Publications

Welcome to the Relationships Foundation newsletter June 2010

Five press releases for National Family Week  

The Relationships Foundation sent out five press releases for National Family Week in which we raised questions about how the new coalition government should respond to the family agenda:

1. How can we move towards being the most family-friendly country in Europe?

The Relationships Foundation welcomed the new Government’s commitment to making our society more family friendly. It is a bold pledge, but an important one and will require three things:

1. Leadership: While there is much merit in refocusing the Department of Children, Families and Schools on its original role as the Department for Education, losing Family from any Cabinet minister’s primary responsibility is surely a problem for a Government so committed to families. Without a champion at the heart of government, the family-friendly agenda is unlikely to succeed. There needs to be top-level leadership on the family and family policy should have a central role in government, based perhaps at the Cabinet Office, rather than with one of the spending departments. While the new Social Justice Cabinet Committee may enable more joined-up decision making on the family, it will need a team to resource it, and have a strong mandate to influence departmental policies.

2. Strategy: Becoming family-friendly requires a co-ordinated plan to make it happen as it has implications for every government department. The government has recognised this is true of the Big Society – it has Cabinet level responsibility and a clear strategy. This cross-departmental approach is the right one, and, in the case of the family, all policy should be ‘family proofed’. This involves analysing the consequences of any policy, regardless of whether it is explicitly aimed at families, for its impact on family relationships and wellbeing.

3. Assessment: There should be a social budget each year to match the Government’s economic budget. It would set out the government’s plan to strengthen family relationships and support society. It would also set out the current social state of the nation. And there should be a parallel exercise to the Office of Budget Responsibility, providing independent assessment and analyses of the impact of policy on families.

Click here to read the full press release.

2. How to move from rhetoric to reality and become the most family-friendly country in Europe

The Relationships Foundation called for the new coalition to commit to ‘family proofing’ all government policy. The Prime Minister has promised that “making Britain more family-friendly is still a crucial objective of this coalition government.”  Progressive Families, Progressive Britain, a recent report by the Relationships Foundation, argues that to do this all policy should be ‘family proofed’, to create an environment that promotes and sustains strong family relationships – of all sorts – rather than undermining them.

Previous Relationships Foundation projects have demonstrated a ‘penumbra effect’ showing where the strength and effectiveness of family relationships both influence and are influenced by a wide range of policy areas. These include education, health and social care, housing, employment, criminal justice, finance and debt, and tax and welfare payments. Click here to read the full press release.

3. How to help all families with school-age children spend quality time together

The Relationships Foundation believes the time has come for a ‘Family Day Bill’ which would ensure that all parents of school-age children can have a weekend day off by extending existing flexible working legislation. As our third press release for National Family Week, ‘Keep Time for Children’ (a Relationships Foundation campaign) is re-launching its Family Day Bill in the hope that either the new Parliament or a backbencher would see it into law.

Executive Director Michael Trend adds: “We think it proper and essential that the state enables thriving lives for children and families by motivating, encouraging and supporting parents in their responsibilities towards their children. We believe that the Family Day Bill will help to build and sustain productive relationships. This legislation is the meeting place between choice and responsibility. It is not about prescription but about potential. It gives parents the choice to spend weekend time with their children. It protects single mums who have no choice but to agree to work weekends (over a quarter of lone parents work at the weekends). Without face-to-face time for communication and sharing within the family it is difficult for mutual understanding and support to grow.” Click here to read the full press release.

4. How to protect tomorrow’s families

“The Government believes that strong and stable families of all kinds are the bedrock of a strong and stable society.” The Relationships Foundations warmly welcomed this statement found in the recent government coalition document. In particular we like the subsequent commitment: “We will put funding for relationship support on a stable, long-term footing, and make sure that couples are given greater encouragement to use existing relationship support.” This is important because stable couple relationships are key to strong families and a thriving society.

We would, however, be very sorry to see this most welcome development interpreted as only support of the ‘therapeutic’ approach, ie, attending to disordered relationships once they have gone wrong. We argue that – as is so often the case – prevention is better than cure and that what is needed is more Couple Relationship Education (CRE) for those entering relationships.

The government picks up the tab when things go wrong – a bill of over £40billion each year. We hope the new government will significantly invest in CRE, preventing problems arising rather than trying to pick up the pieces later. Helping build strong and stable couple relationships will help fulfill their bigger pledge to make Britain more family-friendly. Click here to read the full press release.

5. How to join up family policy

In our fifth press release for National Family Week, we published open letters we had sent to three Secretaries of State whose spending departments are most affected by the strength of family relationships. Those responsible for Health, Justice and Welfare must recognize the role of families within their departments or they will fail to achieve the ambitious outcomes the government is seeking. We have asked them to identify what role they see families playing within their departments and encouraged them fully to support an integrated government-wide approach to strengthening families with clear central leadership on the family and family policy. The reality is that with budget cuts much of the heavy lifting in enabling improved social outcomes will fall to families.

Click here to read the letters.


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