Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

Blunkett calls for new National Volunteer Programme

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.

Download David Blunkett National Volunteer Programme

For Parents, Policemen, Park Keepers and Politicians
By Gerald Bower

Keep off the grass.
The ruling of some pompous ass?
Or was it from a wiser sage
 who knew that kids of any age
all need a code,
to keep them on that narrow road,
that leads them to respect and care
for things and people everywhere.
Alas the lawn's no longer tended
And the grass is undefended.
To render council tax the cheaper,
Lowest tender is the keeper.
When caring and respect are lost,
 How then do we count the cost.
So thin before you sow your seed
in compost that is based on greed.

Thank you to Gerald Bower from Sheffield for sending this in. He wrote this poem in the late 1990s, and the sentiments are just as appropriate today.

David Blunkett: Amid the feeding frenzy over Murdoch, let’s remember the real issues at the root of it all

The Yorkshire Post, published 22nd July 2011

Just as it seemed that nothing could equal the bizarre events of the last three weeks, the first three days of this week managed to trump them with further revelations as Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and John Yates, his deputy, resigned.

They did so on the back of an “association” arising out of the Metropolitan Police (not Sir Paul) employing the ex-deputy editor of the News of the World who, until his arrest a week ago, had not featured on anyone’s list of wrongdoers. Then of course, came the Select Committee interviews, the shaving cream incident with Rupert Murdoch and the theatre of the House of Commons on Wednesday. One of the twists of fate is that the interim Deputy Commissioner appointed to ensure the avoidance of a meltdown is Bernard Hogan-Howe, a former pupil of Hinde House School, in my constituency.

Just to add to the strange circumstances of “association”, it turns out that the longstanding friend of Sir Paul who had facilitated his early recuperation and recovery from an operation at his health spa happened also to employ the consultancy of Neil Wallis, the now toxic former deputy to Andy Coulson. Yes, the Andy Coulson who was then employed by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, in opposition, and as his director of communication in government.

Which brings me to where I fear we seem to be going. Namely, the equivalent of the French Revolution. A revolution, as those familiar with history will recall, which started to devour everyone around it, including those who had begun the process of bringing down the then establishment. The ruthless attacks of the moment and the ancient crones sitting knitting as the heads rolled into the baskets of Paris in the early 1790s have an uncomfortable feel of similarity about them.

The “guilt by association” is also painfully reminiscent of the McCarthy era in the United States. “Are you or have you ever been...” translated from accusations of Communism to “...employed by, associated with or regularly met, the Murdoch family or News International.”

All of this is now in danger of diverting our attention from the two key elements which are surely at the very root of the challenge faced by Press, police and politicians. Namely, deep-seated corruption and totally unacceptable intrusion into privacy.

On the latter, bizarrely we seem to have more intrusion into privacy than I can remember for a very long time. Some of it paraded by the very people whose privacy has already been breached, in allegedly having their phones hacked.

On the former, we have of course questions about the failure of the Metropolitan Police in relation to what has happened over the last five years and the possible involvement of the police themselves in receiving cash (what we used to call bribes) for information received. The fact that behind all the bluster and self-righteousness, many people suspected that phones were being hacked, computer databases accessed and on occasions police being paid for information, does not diminish either the horror or the seriousness of what has taken place. It does, however, require us to regain some sense of proportion. To not suspect that every journalist has been using illegal and immoral means to put together a story. Equally, that to smear – one by one – dedicated and committed police officers with the brush of a very few, is to literally pull the house down around us.

Clearly, despite his bravura performance in the House of Commons on Wednesday and his regret at having employed Andy Coulson, David Cameron is not off the hook. What on Earth, as everyone is asking, does “no inappropriate conversations” mean? Bill Clinton, as President of the United States, got himself in a similar unfortunate situation in his description of his relationship with Monica Lewinsky.

Cameron had of course been warned over a substantial period of time, but according to the former chief executive of News International (another victim of the last week) Rebekah Brooks, it was the idea of George Osborne, the Chancellor, to take on Andy Coulson. You really couldn’t make this up.

