Analysis: Labour conference - Respect for young people at last

A minister walks into a community centre and notices three young men, one of whom is whirling an iron bar above his head. It's a prime opportunity for the minister to shake his head at the offending "yob" and sigh about young people these days.

But symptomatic of Labour's heightened desire to be more children and young people friendly, that very politician, Cabinet Office minister Ed Miliband, had a different take on the matter.

"When I think about that kid whirling an iron bar around his head, I think there's nothing in our culture between being a NEET (not in education, employment or training) and being on X Factor," Miliband said. "For his uncle or his father 20 or 30 years ago, there was the culture of being a miner, for example, and the status that went along with that. I think for this kid, part of the reason it's either be a NEET or on X Factor is because we don't honour those in society who do amazing things."

He said there were two aspects to life chances for young people: first their ambitions, and second, the questioning of what kind of society we are living in and the values we promise to young people.

"I don't have an easy answer to the question but its an important way of thinking about the people we're trying to help."

Miliband's approach typified Labour at its annual conference in Bournemouth last week. The party didn't promise to hug hoodies, but there was no talk of loutish yobs roaming our streets, brandishing Asbos and harassing grannies either.

Even ministers from the Home Office, once a hotbed of announcements condemning teenage yobs, are embracing the new regime. Crime reduction minister Vernon Coaker used a discussion about gang crime to sing young people's praises. "The vast majority of our young people are decent people. They're growing up in difficult times but they also want something done about gangs," he told a panel that included Richard Taylor, father of Damilola - the 10-year-old boy murdered on a Peckham estate in 2000. "Young people want the law enforced as well and they are often the ones who feel unsafe on our streets. It's not about making a choice between wishy-washy approaches or very tough law enforcement. It needs to be both."

Coaker added that the government wanted to spread the message that most young people are good citizens through the media. He used the same event, organised by children's charity Kids Count, to say more effort is needed to convince the public about the effectiveness of community punishments and restorative justice if these methods are to gain wider take-up.

"There is an issue in society about community punishments but what we need to do about that is build trust in these methods so they are not seen as a soft option," he explained. "To move forward with restorative justice we need to convince the public to trust it." The rest of the conference saw the party methodically drumming home its major points - children and young people are deserving of support, not condemnation, and the crucial factors affecting children and young people are their families, schools, opportunities and life chances.

The divisive academies debate is still live, as is the quarrel about school standards. But the focus in tone at least is shifting away from targets, league tables and SATs and on to parents, families and services.

"The question is how do we get all parents to be pushy," said Jim Knight, the minister for schools. "There are too many silent parents and every child needs a champion. We want more push from parents and more pull from schools. One thing we're very clear on is the single thing that determines a successful school is the quality of the teaching, and the single thing that determines a child's outcomes is the quality of parenting. We have to bring these together."

Miliband took the point further: "I do think that making schools reach out to parents might help parents think about making a difference to their child's life chances."

There's also the challenge of child poverty and the party is not sure if it will meet its target of halving the number of children in poverty by 2010. Money alone isn't enough, according to Miliband: "Even if we do halve child poverty by 2010 it won't on its own transform the life chances of kids. That makes me think other things are important, namely services. I was sceptical about city academies then one came to my area, and it has transformed the area. Big interventions make a difference."

Of the so-called "generation clash" between older people and children and young people, both deserving of services and support and both perceived to be wary of each other, Labour again has a more family and young person-friendly argument.

Bill Rammell, minister for lifelong learning, further and higher education, said: "One of the things we observe in most cases is the bond between grandparents and grandchildren. It is one of the strongest that exists."

The emphasis in the last year on improving outcomes for disabled children and the high profile of the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign group also demonstrates a shift in thinking towards promoting opportunities for all young people.

Every Disabled Child Matters welcomed both children's minister Beverley Hughes and Children's Secretary Ed Balls to its fringe event. The pair pledged that the recent Aiming High for Disabled Children settlement was the start, not the end, of the government's commitment to disabled children and young people.

"You have to keep pushing us but I can say on behalf of myself and Ed Balls that we are absolutely committed and are not going to take our feet off the pedal on the issue," Hughes said.

Balls went further and pointed out the link between Every Child Matters and the campaign themes of Every Disabled Child Matters. "While there are sometimes particular and extra issues that need to be addressed in order that disabled children can access services, the opportunities disabled young people and their parents want are the same as everybody else," he says. "I'm sure if we're not making progress this group of people (Every Disabled Child Matters) will be quick to point it out."

- Additional reporting by Tristan Donovan.

CONFERENCE QUOTES

- "If Unison want to start an academy I would fully welcome that" - Schools minister Jim Knight after he is booed at a Unison fringe meeting on education for defending academy school sponsors

- "I know where it came from but can we please not say bog-standard comprehensives ever again?" - John Coughlan, co-president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services

- "How do we commission services but make sure we don't get the equivalent of the four big supermarkets bidding for tenders?" - Fiona Blacke, chief executive of the National Youth Agency, ponders on local authorities' challenge to make sure small voluntary groups are not pushed out by big charities

VOLUNTEERING

Rajay Naik, a v20 volunteer, was given the chance to interview Phil Hope, minister for the third sector, at a Labour Party conference fringe event organised by youth volunteering charity v, TimeBank and T-Mobile.

Naik started the interview by asking Hope about his views on volunteering as a force for social change. "It's fantastic, volunteering is about social movement, people getting together saying they want to change things," said Hope. "Look at some of the great social changes, such as attitudes towards disability and disabled people campaigning for their rights or organisations like Stonewall that have made a change in attitudes to sexuality. Or the Make Poverty History campaign, which was the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of young people to say to countries 'do something now'."

Both society and young people themselves, Hope told Naik, can gain from volunteering. "I see great opportunities for young people making a real difference," he said. "The benefits to young people are fantastic because the experience and enrichment you get from taking part are part of personal development and networking with peer groups adds up to something that is a real benefit to society."

But more progress needs to be made Hope told Naik. V, he said, had done well to offer 125,000 volunteering oppor-tunities to young people. However, he added, it needs to up the pace to achieve its "ambitious" target of providing a million volunteering opportunities.

Finally, Naik asked about the lack of recognition given by employers to the skills that young people gained from volunteering. "I'd like to see businesses giving recognition to volunteering," said Hope. "Let's see some recognition of value."