2016 - St George's House

8th November 2016

Life transitions: Supporting an effective transition on leaving the UK Armed Forces

In partnership with Forces in Mind Trust

This consultation aimed to look at the issues and approaches of life transitions from other sectors to gain a better understanding of how to support an effective transition for the UK Armed Forces.

The consultation considered the issues and approaches at three different stages of transition: preparing for the transition, during the transition process, and post-transition (in terms of sustainability).

Using the concept of a connected social network, we explored the role that three specific stakeholders might play during a life transition, covering:

The individual (who undergoing a life transition);
Family and friends;
Wider societal groups (including institutions and service providers)

The full consultation report can be read here.

1st November 2016

Freedom of Expression and Universities

In partnership with the Centre of Islamic Studies, SOAS

Universities are under increasing pressure from government to prevent students coming into contact with ‘extreme’ ideas. The thesis is that exposure to such ideas risks drawing students into terrorism. But there are other risks also, in particular the risk to freedom of speech and to academic freedom.

Many university administrators appear to believe that in order to prevent potential terrorism, the law requires them to curtail the freedom of academic debate. Is this an accurate interpretation of the law or are universities actually in breach of the Education Act (1986) and the Human Rights Act (1998)? What are the overall implications for tertiary education in the UK? This consultation will looked in depth at the issues facing universities with regard to freedom of expression and the relationship with the state.

The full consultation report can be read here.

17th October 2016

Connecting Young People – Healing the Social Divides in Society

The UK and Europe are under a growing threat from, so called, ‘ISIS’ and other militant Islamist groups. This threat is one that needs to be challenged wherever possible. A key problem is that some young Muslim men and women are easy prey to radical influences through social media and peer influence.

Before young people are actively engaged in extremist activity there is a less clearly defined phase as young people search for identity and make sense of their world.

This, is not a purely Muslim problem. A crisis of identity is a fact of life for many young people, whatever their colour or ethnic background. They are influenced through peer conversations, as well as social media as they struggle to understand their sense of identity and their place in society. We are working to develop a programme that brings together groups of young people to meet, talk, work and play. By bringing young people together we hope to develop mutual understanding and breakdown the barriers of ‘them and us’ that currently gets in the way of genuine dialogue and developing a common cause.

This consultation aimed to share the experience and knowledge of interested parties in order to develop thinking about how we heal the divisions within UK society through our young people.

The full report can be read here.

9th September 2016

Role of Virtue in the Professions

In partnership with The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues

The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues is a research centre based in the School of Education at the University of Birmingham. It is a pioneering interdisciplinary research centre focusing on character, virtues and values in the interest of human flourishing. The Centre promotes a moral concept of character in order to explore the importance of virtue for public and professional life.

The Centre is a leading informant on policy and practice in this area and through its extensive range of projects contributes to a renewal of character virtues in both individuals and societies.

As part of its scope of work, the Centre has produced statements on different aspects of character education, including A Framework for Character Education in Schools, a Statement on Youth Social Action and Character Development, and a Statement on Teacher Education and Character Education. These have been circulated to policymakers, practitioners and academics across the UK, and have been met with widespread support and approval. With the Jubilee Centre’s continuing research focus on virtues in the professions, including the medical, legal, teaching, nursing, and business professions and the British Army, this Consultation focused on the role of virtue in the professions, with the aim of producing a statement similar in format to those referred to above.

The statement will be available in due course.

6th September 2016

Civil Society and the State

The Role of Charities in Campaigning

The compact between the state and charity has undergone significant transformation since the Second World War. Today, the operating environment for charities is in considerable regulatory and financial flux. Their role in campaigning is increasingly part of public discourse. How should we define the relationship between civil society and the state in a representative democracy?

Our Consultation looked in depth at the issues, bringing together senior people from a range of relevant sectors to spend concentrated time on the topic, away from the glare of the media in the privacy of Windsor Castle.

The summary report can be read here.

15th June 2016

Trust and Ethics: How do we build trust in the digital society?

In partnership with Corsham Institute

The final consultation of four in the Corsham Institute 2016 Thought Leadership Programme

As more and more aspects of our day-to-day lives move towards digitally enabled modes of delivery, the need for citizens to feel confident that when they participate, and in the broadest sense transact, digitally that they can do so with confidence through a better understanding of what personal data is being provided to third parties as part of a digital footprint.

As digital transactions becomes a greater feature of every aspect of daily life we need to ask a critical question in terms of how prepared is society to handle this new mode of interaction.

For this reason, we set the following overarching question for this consultation:

How do we better equip society to understand the benefits and consequences of transacting in a digital world?

The full report can be read here. Further information on these themes and the overall findings from the Programme is available in our Key Findings Report.

3rd June 2016

A Roadmap for Tackling Childhood Obesity

Co-ordinating research on prevention within and across countries

In collaboration with the UK Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health

The prevalence of obesity and related chronic health conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease and some cancers, continues to increase worldwide, despite widespread recognition of their enormous humanitarian and economic costs. Attempts to combat the epidemic in adults have met with disappointing results.

Obesity in infancy and childhood is rising rapidly and is of particular concern as it is a harbinger of adult obesity and adverse life-long health; therefore protecting children must be an urgent global priority.

A new approach to tackling the early life origins of overweight and obesity based upon the preconception, pregnancy and childhood periods, as well as addressing the obesogenic environment, would be visionary and potentially highly effective, but requires implementation of a complex strategy. To discuss this concept, the consultation will brought together a range of international leaders from across a spectrum that included professional organisations, international agencies, policy developers, funding bodies and researchers in infant, childhood and adolescent obesity prevention.

An article discussing the findings from the consultation has been published in The British Medical Journal and can be read here.

25th May 2016

The Senior Faith Leadership Programme

In partnership with The Cambridge Inter-faith Programme

Inter-Faith work was a cornerstone of the St George’s House programme some years ago and we have been keen to revive that tradition in the current programme. This year the Senior Faith Leadership Programme will brought three consultations to the House.

Thirty emergent leaders from the three Abrahamic faiths gathered to enhance their leadership skills, develop inter-faith networks and work towards a greater understanding of their own and others’ faith through intensive scriptural reasoning. For more information please visit Senior Faith Leadership Programme.

20th May 2016

Teacher Supply: Recruitment, Retention, Shaping the Future

The House of Commons Select Committee on Education explored, among other things, the dual question of recruitment and retention with regard to the teaching profession. Recent media coverage suggests that there is a crisis in teacher supply, that the profession fails to attract the brightest and the best,

and that the system is haemorrhaging skilled professionals. There is something of a cyclical quality to these arguments.

This consultation aimed to look in depth at the issues facing the teaching profession in an effort to find practical, innovative ways in which they might be addressed.

The full report can be read here.

17th May 2016

Digital Living: Getting the most out of digital society

In partnership with Corsham Institute

The third consultation of four in the Corsham Institute 2016 Thought Leadership Programme

The digital world is less than 25 years old, however, it has already demonstrated clear economic and social benefits. In the UK we have seen the ‘Smart Cities’ initiative focus on the development of digital infrastructure in our main population centres and the meshing together of digital and analogue infrastructure.

To date, however, the focus has been on infrastructure rather than how digital technologies can benefit the lives of individual citizens. By considering ‘smarter living’ and the ways in which digital can support more effective day-to-day elements of our lives in terms of work, home and community, this event aimed to explore how we can all benefit from the advantages that digital technologies can deliver.