As some of our most loyal contributors to the blog might have realised, Lords of the Blog is coming up to its third anniversary. We think this is cause for celebration, as well as reflection on the future direction of the Blog, and we’d like to invite you to an event in the House of Lords. We will have Paul Waugh, Editor of Politics Home, giving us his thoughts on the political blogging landscape, as well as some of your favourite bloggers sharing their thoughts and experiences of the blog over the past three years.

This event will be an opportunity for you to give us your thoughts on where the blog should be going in the future and any improvements or changes you’d like to see. You’ll also get the opportunity to meet with a number of the bloggers face-to-face…

We have got space for 20 audience members to attend the event – if you’d like to come along please email hans_admin@hansard.lse.ac.uk with your full name and email address – we will then send confirmation details including when and where the event will take place. Registrations will be accepted until 5pm Wednesday 9 March. Spaces will be allocated on a first come, first serve basis.

It’s the first time the House of Lords and the BBC have run a pilot online initiative, asking for your views ahead of a debate in the Lords chamber.

For the last 17 years, I’ve spoken on children’s and family issues in the Lords; and have chaired the Youth Department at Toynbee Hall, helping to run a summer programme for disadvantaged children from London’s East End.

In our country today, most parents are doing a good job raising their children; but some need help.

A small but significant minority of children are not getting the sort of early-childhood parenting they need.

And so they go on to fail in school, disrupt the learning of others and pull down the standard of our school system.

I was disappointed that the previous government’s efforts to address these children’s problems did not produce many of the results we had all hoped for. I became convinced that we must do more to address these children’s needs earlier, from conception to five years old.

There are two objectives which the current government shares with its predecessor: an improvement in educational outcomes in our schools and a reduction in inequality in our society.

We can address both by paying closer attention to the first three years of our children’s lives – and in particular, the lives of the most disadvantaged.

Recent reports by Frank Field MP and Graham Allen MP both confirmed what I had long suspected – that problems created in the first three years of a child’s life cast a long and dark shadow over their future.

That is why I think this debate is important.

And I hope the debate convinces policy-makers of two things.

First, to adopt Mr Field’s proposal to add a third stage – the Foundation Years Stage – to the existing two stages of the education system.

The second is that the government develops ways of measuring the factors which contribute to poverty and disadvantage, and those which impact positively on child development before the age of five.

I also hope the debate will lead the government to encourage the teaching of life-skills and parenting skills at all stages in school, and that we place much greater emphasis on ante- and post-natal care and associated family support.

Our objective must be to provide, in a non-intrusive way, better education, guidance and support for struggling and disadvantaged parents who are raising nought to three-year-olds.

Only a serious focus on the foundation years will improve the education of our children and, therefore, reduce inequality.

The debate will be held in the House of Lords on Thursday 3 February. It can be watched on Parliament TV.

I very much look forward to hearing from you on these issues. Please post your views and experiences on the Have Your Say forum . I will be on the forum from 4pm today answering your comments and questions.

I imagine there is quite a bit that our bloggers are waiting to write about and discuss with Lords of the Blog fans…..

Beccy Allen, Hansard Society

Our report has certainly had some effect. Members of the House of Lords and the Administration are using the internet much more to describe what is going on in Parliament. Our website – www.parliament.uk – is now full of information about debates that are taking place, select committee meetings and new Bills.

Our Education Service is expecting to host visits from up to 40,000 students this year and I am hoping that the idea of parallel debates for the public online to compliment our Thursday debates in the Chamber is moving forward.

But I would like a better idea of what else you think we should be achieving. Please tell me what, in your judgment, are the political subjects and ideas that you would like to know more about but are still missing on Parliament’s website.

Expenses have of course had an enormous amount of coverage. The reputation of Westminster is at a very low point but Parliament remains the vital element in law making in Britain. So what else would you like to hear about in the workings of the Lords?

Serious thoughts please, today or tomorrow. Not too many jokes.

Lord Renton of Mount Harry

For further information about this research please visit this earlier post……

Thanks!

After all the dreadful stories in the past months about Parliament, I’m very pleased to bring you a piece of good news today! As many of you will know, our Information Committee has been carrying out an inquiry into how the House of Lords and Parliament as a whole can engage with the public and enable members of the public to communicate with it. And today we publish our report Are the Lords listening? Creating connections between people and Parliament

I give an overview of the report’s contents in a short YouTube video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zzeM9ENwrGE]

I’d like to thank all of you who have contributed to make this possible. We received a large number of written submissions, YouTube videos, comments on our web forum and comments in response to my earlier blogs. All of the comments were considered by the Committee and helped to shape our deliberations. So I hope that you’ll take some time to read our report. If you do, you’ll see how much of what we say was shaped by what others said to us. I hope that you’ll read it and think – yes, the Lords do listen.

Tim Renton

Since we started in March we’ve received many many comments from people. We’re now having a one hour debate in the Lords this coming Tuesday evening, 16 June, on this subject. The following day, the full Committee will meet to discuss the contents of the Report on our Inquiry, which we plan to publish in July.

You may have seen all that has been put to the Committee already. This is a chance for you to send us any further comments, ahead of our debate in the Chamber – either on this blog or responding to my YouTube video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZkUa5Woq1eU]

I will forward your comments to all the Members who will be participating in the debate.

We want to hear from as many interested members of the public as possible before we come to recommendations and conclusions.

Thank you very much for your interest.

Tim Renton