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If we want cohesion in our society, we want to be clear about what our shared values are. We need a clear and enduring statement from government or from someone as to what the state will provide and what parents and their families should provide for themselves. Perhaps the first thing that society needs to do is to find a way of establishing those shared values about the roles and obligations of mothers and birth fathers in modern society.

12.18 pm

The Lord Bishop of Southwark: My Lords, I too thank the noble Baroness, Lady Gardner of Parkes, for this debate. Much of what I am about to say will seem critical of some recent developments, so first let me be positive as we consider the case for strengthening families, community cohesion and social action. Let us remember that there are many signs of hope in families—the changing role of women and the possibility for fathers to be more involved in the care of their children. More of us are living longer and more children will know their grandparents and, indeed, their great-grandparents in meaningful relationships. That is something to celebrate. Fewer children are stigmatised because they live in one-parent families or are from different ethnic backgrounds.

Along with other organisations, the Church of England and its voluntary agencies such as the Children’s Society or the Mothers’ Union, or smaller diocesan organisations such as Welcare in my diocese, are committed to supporting families through prayer, pastoral care and in other practical ways—and through the provision of education. Many parishes and church schools offer

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parenting groups or classes for mothers and/or fathers. We try to play our part in strengthening families and building community cohesion.

However, in contributing to this debate I wish to focus on the delivery of family care at local borough level, for here—despite what were well intentioned changes in the delivery of services—it is our experience that the current situation on the ground is chaotic. Most local authorities are struggling with changes: establishing children’s centres, drawing together teams from social services, education and health, coping with changing funding streams and working with new commissioning processes. As a result in my own diocese, Welcare, as a medium-sized voluntary organisation working with vulnerable families and children, is surviving only with difficulty. It had to downsize its services last year. For smaller organisations, it is even more difficult.

Uncertainty in funding is their greatest problem. There was a time when the voluntary sector complained about three-year funding agreements not providing enough security. Today, three-year funding is a luxury that it would love to have. Because local authorities have not been certain about their own funding streams, and have not managed to get robust and efficient commissioning processes established, they continue with roll-over funding. In the Borough of Greenwich last year, for example, Welcare’s funding was initially rolled over for three months, then for another three months, then for six months to the end of the financial year. During that time, Greenwich invited tenders for work with children with disabilities and vulnerable children in need, and their families. Welcare submitted a bid for that—a major piece of work for it, as every tender is. Greenwich has now, in effect, abandoned that process and rolled over the funding again for another year. I do not wish to be critical of Greenwich or to make Welcare a special case; I cite them as typical examples of what is happening up and down the country.

What is the effect of all this on the work? First, there is a loss of experienced staff. During the past year in Greenwich, Welcare has lost all the crèche workers who had been with the charity for several years, and their very experienced social worker. Its centre, a community flat on a housing estate, is now staffed by temporary workers. Those staff, naturally, do not know the families on the estate and have no long-term commitment to make those relationships—and the families suffer. Because the previous staff were known on the estate, women did call in for help when there was a domestic violence crisis and the staff were able to spot changes in children’s behaviour signalling that all was not well at home.

Families in chaos themselves are not helped by chaos in the helping organisations, and the fact that the statutory bodies are in chaos over new arrangements for children’s services and new ways of funding causes a once efficient and reliable voluntary organisation to seem chaotic because of staff turnover and the inability to plan ahead. That is not good for families and children who need stability and routine.

Yet another factor making life difficult for small and medium-sized voluntary agencies, of which

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Welcare is typical, is that they now have to compete for work with much larger charities. I am sure that the theory behind this was to ensure value for public money. However, the results can be very different. In the Borough of Lambeth, for example, Welcare has been doing work on contract with the borough since the 1970s and delivered excellent services to hard-to-reach families. The borough had contracted work with a number of such voluntary agencies—both large and small—who had worked well together, delivering different programmes to suit different needs and offering some choice to families. Now, the contract for family support in Lambeth for vulnerable and at risk families has gone to one single, large national charity, so ending both the long-standing relationship with the borough’s statutory services and the established network of relationships with local families.

