The independent think-tank, I founded – the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) – has sought to analyse the causes of poverty and social breakdown. We have identified the drivers of poverty – family breakdown, welfare dependency, drink and drug addiction, bad schools and crippling personal debt.
But there is one vital area we have yet to explore, which I believe offers young children from difficult backgrounds the opportunity to develop self-belief and self-respect and turn their lives around. I am talking about sport.
Of course, much is being done by schools, youth and sports clubs, sporting bodies and charities. But I believe we have only begun to scratch the surface of what is possible. That is why I have asked the CSJ, working with the Lord's Taverners, a sporting charity with a focus on disadvantaged youngsters, to produce a detailed strategy to harness the power and magic of sport to transform young lives and help reverse social breakdown.
And there is plenty of room for improvement. According to recent government research, 72 per cent of young people do not get a regular chance at teamwork while 81 per cent will never play in inter-school events. One in four children does not take part in any organised sport, according to a MORI survey commissioned by ministers. Many people were surprised by the analysis of the backgrounds of our Olympic medal winners. Averaged across the last three Games, half had attended fee-paying schools, but only 7 per cent of the population attends a private school. What has gone wrong with sport in state schools?
I instinctively feel that this part of the blame must lie with liberal educational theories of the 1960s, which pushed competitive team games in too many state schools to the sidelines. I can remember old-style sports masters who would give up many of their evenings and weekends to coach school teams and accompany their sides to regular inter-school matches. Far fewer teachers are able to make that commitment today. Then there are issues such as the short-sighted sales of playing fields and the cost of equipment. But I suspect the problem is as much about a state of mind as the state of our pitches.
What those involved with young people often tell me is that, properly taught and equipped, sporting activities can transform young lives in the most deprived parts, turning children away from petty crime and anti-social behaviour, drugs and a life on benefits; and that inner-city schools could do more to ensure that all pupils got the chance to take part in structured sporting activity.
As a coach at an inner-city project in Hull told our inquiry panel: "The vandalism has all but stopped since CitiCricket started. Truancy from school has also reduced".
This project is not about finding the next Wayne Rooney. It is about showing that sport has psychological and social benefits that can help rebuild our broken society, and about giving poor children the chances their middle-class counterparts take for granted.
