Ethnic groups mainly are excluded from participation in civil society only a few are permitted. The existing networks see them as a threat and use their influence locally to ensure individuals and groups are not supported thus get lack of opportunity. The work of these grassroots groups is important as in the majority of cases they are working with the most marginalised and then again marginalised by the structure which they supposed to be able to represent and engage others to participate equally. When a black male can not get a job is stereotyped and excluded plus lacks any positive portray in the media and then excluded from professions and limited to certain careers. They must feel demoralised and are not going to be able to impart to their wider communities and families as to engage in civil society show leadership to their women and children will not aspire to greater than the man in any culture so it starts there and racism in the driver. There will take a major shift in thinking for this be fairly representative but individuals can play a part i consider myself as a positive role model positively engaging in civil society and could write a book of experiences i have faced based on discrimination. I consider the British values friendly and welcoming tolerant and supportive

There are towns and parts of certain cities where poverty,unemployment and ill health are a constant.Motivation to engage is limited and its easy just to give up.To energise these communities needs real investment and leadership.

As a disabled person, I felt very left behind indeed by my political party of choice-Labour. So much so that I have joined forces with like minded people to start a lobbying group-Party Participation and Disabled People. The lack of support for disabled people at this year's conference-I can highlight dozens of examples but for starters, lack of seats in refreshment areas, no signers during speeches, no support assistants for blind and visually impaired people, in my case, no taxis readily available (I am unable to stand without severe pain and could not take the scooter outside the conference hall)-indicated how far back we are in the priority queue, and has resulted in a motion being tabled to Labour's National Executive Committee. It is also telling that, in the original select committee enquiry which I contributed to-when analysing groups of people "left behind" in society, you failed to mention the group that has been affected by austerity cuts 9 times more than any other social group, the fact that you fail to mention us in your brief indicated just how successful this government have been in making us invisible. I am fully in agreement with Katharine Youngs' comment, a fundament shift in the neo liberal social Dawinisist approach to society is essential to enable each person to fully contribute and participate as citizens.

Q1. a. Too complex to simplify. b. There are a multitude of ways to achieve this. Goal: self-confidence. Q2. I would use the Report of The Commission on Belief and Religion in the UK as a basic text. Q3 and 4. Ditto Sir Bernard Crick's Report. In his follow-up, he noted a number of reasons for the relative failure in delivering the curriculum: many still manifest 17 years later. I believe the core issue is teaching young people how to manage their inner and outer conflicts: we know how to do this. Q5. There are many examples of these but few attract attention from the media or sufficient funding. Advances in understanding and the measuring of happiness and well-being will provide insights and data to support your recommendations.

Since we launched our community group we have noticed a significant improvement in the area. People like to be informed and offered choices about where they live and what will happen in an area. Getting more people involved in community decisions and planning will only help to build communities of the future.

Why do so many groups in society appear to feel disengaged and 'left behind'? *** Prejudice - Focus on social integration in schools including getting rid of ALL church schools. How could they be supported and encouraged to participate more in public life? *** Difficult - There is no place for social engineering in public life but I believe many of the older generation (including those in public life) are deeply prejudiced. These are the people that need 'supporting.' Are there specific values or beliefs that are important within British society? ***VALUES are common to pretty much all society regardless of religion, race or creed. It would be helpful if CORE VALUES could be agreed upon and PROMOTED ***Beliefs are exactly what the word says. In a free country we are all entitled to our personal beliefs PROVIDED they are not inconsistent with our CORE VALUES and we tolerate and don't discriminate against those with other beliefs. t citizenship education play in terms of promoting shared values and the skills necessary to engage in society? ***Waste of time and money. What are the main barriers to civic engagement and – more importantly – how might they be removed? ***I do not believe there are any apart from prejudice (addressed above). Conversely one might consider introducing barriers to try and limit the engagement of those whose behaviour does not conform to our CORE VALUES (see above). ***Where are the examples of successful innovation, positive role models or new forms of civic engagement? Parliament!

In short, we could all live and work together more constructively if we were prepared to work towards understanding why people hold different opinions, have different ambitions and see the world in different ways. There seems to be little appetite for investing the effort required to produce this understanding. Opinions and ambitions are the result of values people bring to discussions. Values are not wishy washy non words. They directly address the most important aspects of any life. Values are another way of saying what matters at the core of a person's identity and confidence: liberty, strength (knowledge/skills/education), financial stability, home, time for family life, health, religious observance, honesty, personal wealth. These values translate into beliefs about what it means to be trustworthy, to act with Integrity, the limits of autonomy, acceptable measures of security, reward and punishment. They are not easy to reconcile: how can you compare liberty with health? Or family life with strength? Trustworthiness with education? All matter but imply different types of action towards rather ends that may look very different indeed. The main barrier to civic engagement is lack of a mechanism for people to engage their values, as the root of motivation, with accessible routes for taking practical action.

