Mr. John Church:

First, it has to be acknowledged that the majority of children and young people have been amazing during this Covid period. They showed incredible resilience. They got back to school and they got back to sports. However, the numbers we have presented here today show that a worrying number of children are being left behind. The ISPCC's philosophy of resilience building does involve the parents. The nature of Childline is that it is a confidential service. The children contact us and they are the centre of our service. Very often the issue is how to communicate with the parent. The children may say, "My parents are not listening to me", or "I do not know how to talk to my siblings". The services we provide help children to do that. We have also introduced a parent hub, something that Barnardos has also done, in recognition that the parent is a significant part of this also. We are moving more of our services towards early intervention and prevention. The one bit of advice that we would give to parents is to continue to talk. Talking is very good. Talking makes you stronger. People are probably better at it now than when I was a young fella. That is a very good thing. It is not a sign of weakness. Parents should talk from a very early age with their children, and make that brave move to start very early. They should also talk to teachers and to coaches. Very often teachers are the ones who recognise signs, and will come to a parent on the sideline to perhaps say, "I have noticed something about Johnny and he has been a bit quieter". Talking is very important, as is listening.