:00:44. > :00:48.In the Midlands: What next on our economic roller-coaster?
:00:48. > :00:53.The boss of John Lewis and global enterprise on the prospects at
:00:53. > :01:03.street level. And see you in court. But it will
:01:03. > :01:03.
:01:03. > :38:02.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2219 seconds
:38:02. > :38:05.that be an empty threat if police Hello again from the Midlands. Are
:38:05. > :38:10.the police playing judge and jury by dealing with crimes out-of-
:38:10. > :38:13.court? That's one of our talking points today. But let's begin by
:38:13. > :38:16.trying to fathom out what the events of the past week tell us
:38:16. > :38:19.about our region's economy. It began with the Government sharing
:38:19. > :38:24.�100 million from the Regional Growth Fund between 22 Midlands
:38:24. > :38:27.firms and projects, to create or protect 34,000 jobs. Then came the
:38:27. > :38:33.figures showing the UK economy was doing rather better than many had
:38:33. > :38:35.predicted. So what is the direction of economic travel here? With me
:38:35. > :38:41.today are Paul Uppal, the Conservative MP for Wolverhampton
:38:41. > :38:44.South West. Before becoming an MP he ran his own business. And Joan
:38:44. > :38:47.Walley, the Labour MP for Stoke-on- Trent North, a city still smarting
:38:47. > :38:55.from its failure to get its own enterprise zone, to help bring in
:38:55. > :38:58.jobs and investment. First, though, we're going to hear
:38:58. > :39:01.from Andy Street. He's the man now in charge of the Birmingham and
:39:01. > :39:06.Solihull Local Economic Partnership, one of seven so-called LEPs that
:39:06. > :39:09.replace the Regional Development Agency, Advantage West Midlands.
:39:09. > :39:12.Now, whether or not you recognise his name, you'll certainly know
:39:12. > :39:18.that of his business. He's the Managing Director of the department
:39:18. > :39:21.store John Lewis. For once the numbers do tell the
:39:21. > :39:23.story. With 29 department stores, six smaller John Lewis At Home
:39:23. > :39:33.outlets, and the online johnlewis.com operation, it's one
:39:33. > :39:34.
:39:34. > :39:37.of the UK's instantly recognised retail brands. One of the things
:39:37. > :39:42.about leadership is doing the things that are right, not the
:39:42. > :39:45.things that are popular. And that leader is very much a local here.
:39:45. > :39:48.He went to King Edward's School in Birmingham, and now his commitment
:39:48. > :39:50.to his home town is reinforced, both through his chairmanship of
:39:51. > :39:53.the Local Economic Partnership, and as one of Britain's favourite
:39:53. > :39:55.shopkeepers, through John Lewis' decision to build their biggest
:39:55. > :39:58.store outside London as the centrepiece of the New Street
:39:58. > :40:01.Station redevelopment. Now charged with helping other local businesses
:40:01. > :40:10.to recover from our economic woes, Andy Street has owned up to the
:40:10. > :40:15.occasional moment of doubt and uncertainty. I remember the day the
:40:15. > :40:21.banks were rescued. I took time to read the daily newspapers and I sat
:40:21. > :40:25.in a coffee shop, thinking, oh, my God, what are we going to do?
