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well thank you um Becky and uh and also uh Mary for that generous introduction it's a delight to be here and well done so many of you coming on such a hot and sticky night a beautiful summers's day outside I appreciate the fact that you've come children are our single most important and precious resource quite simply our future depends on them we have truly fantastic children young people today in this country the majority are loved are law-abiding are working hard to be successful and contributing to communities but but there are some real challenges that threaten their outcomes and the well-being so tonight I intend to dissect these challenges and propose a different way of thinking about children grounded in the word nurture I'm going to explore what this mean what this word should mean for parents and families schools communities and government from showing examples of what can be done I propose a Way Forward is to build on strong local communities that have the best interests of children at their hearts and I'll end by offering some recommendations for discussion now my first slide sets the context sadly I can't bring a real baby here to meet you tonight this is the next best thing it's a photograph of a truly delightful human newly born citizen a human newly born citizen although only a few old she's showing her amazing ability to manipulate her carer with this rapturous eye to eye contact this is the emotional first pull on the heartstrings of attachment in the adult this interaction triggers a Cascade of Love hormones in the parents and the baby's own brain is hardwired to gaze in preference at the features of the adult face now attachment is the trigger for adult commitment to the child and has been vital for human survival she's exquisitly vulnerable but she's a person now not of the future in her own right brought into the World by her parents but not the chattle of her parents she's entitled to all the benefits of citizenship protection provision and participation and of course these are the fundamental principles of the UN convention on the rights of of the child achieving her potential in adult life fulfillment confidence Health employment relationships parenting all depend on the nurture we adults give her our behaviors shape hers she's the most beautiful baby in the world I know that because she's my granddaughter now you laugh but there's a resonance because our children and our families mean a great deal to us but as a society do we care enough about the children of others especially those who are troubled or Troublesome so why are children important to our society I commend this fascinating book by Matthew Taylor what are children for but as Neil postman has said children are the living messages to a time we will not see that's pretty scary isn't it they really are as human capital our most precious resource the future success of our nation depends on the outcomes we adults generate for them now putting it selfishly who's going to pay for our pensions and services as we get older the people who are children today so surely it must be in our best interest to nurture our young of course Al motherhood and apple pie let's all go home now we all sign up to this but do we really care about the nurture of our children Matthew has written about the social aspiration Gap in other words the gap between the future we all look to and the trajectory relying on our current thoughts and behaviors we all want a better future for our children but what are we doing to get them there you see there are major influences against children's best interests we live in a seriously aging society and with a current debt crisis there'll be increasing conflict and the demand for resources the power of the gray vote dominates the political scene this being seen today in the mismatch between protecting pensioners benefits compared to the huge impact on children from cutting their benefits and services that they and their families depend on sadly children only grab attention after a major Scandal or as a result of a crisis caused by inadequate services for example I remind you of the Kennedy and laming inquiries only seven years ago they expose serious longstanding failures in Children's Health and Social care services the invisibility of children government policy the absence of anyone to accept responsibility for them the endless subordination of the needs of children by the demands of adults coupled with a failure to protect children's rights and a serious failure to advocate for their needs children with the syn service as Kennedy stated and in many ways they still are so what do I mean by nurture nurture is the bringing up of children and it demands love and care physical contact and comfort Protection security and stability nutrition play exploration encouragement manage risk and how important that is with a cottonwool generation of children where we avoid any risk to the Mator and their activities they need friendships education but above all expectation values spirituality and purpose in life all supported by services that are accessible based on evidence of what works and focus on the needs of the child and his family with protection of children's human rights now you may have other components of nurture but if we accept this General principle then nurture really should be every everybody's business because it's parents and families it's local communities it's schools it's faiths volunteer organizations local government and national government let me just focus for a moment uh on national government there's a limit to what it can do crucially of course it sets policies and generates revenue and allocates money but parenting and families really are key to the nurture of children but so much nurturing also depends on building child-friendly local communities and how they're supported by local government and that's the real theme I want to draw out uh tonight let's focus for a moment on national government uh as a starter well there's much to celebrate Labour's