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Forum Responses - 7th December 2007
07/12/2007
Here are my second set of responses to Webcameron Forum postings for this week. Keep your questions and comments coming!
Teenagers are treated like second class citizens
Author:
Duke
I agree with Duke that we need to recognise and unlock the full potential of young people. I also agree that a lot of this is about rights and responsibilities.
However I don’t think the right way forward is simply to pile all adult rights and responsibilities on to younger teenagers. As I have said on an earlier thread, for example, I am not convinced of the case for lowering the voting age. But I do think we have to change the situation we have at the moment. We should be looking at other ways to help give young people a greater sense of purpose, optimism and belonging.
Take a look at the report “It’s time to inspire Britain’s teenagers” which I launched in September. That outlined plans for what I believe would be a life-changing experience for every 16 year-old - a six-week National Citizen Service programme that would provide a bridge between teenage life and young adulthood. By completing the course, young people would have made giant steps in their transition to adulthood. They would have mixed with others from radically different backgrounds, stretched themselves, found their prejudices and limitations challenged, and acquired a lot of new confidence.
I have set up a Policy Group to oversee work on this. One of the things they are looking at is how government – locally and nationally - might be able to offer recognition for the early adult status which completing the course would provide. And they are also looking at the mixed messages which the current age-related legislation sends out, and how this might affect attitudes and behaviour – and what we can and should do about it.
More generally, we are very keen to include young people in decision making more. For example we have an excellent youth panel advising us on the National Citizen Service project.
The costs to being a student.
Author:
chrisbarber
I realise a lot of students feel under pressure financially. But I think the idea that students and society should share the costs of higher education is the right one – after all, both individual students and society as a whole benefit from it. So that means subsidies from government and a system of fees and loans.
The current system is fixed until 2010. We have called for an independent review group to look now at what to do after that date. That should depend on a careful look at the results of the first three years of variable fees.
There are many issues to consider, including whether the prospect of increased debt is putting poorer people off university and, if so, what can be done about that. We need to find out why more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds aren’t making it to university.
People on the thread have also raised the issue of compulsory education to 18. I think it is a tragedy that more than 200,000 16-18 year olds are not in education, employment or training. That figure is up by more than a quarter on ten years ago, and it represents a huge amount of wasted talent.
It is vitally important that more young people stay in education after 16. But simply making it illegal not to do is a classic attempt at a ‘quick fix’ solution which doesn’t even try to address the cause of the problem. At the moment, too many people get disengaged from education well before the age of 16, let alone after it.
I read a recent account by Labour MP Frank Field of a meeting he had with young unemployed people in his constituency of Birkenhead. Their experience of school, which they hated and couldn’t wait to leave, meant, in his words, they ‘rolled around laughing at the idea that any government could try and lock them up in school until they became 18’.
Improving the prospects of young people means starting with better schools. And it also means better vocational training and apprenticeships that employers really value.
Finally, on the general issue of taxation, we have said that we will share the proceeds of growth between lower taxes and more public spending.
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A packed schedule in the North East
06/12/2007
Although the life of a Party Leader is odd in many ways, it’s more balanced than some people in Westminster, because you spend less time in Westminster and more time in other parts of the country. I think that’s a good thing.
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My visit to Washington - part two
04/12/2007
Last Thursday I met with President Bush in Washington - it was fascinating going into the White House for the first time. I had been round as a tourist some years ago, but going in for a meeting with the President was obviously very interesting.
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Forum Responses - 3rd December 2007
03/12/2007
Here are my responses to some more of your questions and comments on
the Webcameron Forums. I hope to be posting some more later in the
week.
How does David Cameron define a 'family'?
Author:
canvas
Canvas has asked a few times now how I would define a ‘family’. I don’t have a special definition. The usual definitions involve people choosing (or through birth) to live together as a unit, especially when this involves children.
So this doesn’t always involve the very narrow definition of a ‘family’ which canvas provides. And when I answered MattFeisty’s question about family values in another thread, I made clear my view that all families do a vital job, and that there are things like flexible working arrangements which we can do to help all families.
In respect of marriage, I also said in that thread that, of course, not every marriage lasts, and some couples are much better off apart. But I do think policies which recognise the importance of marriage end up strengthening families and in doing so strengthen society. This is because marriage is the clearest commitment a couple can make to each other, their children, and society. So we want to end the ‘couple penalty’ in the benefit system, which currently pays people to live apart, and to recognise marriage and civil partnerships in the tax system.
David Cameron Heads to the White House. A Good Idea??
Author:
canvas
My meeting with President Bush was a very positive one, and gave us the opportunity to discuss a range of issues including Iran, Afghanistan, free trade and climate change. These are all issues that Britain and America need to work together on, and it was the right time to discuss them.
All in all it was a very successful visit, including meetings with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Senator Chuck Hagel, the Treasury Secretary, the Head of the World Bank, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. I also delivered a speech, focusing on the Balkans, at the Brookings Institution, and – as you can see on the video - had the opportunity to pay my respects at Arlington National Cemetery, where many of American’s heroes, including her war dead, are buried.
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