I first met the Rt Rev Justin Welby when he was moving into his house in Bishop Auckland last year to take up his post as Bishop of Durham.

I distinctly remember what he said at the time: that it was his aim to place the Church at the heart of the regeneration of the North-East.

It seems to me that the Bishop has stayed true to that objective, taking every opportunity to promote the region's qualities, opportunities and needs.

Earlier today, he made his maiden speech in the House of Lords and the regeneration of the North-East was his theme.

He praised the North-East's sense of innovation but appealed for more to be done to boost business confidence in the region and to address skills gaps in engineering.

Bishop Justin told the Lords he was privileged to be patron of The Northern Echo's Foundation for Jobs campaign, launched in association with Darlington Borough Council and Darlington Partnership.

The campaign aims to increase the number of jobs, apprenticeships and internships for young people, as well as building better links between employers and schools.

The fact that the Bishop's maiden speech in the House of Lords coincided yesterday with a 6,000 jump in the number of North-East people who were unemployed in the first quarter of the year again underlines the importance of that campaign.

We too feel privileged to have the Bishop of Durham as our campaign patron as he bangs the drum so passionately for the North-East.