courageous experiment of putting children at the heart of government policy and practice is quite extraordinary in the history of childhood in this country more has been done in the last 10 10 years for children's policy than on the whole of the previous 50 years now I support the thinking behind every child matters and the children's plan I've given lectures worldwide on the transformation of children's policy in England and there's been admiration for having a cabinet level Secretary of State for children schools and families and not just for Education right at the heart of government the attempt to have a true cross-government plan with every Department of State being held accountable for the children it serves the acceptance of the importance of children's rights and the structural changes through children's trusts to create a local policy Focus no other country I have visited has had or has this agenda so is all the hard work and reasons for this being forgotten by the new government I challenge the coalition don't throw the baby out with the bathwater learn from the previous 10 years and build on a successes and keep children right at the heart of government who is now responsible for children and for Co coordinating all aspects of government policy that impact on their lives you see without a strong voice for All Children's needs right at the heart of government there's a real danger of going back to fragmented and poorly integrated policy for example who will hold youth Justice and Asylum policy to account for the best interests of the child in largely adult Centric Departments of State I have a serious concern that the new department for Education with its focus rightly perhaps on education is in danger of Reinventing the disasters of the past now academics I argue have a key role to play here in analyzing the reasons for the labor policy transformation defining what was successful what was not and why not let me be forthright in arguing why we must have a government that brings together all aspects of policy into a coherent plan all is not well the international benchmarks of the well-being of children published by UNICEF in 2007 the report from the UK Children's Commission to the UN committee on the rights of the child in 2008 and then last year the report from oecd doing better for children all exposed how far we have to go to match best International standards even before the present crisis that will surely threaten further the well-being of children the threats to Children through the budget cuts and financial crisis are unprecedented serious and real who is monitoring the impact of these challenges on Children and Families well the EU Network on social exclusion is studying recession across the EU but it's not focused on children and in my view it should be I argue we must bring together in the UK academic and key agencies to quantify now the developing impact of the current crisis on outcomes you see these data are crucial for Effective advocacy for children's needs how can we argue for resources if we don't have the facts so can the RSA in this Fellowship perhaps be involved in thinking this through and bringing expertise together let's remember too the good childhood inquiry published last year by the children's Society it's a searing commentary on childhood today it highlights the five crucial threats to children by excessive individualism soaring family breakdown commercialization an overly competitive education system and dire poverty I urge the new government to take this report seriously I go further should we not have a routine parliamentary process for a childhood impact assessment of all new policies and budgets as already happens in Sweden having considered government the nurture of children let's move on to promoting nurture in communities beginning with celebrating are young two examples first the Diana Princess of Wales award 27,000 truly outstanding children young people have received this Accolade since 1999 truly inspirational stories overcoming personal challenges and making positive contribution for others here's me last year surrounded by 80 of these amazing young people every one of them had a heartwarming even heart rening story to tell but how sad it was to see how little media coverage there was for these truly valuable and outstanding young people second shine week last year this was organized through the then dcsf and youth agencies to raise awareness of how young people contribute to society last year over 4,000 schools 5,000 teachers 800 organizations and over a million young people took part to show how young people contribute to our lives here is the debate in the House of Lords when young people took over the house for the day passionate articulate young people not frightened to stand up and say what they thought should be done for the mess we are leaving behind for them to inherit this year's shine week takes place next month but I understand there's no guarantee whatsoever it will continue beyond that why is it important to build on successes like this 54 4% of adults believe children behave like animals 45% agree they are feral 49% believe they are a danger to each other and to adults 43% agree something has to be done to protect us from children 35% feel the streets are infested with children and most believe that half of all crime is committed by children in reality only about 10 to 12% now when where do these truly appalling data come from the bernardos report breaking the cycle believe in children published in 2008 this is serious credible research from several thousand adults being asked their views of our young they expose a catastrophic breakdown and empathy for our young now why on Earth should so many adults have this perception well I argue there's been a very nasty development over the last 10 years the unprecedented demonization of children and young people in some influential sections of the media so a few examples for my personal collection of headlines three cover pages your Britain yob UK hoodie law teen Peril and on one day alone on one day