early 30s, but there is nothing for
:33:10. > :33:16.myself. I would like to see them make some sort of effort to get
:33:16. > :33:20.older people like myself into work. Robert is one of 140,000 people in
:33:20. > :33:24.the north-east who are unemployed. Behind the overall figure there are
:33:24. > :33:34.some particular blackspots. Unemployment in we're Valley is
:33:34. > :33:34.
:33:34. > :33:42.11.7%. Things are even worse on Teesside. Unemployment is 12.7%.
:33:42. > :33:47.Hartlepool has a figure of 14.1%. The highest unemployment in the
:33:47. > :33:54.region is Middlesbrough. But here, one bright spot. This local
:33:54. > :33:58.engineering firm is expanding and taking on 50 new staff. It has also
:33:58. > :34:05.moved into this new factory as a result of a grant from the
:34:05. > :34:09.Government. This is an example of what grant funding can do. We won 2
:34:09. > :34:13.significant contracts of, but we would not have one men if we could
:34:13. > :34:18.not demonstrate the strength of the business. Hopefully we will
:34:18. > :34:22.continue to maintain the greater growth. And more jobs? That is the
:34:22. > :34:31.plan. But many other workers across the region are worried about the
:34:31. > :34:36.future. The chairman of the Institute of
:34:36. > :34:40.Directors is Ian Dormer who runs his own engineering firm in
:34:40. > :34:49.Berkeley. Does this paint a grim picture? There is nervousness. We
:34:49. > :34:52.must not ignore that fact. Maybe the rise in numbers is due to a
:34:52. > :34:57.high number of public sector workers losing their jobs over the
:34:57. > :35:01.last months. But your report said there are some really good core
:35:01. > :35:04.businesses. I think that is one thing we must not forget. The
:35:04. > :35:10.north-east has a terrific engineering history, which is where
:35:10. > :35:14.the strength of the area comes from. But it is going to be difficult for
:35:14. > :35:18.certain groups, including Robert who has an older worker, and youth
:35:18. > :35:23.unemployment, some of those people struggle for employers to take them
:35:23. > :35:27.on. Robert was at a cost centre, and it looks like he has changed
:35:27. > :35:33.his job several times, and he has been able to modify and work in
:35:33. > :35:37.several things. But at the moment no one will went -- will employ her.
:35:37. > :35:47.But they will. Someone who can be flexible like that has a much
:35:47. > :35:48.
:35:48. > :35:51.greater opportunity at getting it job. We saw a successful recipient
:35:51. > :36:00.of the regional growth fund. But we have heard that it is costing too
:36:00. > :36:06.much to keep this going. Does the fund need changing? I always treat
:36:06. > :36:10.these funds with a little bit of scepticism. Also, when we look at
:36:10. > :36:15.their investments we have to take a longer term view. Being able to
:36:15. > :36:19.take a 12 month snapshot is a bit early, so we have to take a longer,
:36:19. > :36:22.midterm sorter view, then we can decide if it has worked. Does the
:36:22. > :36:25.government need to do more? Some people say business needs to work
:36:25. > :36:30.harder, but does the Government need to work harder to create
:36:30. > :36:36.growth? There are so many rules and regulations that businesses have to
:36:36. > :36:40.tackle, and we need to be able to give business the chance to work
:36:40. > :36:44.hard and achieved something. That would be the great thing. But what
:36:44. > :36:48.government can do is put infrastructure expenditure in. The
:36:48. > :36:50.north-east has shouted about having a better road network for many
:36:50. > :36:55.years. That is something that would make a difference here.
:36:55. > :36:59.Thank you very much. Alex, we had a couple of months
:36:59. > :37:05.where unemployment fell in the north-east sources hard to draw too
:37:05. > :37:09.depressing a conclusion from one month. No, when you have 6,000
:37:09. > :37:14.people added to the list, and a vast number of people who are long-
:37:14. > :37:18.term unemployed. This morning I met with the people responsible for a
:37:18. > :37:21.work programme who told me they had managed to place 500 people in the
:37:21. > :37:26.last 12 months which is not a lot. She is working extremely hard to do
:37:26. > :37:30.the right thing but it is not working for the people. As Ian
:37:30. > :37:35.Dormer said, you must know when stopped and there is a hard core of
:37:35. > :37:42.noughties businesses that are creating jobs. -- north-east
:37:42. > :37:45.businesses. There are. Many businesses want to create the
:37:45. > :37:49.things for the offshore wind industry but we need the jobs
:37:49. > :37:52.coming through on the orders coming through to create more jobs. I know
:37:52. > :37:56.there are people to invest but companies across the country are
:37:56. > :38:00.sitting on billions of pounds and they are afraid to invest at this
:38:00. > :38:07.time. We need to encourage them to invest and create the jobs we need.
