Stephen has addressed youth workers at an online training event hosted by a number of Christian organisations in the South East. He spoke commended the work of faith groups in tackling the issue of decreasing childhood wellbeing.
The event was based around new report from The Children’s Society which found that there has been a continued decrease in average happiness with life among 10-15 year olds in the UK. Youth workers, theologians, politicians and researchers came together at the event to discuss how to respond.
Stephen spoke about his experience as Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee and his former role as a Treasury Minister. He highlighted the impact of high rates of child poverty on overall childhood wellbeing in the UK and expressed disappointment that there is currently no child poverty target. He told the audience that his Select Committee would shortly conducting an inquiry on child poverty in the UK.
Stephen also shared the findings of a recent report published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Faith and Society, which he chairs. The pandemic led to more collaboration between faith groups and local authorities, 91% of whom had a “very positive” or “positive” experience of the collaboration.
Speaking afterwards, Stephen said: “I was delighted to speak today. Childhood wellbeing is a hugely important topic but is often discussed only in relation to the role of schools. Today, we were able to celebrate the role of youth workers in tackling the varied issues contributing to declining childhood wellbeing, as highlighted by the Good Childhood report.
“I will be writing to Ministers in the coming days to ask for their thoughts on the report and how the government can be supporting our youth workers across the country as we emerge from this pandemic.”