alone they were the headlines reporting children in our society children age 11 hooked on booze binge drinking hoodies and remember the coverage of the dancaster children who were tried uh for trying to murder other children Fury as devil boys get five years next time they'll kill name the devil boys we must not let them hide what's the game of the journalists the editors and Proprietors that have been responsible for this mindset what's their motivation who is holding them to account because I argue these distortions have a very real impact on how adults behave to children they're destroying our empathy for children and inducing a climate of fear for our young and it's not just National newspapers here's a local newspaper headline feral 's running Riot coincided with a notice prohibiting children from going into a local convenience in store as from now all school children unless they are accompanied by an adult are only allowed in store two at a time they are not allowed to carry their bags around the shop they can either leave them by the till or leave them outside this says to be a permanent Arrangement thanks what would you do if you had this prohibition on you going into the store what would the elderly have to say about it if they were prohibited from going on why are we targeting children it's not them who exceptionally engage in shoplifting and theft it's very often adults who do that so why do we have these uh perceptions now our cartoonists have also captured the public mood with the annual ritual of destructive denigration of the hard work of students in their exams a be isn't bad considering I forgot to take the exam and this is just a list of the applicants G C passes and here's the aspiration of many a childfree village now we also have these nasty things that Mary alluded to uh the ultrasonic weapon the mosquito device about 5,000 of these are now being installed across the country with no regulation of their use designed to stop children Gathering often where it is warm and where it is safe just bear with me for a moment I'm just daring up something here going to play you something Mary's already heard it you it's playing now guess my microphone who in this room can hear what I'm playing now you can great what can you hear a high pitched noise that's right now this hasn't been played at full volume if it was it would be very painful to the young ears you see this device works by producing a high frequency nasty noise that only young ears can hear 5,000 of these things have been installed across the country 22% of local councils have used them with no regulation they will indiscriminately affect any young ear the fact that only two or three people here can hear it means everybody else is well over the hill sorry eyes have confirmed it but only young ears can hear what I played and it is nasty and children don't like it it'll affect babies toddlers children with autism and innocent teenagers now two years ago as commissioner we launched our buzz off campaign working with outstanding young people in Corby who had changed the mindset of local people by their hard work but next day here is the coverage on the way websites of three National newspapers with a combined circulation of 9 million people buzz off outcry out crying from whom as children Zar sells ultrasonic mosquito devices a breach of teenagers human rights do gooders slammed over call to ban mosquitoes but it as the bomy do gooders the correct politically correct would be do gooders who should buzz off now what a missed opportunity to have some serious ious discussion and some serious debate on why kids gather what can be done apart from shifting them somewhere else and how do you work together to confront the real problems of antisocial Behavior much of which is not caused by children now when I report these fundings overseas my friends and colleagues without exception are incredulous why do you English so hate your children why are your media so irresponsible and why is your government being so spineless and not regulating the use of this weapon against our young why indeed as Mary said the Council of Europe last week has said that these devices should be banned will the Coalition rise to the challenge I throw a public Gauntlet down tonight to Nick CLE and to David Cameron what are you going to do about this guys because I think this is a powerful symptom of a deep Mala destroying empathy for our young how are on Earth can children young people themselves feel nurtured in this appalling societal environment so actions to be taken let's recognize the enormity and the seriousness of what's going on let's confront the Proprietors editors and journalists who promote negative media coverage yes they should report responsibly crime antisocial Behavior Etc but in this way let's educate and inform the industry and above all let's celebrate the existence and achievements of our young now moving on swiftly nurture depends on empathy understanding the feelings of others a skill needed for Effective parenting I want to tell you about the roots of empathy program in Canada roots of empathy started by Mary Gordon here is a parenting program for three to 14 year olds and the teacher is a baby I've been to see it here in Winnipeg here's me with a class of seven-year-olds here is the head the facilitator Mary Gordon and here is the mother and here is the teacher for the day Evan he's 11 months old and he's been coming once a month for 45 minutes uh with his mom since he was born this child has grown up with the class around him they are shown his new skills on this day he'd learn to toddle there he is and look at the wrapped attention of these children they love him they held up their arms they cuddle him they kiss him they cheer him for what he is doing they see and understand early human development and they understand how to communicate with a baby who can't talk this being the basis for empathy understanding the feelings of others the children absorb the principles of good Parenting by feeling what it's like to hold love and care for a baby now this