:40:25. > :40:29.John Lewis Partnership is exactly that. The UK's biggest example of
:40:29. > :40:31.worker co-ownership. Its 76,500 staff are not just employees, they
:40:31. > :40:34.are partners, which begs the question whether their leading
:40:34. > :40:40.partner could do even better for himself by joining one of the big
:40:40. > :40:45.PLCs. I can do very nicely for myself running this organisation,
:40:45. > :40:49.thank you very much. In terms of being paid sufficiently, we are not
:40:49. > :40:52.paid as much as my equivalent colleagues but this is a far more
:40:52. > :40:59.fulfilling job. Not bad for a man who sells two washing-machines an
:40:59. > :41:02.hour and one Egyptian plain-dye towel every 15 seconds. I caught up
:41:02. > :41:05.with him on the 25th floor of The Cube building, opening next month
:41:05. > :41:08.as the �13 million Indigo hotel and Marco Pierre White restaurant,
:41:08. > :41:11.overlooking Birmingham city centre, now home to an enterprise zone
:41:11. > :41:16.aiming to ultimately to trigger the creation of 100,000 new jobs across
:41:16. > :41:24.the region. Many might have located it on the
:41:24. > :41:29.edge of the city either possibly in a disadvantaged suburb, but this is
:41:29. > :41:33.the quickest way of achieving economic growth. The city centre is
:41:33. > :41:38.the most vibrant part of the West Midlands economy and we can stretch
:41:38. > :41:44.the tout to next spring. What would your advice be too young people,
:41:44. > :41:47.where they feel very sore they have missed out? They can learn a little
:41:47. > :41:52.bit about how Birmingham and Solihull have been successful so
:41:52. > :41:56.far. We have worked really hard to understand exactly what the
:41:56. > :42:01.Government once and we have been quick to put our case in, and
:42:01. > :42:05.hopefully, we have met absolutely the criteria. Our evidence so far
:42:05. > :42:09.is that this has been a success then approach. When you look at the
:42:09. > :42:13.scale of the challenge this part of the country has in terms of getting
:42:13. > :42:23.investment in and new jobs, would it help you if George Osborne were
:42:23. > :42:24.
:42:24. > :42:28.to soften the edge of Plan and move on? They have got to stick
:42:28. > :42:31.decisively to their deficit reduction plan. But at the same
:42:31. > :42:36.time, they have got to look for engines of growth and I believe
:42:36. > :42:41.they are trying to do that. If you look at the Regional Growth Fund,
:42:41. > :42:45.it is a useful contribution to the region's economy and we have
:42:46. > :42:49.certainly done very well out of both rounds of that money. In few
:42:49. > :42:55.look at a company like Emma Bridgewater, very good company, but
:42:55. > :42:59.they have just laid 20 people off. They said the problem is that they
:42:59. > :43:03.are not shifting enough stock through John Lewis. So people are
:43:03. > :43:07.keeping their money in their pockets? I am pleased you said it
:43:07. > :43:11.was figurative because I do not think they are blaming John Lewis
:43:11. > :43:16.on its own. People are spending less money but as well as the Emma
:43:16. > :43:20.Bridgewater story, we are working actively with the best of British
:43:20. > :43:25.manufacturers and we have got great stories where the design is right,
:43:25. > :43:29.the quality is right and the price is right. There is still a market
:43:29. > :43:33.to be seized. My personal view is the best companies will come
:43:33. > :43:38.through this difficult time. high-speed rail, potentially a
:43:38. > :43:45.high-speed link between Birmingham and London. A good thing or a bad
:43:45. > :43:50.thing? It could draw investment away from Birmingham to London.
:43:50. > :43:56.is cat -- it is categorically a good thing which is why the LEP
:43:56. > :44:00.came out in support of that proposal. And bear in mind, it is a
:44:00. > :44:04.cross-party proposal. We have looked at the characteristics for
:44:04. > :44:08.success of other outstanding city regions and parts of the world, and
:44:08. > :44:12.good connectivity, not just between Birmingham and London, but between
:44:12. > :44:18.Birmingham and Manchester, Birmingham and Europe, Birmingham
:44:18. > :44:24.and Leeds, is a prerequisite. More business will be easier if we can
:44:24. > :44:30.connect with our big markets. mayor for Bernard -- for Birmingham.
:44:30. > :44:35.A good thing or a bad thing? What really stands out is knowing who is
:44:35. > :44:39.accountable. Birmingham City Council is a big organisation and
:44:39. > :44:43.it is very clear who leads it. I am sure the current leader feels very
:44:43. > :44:48.accountable. So we already have good performance in that respect,
:44:48. > :44:54.but my personal view is that a personally elected mayor can take
:44:54. > :45:00.that one step further. That was Andy Street, and there is more on
:45:00. > :45:06.it might blog. Joan Whalley, you obviously very
:45:06. > :45:10.disappointed about the lack of an enterprise zone. But he said his
:45:10. > :45:13.job is to concentrate on his own and that the success he had is by
:45:13. > :45:18.working very closely with the Government to find out exactly what
:45:18. > :45:22.they wanted and to work hard to deliver that quickly? We would say
:45:22. > :45:27.that in Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire, we did just that.