I would like to add my support to Jane and the comments she made on 25th Sep. Jane has articulated her experience very well. In answer to one of Jane's questions, Yes, I believe that political correctness is stifling constructive discussion. I have friends who have a simliar experience to Jane but who are too afraid to even consider making a comment on a forum such as this. Britain needs to make free speech safe, once again, providing of course that no one is advocating violence or hatred. There are communities within the UK, such as those described by Jane, who appear to live quite seperately from other communities. These communities should also be involved in this kind of discussion. What do these communities need in order for them to contribute to and feel part of the wider British community?

Why do so many groups in society appear to feel disengaged and 'left behind'? How could they be supported and encouraged to participate more in public life? Bridge Institute is a think tank centred on Muslim communities. We focus on issues around integration, discrimination and social mobility. This answer is centred on issues pertaining to Muslim communities although some issues and recommendations a shared among a variety of communities and people of different backgrounds. A number of reports have been produced in recent times which either directly or indirectly evidence significant barriers and structural inequalities Muslim people face in Britain today. • The Social Mobility Commission concluded young Muslims living in the UK are being held back from reaching their full potential at every stage of their lives • Labour MP David Lammy’s review into the treatment of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) individuals in the criminal justice system highlighted the extent to which Muslims are disproportionately represented in prison, with the Muslim prison population increasing by almost 50% over the last decade • The Institute for Jewish Policy Research, despite centring its analysis on anti-Semitism, found that Muslims are viewed least favourably compared to other religious groups in Great Britain with justification for violence towards Muslims being significantly higher than any other religious group – second only to justification of violence towards Islamist extremists • Most recently, a YouGov Survey showed that 55% of voters regard it as right for the police to use racial profiling against Arabs or Muslims for security reasons and 64% believe Arabs have failed to integrate despite 81% of respondents saying they “know little or nothing” about the Arab world It is true students from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds (often used as a proxy for Muslim communities) are more likely than ever to succeed in education and go on to university than other groups – particularly girls. This is testament to the resilience and high aspiration within Muslim communities. However, education success does not translate into labour market success. Only 6% of Muslims are in higher managerial, administrative and professional occupations compared to 10% of the population (Social Mobility Commission, 2017). Moreover, Muslims experience the greatest economic disadvantages of any faith group in UK society with 50% of Muslim households considered to be in poverty compared with less than 20% in the overall population (CSI, 2015). The negative impact of structural inequalities is unequivocal and serve as key barriers to active participation and feelings of disengagement among many. Taken together, these contributory factors have profound implications for social mobility, civic action and integration. To date, consecutive governments following the 2010 election have failed to implement winning strategies tackling the enduring inequality of opportunity that persist on the basis of race and religion. Here we make three key recommendations serving as a starting point: 1. We welcome the Government Equalities Office gender pay gap reporting scheme, requiring 9,000 employers to publish their gender pay gap. We encourage the GEO to go one step further and break down pay by ethnicity as well. Large and medium sized businesses, statutory bodies and charities should: a) Publish the organisations median ethnic pay gap figures b) Publish the organisations mean ethnic pay gap figures c) Publish peoples ethnicities in each quartile of the pay structure to show the spread of earners by ethnicity across an organisation, helping to show employers where ethnic minorities progress might be stalling so they can take action to support their career development d) Publish pay gaps by ethnicity for any bonuses paid out during the year 2. The DCLG and the GEO should formulate an official cross-departmental Race Equality Unit specifically responsible for race equality policymaking and analysis. At present, lines of accountability are blurred and public information on cross-departmental co-operation is inaccessible. We recommend the Race Equality Unit focuses on key-target areas including criminal justice, education, employment, health and wellbeing, housing and active citizenship 3. We recommend the Government works with businesses and civil society organisations to help build individual capital and social networks through national mentoring projects, targeted networking events and “fast stream” internship initiatives for young Muslims and other people from lower socio-economic backgrounds

My concern is that many people experiencing sensory impairment do not have access to engagement due to specific communication needs, this can lead to isolation and a feeling that they are not taken seriously