program has been rigorously evaluated and the benefits in reducing bullying improved behavior and understanding the principles of Parenthood have been shown to have long lasting impact into early adulthood now I tried unsuccessfully to encourage our government in this program which has now gained worldwide recognition and countries as diverse as Canada Japan and New Zealand so how can we promote the principles of parenting crucial for nurture in the minds of very young children The crucial importance of families and parenting is evident is is obvious now labor produced 18 policy statements under the dcsf and much was made by families by the conservatives the libdems and the election campaign about the importance of families now they're synthesized uh in the coalition's program it's great that families are do lying at the at the heart of political rhetoric I support it families are important not least because children tell me how they crave security and stability in their lives but are children being seen enough as individuals in their own right and not just the chatles of families what happens to children who don't have loving families what about children and the so-called care of the state now much good work has been done Shar children centers uh nurse family Partnerships Health visiting all the which we need to build on now politicians accept the need to recognize vulnerable children early and to intervene effectively but what more can be done to recognize vulnerability in our local communities I want to tell you about the mapping of children's lives and the human Early Learning Program help human Early Learning Program in Vancouver in Canada 10 years ago the city asked a simple but profound question where do children live they needed to know because of migration from Asia so they took a map of the city and by postcode with each Red Dot representing the homes of 10 children they did a density analysis of where children live and here the greatest densities are on the downtown poor parts of Vancouver but the leap of imagination was then to apply to the same postcodes every piece of information they had on the lives of children inputs spend on health education social care libraries outputs and above all the outcomes of children by locality teenage pregnancy Etc now this has produced maps of the human capital of children by locality but the heal program does more every 4-year-old child entering Kindergarten now is assessed by this early development indicator physical health and well-being social competence emotional maturity language and cognitive development communication skills and general knowledge and these data all also entered into the locality maps of children's outcomes well recently their mapping again in school School neighborhoods the statutory provision of community assets schools playgrounds libraries and also a wide range of nurtura of assets things for children to do out of school and to encourage them in their lives here's one or two examples I won't pause on them because they're difficult to read uh but here's the city of Vancouver are looking at vulnerability on one or more of these scales and you can see in the city there are some staggering pockets a very poor outcomes as there are for social competence and that's not just a tightly dense Urban population here's Prince Edward Island on the east coast of Canada where they've done the same thing a remote Community sparely populated with huge unemployment they have mapped here education percentage of the population without a certificate or a degree and there are these Pockets here here we have family structures uh these uh Pock this pocket here uh where there's a high percentage up to 58% of families with a single uh parent household and here of course is income and uh which matches very well uh to the poverty indicators so these uh data are now been produced together to argue the economic case for recognizing early vulnerability they've identified unnecessarily early vulnerability costs the state 10 times more than the whole of us provincial debt 29% obes children are vulnerable before they start school they have a Target to reduce this to 15% by 2015 by everybody working together to try to achieve this they've also produced through the Community Asset mapping a toolkit creating communities for young children mapping to the school locality level so what can be done here you see it seems to me that understanding the lives of children this way must be the foundation for developing strategies and targeting the most vulnerable you see Clyde herzman the great guy behind this program has told me how this approach now being used in Toronto Montreal Saskatchewan and elsewhere can lead to remarkable changes in the local outcomes of children but success depends on changing the mindset from competition to collaboration government support and real engagement with schools and above all inspirational local leadership of of course these things can't overcome the broader Econo e economic um difficulties that children are uh and families are facing and that's why the macroeconomic policies of government are so critical for effec of nurture for children so I've seen this I've seen what's happening I've seen how communities are being transformed what can we do here well much can be done when I worked in the DH a while ago I was interested in Dr Foster's organization of Health mapping and here's an example this is rotheram and each of these red dots represents an adult who's got serious heart disease and you can see how they're clustered in some localities this gives an operational tool to Target those streets and intervene early uh with lifestyle and support I was also able to promote in the DH the first ever n Nationwide mapping of Children's Mental Health Services followed by Children's Health and maternity services and these have been of real benefit in identifying the Place code lottery for children's services now there's much data available a lot of it can be accessed on the Chim at children and maternity Services database look up uh the website and it's