A ‘Happy to Chat’ bench is just one of the ways that connection can be factored into local planning.
The pandemic has made shown the issue of loneliness to be one of national importance. Separation from friends, family and loved ones had a profound impact on people’s wellbeing, and in some cases, it also affected people’s abilities to reconnect. As it was recently put by Kim Leadbeater MP and Tracey Crouch MP:
‘Loneliness is a cross-cutting issue. If you’re not connected into your community, you’re less able to find the help you need…Social isolation overlaps with many areas of life, and without action to connect people, they fall through the gaps all too easily.’
Given the importance of this issue, we were delighted that this week’s ‘Political Sandbox’ on Chamber’s YouTube channel featured Kim Leadbeater MP (co-Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Tackling Loneliness and Connected Communities) and Amy Perrin, CEO of the Marmalade Trust, the founders of #LonelinessAwarenessWeek.
Continuing the Legacy of Jo Cox
The issue of loneliness is deeply personal for Kim Leadbeater. Following the murder of her sister Jo Cox MP, she has made a concerted effort to champion those issues that Jo cared deeply about. Soon after Jo Cox became an MP, she set up a cross-party Loneliness Commission, bringing together charities, businesses and government to boost public awareness of loneliness and develop a strong policy response to growing social isolation. As a result of the Commission, Tracey Crouch MP was made the world’s first Minister for Loneliness in 2018. The Commission is also often credited with the widescale roll-out of social prescribers across the UK.
Since Jo’s death in 2016, Kim has worked to continue this legacy both in her work with the Jo Cox Foundation, and, following her recent election in Jo’s old constituency, Batley and Spen, she became the co-chair of the newly relaunched APPG on Tackling Loneliness and Connected Communities. Formerly called the APPG on Loneliness, at the end of 2021, the APPG relaunched with a fresh agenda.
‘It is about broadening the scope of the work. Loneliness will be at the heart of it, but it’s also about looking at the wider piece of work around human connection. That’s individual connection, but also having really well-connected communities.’
By broadening the scope of the APPG, Kim commented that she hopes to build on the work started by Jo Cox’s Loneliness Commission, and the work of the original APPG.
Loneliness after the Pandemic
There is certainly no more apt time to be addressing the issue of loneliness than in the wake of the pandemic. This Tuesday (15th February), the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport published their third annual ‘Tackling Loneliness Report’. Importantly it notes that while the pandemic shone a spotlight on the issue, a large number of people felt isolated long before 2020. This was a dynamic noted by Amy Perrin, who said that, while it was a good thing that the pandemic had highlighted the importance of loneliness, and policymakers should not allow this to fade from public view, there was a sense in which the issue needed to be decoupled from the pandemic.
That loneliness existed before the pandemic, and will continue to exist after is self-evident, however due to the intensity of loneliness that it brought, we run the risk of associating the two issues too closely. In this sense, as we rebuild we must ensure that it is not an issue that is ‘left behind’, that it is a policy issue, the urgency of which exists independently of the pandemic.
There are various policy interventions that have been implemented and are being implemented to this end. In their discussion, a key area of consideration for Kim and Amy was the importance of building social connection into local infrastructure and ensuring that public spaces are inclusively designed. Human connection is in this sense not solely about the way in which we personally choose to relate to one another, but also how available this connection is made in public planning. Whether this is the presence of public parks, libraries, or other free social spaces, it is important that public infrastructure is built in a way that lends itself to human connection.
‘It’s about taking a holistic approach to loneliness. It’s not just about having a conversation, as important as that is. It’s about building connection into our communities.’
Final Thought
As the Government shifts its attention to the Levelling Up agenda, these are important considerations to make if we are to truly see a connected recovery from the pandemic. Indeed, loneliness is deeply interconnected with many of the core goals of the White Paper. Recent Government research found that loneliness is higher in areas with higher levels of unemployment, and lower in areas with strong local businesses and high rates of adult education. Similarly, loneliness is more prevalent in areas with higher rates of crime. It is here that the upcoming work of the APPG will be so crucial. The Government’s flagship policy programme represents a fantastic opportunity to embed loneliness in the mainstream policy agenda in ways that will have positive impacts far beyond the pandemic, and far beyond social isolation.