The very process of constant tendering is burdensome and time consuming. A major tender is at least a week’s work for one member of staff, with others contributing, and if the bid is unsuccessful that money is totally wasted. In the past, volunteers did a lot of fundraising and helped with applications to statutory bodies, but the tendering process is now so complex that it has to be done by paid, professional staff. Not many charities can afford that.

Finally, voluntary organisations are concerned that services are now so prescribed that the flexible response to human need becomes nigh impossible. Contracts mean that they can accept only certain referrals from certain sources. Hence the Welcare centre in a local community, which was once a resource known and used by local families and recommended from one family to another by word of mouth, is disappearing.

I have related this saga in some detail because I believe that Welcare is by no means untypical. In the name of efficiency we are seeing chaos and the destruction of many small and medium-sized voluntary caring agencies with previously long-term commitments to family care and support. I realise that this might have seemed a depressing account, but, in my experience, it is an accurate account. Day by day, I deal with people who give their professional lives to attempting to strengthen family life. I trust that our debate today will help to make their life more productive.

12.25 pm

Baroness Verma: My Lords, I add my congratulations to my noble friend on this very timely debate. I shall concentrate my comments on community cohesion. The term community cohesion, like the term multiculturalism, has become a description relating predominantly to ethnic minority communities. That is always the wrong starting point.

Great Britain has been and will always remain a place that attracts people from all over the globe. In view of her history, that is not surprising, as Britain has historical links with large parts of the world—and even today a legacy of Britishness survives in all those lands. And yet we find in our own country that we have to define what Britishness is and what it means; we test people for Britishness. As a child growing up in a Britain where the immigrant population was

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much smaller than it is now, I did not grow up feeling I did not belong and yet it seems, over four decades on, that suddenly second, third and even fourth generation members of the ethnic minority communities are being queried on this notion.

From multiculturalism—an idea that is, by and large, perceived now as having failed—we turn to community cohesion, a replacement name for what will, I suppose, be another concept that will be regarded as failed unless we get to grips with what underpins the problems facing many parts of Great Britain. Today in Great Britain, many face lack of access to social mobility, poor job prospects and lack of educational attainment. I argue that that creates many of the difficulties facing our communities today. The very nature of our society has changed: more and more people are engaged in under-age drinking, drugs and sexual participation. The number of single-parent households is set to outnumber married or two-parent households and the absence of father figures in many homes has, of course, had an enormous impact on children and young peoples’ lives both economically and emotionally.

So let us, first, define what we really mean by community cohesion. In my mind, cohesion means to come together and yet we know that cohesion cannot be forced as in multiculturalism. It must be shared; it must have common goals which bring communities together—not, as we have often heard, one being tolerant of another, which identifies us as having an intolerance, or having to put up with something that is different. Having spent all my life striving for integration, at no point have I felt a forced sense of belonging. I find that I enjoy all the positive aspects of my adopted home and still retain a great sense of pride in my historical links with the country of my birthplace and that of my parents. No one has asked me to compromise on that. Instead I feel enriched by a much broader understanding of what exists around me.

I return to the concept of cohesion, today in parts of Britain. Black-on-black crime is increasing, and media headlines regularly highlight the increase in gang membership. Why do those young people resort to believing that belonging to a gang gives them a sense of belonging? Within the gangs they create structures of hierarchy, rules and boundaries, so why, as a society, have we failed to engage them positively in activity that will give them the same empowerment? Why do we now live in a culture where, too often, our streets are taken over by young people who have consumed cheap drink and drugs and display aggressive street behaviour? Let us look at community cohesion not, as is so often the case, along the lines of faith, but as a positive or negative factor of social and economic development. Let us question and respond to the issues that alienate communities and separate them from each other.

To be a successful community, of course, we must be able to communicate and have the knowledge and ability to speak the language of the country in which we live. As a child, I remember that my mother always insisted that we speak English at home so that she could converse easily when she went out. Yet I still

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come across many people, particularly women from the south Asian communities, who, having lived in Britain for so many years, still cannot speak or understand English. This creates barriers and encourages separate existences. Sadly, in many cases, it has been encouraged by the male members of those particular households. Millions have been spent on interpretation services. This, I am afraid, has only added to the problem and the funding of groups that have been set up in creating activities to empower so-called community leaders. Handing powers and importance to them has allowed many community leaders to speak on behalf of communities without having to consult the communities they purport to speak on behalf of.