being used in some parts of the country already here's the Northeast Jonathan Bradshaw from York has been mapping the well-being of children around IDE and you see this rim of poor well-being for children clearly associated with poverty and with deprivation now local government has an incre inreasing interest in building resilient communities and here's this conference that took place last year under the banner of the association of County chief Executives I commend it to you not least because in it John abot says reminds us of the African word utu how goes it with the children I agree with the word if we get it right for children our communities will be more resilient now in Wilshire Jane Scott the council leader and her inspirational team with carollyn Godfrey director of children's services have divided the county into 18 area boards small locality-based area boards empowered to define local priorities and to implement change this is really transforming the relationship between local government and its citizens and I'm delighted to tell you that the needs views and voices of children are being taken very seriously indeed of course mapping I think should be applied to this concept too Central to Children is the need to listen to them and here's article 12 of the UN Convention of the rights of the child which says children have the right to say what they think should happen when adults are making decisions that affect them and to have their opinions taken into account now was participation and not consultation because consultation means adults ask and adults decide participation means children are seriously engaged in making decisions that affect their lives how can we promote this practice well a few brief examples first of all the UNICEF rights respecting schools program uh launched by UNICEF which Builds on three key words responsibility respect and rights and over 1500 schools across the UK are now using this with amazing benefit in reducing bullying antisocial behavior and improving uh performance it depends on children living every hour of the working week the key word responsibility for each other respecting each other and understanding uh their rights what's even been more startling is the diffusion of this into the local community and Ando for example where all the schools signed up to this has set itself up to be the first rights respecting local Authority in the country and UNICEF UK is now working with 13 other local authorities to make them rights respecting so here's an example of how by investing in a school ethos the whole local community benefits a few months ago I visited Lincoln to see how involving children had transformed everybody's lives the ABY quarter here had become rundown and very dangerous children in a local school here here five children were brought in and worked with adults to identify the problems what they liked what they didn't like and above all what their suggestions were for transforming this as is just a small selection of their comments they were listened to actions were taken and this is now a great resource that's used heavily by all ages and sections of the local Society the inputs of children were key to this local community's regeneration next building intergenerational understanding and empathy here's an example of how by working with highly experienced youth workers oops um in a locality troubled by antisocial Behavior Young People and they're Anonymous here were brought around the same tables as adults young people were asked what do you think it's like to be old around here and old people were asked what do you think it's like to be young and from this emerged some genuine dialogue the enemy became often the converts into supporting our children and the local community now what's going to be the effect of savaging Youth workers as seems to be happening as a result of the budget cuts on these kinds of crucial local initiatives to build inter Community intergenerational uh understanding next Community cohesion through the need for a new school here's the village of broad Chalk in Wilshire it's a rural community that was determined to protect the education of its children local people raised a million pounds a million pounds from a rural community towards building the stunning new church of England Primary School the initiative embedded in concern for the best interests of children became the glue for real Community cohesion a sense of purpose and pride it was supported by the council and by the Salsbury diis and Board of Education I believe this model can be applied elsewhere in the inner city so should this free schools concept currently being heavily promoted should it have a responsibility out of the narrow Focus on attainment to being a focal point for Community involvement and regeneration so finally how do we make sure the community takes responsibility and ownership for its most troubling children I've been again to Canada look you can see how I'm a canile I went to Canada to see the re Revolution that's taken place for youth Justice across Canada half of all secure prisons have been closed in Canada because of a deliberate Upstream policy of early identification of families and Children at Risk coupled with restorative justice and above all local support for flexibility and Community sentencing now I'm delighted to hear Ken Clark say this morning he intends to cut the numbers of people in prison I suspect it's more economic than philosophical but that's welcome so look guys as a chance for us to get in there to try and argue as that the current brok broken brutal and not fit for purpose system of Youth Justice can be transformed how can we encourage communities to become responsible for its most disadvantaged children those with disability neglect for emotional difficulties and children seeking leadership depends on local leadership now to wrap up I set out to explore with you why children are our single most precious resource I've shown that we have truly fantastic children and young people when given a chance given a chance can be of real benefit to