Business of the House

Debate between Scott Arthur and Alan Campbell

Thursday 11th June 2026 Commons Chamber

[Sir Alan Campbell]

I join my hon. Friend in congratulating James, Josh and Gabriella, along with the other students at Braes and St Mungo’s. I thank Powering Futures for its important work.

As my hon. Friend knows, we are committed to turning around the broken system that we inherited and to getting more young people into work. I encourage him to join up with other Members, some of whom have raised these issues today, to look at applying for a Backbench Business debate where he could talk not only about how proud he is of his constituents’ campaigning but about what further action could be taken in future.

[Dr Scott Arthur (Edinburgh South West) (Lab)]

One of my favourite schools in my constituency is Balerno high school, so it was great to visit last week and celebrate it getting gold status as a UNICEF rights respecting school. This is the second time that the young people at the school have won this award, and they were absolutely delighted—so much so that they shared some baking with me. At a time when tensions are so high in communities across the UK, our schools are doing fantastic work to create a more inclusive, respectful society. Does the Leader of the House agree that it is time we had a debate in this House about the role of the rights respecting schools award programme in creating a more inclusive society, both to celebrate its successes and understand how we can build on them?

[Sir Alan Campbell]

As an honorary kindness ambassador—I know that is quite hard for some to believe, but it is true—I agree that it is very important to celebrate the contribution of schools to public life and the work of the rights respecting schools award programme. As my hon. Friend points out, schools often rightly take leadership on these matters in local communities, and they take parents and others along with them. For Balerno high school to achieve gold status not once but twice is certainly impressive, and I pay tribute to everything that the school is doing.