Notes from the Commissioners: Jo Higson, Devon and Cornwall Refugee Support

Last week I went to see The Barbican Theatre’s Production of “2 Houses” – a dance theatre production, performed by the Barbican’s training companies. The production is about “the wealth and poverty in Plymouth and our collective responsibility to do something about it”.

It was, just as the publicity states, “brilliant, thought-provoking and real”.

What was just as interesting though was meeting the performers – all young people between the ages of 16 and 25 and from a whole range of backgrounds – afterwards to talk to them about their thoughts having worked on this performance. I could have listened all night. They were articulate, aware and ambitious for Plymouth; the gap between rich and poor in Plymouth mattered to all of them and they would like to see it change.

We had a really interesting discussion about their perceptions of unfairness across the city. That people used stereotypes when deciding whether to interact with others based on where someone lives or what school they go to. Having activities that are open and available to all – where people meet as equals and are able to develop their potential in a supportive and encouraging environment – was really important. Having a way to access information about what goes on in Plymouth and where opportunities like this can be accessed was suggested as organisations tend to advertise on their own or listings magazines focus on a few groups.

The group discussed the lack of role models for them in Plymouth, especially those from diverse communities. They weren’t impressed with those on offer on television. They did think that mentoring would be helpful. Employment was an issue raised and the very low wages that are paid to, for example, 16-year-olds, where the minimum wage is only £3.68/hour yet their working expenses (e.g. the cost of travelling to work) are no different to an adult.

One young man raised the issue of racism, which has been an issue mentioned in several of our submissions, and said that even that very day walking along Union Street someone had said to him “oooh, don’t cut my head off”. We moved on from this to discuss the issue of kindness to people and how welcoming Plymouth is (not) as a city. Several members of the group were appalled that a homeless, disabled individual had been named and shamed in the local paper this week.

We also had an interesting discussion on the lack of training around managing money and budgeting in the school curriculum. In maths, students learn esoteric subjects (trigonometry was mentioned) that it’s unlikely they will ever need to know (unless they had a specialist career such as a surveyor) but subjects such as budgeting or reading a set of accounts are only superficially covered in PHSE or tutor time, where it is down to the interest of the teacher who has been designated to cover the subject. Yet these are life skills and useful in many areas of employment.

The young people wanted some decisive action taken by the Fairness Commission and said that even just doing one thing that will make a difference – but doing it well – would really help.