our communities I've highlighted the challenges that threaten their outcomes and well-being political ideology the financial crisis hostile public attitudes and the catastrophic loss of empathy for our children I've argued the concept of nurture and while it really is everybody's business I give you a takes of Village this being the title of the wonderful book by Hillary Clinton but how do we take it Forward well we got to understand the obstacles to progress and here they are territorialism tribalism traditionalism tunnel vision timidity Terror Treasury ttis and trendiness and tightness I've seen these everywhere I've been territorialism oh I work in education you must be in health and I think you're in Social care tribalism I'm a school nurse You're a health visitor I'm a primary school teacher you're a secondary school teacher traditionalism oh we've always done it this way I'm perfectly happy doing it this way why should I change tunnel vision sorry Al I've got 36 case records of kids needing protection on my desk I can't do this at somebody else's business timidity much too threatening Terror what if we get it wrong treasury we can't do it there's no money tet ittis sorry Al is not on my target for this month and now we have trendiness ah government's promoting it let's do it and then finally tiredness exhaustion and deep cynicism Al nothing's going to happen we've been here before and thank goodness I'm retiring in six month's time now those are very real very human feelings and I've seen them and they have to be confronted by leadership so I offer seven conclusions for your consideration how do we build really empathy thetic communities first of all confronting public attitudes to our children children and celebrating our young secondly listening to what they have to say thirdly investing in Parenting by educating children of the importance and the tool kids for parenting understanding the population where children live and mapping their lives at the locality level to provide a way of understanding what has to be done building local communities with children at their Hearts through parents schools faiths voluntary and statutary bodies with fundraising working together as happened in Broad chalk challenging the child proofing of all aspects of local and national government policy that have an impact on children now all of this demands leadership of the highest quality especially in local government and a willingness to assume Community responsibility for our children so finally Rah Emanuel President Obama's Chief of Staff said you never want a good crisis to go to waste we must and we can improve the outcomes of our children young people how can we make sure the current crisis doesn't go to waste above above all if you've agreed with what I proposed then what is each and every one of you going to do about it in our work among our friends on the street where we live can we walk through the walk can each of you write down three things that you'll do tomorrow that you hadn't thought of doing before coming here tonight 200 people 600 action points what a momentum to start changing things and then what can the RSA do well its great strength through its Fellowship is its dating agency I propose three things create a charter for children as it has done for its education Charter bring together people who already are using mapping Concepts to share best practice and produce a practical toolkit to offer to local authorities and then facilitate pilot and evaluate this system approach on a small number of do communities based on mapping children's lives identifying vulnerabilities as in help working with schools documenting Community assets Social Capital Assets Now Becky and I discussed this at her Salon a few weeks ago what are the businesses and commerce locally how can we create curricula so local children have career prospects based on their populations understanding social networks expertise here in the RSA a rights-based ethos and economic evaluation now I offer you this as a vision and I welcome now your thoughts and suggestions taking as my Q again from Matthew Taylor's lecture last week never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world indeed it's the only thing that ever has I started my my lecture by showing a baby I ended with some children you can guess who's they are here's the little soul uh as a baby she is now a truly beautiful little toddler I care about my family you care about your families surely nurture should be at the heart of everything we do do you agree and thank you for listening um I mean I I suppose we should start perhaps uh and I must say I take this very much on the chin your criticism of the media and it's very striking to see those headlines and front pages laid out and and and the sort of um depth really of the vup paration I wonder whether you would agree with me that the Govern the last government whom you very much admire and I absolutely accept all your points about the dcsf were in some way complicit about this when Tony Blair came in there was a rhetoric around children uh which uh you can we can all I think remember the conference speeches you know Young Thugs mugging Granny's for their handbags whereas in fact they were much more likely to uh to to um to to hurt or damage one another the asbos and so on the enhanced rhetoric around the James Bulger murder um moral chaos and so on and while I think the media do do all this the proof is there I'm not sure they operate in a vacuum and I wondered what you thought of that well I agree with that Mary can I just say first of all I'm not a fully paid up member of the labor party we could soon change that uh I try to take an objective view of their achievements and their failures um I do think that there was a schizophrenia on the one hand there was the new department for children's schools and families the children's Minister etc etc driven by Scandal driven by laming and Kennedy driven by the personal conviction of Gordon Brown for social justice a lot of interesting things they came to a Tipping Point of that