Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper

Valerie Vaz MP said:

“I am alarmed that Walsall was one of the key areas mentioned in the Integrated Communities Strategy Green Paper. I raised this at Business Questions on 15 March 2018 because my constituents have contacted me and said they resent the fact that Walsall is seen as a place that is not integrated.”

“The Government’s relentless cuts have damaged communities. In Walsall, grant/ settlement funding allocations have been cut by 29% from 2015/16 to 2019/20. Local government as a whole will have had direct funding cut by 79% between 2010 and 2020 and the funding gap will exceed £5 billion in 2019/20.”

“As a result, places of social cohesion are being forced to close, this includes over 500 libraries and 300 children’s centres. Pheasey, Pleck and South Walsall libraries were closed last year, whilst Sure Start Palfrey children’s centre, which was twice rated “outstanding” by Ofsted, has been outsourced to a private company.”

“The fact that the Chancellor did not provide local government with much needed funding in his Spring Statement shows that the Government is consistently failing to protect communities.”