The UK ranks among the most unequal countries in Europe, with inequalities in wealth and health particularly pronounced – and rising – in the North East of England.
Posing the question of whether we can achieve a more equal North East, we recently co-hosted an event with Newcastle University and Insights North East as part of our Campaign for Social Science’s ongoing project, Election 24: ideas for change based on social science evidence.
Introduced by Newcastle University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Engagement and Place, Professor Jane Robinson, and chaired by the Academy’s President, Will Hutton, the event featured distinguished social scientists and practitioners who shared their perspectives on, and social science evidence for, addressing health and wealth inequalities in the North East of England.
The speakers included Professor Louise Kempton, Professor Liz Todd FAcSS and Dr Jenna Charlton from Newcastle University and Insights North East, Claire Crow from Healthworks, Sara Bryson from Tyne and Wear Citizens, Dan Jackson from North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board, Amy Harhoff from Durham County Council, and Tom Hall from South Tyneside Council.
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Infrastructural development: innovation & social mobility
First, Professor Louise Kempton discussed the impact of innovation-led growth policy and practice on inequality, community cohesion, and social mobility.
She said, “There is a lot of attention being given to the role of innovation-led investments, particularly in places like Newcastle and Pittsburgh that are struggling to recover from decades of de-industrialisation. However, many of these investments in infrastructure, especially in post-industrial cities, have not delivered positive outcomes for local communities and businesses. The model for these innovation districts has, for the most part, focused on and been driven by a technology-push approach with the emphasis on research arising from science, technology, engineering, and maths (STEM) disciplines – with utter neglect of the humanities, social sciences, and the arts.”
Louise pointed out that while places like Newcastle and Pittsburgh have secured significant investments in new research infrastructure, social science evidence shows that the outcomes from investments in research, development and innovation have disproportionately accrued to highly qualified, well-paid professionals; large, well-financed businesses; and a few ambitious entrepreneurs. Speaking about the Newcastle Helix in the city’s central district, she said that there was already a gap of people employed in scientific research and technical activities between England and the North East of England region, Newcastle and the district of Newcastle Central where the Helix is located, and that the gap had widened between 2015 and 2020. “In a region with some of the most acute economic and societal challenges, how do we ensure that these investments [in research and innovation] don’t entrench or widen these disparities?”, she said.
She followed on to talk about inclusive innovation: “To be truly inclusive, we think, requires addressing inclusion at three levels. First of all, [there] is the more upstream level in terms of the outcomes from the investment in innovation, so it’s [about] making a contribution to the challenges that affect people’s lives. [..] Both investments [Newcastle Helix and Hazelwood Green in Pittsburgh] are really ticking this box. But it is going on to the next two levels where, I think, we have the challenge for policy and practice.” Louise explained how it is important to consider the distribution of benefits and public engagement, ensuring that local citizens and businesses receive some level of benefit such as jobs or supply chain opportunities from the investment in innovation and giving local communities agency in shaping the priorities of these projects.
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Secondly, Dr Jenna Charlton and Claire Crow took the stage to talk about social prescribing and the Zone West programme which allows school children to build a relationship with a professional link worker long term to achieve developmental goals.
Discussing the methodology, Jenna highlighted that the Zone West approach is underpinned by a theory of change that draws significantly on attachment theory. She spoke about the importance of a secure attachment for children to be able to thrive, saying that, “for us attachment really is the catalyst for change in our children and we think it’s the catalyst to the positive outcomes that we see in our evidence and our [quantitative and qualitative] data.” She continued her talk by highlighting some of the programme outcomes which point to a significant positive impact on children’s behavioural, conduct, and hyperactivity difficulties, as well as their emotional and school functioning.
Discussing a case study, Claire looked at primary school children of mixed heritage who speak three languages with English as their third language and who experience racism. She said, “Teachers displayed cultural misunderstanding and unconscious bias against certain behaviours, and [they] showed little empathy for the difficulties associated with navigating English culture, particularly in school.” Claire explained how Zone West supported children through primary and secondary school to address incidents of bullying and worked with schools to implement training for staff and students. The impacts of this work include increased confidence in children and strong friendships within the therapeutic group.
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Thirdly, Professor Liz Todd and Sara Bryson, standing in for Professor Greta Defeyter, discussed the impact free school meals can have on children’s lives.
Setting the context, Sara shared her personal experience, “I was a child on free school meals, so I know exactly what life was like on free school meals. You can’t concentrate in school, can you, if you are hungry, and increasingly, the children that we are working with are hungry. […] If you are hungry, you can’t concentrate, you can’t do well in school, everything else falls apart.”
Liz pointed out how even children who are eligible for free school meals don’t all get it. She said, “It’s complicated eligibility, and I’ve long known because we’ve researched the Pupil Premium which is something that goes along with people who are on free school meals. […] But if your school can’t sign you up, and there are various reasons why that doesn’t happen, children don’t get the meals and they don’t get the funding for the schools.”
She continued by discussing Professor Greta Defeyter’s research on how many children are missing out and why we should have an automatic free school meal registration based on a benefits mechanism. 11% of total eligible pupils in the North East, and the number of children determined as eligible through means-testing has continued to increase since 2017/18, are not registered for means-tested free school meals. Auto-enrolment would bring approximately an additional £23 million per annum to the North East.
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“Despite all the knowledge that we have, all the expertise in this room today, equality feels further from our grasp than ever before, doesn’t it? The rates of poverty that we have in our region feel like they are becoming deeper and more entrenched than ever before”, said Sara to kick off her presentation on how community organising can address economic inequality.
She highlighted how the key issue for her is in-work poverty since two in three children who have a working parent live in poverty in the UK. Sara continued, “The majority of children in poverty in our region have parents who are in working households. We have no shortage of jobs that are low-paid and insecure. […] Until we tackle this issue, we will not achieve equality in the North East. The good news [is] though that we do not need an election to make this happen. As people have said, we have a lot of elections happening this year, which do present opportunities for us, but there’s something all of us can leave this room doing which will make a difference. Unsurprisingly, Tyne and Wear Citizens have continuously voted on low pay as a priority area for action since we were founded in 2016.”
She concluded her presentation with an overview of the organisation’s Real Living Wage campaign which has seen large anchor institutions like Newcastle University, Newcastle City Council, Sunderland University and Sunderland City Council become accredited Real Living Wage employers, making both places Real Living Wage cities. Altogether, there are now 300 Real Living Wage employers in the North East of England, accounting for 90,039 staff and 10,495 uplifts. Sara said that the first step to economic development in the region is accrediting, “Go away and become a Real Living Wage employer. But also, support our Real Living Wage employers in our region.”
Liz continued the discussion on community organising in her presentation. She said, “I’m promoting broad-based community organising as delivered by Citizens UK as the final idea at this event to enable people from diverse backgrounds and communities to work together for social change and justice.”
She discussed a few examples of local groups working as community organisers before pointing out, “What better way to build a more equal North East than to re-engage people in our communities, enabling them to take responsibility for issues that are affecting us. At a time when trust in our social institutions, particularly government, has never been so low, we desperately need a proven approach, a proven mechanism, that strengthens the association between diverse people and local communities, and enables previously unorganised people to bring our own power to force others to recognise us and respond to calls for social change and justice.”
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The concluding panel discussion saw Professor Liz Todd FAcSS, Dr Jenna Charlton, Claire Crow and Sara Bryson joined on stage by Dan Jackson, Amy Harhoff and Tom Hall who discussed what their institutions – North East and North Cumbria NHS Integrated Care Board, Durham County Council and South Tyneside Council – are doing to address inequalities in the North East of England. The panel finished by answering questions from chair Will Hutton and the audience collectively.
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‘Can we achieve a more equal North East?’ is part of Election 24: Ideas for change based on social science evidence, a Campaign for Social Science project which draws on a range of social science research to suggest evidence-based social policy directions ahead of a UK general election in 2024.
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