Inclusive Society
Baroness Massey of Darwen Excerpts(3 years, 7 months ago)
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Baroness Massey of Darwen (Lab) [V]
The noble Baroness, Lady Lister, has secured this very important debate and introduced it forcefully. I shall focus on children, who have been mentioned by several noble Lords. All children must be included and given a voice in any post-pandemic action affecting them, as they should have been during the pandemic. I hope we will learn from the experience of Covid and have the confidence to explore ideas and implement changes where necessary.
I ask the Government to develop and introduce a children’s charter based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Such a charter could build on what we know and have learned. We have evidence on children to do this, from parliamentary work on children, from the efforts of the former Children’s Commissioner, from the voluntary sector—which is brilliant on children —and from teachers and other people who work with children. An inclusive dialogue on such a charter between all agencies and including children from diverse backgrounds would be a useful and inclusive exercise in itself and could clarify future needs and commitments to our children. Such a charter would be a sign of our commitment to respect and implement the best interests of the child, as set out in the UN convention. Wales has worked on this, and Scotland is doing so.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was ratified by the UK Government in 1991, but it is not part of our domestic law. Every five years, our Government are required to report to the UN committee on the progress they have made on implementing the UNCRC. The UN committee responds and our voluntary sector responds, led by the Children’s Rights Alliance for England. It is a useful and critical dialogue. The next one will be in 2022. The last called on the UK to provide better co-ordination of all activities for children across relevant sectors of government and therefore of all structures at national, local and international level to work with children. I strongly support, as others do, the growing enthusiasm for a Cabinet-level Minister for children and for greater co-ordination of services for children at national and local level.
The UNCRC has 45 articles, and I shall highlight but a few. They are all issues we would as parliamentarians believe are important to keep under scrutiny for children. Some we would now wish to enhance as things have changed; for example, concerns about children’s involvement in the internet and other media and some of the dangers, issues of climate change, and issues of aid to children in less developed countries. Other articles of the UNCRC promote the concept of the welfare of the child—that is, all those under 18—as paramount; the right of children to protection from all forms of violence; the right of children to express views on issues relevant to them; the right to a social life; the right to education which develops all talents and abilities, the right to health and learning about health; the right to good adoption practices; the right to family life; the right to support for refugees and immigrants; the right to leisure and play; the right to protection from drugs and other illegal substances; the right to youth justice; the right to benefits through social security, and the right to accurate information from all sources, including the media.
Many of those issues were raised by my noble friend Lady Lister as post-Covid priorities: childcare, fiscal support for children, funding for local authorities, poverty and inequalities. Other noble Lords have also entered this debate on children.
This very well-respected convention, the UNCRC, could be a basis to work from. How better to create an inclusive society than to involve children, parents, local communities, politicians, the new commissioner for children in England and other commissioners and all those who work with children in developing a charter for children? I believe that this will be a vibrant, exciting and powerful initiative. I believe there is an appetite for developing such a charter and the talent and imagination to do so. How will the Government respond?
The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Lord McNicol of West Kilbride) (Lab)
We appear to have identified the problem with the feedback affecting the noble Lord, Lord Jones, so we will try him again.
Rough Sleeping
Baroness Massey of Darwen Excerpts(3 years, 8 months ago)
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Lord Greenhalgh (Con)
My Lords, the Government have already made a commitment to ending Section 21 no-fault evictions. I shall return to my previous answer and point out that we have seen a further decrease in the number of people aged 25 or under who have been sleeping rough this year. It is important, if we want to end rough sleeping, that we see a decrease in numbers among our young people.
Baroness Massey of Darwen (Lab) [V]
My Lords, to follow on from what the Minister said, the voluntary sector and local authorities are expressing concern about the number of young people who are rough sleepers. Can he say what is the ratio of homeless young people and what will be done to prevent them becoming homeless by, for example, providing support for conflict in families and for mental health problems, both of which have become increasingly important during Covid?
Lord Greenhalgh (Con)
My Lords, we have put in place bespoke support for local authorities through our homelessness advice and support team, which includes dedicated youth homelessness advisers who will inform the response to support young people. In addition, we recognise the role played by the community and voluntary sectors play if we are to end rough sleeping. That is why, included in the £6 million-worth of emergency funding, is around £100,000 that has been given to St Basils to ensure that we upskill and fund Youth Voice, which is a training scheme for young homeless people across the country.
English Language Learning
Baroness Massey of Darwen Excerpts(4 years, 3 months ago)
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Lord Greenhalgh
My Lords, a lack of English skills presents a clear barrier to social and economic mobility. As a Government, we will always focus on the practical solutions that can make a real difference to people’s lives. However, voluntary and community sector funding by local authorities is a devolved matter and it is a matter of regret that Leicester did not want to engage in our integration programme.
Baroness Massey of Darwen (Lab) [V]
My Lords, the ability to speak and read English is key to social mobility and for social skills. Does the Minister agree that being able to write good English, with accurate spelling and grammar, is also important and valued by employers? This too should be compulsory. The subtleties of apostrophes and English spelling can be learned and become automatic, unless a child has specific difficulties, which of course would need other support.
Lord Greenhalgh
My Lords, we recognise that being able to read and write in English is vital to supporting integration. That is why the ESOL for Integration Fund supports learners across 30 areas with reading and writing as well as speaking and listening, whereas previous programmes focused predominantly on speaking and listening.