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| Riot report reveals '500,000 forgotten families' | Riot report reveals '500,000 forgotten families' |
| (40 minutes later) | |
| A lack of support and opportunity for young people contributed to the outbreak of riots in England last year, an independent report has concluded. | A lack of support and opportunity for young people contributed to the outbreak of riots in England last year, an independent report has concluded. |
| The Riots, Communities and Victims Panel, set up last year, has identified "500,000 forgotten families". | The Riots, Communities and Victims Panel, set up last year, has identified "500,000 forgotten families". |
| It also cited poor parenting, an inability to prevent reoffending, too much emphasis on materialism, and a lack of confidence in the police. | |
| Schools should work on helping children to build character, it added. | Schools should work on helping children to build character, it added. |
| 'Poor parenting' | 'Poor parenting' |
| It said: "Families aren't getting the support they need." | It said: "Families aren't getting the support they need." |
| It supported a programme already existing to help troubled families, but found that overlap with those involved in the riots was limited. | |
| "Government and local public services should develop a strategy incorporating the principles of the Troubled Families Programme to help 500,000 'forgotten families' turn their lives around," it said. | |
| The report stated that up to 15,000 people were believed to have taken part in the riots - with the majority of those aged under 24 and with poor academic records. | The report stated that up to 15,000 people were believed to have taken part in the riots - with the majority of those aged under 24 and with poor academic records. |
| The communities the panel spoke to blamed the riots on poor parenting. | |
| Last summer's days of disturbances followed a fatal shooting by police in London. | |
| But the trouble spread to several other parts of England and this report says the roots of the riots lie in problems shared between those cities. | |
| There are young people on the streets of Salford, Manchester, Birmingham and beyond who will all tell you that unemployment is a trap they can't escape. | |
| However there are people in those neighbourhoods who insist that those same young people aren't doing enough to help themselves. | |
| The owner of a Manchester shop badly damaged in the riots pointed to the long criminal records of many convicted of involvement in the rioting. | |
| "Crime is their job," he told me. | |
| He pointed at long sentences being the best deterrent although he accepted finding ways of properly rehabilitating those involved was important. | |
| However practically helping families to leave what the panel calls 'the bottom of society' will take a great deal of work and resources from public services already facing cuts. | |
| The panel has recommended that schools which fail to raise pupils' literacy rates to the required minimum standard for their age should face a financial penalty. | The panel has recommended that schools which fail to raise pupils' literacy rates to the required minimum standard for their age should face a financial penalty. |
| Panel chairman Darra Singh said he was unhappy that the report was leaked: "We are disappointed that Sky News has leaked contents from a near-final version of the Riots Communities and Victims Panel's final report, which is due to be published tomorrow and is still being finalised. | |
| "Our remit was to give a voice to the communities and victims of the August riots. This leak has impacted on our ability to ensure they receive the widest possible audience," he said. | "Our remit was to give a voice to the communities and victims of the August riots. This leak has impacted on our ability to ensure they receive the widest possible audience," he said. |
| The panel's report stated that the key to avoiding future riots was to have communities where everyone felt they had a stake in society and where those who were struggling from an early age were given the support they needed. | |
| The panel called on businesses to become more involved with their local schools and help tackle the problem of youth unemployment. | |
| It also urged the government to also play a bigger role and "provide a job guarantee for all young people who have been out of work for two years or more". | |
| The panel said it had surveyed local neighbourhoods in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Luton and found 85% of those questioned felt "advertising puts pressure on young people to own the latest products". | |
| It called on local authorities to commit to "driving up" the number of volunteers and uniformed groups. | |
| Children's Society policy director Enver Solomon said: "It is of little surprise that this independent report has pointed to factors like lack of opportunities for young people as causes behind last summer's riots. | |
| "We know from our work that there is a significant link between a child's material deprivation and their overall life satisfaction." | |
| What do you think about the findings of the report? Do you agree that poor parenting was partly to blame? Was your family affected by the riots? Get in touch using the form below: |