time um so yes uh they on the one hand spoke about the importance of children and they did things how successfully we need to evaluate but they did things on the other hand they were complicit in compounding these difficulties the rhetoric about the respect agenda it just made be incandescent uh children have to respect adults well hang on what about adults respecting children and the focus on asbos um the explosion of their their use the rapid increase in the incarceration and criminalization of children making breaking asbo perhaps for a child with asperos who didn't understand it a criminal offense I mean it was a nonsense and so despite the best effort of the dcsf to have a dual key control over these um loose cannons and the home office Ministry of Justice uh it proved very difficult and I do believe there is something really challenging about the cultures in the Departments of state that must be grasped which is why having a central figure at cabinet level for all children I think is so important so yes I think government was um uh contributing to these difficulties that that's why I was so pleased that you settled on on the new government on the Coalition these are early days it's a honeymoon and people are sort of tap dancing rather carefully around them not necessarily the Justice secretary I agree with Al that um Kent clar's intervention was Splendid and I'm sure that caused some Tremors in his own government but I I I was so delighted that you sort of came out and said um that uh you you worried about for examp example that the focus on education ideology is in danger of Reinventing the disaster the of the past now that seemed to me to be really throwing the gauntlet down to Michael Gove and his academies his his sort of concentration on the upper end of the market and so on and the moves that we're already thinking uh seeing I think of of of of money draining away from poorer children their education their Sport and I wondered if that's what what what you meant well I I would like to Hope as ranuel said that we should use a crisis and my goodness we couldn't want a bigger crisis than we have so I think it's time for us to step back yes if you read the children's journals in the sector they are preoccupied for very good reasons with the cuts the jobs etc etc and I really do understand that but can some of us please step back and look at what really needs to be done now I support a focus on education not least because our International benchmarks are so absolutely disgraceful in terms of where we've sunk in the league table for excellence in languages in Science and Mathematics we have dropped right down the international league table the numbers of kids who leave school who can't read or write only last week there was an article about a chief executive saying he had to bin a large percentage of applications for jobs because the people couldn't write an application properly these are disgraceful data so we must focus on education but my point is education is more than attainment targets and so I think the work that Becky and the other colleagues are doing the uh the academ of Education we really have to start challenging what is the purpose of Education last of all before we opened this up I I wondered if you thought that I mean the the the the the wonderful themes that you've developed and and worked on and and rehearsed here tonight come at a particularly V point in history um the demographic is changing as you said in your lecture uh we're dealing with an increasingly uh large and aging population as people live longer and longer at the same time as chances are leeching away from younger people partly because of poor policy but partly because of the economic crisis which is invariably going to mean fewer jobs and so on mean d David Willets has looked at it a bit in his book and suggested that the social compact itself whereby as you say we nurture the Young The Young then take care of us that that that is in danger of fraying and why and that I think if you agree is why your points are so very significant because this stuff isn't really elective anymore you know children aren't a sort of passive group are they to be treated more or less well their voice is going to become increasingly crucial really to it is Mary you're in danger having a 2hour rent from me now we not allow that because 10 years ago I was working at Great Orman Street as a specialist in the physiology of the endocrine pancreas I then in my incarnations became very interested in the history of childhood where have we come from and I argue that there's something very very peculiar about the English and her attitudes towards children go back to the 1750s Thomas Cor Forum he worked for 17 and a half years to create the founding hospital to take care of babies otherwise thrown literally onto the dung Heap to die Venice had a founding Hospital in 1200 Dickens was outraged at the plight of Victorian industry and the the effect of Victorian industry on disease and children other European countries had a children's hospital years before he founded great Orman Street there's been something very funny in this country I argue for the callous disregard for a most vulnerable I took the courage of the social reformers and the Victorian times who founded the organizations we have npcc bernardos Etc coupled with a few courageous politicians against public opinion to change things for children now where's the outrage today about the plight of young offenders children with disability children in care children in need who cares about about them and what are we doing about it to try to get some transformation so I think there is something very very peculiar about our country and you can see a very simplistic manifestation go on holiday to Spain or Italy see the children and those families how they are warm in the society how they're valued how they're taken care of and see what happens here no dogs no children no ball games no hoodies and you are being watched no unless yet to see anywhere in this country a notice which says children are welcome here