“In Britain today social failure has replaced economic failure as the new British disease. The contrast between the best state schools and the worst ones is incredibly stark and the consequences of the gulf between the two are increasingly disturbing.”

I agree with David Cameron about that.

You may have seen at the social exclusion web site [dead link removed July 2013; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Exclusion_Task_Force#Social_Exclusion_Unit is relevant] there is a definition:

â??Social exclusion happens when people or places suffer from a series of problems such as unemployment, discrimination, poor skills, low incomes, poor housing, high crime, ill health and family breakdown. When such problems combine they can create a vicious cycle.â??

Whilst the first seven of these issues are addressed in the neighbourhood statistics or indices of deprivation at http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/ , the last one, â??family breakdownâ?? is not.

So the Governmentâ??s view – some would say â?? is â??myopicâ??; indeed, equally so is that of the Conservatives – as they seem to be unwilling to draw attention to the suppression of this essential information.

Every day there are references to national and regional statistics for domestic violence, rape, divorce, sexually transmitted infections, teenage pregnancy, out of wedlock births, lone parents, antisocial behaviour, and truancy etc.

These are â?? collectively – a measure of social and domestic cohesion, or â?? if you like – the â??social failureâ?? which which David Cameron has correctly identified as being the current British disease rather than economic failure.

However, it would make sense for the ONS to publish comprehensive â??unspunâ?? statistics â?? as requested recently by Andrew Turner MP – relating to social and domestic cohesion, and to produce an index by neighbourhood, if only to reduce the number of Parliamentary Questions. In West Yorkshire there were 35,000 incidents of domestic violence reported last year!

In fact, publishing neighbourhood information relevant to social and domestic cohesion, would â?? more importantly – have the effect of motivating a great number of councillors, school governors, and other local community and faith leaders and charities to try to improve the situation in the areas in which they have some influence.

At least it would enable them to measure changes, and to evaluate the few local programmes and policies that are helping to improve social and domestic cohesion.

Let’s hope some members of the House of Lords, including the Bishops and other faith leaders, can get their heads around this issue.

Nick Gulliford

Policy adviser â?? National Association of Community Family Trusts
http://www.nacft.org.uk

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