The Relationships Foundation Newsletter May 2011
In the run up to the last general election, in consultation with many of our advisors, we took the view that the area of policy where we could have the most useful impact was the family. One year into the coalition government we are encouraged that many of the issues that we have raised have come to the fore of public debate. However, the realities of the coalition government and the demands of deficit reduction and reform in many areas had meant that family policy has not received the government attention that it deserves. We continue to make the case that progress in many areas will be constrained if stronger family relationships are not supported.
CSJ: ‘A first year report card on the Coalition Government’
The Relationships Foundation welcomes ‘Building a Social Recovery? A first year report card on the Coalition Government’ by the Centre for Social Justice.
In it the CSJ scores the Government on the five key areas identified as pathways to poverty: family breakdown, economic dependency, serious personal debt, drug and alcohol addiction, and educational failure. The Coalition’s performance on family policy is marked at just two out of ten.
Our research shows that family breakdown costs our society £42 billion a year, or £1,364 per taxpayer. Over many years the Relationships Foundation has been making the case for a clear over-arching family policy to tackle the problems and costs of family failure. We hope that as a broadly based clamour of concern increases we will soon see a change in approach from the heart of government which, after a year in power, has not yet got to grips with the issue.
Family Policy debate at the House of Commons
We were pleased to see our work mentioned in the Family Policy debate at the House of Commons. We noted with enthusiasm the words of Sarah Teather MP, the Minister of State for the Department for Education, who said: ‘It is vital that we support families as much as we can, and this Government believe that we should do much better. It is our ambition to make this country the most family-friendly in the world.’
We found many of the other contributions extremely encouraging and in tune with Relationships Foundation thinking:
Helen Grant MP ‘The family is a fundamental and vital tool in holding society together. It can provide security, stability and commitment. In the family we learn how to give, how to share, we learn how to be kind and how to care, and we learn how to build relationships. However, the family has been and continues to be badly neglected as an institution, notwithstanding the fact that it is a key element in dealing with issues such as gun crime, knife crime, teenage pregnancy, truancy and antisocial behaviour. The Government need to do everything they can to support and protect the family.’
Andrew Selous MP ‘The crisis facing family life is the most serious of all the issues facing this country.’
The RF has been calling for the Government to set out a cross-departmental strategy with clear cabinet level leadership and a commitment to ensure a more supportive environment for families. Click here to find out more.
Family Friendly press watch
The new press watch section of our website – a selection of news concerned with family issues – continues to grow. See for instance Nick Collins’s article in The Telegraph on April 18: Nearly half of all children see parents divorce by 16.
In particular we recommend the May 11 report in The Telegraph of a gripping speech by Mr Justice Coleridge, a High Court judge in the family division:
’Private law cases, including divorce and the break-up of unmarried couples, have risen by 35% in the past five years, with 135,000 new cases last year, an increase of 19% on the previous year’, he said. ‘The last two years have seen a 31% rise in public law cases, reflecting more children being taken into care in the aftermath of the Baby P scandal’.
Sir Paul estimated that 320,000 children enter the family law system each year, suggesting that more than 3 million children are now caught up in the legal process. ‘The scale of the problem is genuinely alarming’, he said. ‘The incidence of family breakdown is so terribly high now that the way in which family law is shaped and managed has, I believe, a direct and profound impact on the private lives of huge numbers of the population.’
‘The effect of family breakdown is very far and deeply reaching on the future development of children both emotionally and materially. Yet despite the soaring rates of family breakdown, politicians have failed to address the issue, leaving law reform to the courts, who have tried to adjust their decisions to changes they notice in society’, he said.