Ted Cantle, in his report following the riots in the north of England, highlighted the existence of parallel lives. Although much has been done to lessen tensions, cosmetic remedies are not the answer. Communities still continue to ghettoise themselves and, in parts of the country, self-created cultural apartheid is beginning to show its head. Of course, we can understand some of the reasons behind the rejections by some communities of aspects of Great Britain today: the decline in values and respect. Civic society must re-establish itself if we are to win the hearts and minds of all who live within it, particularly if some communities feel that they are under attack, and the need to create communities within communities.

There must be an open and honest debate. I can assure your Lordships that many thousands of people from ethnic minority communities want us to stand up and speak openly on their behalf. They feel voiceless and unrepresented. They want to live in a country that is their home. They do not want to live parallel lives. I know how difficult that is.

Faith has become a dividing factor for many. Yet, as a close friend of mine said, when children play together, eat together and even fight together, they learn to live together. I think that is right. By ignoring the real issues of poverty, lack of opportunity, poor educational attainment and poor access to better social and economic mobility, we ensure that fragile structures become even more fragile. Moderate voices get no airtime, as those who wish to see extreme consequences take over the debate. They shelter under the guise of moderation and yet continue to support separateness away from the glare of the spotlight.

In some communities, we have seen steps taken backwards. That cannot be right. In the 1970s, I, along with many others, fought the rise of the National Front. There was a collective spirit and will. We need that collective spirit and will again to ensure that we have a cohesive community: a sharing of common goals and ambitions. My parents, like many, came from a different land. They were willing to accept that this great country provided them with opportunity and a great welcome. However, they, too, had a duty to accept that it was a different place to the place they had come from, so they had to learn to adapt too. For generations like me, it has been a hard battle to convince people that one never loses an identity, but gains several new ones.

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12.34 pm

Baroness Massey of Darwen: My Lords, I am delighted that the noble Baroness, Lady Gardner of Parkes, has secured this debate, and it is a great pleasure to follow the thoughtful speech of the noble Baroness, Lady Verma. So many good things have happened for communities and families over the past 10 years that I hardly know where to start. Perhaps an appropriate place would be in thanking my noble friend the Minister for his concern, support and ingenuity in dealing with the Children and Young Persons Bill currently going through your Lordships’ House. The noble Baroness, Lady Gardner, rightly asked for social action. What better social action plan could there be for families and communities than the recent Children’s Plan—of which more later—Building Brighter Futures?

I said that much has happened, and perhaps my noble friend the Minister could remind us of the financial and other support which has gone into the early years, maternity and paternity rights, tax credits, increases in child benefit and the establishment of child trust funds. I shall focus today on three issues which demonstrate the Government's commitment to building safer and healthier communities. These are children's trusts, extended schools and the delivery of drug treatment.

The Government have, in the local government White Paper implementation plan Strong and Prosperous Communities, expressed their commitment to empowering citizens and communities, and creating opportunities to run local services. Ownership of community goals is absolutely crucial, not only to delivering services but to how people behave in communities, help each other and protect the environment and public safety.

Extended schools are one way of delivering the Every Child Matters agenda, by working with local providers, agencies—in many cases, other schools—to provide access to a core offer of extended services. This core offer includes a varied menu of activities for primary and secondary schools, childcare between 8 am and 6 pm, where appropriate, for 48 weeks a year for primary schools; parent support; swift access to specialised support services; and community access to ICT, sport and arts facilities. To support the extended schools initiative, £680 million has been made available. Local authorities are major partners, and have a role in identifying local needs, co-ordinating and commissioning services, and championing the needs of children, young people and their families.

I have seen that in action. The primary school where I am a governor has extended its community offering in sport and for parental and community experiences. We are a diverse school in a diverse community, and are particularly encouraging parents to get involved in IT, science days, sports and dietary issues. Local firms have sponsored the very smart kit for our successful soccer teams. This helps to increase the sense of pride and self-esteem in pupils and parents. I ask the Minister what the evaluation of the extended schools scheme has shown so far.

Children's trusts, underpinned by the Children Act 2004, bring together key agencies which deliver services for children, young people and their families.

