Citizenship Education

Debate between Lord Morgan and Lord Hill of Oareford

Tuesday 14th February 2012 Lords Chamber

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

On the specific details of what is happening in institutions—I recognise the noble Lord’s concern about that, and I agree with him on the importance of this in prisons and young offenders institutions—if I may, I will follow this up with my colleagues to see if I can help him with some more specific information about those programmes.

[Lord Morgan]

My Lords, is the underlying problem here not the general lack of discussion of citizenship as an idea in this country? Citizenship as a concept is absent from our standard textbooks on the constitution. This is very different from the republics of the United States and France. Is this not a serious matter?

[Lord Hill of Oareford]

My Lords, your Lordships’ House is a good example of an institution where we frequently discuss questions such as the meaning of citizenship and its importance. I know that many Members of this House take part in the Lords outreach programme and explore exactly these issues with children; so far about 30,000 pupils have been seen by Members of your Lordships’ House as part of that programme. We need to explore these issues. The thought at the back of the noble Lord’s mind is probably the distinction between us being subjects and citizens, and I would be happy to explore that with him on another occasion.