Topic 6: Social (1997-2007)

Question 1

5

Describe positives in workers’ rights (1997-2007)

Answer 1

• Blair immediately joined EU Social Chapter (Britain followed employment and social rights policy of Europe)
• e.g. all employees now entitled up to 3 months unpaid parental leave to care for child under the age of 8
• New Deal programmes provided guidance, voluntary work or subsidised placements to targeted groups of unemployed - youth, elderly, disabled, single parents
• National Minimum Wage Act 1998
• Brown introduced means-tested tax credits for low incomes, targeted towards children and disabled

Question 2

7

Describe negatives in workers’ rights (1997-2007)

Answer 2

• Trade union membership continued to fall from 29% in 1997 to 26% in 2007, though decline had slowed
• Labour retained Thatcher’s anti-union legislation
• Outsourcing and PFI continued
• privatisation accelerated
• by 2004, RMT had been expelled from party because some local branches donated to more left-wing parties
• Blair government retained ability to opt out of some EU employment legislation e.g. maximum working hours
• New Deal programmes criticised for limited support and counter-productivity of curtailment of welfare benefits for non-participants

PFI - private finance initiatives

Question 3

2

Describe the National Minimum Wage Act 1998

Answer 3

• Introduced national minimum wage
• Low Pay Commission estbalsihed to set rate (first set at £3.60 in 1999 for over 21s)

Question 4

5

Describe positives in women’s position (1997-2007)

Answer 4

• ‘Blair babes’
• Women were main beneficiaries of New Labour policies
• by 2007, all 3/4 year olds entitled to 12.5hrs of free nursery education a week - set to rise to 15hrs by 2010
• Women unable to work due to caring responsibilities were given pension credits
• between 1999-2007, percentage of FTSE100 companies with no female representation on board fell from 36% to 24%

Question 5

3

Describe negatives in women’s position (1997-2007)

Answer 5

• Women continued to earn 87% of male pay by 2007
• emphasis on paid unemployment undervalued unpaid work in home/family that women did
• once report found that by 2007, women still did 3x as much housework as men in couples

Question 6

5

Describe the ‘Blair babes’

Answer 6

• Number of female MPs doubled to 120 from 1992 to 1997
• 101 were Labour MPs
• Labour had introduced all-women shortlists in most winnable seats
• Blair appointed several women to prominent cabinet positions
• e.g. Margaret Beckett at Trade and Industry (1997-98); later served as FS (2006-07) - first woman to serve in this position

Question 7

7

Describe positives in youth (1997-2007)

Answer 7

• Government itself was very youthful
• Blair was youngest PM since 1812
• No.10 Downing Street Party in Spring 1997
• Social Exclusion Unit set up in 1997 to tackle teenage ostracism
• Sure Start programmes further tackled social exclusion
• ‘Connexions’ service created in 2000 to advise teens aged 13-19 about choices after leaving school
• Aimed for 50% of young people to go to univeristy to produce highly-skilled workforce to compete in globalised economy

Question 8

2

Describe negatives in youth (1997-2007)

Answer 8

• Number of NEETs increased to almost 20% by 2007 despite New Deal for Young People plan
• ASBOs primarily introduced amid rising youth crime

NEETs - Not in Education, Employment or Training

Question 9

3

Describe the No.10 Downing Street Party

Answer 9

• Spring 1997 following victory
• attendees included Noel Gallagher, Vivienne Westwood (70s era punk fashion star) and Helen Mirren
• emphasised ‘cool britannia’ image

Question 10

5

Describe ASBOs

Answer 10

• Court orders to limit activities of defendant
• such as imposition of curfew
• breaching ASBO was criminal offence
• aimed to deter antisocial behaviour of graffiti, vandalism and intimidation
• by 2005, 46% of ASBOs went to u17s

Question 11

5

Describe the advancement of multiculturalism (1997-2007)

Answer 11

• 2002, Paul Boateng became Chief Secretary to the Treasury (first black cabinet member
• 614 mosques in 2001 to 1.5k by 2007
• Schools, local govt and corporations launched cultural initiatives to celebrate people from ethnic backgrounds
• Notting Hll Carnival attracted millions, attended by Hague in 1997
• Multiculturalism used as selling point for 2012 Olympics Bid

Question 12

3

Describe the restriction of multiculturalism

Answer 12

• Macpherson Report 1998
• BBC Director-General Greg Dyke, acknowledged that his workforce was ‘hideously white’ in 2001
• 2005 terrorist attacks

Question 13

2

Describe the Macpherson Report 1999

Answer 13

• Report on murder of Stephen lawrence
• Identified institutionalised racism within Met

