As my honourable friend the MP for Blaydon has highlighted there have been substantial changes to both the demand and supply of council housing in Gateshead and it is welcome that changes are being made to reflect that. I would like to join him in asking Ministers to come up and view the wonderful work in progress. I can assure them they would be made very welcome at any of our Gateshead pads!

In the current climate of rising house prices there are young people across the country who are worrying about how they will ever manage to get a foot on the property ladder. It is a daunting prospect to face in your late teens or early twenties and I support the work done by Gateshead council in trying to make this step easier for our young people. It is significant that such a wide ranging consultation took place – including all 1335 young tenants already in place in Gateshead council housing -  to ensure that the voice of every young person was heard.

I would like to take the opportunity to praise the hard work and dedication of those involved

As always we in the North East have some real advantages and resources which we can draw on to help our young people get a good start in life. As always there are issues to be overcome with overcrowding, low pay, lack of furniture and all the challenges of setting up home independently. The consultation process revealed that young people want just the same things as anyone else. A warm, safe home. It was also noted that the council services needed to be provided in a more flexible manner and that information needed to be made more easily available and accessible.

From these demands we now have the website www.mypadgateshead.co.uk which is taking forward the work of the council housing service into the 21^st century. I hope we can continue to close the information gap which continues to make young people feel left ‘out of the loop’ about the choices and options available to them.

In Gateshead we already have some of the most improving schools in the country, with this yearsGCSE results showing Gateshead schools as the most improved in the Britain. We are managing to provide our school children with the best possible start in life and this initiative will help to ensure that we continue to provide our young people with every opportunity to do their best in life for many years to come.