:45:27. > :45:31.The problem was that the Government ring-fenced the number of local
:45:31. > :45:35.enterprise zones. You can imagine the angle right the way across the
:45:35. > :45:41.political parties and across the Chamber of Trade when we were not
:45:41. > :45:44.included in phase one or in phase two, and then the Government
:45:44. > :45:50.announced a further two and we had had more job losses than some of
:45:50. > :45:54.those areas and we were somewhat successful. It is very easy to say
:45:54. > :46:03.how it is possible to go about doing it but if you do not have
:46:03. > :46:08.that enhanced status, it is difficult to see that, no matter
:46:08. > :46:14.what the Government does, you can create those jobs. I think there is
:46:14. > :46:20.a lot of general sympathy? The case for Stoke is beyond doubt. We were
:46:20. > :46:23.led to believe in the first round, and I ask parliamentary questions
:46:23. > :46:27.on this, that it was about population figures and we would
:46:27. > :46:31.have qualified on that criteria there. We were very clear on what
:46:31. > :46:38.we wanted and I feel we now have to live with the fact that we have to
:46:38. > :46:42.find another route. Paul Uppal, you can understand how Joan Whalley
:46:42. > :46:47.feels, because in trying to rebalance the economy, you have a
:46:47. > :46:51.situation where you have an enterprise zone on the board of
:46:51. > :46:59.your city, which is great, but just up the motorway, Stoker, which
:46:59. > :47:04.appears and feels to get nothing. can appreciate her point of view
:47:04. > :47:07.and empathise but I think it is important that we say this. We can
:47:07. > :47:11.engage in political rhetoric on this but it is not going to help
:47:11. > :47:16.anybody watching this programme getting your job or sustain jobs.
:47:16. > :47:22.There is some good news out there. There is the Jaguar Land Rover
:47:22. > :47:29.story. But that does not help stoke very much? I think it helps all of
:47:29. > :47:32.the West Midlands regions. And the whole story, they should be
:47:32. > :47:37.congratulated on that and it helps cement the relationship. They are
:47:37. > :47:44.cementing the region and there are some good news stories out there.
:47:44. > :47:49.There was one from York constituency, in pottery? They
:47:49. > :47:52.needed jobs and then things took a turn for the better? Absolutely.
:47:52. > :47:59.This is not about political rhetoric. It is about getting what
:47:59. > :48:04.we can from the Regional Growth Fund, enhanced capital advances and
:48:04. > :48:09.I think this pottery is a great example. We have this Trust which
:48:09. > :48:13.has benefited from the Regional Growth Fund and now we have a
:48:13. > :48:18.further next door neighbour pottery, which is also a recipient of the
:48:18. > :48:23.second round of Regional Growth Fund. What we see is bottom-up
:48:23. > :48:31.regeneration, linking in. I think having the support of His Royal
:48:31. > :48:35.Highness really helps. What did the Trust do? They recognised that
:48:36. > :48:43.there, we have a piece of heritage which we would otherwise lose, that
:48:43. > :48:49.we had to find a way of protecting. And given the new owners that were
:48:49. > :48:53.there, he would see how you could come in and bring his expertise and
:48:53. > :48:57.brings more units to help small businesses starting up and then
:48:57. > :49:03.more people come through Stoke-on- Trent through the canal by any
:49:03. > :49:07.other means. I think he put another 7 million into it, didn't he? Let's
:49:07. > :49:14.hear what he had to say of. Once I heard about it and discovered how
:49:14. > :49:19.unique it was, I have to see if we could make sure it was saved and
:49:19. > :49:23.the work was able to remain intact, because it is a very special and
:49:23. > :49:27.unique survival and still incredibly popular all around the
:49:27. > :49:32.world. But higher also wanted to try and see if we could use this
:49:32. > :49:39.remarkable place as a means of helping to gradually regenerate
:49:39. > :49:49.other parts and indeed to spread things further out into Stoke-on-
:49:49. > :49:49.