Question 14

5

Describe the 7/7 bombings

Answer 14

• 52 killed
• 4 suicide bombers attacked 3 underground trains and bus
• 3 of attackers were British-born citizens
• Leader, Mohammed Sidique Khan, was prominent community worker in West Yorkshire
• Strengthened concerns that too many immigrants were isolated from British values

Question 15

4

Describe the second terrorist attack in 2005

Answer 15

• 21 July 2005
• 4 suicide bombers attempted similar attack in London but failed
• Extensive manhunt on 22 July saw Jean Charles de Manezes, a young Brazilian, shot dead after being mistaken for terrorist
• 4 convicted men were Ethopian/Somalian-born, yet were naturalised British citizens

Question 16

3

Describe Labour’s response to terrorist attacks

Answer 16

• Concern that War on Terror had dangerous alienated British muslims
• Sec of State for Local Government and Communities post created in 2006, with one aim to work with local authorities to prevent extremism
• Security measures

Question 17

2

Describe Labour’s security measures

Answer 17

• Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 - allowed indefinite detention of prisoners at Belmarsh (ruled incompatible 2004)
• Terorrism Act 2006 allowed for 28-day detenion, though less than 90 days wanted

Question 18

2

Describe criticism of Labour’s security policy

Answer 18

• Emphasised importance of not overreacting and cutting back civil liberties
• Internment of early 1970s had encouraged recruitment to organsiations

Question 19

3

Describe immigration (1997-2007)

Answer 19

• Voters who considered immigration a vital issue rose from 3% (2001) to 30% (2007)
• Pressure Group Migration Watch, headed by retired diplomat Sir Andrew Green, focussed on dangers of large immigration and public service pressure
• Most experts agreed migrants had benefitted economy (through filled labour shortages, skills, enterprise) and in overall birth rates

Question 20

2

Describe where immigration originated (1997-2007)

Answer 20

• Refugees fleeing violent persecution in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq
• A8 countries (new member states in 2004 and 2007)

Question 21

3

Describe emigration (1997-2007)

Answer 21

• 1/3 of Polish migrants returned home
• Many British people left to work abroad
• Many Brits bought Spanish retirement homes, popularised by A Place in the Sun (2000)

Question 22

4

Describe demographic change (1997-2007)

Answer 22

• Immigration
• Older population
• Suburbanisation due to out-of-town shopping centres
• Increased single-occupier homes

Question 23

4

Describe regional change (1997-2007)

Answer 23

• Regeneration projects outside London to combat urban decay and depressed house prices
• Success in Glasgow, Birmingham, Leeds and Gateshead
• New museums, art galleries and concert halls (Sage Gateshead 2004)
• London/SE continued to dominate prosperity, housing market, transport, etc

Question 24

3

Describe statistics that show an ageing population (1997-2007)

Answer 24

• Average age increased from 37 in 1997 to 39 in 2007
• Life expectancy increased from 76.2 (1995) to 78.4 (2005) due to medical advances and higher living standards
• 2007, more people of retirement age than u16 - first time in British history

Question 25

4

Describe the economic impact of an ageing population

Answer 25

• Pensions increasingly became political issue - Pensions Act 2007 introduced ‘triple lock’
• Increased pensioners had higher aggregate disposable income
• Grey pound dictated social and economic change
• Those without private pension scheme suffered from fuel poverty

fuel povery - needing more than 10% of income to pay energy costs

Question 26

3

Describe the social impact of an ageing population

Answer 26

• Huge surge in demand for hip replacements, eye surgery and arthritis relief
• Local authority nursing homes struggled to cope with steep rise in dementia cases
• Grey pound dictated social and economic change

Question 27

5

Describe change in the countryside (1997-2007)

Answer 27

• Almost half of population lived in rural/semi-rural areas in 1951
• By 2000, only 3% employed in agriculture
• Many farmers ‘set-aside’ land for EU grants to cut food production
• Urbanisation factors
• Livestock depleted through BSE oubreak in 1990s, foot-and-mouth disease 2001

set-aside - 1988 EEC policy to cut food production

Question 28

3

Describe shifts in urbanisation (1997-2007)

Answer 28

• Suburbanisation due to out-of-town shopping centres
• Urbanisation in countryside through housing estates, road building, out of town shopping centres
• Younger people forced to move out as could not compete with second-home owners and commuters in housing market

Question 29

4

Describe countryside opposition to Blair’s Government

Answer 29

• Countryside at heart of 2000 fuel protests
• Ban on fox hunting in 2004 inspired opposition
• Blair Government promoted country life through subsisides for diversiifcation, rural transport, affordable housing schemes for locals, etc
• Yet made marginal difference and criticised