Rowntree report (and Daily Telegraph) misses the target.

We are an independent, progressive organisation committed to funding radical change towards a better world.

The JRCT makes grants to individuals and to projects seeking the creation of a peaceful world, political equality and social justice.

This is the The Joseph Rowntree Foundation's core message, belief and work.

That being the case, it's not that unusual to see them coming out with this conclusion in their report(pdf); "Immigration And Social Cohesion In The UK", issued this morning:

"Addressing deprivation and how people connect is more important for social cohesion than trying to get everyone to adhere to the same fixed notion of “Britishness”"

I don't know how you can really judge what factors are more important in such a subjective and abstract concept as "social cohesion"...their sampling also doesn't appear to have been that representative or extensive (eg if you were going to pick out typical attitudes towards "Britishness" in Northern Ireland, would you really go to Dungannon?). But yes, attacking poverty in deprived communities is a good thing obviously; employing a "fixed notion, one size-fits all version of Britishness" is also not a very clever idea (pay heed, Messrs Brown and Straw) for pulling together the many different ethnic, religious and cultural strands within our nation.

But simply because more people start moving out of the poverty-trap, doesn't mean we will have a more united, caring society working together towards common goals- there needs to be a strengthening of some kind of common central focus, community-based on a micro-level, national on the macro.I haven't had time to read the report in any detail yet, but from what I've seen so far the JRCT doesn't place enough emphasis on that basic fact.

PS You can always rely on the good old Daily Telegraph, with its:
"Immigrants raise fears of limited prospects among the British"
headline summary of the report...I really think they've missed the whole point.