:49:49. > :49:54.Trent. Half the battle, I think, is to rebuild self-confidence and hope.
:49:55. > :50:01.And bring in investment from elsewhere. Here, for instance, we
:50:01. > :50:05.had to bring in private investment. Paul Uppal, it comes to something
:50:05. > :50:13.when you have to rely on the edge of the throne to come to the
:50:13. > :50:17.rescue? He did speak about self- confidence and hope, and one thing
:50:17. > :50:23.that has struck me recently, I met Mary Portas because we have had a
:50:23. > :50:27.big issue with empty shops in more than done. I was going down a road
:50:27. > :50:31.in a part of Walkhampton, and their bodies the Dudley Road, which are
:50:31. > :50:39.areas that have difficult conditions. -- part of
:50:39. > :50:46.Wolverhampton. There is an ambience and atmosphere of can-do. So I
:50:46. > :50:51.think that message of confidence and hope is a very important one.
:50:51. > :50:56.Let me tell you what one of the Richardson brothers said the other
:50:56. > :51:01.day. He reminded me of the incentives they had bend - 100%
:51:01. > :51:05.capital allowance, much greater freedoms than the current
:51:05. > :51:09.enterprise zone sell-out, and he said even then, it was a big
:51:09. > :51:16.struggle bringing companies in two merry hell, so surely with the
:51:16. > :51:22.weaker and less generous offer from these enterprise zones, it will be
:51:22. > :51:25.much harder? With all of these zones, you want to make sure you
:51:25. > :51:31.are creating new investment and not taking investment from surrounding
:51:31. > :51:38.areas. So it is important how you have that balancing act. There is a
:51:38. > :51:41.balance, is and there, Joan Whalley? Yes, and it is about the
:51:41. > :51:46.economy and the balance and how you factor these things together. The
:51:46. > :51:50.real message is to Government that it is not just how you deal with
:51:50. > :51:54.these enterprise zones. It is how every single department of the
:51:54. > :51:57.government, from local to the Treasury, and what we want in
:51:58. > :52:01.Stoke-on-Trent and we have said to the Prime Minister, is that we want
:52:01. > :52:05.all the ministers together to look at our needs and then make sure
:52:05. > :52:10.that on each and every issue, we have got a faster track into
:52:10. > :52:14.government. We must leave it there. It is a very important couple of
:52:14. > :52:21.months for the economy until Christmas. To you both, thank you
:52:21. > :52:23.for being with us. Serious offences involving indecent
:52:23. > :52:26.photographs of children, sexual assault and grievous bodily harm
:52:26. > :52:32.were just three types of crime committed here in the Midlands last
:52:32. > :52:37.year, where the offenders were punished without going to court.
:52:37. > :52:40.This was certainly news to me. I don't know about you. And if that
:52:40. > :52:43.comes as a surprise, it's certainly a concern to one Shropshire
:52:43. > :52:45.magistrate. He's so worried about an apparent rise in on-the-spot
:52:45. > :52:48.justice, that he submitted his own Freedom of Information request to
:52:48. > :52:58.West Mercia Police. He gave his results to BBC Shropshire's
:52:58. > :52:59.
:53:00. > :53:02.Low level anti-social behaviour. The kind of crime police forces
:53:02. > :53:08.have the power to deal with themselves without going through
:53:08. > :53:10.the courts, but some think these powers are being taken too far. One
:53:10. > :53:13.Shropshire magistrate I've been talking to, who doesn't want to be
:53:13. > :53:16.identified, decided to try to find out exactly how often these powers
:53:16. > :53:24.were being used and the types of crime being punished directly by
:53:24. > :53:27.the police. West Mercia Police dealt with half of all crimes out
:53:27. > :53:29.of court last year, including some serious offences like distributing
:53:29. > :53:34.indecent pictures of children, wounding with intent and sexual
:53:34. > :53:44.assault. Nationwide research carried out by the Magistrates
:53:44. > :53:46.
:53:46. > :53:49.Association shows similar results. We also saw offences of child abuse,
:53:49. > :53:55.arson, child pornography and a range of other offences like that
:53:55. > :53:59.being dealt with either by cautions or penalty notices for disorder.