:38:07. > :38:11.Robert, with unemployment growing, is this the sign that the
:38:11. > :38:15.Government is failing in the regions? It is too early to tell.
:38:15. > :38:18.We have also got to take into consideration that the
:38:18. > :38:25.international context is difficult. We are facing the largest
:38:26. > :38:31.financial... I do not want are going to Europe. -- to go into
:38:31. > :38:34.Europe. Unemployment is higher here, and we must not forget what is
:38:34. > :38:44.happening in Greece which has to have an impact. That is the major
:38:44. > :38:48.trading partner. But some parts have seen their unemployment fall.
:38:48. > :38:54.There is a story within a story there. Unemployment has fallen in
:38:54. > :38:57.Sunderland by 183 which has a small fall, but it has fallen. One of the
:38:57. > :39:01.reasons is the Government increases in funding for companies like
:39:01. > :39:05.Nissan, where you have sustainable jobs and jobs that are very
:39:05. > :39:12.accessible for the population of Sunderland. That is the way forward,
:39:12. > :39:16.to ensure companies like Nissan who are able to expand have the tools
:39:16. > :39:21.to do the job. But there are not working for the people. We have
:39:21. > :39:26.seen an increase of 544 % in the number of young people unemployed
:39:26. > :39:29.over 12 months. It is not working for young people. Surely we need to
:39:29. > :39:34.see something more in order to stimulate jobs and opportunities
:39:34. > :39:38.for them. Youth unemployment has been around for a long time, but
:39:38. > :39:42.one of the things that is being done to tackle youth unemployment
:39:42. > :39:46.is apprenticeships, and the take-up of apprenticeships in the north-
:39:46. > :39:50.east has been a very large indeed, and that shows that apprenticeships
:39:50. > :39:56.are quite suitable for a lot of people in the north-east. They have
:39:56. > :40:00.the right skills to be matched to it. Robert Oliver, the figures this
:40:00. > :40:04.week also suggested that, particularly among men, there has
:40:04. > :40:11.been a drop in earning power. Weekly wage has dropped �45 a week.
:40:11. > :40:14.How well the economy increase when people earn less money? You can
:40:14. > :40:19.also see this in a different way that wage restraint may be
:40:19. > :40:22.cushioning some of the blow for unemployment because there are
:40:22. > :40:27.certain countries in Europe that have a higher unemployment than the
:40:27. > :40:35.United Kingdom. Alex Cunningham, people are keeping their jobs even
:40:35. > :40:39.if they are being paid less? Yes, and they are cutting their hours.
:40:39. > :40:43.People are now a part-time workers, and that is why the unemployment
:40:43. > :40:46.figures are not higher than the Danaher. They are earning less and
:40:46. > :40:49.gone to parting which has to be worse for the economy. Thank you
:40:49. > :40:52.very much. The Government has given parents,
:40:52. > :40:57.teachers and voluntary groups the chance to run their own free
:40:57. > :41:04.schools. They say it will mean more choice. What about that schools
:41:04. > :41:07.that already exist? What will be the impact on them? Two of the new
:41:07. > :41:12.schools will be opened in the West End of the city. That has prompted
:41:12. > :41:18.a fierce war of words with the council claiming it could lead to
:41:18. > :41:24.existing schools closing down. These mums have already signed up
:41:24. > :41:32.their toddlers for a potential new free school. A free school like the
:41:32. > :41:38.proposed one gives emphasis to certain things that are valued like
:41:38. > :41:43.an outdoors learning. Especially in the area early years. A massive
:41:43. > :41:51.influence to me was the idea of nurturing each individual child's
:41:51. > :42:01.passions. Phases of the future and concentration in the classroom here.
:42:01. > :42:04.