But anyone who believes that politicians will not get to know senior journalists or their proprietors, and that occasionally as human beings they will be grossly misled by those whose very business is interpersonal skills and communication, would quite simply expect the impossible.

So, clearing up this mess; rooting out unacceptable practices throughout the media, not just News International; restoring confidence in the police; and having clearer rules of engagement between those holding political responsibility and those they must deal with in communicating with the electorate, are vital in mapping the way for the future.

Above all, restoring a sense of proportionality. Rebuilding confidence in institutions and processes from the collapse of trust in the banks, through the revelations about mis-claimed MPs’ allowances, to the present feeding-frenzy; which surely means allowing Sue Akers and her team at the Met to get on with rooting out the truth, and the newly announced inquiry starting its review as quickly as possible. For I am reminded of that old but still relevant adage “a lie will be half way round the world before the truth gets its boots on”.

But there are crumbs of comfort. The regional and local Press, including the Yorkshire Post, reinforce what was already known – that people trust the media that is closest to them more than they have ever trusted the big national publications.

In addition, while from time to time we have had our moments with the police (the rhino whips era in Sheffield), policing outside London has always been closer to the people and therefore subject to greater scrutiny. And yes, for politicians, coming home to Yorkshire and the blunt but friendly truth which this brings keeps feet rooted firmly on the ground. Long may it remain so.

David Blunkett is the Labour MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough. he was Home Secretary from 2001-05.

David also spoke on the phone hacking scandal on Sky News, BBC News and Radio 5 Live on 5th July, and on Sky News and BBC Radio Sheffield on 20th July

Listen to David on Radio 4's 'Post Hackgate: Journalism at the Crossroads' from Sunday 9th October 2011 http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015msph

Blunkett addresses Dementia Awareness Week Sheffield finale

David Blunkett MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough and a former Work and Pensions Secretary supported Alzheimer’s Society Sheffield in raising awareness about dementia this Dementia Awareness Week in July 2011

Mr Blunkett attended the finale event at the Central United Reformed Church, Norfolk Street, S1 2JB on 8 July 2011 to talk about why he supports Dementia Awareness Week.

Mr Blunkett is Vice President of Alzheimer’s Society nationally and is patron of the Sheffield office. He has had a long standing interest in dementia since the 1970s, when he was then in charge of social services in Sheffield and where support was offered to families and carers of those with dementia. He helped establish the first residential home specifically staffed and designed to help people cope with severe dementia. He is also involved in Lost Chord, an organisation using music as a way of stimulating and supporting those with dementia to be able to reconnect and continue for as long as possible to get the most out of life.

Mr Blunkett said: “I’m very pleased indeed to join in Dementia Awareness Week. I’m very happy to join with the local society, with family and carers and those with dementia in getting the message across that whilst so many of us will be affected with an ageing population, it is possible not only to offer help and support to the individuals affected but crucially to their loved ones. They who carry so much of the challenge of caring and helping those affected to live as normal a life as possible.

“Early intervention and, where appropriate, medication can help, and the onset of very severe dementia can be delayed for significant periods of time. New memory clinics can help identify and in many cases reassure, in respect of whether simply becoming absent-minded has turned into the onset of Alzheimer’s. It is a simple fact that as we grow older our short term memory does become less sharp and that is why it is important to allay worries for those who are not affected and offer real assistance to those who are.”

Maria Flude, Information Worker for Alzheimer’s Society, Sheffield said: ‘We are delighted to have David joining us at our celebratory Tea Dance to mark the end of a really successful Dementia Awareness Week 2011 in Sheffield. This event is designed to ensure people with dementia, carers / family, volunteers and staff have fun! We’ve all worked hard to ensure the week raises awareness and promotes the fact that people with dementia are still people who can lead enjoyable and fulfilling lives and the Tea Dance is a wonderful illustration of that.’