:53:59. > :54:03.They are stepping over into dealing with matters and offences which
:54:03. > :54:06.should properly be dealt within the justice system in a court of law.
:54:06. > :54:09.Magistrates say there is no consistency either when it comes to
:54:09. > :54:13.dealing with crimes out of court, making this kind of justice a
:54:13. > :54:15.postcode lottery. Latest Ministry of Justice figures show that in the
:54:15. > :54:18.West Midlands, 32% of offences were dealt with through out-of-court
:54:18. > :54:23.disposals - specifically warnings, cautions or fines, compared to 36%
:54:23. > :54:26.in West Mercia and 44% in Warwickshire. John Macmillan is a
:54:26. > :54:34.local solicitor who's been arguing cases in the West Mercia area for
:54:35. > :54:38.40 years. This is not a judicial process. But it is an
:54:38. > :54:42.administrative process and a cheap and cheerful way of dealing with
:54:42. > :54:46.things, sweeping them under the carpet. It is getting crime,
:54:46. > :54:53.lifting the carpet, shoving it under it and saying, this has not
:54:53. > :54:55.really happened. The public don't know about it. West Mercia Police
:54:55. > :54:58.say they only use out-of-court punishments for low-level offences,
:54:58. > :55:01.but the figures we obtained from our Shropshire magistrate show some
:55:01. > :55:06.serious crimes were also dealt with in this way. It would be
:55:06. > :55:10.exceptional for those types of cases, the more serious cases, not
:55:10. > :55:14.to go to court if we believe the evidence was there to do so. There
:55:14. > :55:18.will be some occasions where those have been dealt with outside the
:55:18. > :55:22.court process with the clear consent of the victim and with the
:55:22. > :55:26.defendant actually admitting the crime, and with the senior
:55:26. > :55:29.oversight and officer and somebody from the Crown Prosecution Service.
:55:29. > :55:33.Thousands of people are processed in this custody centre in Worcester
:55:34. > :55:37.every year. Many will never see the inside of a courtroom. West Mercia
:55:37. > :55:39.Police says dealing with people out of court is not about saving money,
:55:39. > :55:43.it's about delivering fair and appropriate justice, as well as
:55:43. > :55:52.reducing re-offending. But many magistrates remain concerned about
:55:52. > :55:58.the police playing prosecutor, judge and jury.
:55:58. > :56:01.Those cases dealt with out-of-court do not go into the national
:56:01. > :56:06.database, so if I'd commit an offence in Cheltenham and then
:56:06. > :56:12.again in Stoke, there is no record that I have committed an offence
:56:12. > :56:16.before. His justice being done or is it being swept under the carpet?
:56:16. > :56:22.I think that point was made there that if all sides agree, you can
:56:22. > :56:27.have summary justice, in a sense. It is important that there is an
:56:27. > :56:32.element of common sense. I would say that, I am Conservative! I
:56:32. > :56:38.might take a side issue but if it is practical and common sense,
:56:38. > :56:42.don't have too much of an issue with it. Tony Blair was a great fan
:56:42. > :56:48.of on-the-spot fines if he could have got it through, so this is not
:56:48. > :56:52.confined to the Tories and Lib Dems? Absolutely not, and if it
:56:52. > :56:56.makes sense, why not? The disturbing part is if we are seeing
:56:56. > :57:00.the whole way in which it is applied to change and if it is
:57:00. > :57:04.extended to a more serious crimes, because in those circumstances, you
:57:04. > :57:08.do want to have fairness and justice. A brief word from each of
:57:08. > :57:14.you - it could be seen by journalists as a way of massaging
:57:14. > :57:18.the crime figures? Absolutely, especially when there is so much
:57:18. > :57:22.attention on access to information and have -- if the information is
:57:22. > :57:28.not there, it is dangerous. It is something we can look at and maybe
:57:28. > :57:33.it will help with the swift process of justice. But can you reassure
:57:33. > :57:37.the public that justice is safe in their hands? Absolutely. I think
:57:38. > :57:43.common sense will prevail. I think the big issue is the cuts to the
:57:43. > :57:49.police service. We must leave it there. Thank you for being with us.