:42:04. > :42:07.-- faces. This was built with financial and issued... There will
:42:08. > :42:11.be choice for parents to have a larger catchment area, which may
:42:11. > :42:17.mean that they choose to free school rather than our School, and
:42:17. > :42:21.I think that is quite detrimental because in Newcastle we all try to
:42:21. > :42:30.serve her own communities, and it splits up the community a bet. It
:42:30. > :42:33.would be a little bit of a mistake, I think, to be divisive in the area.
:42:33. > :42:39.Where would the free schools go, and who is behind them? One is
:42:39. > :42:48.being put forward by the parish church, and would educate pupils
:42:48. > :42:51.from four years until 18, and have a Christian ethos. The other would
:42:51. > :42:56.be in the West End of Newcastle and would be aimed at pupils between
:42:56. > :43:00.the ages of 11 and 18. Thirdly there is a proposal for a primary
:43:00. > :43:08.school, again in the West End of Newcastle, which has been put
:43:08. > :43:13.forward by a charity. But the council says they would be in
:43:13. > :43:17.competition with the other schools in the region, including this one.
:43:17. > :43:21.There is a debate around with are not you think education should be
:43:21. > :43:26.open to market forces or not. In Newcastle we have 3,000 surplus
:43:26. > :43:30.places which means we have to manage the schools effectively.
:43:30. > :43:35.Introducing new schools into the system without any proper controls
:43:35. > :43:39.and regulation of those schools means it simply exacerbates the
:43:39. > :43:42.surplus places problem and would lead to school closure us. Those
:43:42. > :43:46.behind a free school proposals denied they would be disrupting
:43:46. > :43:51.education in the city. They say they would enhance it, offering
:43:51. > :43:56.more choice and flexibility and a unique style of education not
:43:56. > :44:06.available elsewhere. I appreciate any child that are tens of free
:44:06. > :44:07.
:44:07. > :44:10.school will be taken... We would hope this school would respond
:44:10. > :44:13.positively and work with the City Council to provide a better quality
:44:13. > :44:19.of education throughout the city for the children. It is the
:44:19. > :44:23.children who are important. All the proposals for free schools are now
:44:23. > :44:26.being considered by the Department for Education. Supporters say they
:44:26. > :44:32.will shake up education, and critics say they are an experiment
:44:32. > :44:36.that could go wrong. Alex, the truth is that councillors
:44:36. > :44:40.resist this because it threatens their control over schools. If the
:44:40. > :44:43.schools are good for the system, that it is what counts. No, local
:44:43. > :44:48.authorities are coming to terms with academies that had been
:44:48. > :44:51.created. People are opting out of the local authority world, and free
:44:51. > :44:55.schools are part of the new thing that is coming to the fore. But if
:44:55. > :45:00.there are going to be free schools, which I am not against, they should
:45:00. > :45:09.be in the right place to serve and need. Whether this is a need in the
:45:09. > :45:12.Newcastle West End, I very much doubt. But our parents not in the
:45:12. > :45:16.best place to describe this? they think the local schools are
:45:16. > :45:19.not good enough, they should be working with this goes on putting
:45:19. > :45:24.pressure on politicians and school governors to drive up standards,
:45:24. > :45:28.which is important. We do not want to create a situation where we
:45:28. > :45:31.spend millions of pounds opening a new school for people to leave one
:45:31. > :45:36.school into the other. That is not the way forward. We need to drive
:45:36. > :45:41.up standards. Robert, this is madness in any area where there are
:45:41. > :45:44.surplus places to be opening potentially three new schools.
:45:44. > :45:49.lot of the news about free schools has been exaggerated because demand
:45:49. > :45:53.is important to any application for free schools. He will never get
:45:53. > :45:59.loads of free schools opening and damaging the system. They will only
:45:59. > :46:03.happen where there is evidence based demand from parents for it.
:46:03. > :46:07.Michael Gove is keen on this idea. He will not try to stop parents
:46:07. > :46:11.doing a list. But if you look at the first tranche of free schools,
:46:11. > :46:15.only one in 10 is accepted by the Department for Education. It has
:46:15. > :46:20.never been the idea that you will get lots of free schools in the
:46:20. > :46:23.city, you will get them where they are needed. A free school would
:46:23. > :46:27.lift all schools in a local authority, not just one school.