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Features include professionals working together, reduction in duplication of effort and better information sharing, and joint planning and commissioning of services and resource allocation. Agencies may include health, social care, the voluntary sector and consultation with schools. The recent Children's Plan, which I mentioned earlier, states that to deliver a vision for children, system-wide reforms will be required. By putting the needs of children and families first, services should make more sense to those using them,

“for whom professional boundaries can appear arbitrary and frustrating”.

How often have we debated that issue in relation to children and families? I ask the Minister for an update on how children's trusts are working, perhaps with some examples of good practice.

On drug strategy, I declare an interest as the chair of the National Treatment Agency for Substance Misuse, the NTA. I shall not ask the Minister any questions about drugs, otherwise he may assume that I am not doing my job properly. The NTA was set up in 2001 and charged with doubling the number of people in treatment by 2008. This we did two years early; the figure has increased from 85,000 in 2001 to 205,000 in 2008. We all know that drugs can not only badly affect individual health but destroy families and have disastrous effects on communities. The Government have focused funding on drug treatment, rising from £300 million in 2001 to £800 million in 2008.

The NTA was set up to help with business planning and monitoring at a local level. This has meant that not only are there more people in treatment, but waiting times for treatment have dramatically decreased from nine to three weeks. In this country, we now have more people in treatment than most other European nations or the United States. There are better services in the criminal justice system, better after-care services, better involvement of users and carers, higher staffing levels and better monitoring services. When I visit services around the country, I am impressed by the success of a variety of approaches and by the many individual success stories from former users of hard drugs. I quote from our latest annual report:

“Although drugs policy and strategy are set nationally, translating these into effective delivery for clients and communities must be done locally. Ensuring this happens is the remit of the NTA's regional teams”.

This essential community ownership of national, as well as local, policy is the key challenge, but it can be done. In Birmingham, for example, a treatment effectiveness initiative pilot was set up involving all 26 drug-treatment agencies and 200 drugs workers and their clients, including criminal justice clients. At the heart of the programme is a care-planning approach that encourages self-evaluation of the clients’ needs, selecting goals and planning their own care and treatment. The new drugs strategy, published yesterday, continues the emphasis on families and communities and on care pathways from assessment to aftercare. My new noble friend, the noble Lord, Lord Patel of Bradford, has developed a brilliant community engagement model at the University of Central Lancashire where members of communities are trained to assess the needs of drug users for services and support in their local areas.

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I have given examples today of how government commitment and funding can improve the lives of all families and communities. We have excellent action plans, and I look forward to the Minister’s comments.

12.42 pm

Baroness Bottomley of Nettlestone: My Lords, I, too, congratulate my noble friend on her excellent debate. One would think that her extensive summary of the key issues would have given all the aspects full attention, but successive speakers have raised further areas where there is more we all have to do to ensure that we have the strong families and stable communities that are so fundamentally important to well- adjusted, constructive young people.

Following the comments of the noble Baroness, I ask the Minister to comment in particular on the profession of health visiting. In my experience, health visitors have an almost unique opportunity to talk to families when they are being formed about the critical issues involved. With the best will in the world, a social worker has a difficult entrance to a family and can pose a threat, but a health visitor has legitimacy and authority. In the many years that I spent working in the inner city with some of the most disadvantaged families, it was health visitors who could enlighten and educate. If only that enlightenment and education was not just about what a baby should weigh, what it should eat or how many times it should be washed but also about encouraging parents to feel that it is a long-term project with a great number of difficulties along the way. With that, I move on to the many voluntary groups helping parents to be better parents. It is tough being a parent, and children are not always mild, obedient, good and kind. It is very easy for all of us who are rather beyond parenting—most of us, there are a few exceptions—to have a sentimental attitude, but children can be ghastly even in the most well-ordered households. Support and encouragement for parents, using health visitors, is crucial.

I move on to the school. My noble friend Lord Northbourne has badgered many of us in and out of office over many years on the importance of families. I share his views on the importance of fathers, but in many areas young people have no exposure to men. The one place they may have that exposure is at school. I ask the Government, as I asked several years ago, to reconsider allowing all-male shortlists for primary school teachers. When we debated having all-female shortlists for parliamentarians, I made the point that I thought all-male shortlists at primary schools might be as important for the future well-being of our country as all-female shortlists for parliamentarians. That is very important.

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