A large-scale volunteer programme is critical to the wellbeing of young people and the nation as a whole, former Cabinet Minister David Blunkett has said. It is needed to help address the enormous number of under-25s unable to find employment, as well as instilling values of responsibility and respect that were clearly absent among those involved in the riots this August.
Reiterating calls by newspaper columnists, educators, politicians and even His Royal Highness Prince Charles, Mr Blunkett has stated that we need to return to the concept of a properly funded, well-organised community based youth volunteer programme. A recent YouGov survey published in the Sunday Times revealed that such a proposal would have overwhelming support, finding that 77% would back ‘national citizen service’ – a compulsory period of community service for all young people.
Echoing Ed Milliband in his call to consider the deplorable principles of those involved in the riots, Mr Blunkett said: “It can be seen that a National Volunteer Programme has widespread support.
“It is clear that many young people in the areas affected by the riots are growing up with values that are incompatible with a fit and flourishing society.
“In the light of the disturbances, criminality and looting, it is now time to address the broader question of how we change values and attitudes fundamentally, so that mutuality and reciprocity come high on the public agenda.”
According to the most recent estimates, the jobless rate among 16 to 24-year-olds now stands at 949,000 (or 20.2%). It has been estimated that less than 1 in 10 of those dealt with by the courts in the first two weeks after the disturbances in August were in a job or education.
Mr Blunkett said: “we can see that low employment rates exacerbate a culture of no hope, where the power and image that comes from being part of a gang is a much more accessible and attractive offer than a job. A culture of dependency and victimhood prevails, and opportunities to escape are limited.”
Yet, noting some of the other major challenges Britain will face in the coming decades, Mr Blunkett argues that a National Volunteer Programme is also an opportunity to help us prepare to deal with these growing issues: “There is an enormous amount that can be done to provide a positive outlet and major gains for our society as a whole. Britain is facing significant challenges over the coming decades. With an ageing population, the Dilnot Enquiry showed that the cost of old age care is going to be a vast strain on our budget. Yet, this challenge will only grow as people live longer.
“We should see a National Volunteer Programme as not just an answer for those who participate, but also as part of the solution for these growing problems. Participants could volunteer in care homes, or assist with support in the homes of those needing help to enable older people to stay in their own home for longer.”
The National Volunteer Programme (NVP) would be assumed to be taken up by young people over the age of 16. For instance, young people could participate before going on to training or apprenticeship programmes, or between leaving school or college and going to university.
The programme would be on a nine month basis and would be geared to social, educational and environmental programmes that would aim to transform the community and provide confidence building, self esteem and new experiences for all young people. There would be a proper stipend for the participants and, where they were away from home, accommodation and food.
This would be in addition to the National Citizen Service. The experience gained on that six week programme would enable young people to choose which areas of the new full time programme they would wish to take up.
Whilst the programme is voluntary, Mr Blunkett would want to build in incentives designed to help young people in their future life. It would provide them with a passport that would have financial as well as other benefits accredited to it, which could be redeemed either in relation to university fees or for particular start up programmes for employment, continuing training or a deposit for accommodation.
Mr Blunkett’s blueprint has so far received positive feedback from leading organisations in the third sector, including the Prince’s Trust and The Outward Bound Trust.
Mr Blunkett has been researching and developing plans for a National Volunteer Programme for several years. Since 1997, he has served as Secretary of State for Education and Employment, with responsibility for the Millennium Volunteer Programme and the Citizenship curriculum; Home Secretary, with responsibility for citizenship and voluntary action; and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with responsibility for Job Centre Plus and programmes for the employment of young people.
With my colleague Lord Victor Adebowale, I have been arguing in a similar vein to David Blunkett for well over a decade. Our proposals - set out in a three page document long ago - were for a 'national community service programme'. We were, arguably, more adventurous and perhaps more controversial, than any proposals to date. In 1998 I suggested that secondary education should comprise an academic, vocational and community/citizenship curriculum, the latter of which would be part of the national community service programme. Doing things for others would be part of what you did at school, and then beyond school. There would be a positive payback: our thoughts were about some kind of golden handshake to adulthood to finance, as David Blunkett also suggests, university education or business start-up.
The critical issue for us was that it would have to be compulsory. Once some young people wriggle out, or see it as irrelevant or unnecessary in their lives, others will inevitably follow. We argued for a huge range of choice but no option of NOT taking part. For the primary purpose of such a programme has to be to close the 'youth divide'. British society has become increasingly characterised by a division between young people with a cluster of opportunity (education, networks, resources) and those without. There are fewer and fewer places and platforms for shared activity and shared experience. A national community service programme, as we envisaged it, would oil the wheels in that direction.
Victor and I have always believed there needs to be a serious, robust, non-partisan and no-holds barred debate at the highest level about these issues and possibilities. The Prime Minister is behind National Citizens' Service, which in our view, is a reasonable start. David Blunkett has connected his ideas chronologically to NCS. 'All' we need now is stronger embedding of such activity over time, growing incrementally from the age of 11 through to the age of 18 or thereabouts, so that children and young people learn that civic responsibility and community engagement, in some form or another, is the 'natural' thing to do. We have so many building blocks in place already (I hardly need to list them): it is a matter of pulling them together and ensuring that ALL young people get equal encouragement and cajoling to play their part.
Dr Howard Williamson
Professor of European Youth Policy
University of Glamorgan
Wales, UK
Posted by: Howard Williamson | August 31, 2011 at 08:39 AM
Hello There,
David you wrote in the paper today about politicians losing the respect of the people, We the People dont like being told by unelected people in europe what we have to do in all parts of out lives, Why Because we have elected the people that we THOUGHT WAS GOING TO DO IT FOR US, BUT WE NOW KNOW THAT OUR POLITICIANS ARE OF NO USE TO US NOW BECAUSE WE ARE BEING RULED BY OTHERS, THAT IS WHY THE PARTY MEMBERSHIPS ARE FALLING ACROSS THE BOARD, why well we the people dont trust you
the politicians to do as you were voted in to do.
Posted by: JOHN NUNNERLEY | October 01, 2012 at 09:47 AM
Thank you for sharing excellent informations. Your site is so cool. I am impressed by the details that you have on this web site. It reveals how nicely you perceive this subject. Thanks for sharing.....
Posted by: Ben Stroup | December 28, 2012 at 10:13 AM
Job less rates are increasing as the international population of the UK increases - which makes sense but in turn, this will increase interest rates as the money earned by a percentage of internationals is not being recycled into the country. The economy then struggles....
Posted by: Kat - Care Homes | February 15, 2013 at 09:37 AM
good looking your site nice posting i enjoy this blog.
Posted by: Nonprofit | March 24, 2013 at 01:15 PM