Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps she is taking to a) protect and b) promote community cohesion in a) Newcastle-under-Lyme and b) Staffordshire.
Answer
MHCLG’s Community Cohesion Unit supports and promotes cohesion across England by working closely with local authorities, voluntary and community sector and faith organisations, and other government departments. Following the disorder in summer 2024, several areas in Staffordshire have received sustained support. In Stoke-on-Trent, MHCLG has supported a multi-agency partnership approach to strengthen cohesion and resilience, aligned with the development of the city’s cohesion strategy. This brings together statutory and community partners to address integration, cohesion and tensions monitoring. Five areas across Staffordshire, Bentilee and Ubberley, Bradley and Chell Heath, Meir North, Cannock Chase, and Glascote Heath have each been awarded Pride in Place Programme funding, with £20 million invested over ten years to deliver long-term, preventative improvements to community cohesion. In Tamworth, MHCLG supported the Borough Council following unrest in summer 2024, addressing immediate challenges and strengthening longer-term cohesion capability through initiatives such as the ‘We Are Tamworth’ programme. Nationally, MHCLG is coordinating cross-government work on a longer-term approach to social cohesion. Protecting What Matters, published on 9 March 2026, set out HMG’s vision to build stronger, more cohesive communities through sustained investment, improved integration, strengthened English language provision, and robust action against hate and extremism.
Verdict: AMBER (50/100)
The reply gives specific, direct detail on Staffordshire as a whole, including Stoke-on-Trent and Tamworth partnership work, five named Pride in Place areas, and £20m for preventative cohesion work, which answers the two county-level parts of the question. It does not address Newcastle-under-Lyme itself: the parts of the question about that town receive only England-wide descriptions of national cohesion work. A member of the public asking about Newcastle-under-Lyme would still need to ask again for local information.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is the department doing to protect community cohesion in Newcastle-under-Lyme? | Partially Addressed | Generic | No statement mentions Newcastle-under-Lyme; the reply offers only England-wide descriptions of MHCLG's cohesion work (the Community Cohesion Unit and cross-government coordination), and the Staffordshire areas it names do not include Newcastle-under-Lyme. |
| What is the department doing to promote community cohesion in Newcastle-under-Lyme? | Partially Addressed | Generic | The promotion-related statements are national (the Community Cohesion Unit, cross-government work, and Protecting What Matters), with nothing specific to Newcastle-under-Lyme, so the locally specific part of the question is unanswered. |
| What is the department doing to protect community cohesion in Staffordshire? | Addressed | Direct | The reply describes sustained post-disorder support in Staffordshire areas, Stoke-on-Trent and Tamworth partnership and resilience work, five named Pride in Place funded areas, and £20m for preventative cohesion improvements, which together answer what is being done to protect cohesion in Staffordshire. |
| What is the department doing to promote community cohesion in Staffordshire? | Addressed | Direct | The reply names concrete promotion activity in Staffordshire, including the Stoke-on-Trent multi-agency partnership, the Tamworth 'We Are Tamworth' programme, Pride in Place funding for named areas, and the £20m investment, which answers what is being done to promote cohesion there. |