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Rural Communities (Recession)

The hon. Lady says that water poverty is not being appropriately addressed, and I am sure that she is more familiar with the issue than I am, as she represents the south-west. I will ensure that she gets a copy of the information that the Department receives from the research that it is undertaking. As I was saying, this is all being kept under regular review by the National Economic Council, with reports from the Commission for Rural Communities—as mentioned by the hon. Member for South-East Cambridgeshire (Mr. Paice)—and the regional development agencies, as other hon. Members have mentioned. At the risk of being accused of being in denial, I should say that none of this says that rural areas or rural communities are immune from the effects of recession, and no one would claim that—especially me. It is easy to talk about averages, because that is what we can measure and compare, but the simple fact is that for an individual who has lost his or her job, and who fears losing a home as well, the effects are devastating. Much of the action that the Government have been taking is intended to prevent those job losses in the first place, to put the right conditions in place for recovery, and to help prevent homes from being lost. Nevertheless, the available indicators appear to show that rural areas are holding up well so far, and in most cases have not suffered as much as urban areas. Across the UK, there have been some encouraging signs that confidence is improving, although we remain cautious. There is no reason to be complacent and it is legitimate to ask what we are doing to tackle the recession in rural areas.