:46:27. > :46:31.There is a good example in the constituency next to mine, there is
:46:31. > :46:38.an application for a free school which needs a more secondary school
:46:38. > :46:44.places, but pupils have a choice of the best three schools in the
:46:44. > :46:47.region already. But surely the good schools will have nothing to fear,
:46:47. > :46:52.the parents will not leave schools that are good schools are. But what
:46:52. > :46:58.will happen is there will be adrift of pupils from the other parts of
:46:58. > :47:03.the region into the schools... does that matter? It does matter
:47:03. > :47:08.because it is important that communities have a school, and it
:47:08. > :47:11.is about driving up standards. It is not about building buildings. We
:47:11. > :47:15.have to work with schools where they are feeling and not doing so
:47:16. > :47:20.well, to make sure they drive up standards. Another building with a
:47:20. > :47:27.different set of governors is not the answer. Robert, people just
:47:27. > :47:32.want good schools, don't they? Hundred it would be better
:47:32. > :47:36.concentrating resources on the existing schools. -- it would be
:47:36. > :47:41.better. People have the opportunity to set up free schools. Including
:47:41. > :47:45.charities. But you are giving more people choice of every school has a
:47:45. > :47:47.good school for. One of the ways to do this is by introducing other
:47:48. > :47:54.competitors and allowing them to make sure that other schools
:47:54. > :47:57.respond to that. If you look at evidence on academies, reports show
:47:57. > :48:02.that where you have academies it drives up quality in all the
:48:02. > :48:07.schools round about it, not just the Academy.
:48:07. > :48:11.Thank you. Sometimes I feel like breaking into song. It must be
:48:11. > :48:15.something to do with working at the BBC. I am not the only one, it
:48:15. > :48:25.seems. This week the Blyth MP Ronnie Campbell did his own
:48:25. > :48:30.
:48:30. > :48:39.audition for he Voice when the The first shipment of steel from
:48:39. > :48:43.the blast furnace has sailed from Teesport. The Newcastle North MP
:48:43. > :48:51.has joined Labour's Treasury team as part of Ed Miliband's reshuffle.
:48:51. > :48:56.The Bishop of Durham has criticised the impact of higher interest loans.
:48:56. > :48:59.The Church has always been an a position to say that certain things
:48:59. > :49:04.oppress people on the edge who are vulnerable, and that is wrong.
:49:04. > :49:09.Finally, the Blyth MP Ronnie Campbell has criticised David
:49:09. > :49:19.Cameron by breaking out into song. He turns to the Deputy Prime
:49:19. > :49:38.
:49:38. > :49:42.# I beg your pardon, I didn't It is a yes from me! Ronnie, the
:49:42. > :49:46.bishop and what he raised about pay their loans, is he right to raise
:49:46. > :49:52.the issue? He is right to raise the issue and the church has a very
:49:52. > :49:56.strong voice in politics. It has to be consistent, it has to criticise
:49:56. > :50:01.Labour governments and Conservative governments equally on behalf of
:50:01. > :50:03.people who are marginalised. He has criticised pay-day loans, and I
:50:03. > :50:07.think his views are a little exaggerated because they are not
:50:07. > :50:11.doing anything illegal. Some people might want to take these loans
:50:12. > :50:15.tough -- to tide them over until next pay-day. But he has an
:50:15. > :50:20.important issue about how much interest is paid and about how we
:50:20. > :50:23.should be very clear to anyone who is taking a loan. Alex, these pay-
:50:23. > :50:27.day loans sometimes help through a short-term crisis. Are they any
:50:27. > :50:33.worse than high-street bang? bishop is right to be involved, but
:50:33. > :50:41.before we came out I checked some of the offers. 2770 % for a pay-day
:50:41. > :50:45.alone, or you can get a bargain of 1170 %. They are legal sharks and
:50:45. > :50:49.they are taking advantage of the most vulnerable people in the
:50:49. > :50:59.society. We have to do something about it. But is there. Not that
:50:59. > :51:03.people do in the short term loans sometimes? -- is the point not that
:51:03. > :51:07.sometimes people need short-term loans? I am working with the teas
:51:07. > :51:10.credit union to try to create capacity there so they can enter
:51:10. > :51:18.this market, but we need to be able to have the capacity to do it, and
:51:18. > :51:23.it takes a long time. Government is starting to deal with this, and we