Department for Education
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Government launches consultation on helping children and young people to stay safe
The Government wants to support parents in striking the right balance between protecting their children and allowing them to learn and explore safely, according to a new consultation published today by Children's Minister Ed Balls.
The Government is publishing Staying Safe to promote discussion on how best to keep children safe. The strategy also looks at how to best protect vulnerable children and young people and how to respond when children and young people have been harmed.
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, said:
"Childhood has changed. Children's lives today are different from those of the previous generation, just as our childhood was different from that of our parents. Some of those changes are for the better, bringing new opportunities and experiences. Others present challenges and sometimes different risks.
"We rightly have high expectations for our children today. We want them to be protected from any sort of harm and abuse. But this does not mean that we should wrap our children in cotton wool. Childhood is a time for learning and exploring. Through playing and doing positive activities, children and young people can learn to better understand the opportunities and challenges in the world around them, and how to be safe. I want parents to be able to strike the right balance between protecting their children and at the same time allowing them to learn and explore new situations safely.
"We want everyone in society to take responsibility for helping children and young people to stay safe. This does not mean interfering in other people's lives but does mean accepting a collective responsibility for children's safety and welfare so that every child and young person can make the most of new opportunities and develop their potential to the full."
Staying Safe includes proposals to:
* Launch a public education campaign to improve the public's ability to identify and report concerns about children's safety, and raise awareness of the need to take responsibility for safeguarding children and young people;
* