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The Rhondda Hotel in Ferndale, another example of social exclusion and the depressed economy in Wales

THE Labour party struggles to understand that the values and principles of social justice are not the glorious preserve of the left. And, sadly for the people of Wales, Labour’s attempted “ownership” of these principles has delivered very little since the advent of devolution.

As a Party,the Conservatives share many of the same values that Gordon Brown proudly espoused as Labour’s core beliefs, those “values of the mainstream majority” we heard about in their conference last week, values of fairness, responsibility, and equality. We also, surprising though it may seem to Labour, have a desire to bring to fruition the goals of social harmony and ensure the benefit of the greater good.

Yet, despite that fact, Labour still believes a progressive agenda on social justice is an issue for them alone. How dare people from the right of the political spectrum, like Iain Duncan-Smith, come along and proceed to tell them that their 12 years in government have not delivered the vision and aspirations they set to the people of Great Britain in 1997?

I believe Iain should be applauded for the work that he has done in collaboration with the Centre for Social Justice. What he has said through all his work is that poverty is everyone’s problem to solve and is too important an issue to be left to one half of the political divide or to any one party.

He is absolutely right, as there is no single answer to the challenges we face. Neither should be one political view or standpoint. After all, it’s in no one’s interests that relative income poverty among Welsh children is on the rise. It’s in no one’s interests that Wales has the highest levels of workless households in the UK. And it’s in no one’s interests that children are leaving Welsh schools with the lowest levels of educational attainment in the UK.

Of course, it is easy for us in opposition to be critical of government policy on poverty and social deprivation. The question we have to answer is what would we do if in power and what would we do with the current Communities First scheme, which has been the Welsh Assembly Government’s principal delivery mechanism?

David Cameron’s main theme of this year’s conference is ‘getting Britain working’. He wants to take the people power revolution and extend it right across the agendas of government to deliver real reform and real empowerment. The essence is that the inspiration of breathing new life into economy, the ingenuity into our public services and the imagination into rebuilding our communities, will come from families, professionals and voluntary organisations.

Nick Bourne has also started to lay out some of the progressive ideas the party are formulating here in Wales. In a recent speech he focused on developing a social enterprise bank, building on the schemes that have been established in England, and how we go about raising the value of volunteering within the public and private sectors.

However, I also believe we should be thinking about what levers we will have at our disposal if we form the next Assembly Government, and what national schemes we would create and invest in given the more restrictive economic environment we are going to be facing for at least the next two Assembly terms.

Since the inception of Communities First in 2001, it has spent £214m on the programme and remains the Government’s only substantial initiative for tackling poverty and improving the living standards and prospects of people in the most deprived parts of Wales.

The basic concept I believe is right – allow communities the flexibility to come up with the ideas and projects they believe best fit the required needs of that community. However, in a recent report from the Wales Audit Office, the Government was severely criticised for the delivery of the scheme and its failure to meet its predicated objectives.

Two questions emerge – why has it failed? And – most importantly for us as Conservatives – is this a warning that bottom-up regeneration isn’t as easy to deliver as David Cameron envisages?

In examining its failings, there were three key elements. The first was the failure of government buy-in, something that was lacking at all levels of government. The second element was that the programme aims and supported actions were too varied and disparate. For example, within the programme’s vision framework, there is a focus on six policy themes; child poverty, environment, community safety, health and well-being, jobs, business and income regeneration, and education, training and skills. The themes are so broad they cover issues from the freedom from abuse, victimisation and exploitation of children to the sustainable resource use and biodiversity of land and seascapes. I believe there has been a real lack of understanding toward the economic issues which are the most pressing. The third element was the inadequate levels of rigour and performance management, which ensured that there was no clear understanding of what was to be achieved.

In addressing the second question, I believe bottom-up regeneration can work. However, if we as a Welsh Conservative Government are going to make it really work as a concept, we will need to effectively reform the programme to ensure it is delivered more strategically and we will have to be realistic in ensuring that there will be sufficient levels of government intervention and support.

Government intervention and support does not mean extensive top-down management – it means a positive synergy to bring about affirmative empowerment. After all, it can’t be just left to communities and voluntary sector organisations, who might not have the necessary capacity and know-how, to deliver a range of complex projects across several policy agendas.

For any national scheme to work we will need to show how we understand the way families work and the daily pressures they face. Big issues such as the lack of decent jobs, the lack of training to get a job and too many obstacles such as childcare and transport, will all need to be tackled.

We need to set targets and benchmarks for what we need to see achieved, whether it is in training and skills for young adults, community based health improvements, transport infrastructure, or facilities such as community centres.

Moreover, I believe that we should restructure the programme to ensure the delivery of specific economic outcomes. Communities First was designed to tackle poverty, therefore the focus should be on those economic factors and shouldn’t be a panacea to cure every problem. One main reform worth recommending is linked to skills and economic performance. We need to focus on the children in our 100 poorest wards and specifically target them and their needs and realise that measurable outcomes could take a generation.

Sustainable regeneration is a process not an event, it cannot just be left to individuals and community groups to figure it out for themselves because we’ll end up with another eight years of missed opportunity. A government of whatever colour has a role to play.