APPG Men&Boys

What is an APPG?

“All-Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) are informal cross-party groups that have no official status within Parliament. They are run by and for Members of the Commons and Lords, though many choose to involve individuals and organisations from outside Parliament in their administration and activities.”

Update 13 April 2021

Hearing on ‘fatherlessness. Evidence by Sonia Shaljean, Lads Need Dads.

Agree three further meetings on the ‘Boy Today’ project: education, community and health.

Update 18 March 2021

The inaugural meeting took place on 16th March

The officers and secretariat were elected

• Chair:  Mark Jenkinson MP
• Vice-chairs: Lord Fred Ponsonby; Baroness Margaret Eaton; Ben Bradley MP;  Nick Fletcher MP. 

Members (including officers)

MPs: Con: 7; Lab: 0; SNP 1
Peers: Con 1; Lab 3; LibDem:1; Cross-Bench:2

Agreed remit

‘To raise awareness of disadvantages and poor outcomes faced by men and boys in education, mental and physical health and law; to influence attitudes, role models, policy and legislation that will lead to positive differences to their well-being and lives.‘   

Project 1: ‘A boy today’

To create a narrative ‘What is it like to be a boy, today, in the UK?’, based on evidence and personal testimony.

Process

• look at the life of a boy by inviting analysis and evidence from those who work with boys and men
• support the analysis with personal testimony from boys and men
• use this evidence to develop a narrative which answers the question above
• publish the narrative and use as the basis for further work by the APPG

Potential future issues

• The high male suicide rate
• The challenges faced by boys and men at all stages of education including attainment and re-skilling
• Men’s health (including male cancers), shorter life expectancy, infertility and workplace deaths
• The challenges faced by the most marginalised men and boys in society (for instance, homeless men, boys in care and the high rate of male deaths in custody)
• Male victims of violence, including sexual violence
• The challenges faced by men as parents, particularly new fathers, separated fathers and shared parenting
• Male victims and survivors of sexual abuse, rape, sexual exploitation, domestic abuse, forced marriage, honour-based crime, stalking and slavery
• The negative portrayal of men, boys and fathers

Equi-law UK as secretariat

The leadership, agenda and activities of the APPG will be determined by the APPG itself. The role of Equi-law UK is simply to promote the establishment of the group and to provide secretarial support if requested to do so.

Equi-law UK does not offer specific solutions or policies. It simply seeks to promote discussion of these issues and that the problems should be considered and addressed by the parliamentary process.

APPG potential actions

1. Events in Parliament on specific issues.
2. Early Day Motions.
3. Written questions.
4. Oral questions for the chambers.
5. Submissions for Select Committees.
6. Publish reports.
7. Full debates (Westminster Hall and Main Chamber).
8. Press releases and Tweets.
9. Advocacy letters.