Child Development

Lord Bishop of Derby Excerpts

Thursday 11th October 2012 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of Derby]

My Lords, I add my thanks to my colleague the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Chester for introducing this debate and laying out the ground so carefully and comprehensively. We have had some thoughts about early intervention, the importance of pregnancy and an important emphasis on parenting. I want to look at another area: children who at the moment simply fall through the provision and are struggling in our society with the odds against them.

In recent months, I have been privileged to chair a commission for the city of Derby, bringing together politicians, voluntary workers, businesses, educationalists, young people and many others for a conversation about how we can best order life in the city to encourage the well-being of all its citizens. We have had a lot of input from young people. I should like to share some words from a rap that a 15 year-old offered to our commission. He said:

“You don’t understand what I have seen.

Your shoes haven’t walked in the places I’ve been.

Life is a struggle, that’s what I’m trying to say.

Live your life in the light and never run a colour grey.”

He is someone who has fallen through the net and is a struggling, disadvantaged child who has been excluded from school.

From young people, we heard some very challenging things about the context in which they live, such as peer pressure and the power of the drug and gang cultures. Sadly, as the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, said, we heard about predatory sexual exploitation by individuals and organised networks, and about a real disconnection with many young people and children from school. Probably the most challenging problem for the future of these young people, as well as our future, is disconnection from the world of work. That is a major issue because they are not living in environments where work or that kind of lifestyle feature.

Clearly the Government and local government have a role, but the commission has shown that local people of good will and concern can come together to try to create the right kind of opportunities to allow children to recover from these setbacks and disadvantages. In Derby, I came across an organisation called Baby People, which is where our young rapper came from. It uses music and arts to reintegrate people who have dropped through the net into creative activities and making a contribution. We should not underestimate the importance of going to meet children on their own cultural ground, rather than expecting them to conform to how we think that they should behave.

Also in Derby we have Business in the Community, which the Prince’s Trust supports in many places. It is proactive in going into schools. For instance, in years 10 and 11 it gives people mock interviews and feedback. It helps to supplement what parents and single parents are trying to do by encouraging them to be responsible, thoughtful and reflective about themselves, the possibility of work and what their lives are about.

I urge that we take seriously the cultural setting in which children grow up and that we meet them there. I also urge that we take seriously the fact that many of the most needy children—we are trying to take preventive action to help future generations—are challengingly disconnected from the mindset of the world of work. That is a real challenge for local organisations as well as for the Government and local government.

I will finish with the words of a rap that another 15 year-old gave to our commission. He said:

“I started to get my life back on track.

The past is the past, ain’t ever looking back.

Being in a bad gang ain’t being cool.

Got to right my wrong and study at school.

Going to be up on my feet, not lazy.

Getting an encore just like Jay-Z.

Music is going to be part of my life.

Put me through the pain and the struggle and strife.

This is the present, what’s with the fighting?

The only war I’m happy with is the spits and the rhyming.

Words are the only weapon that I need.

Listen to my bars, I am going to succeed”.

That is wonderful creativity from someone who has been right on the wrong side of the track. He was a 15 year-old child who came into an adult forum to challenge the commission to think creatively about a cultural milieu where a person is allowed to flourish. We need to take that challenge seriously and the challenge of connecting people like that to the world of work and its disciplines.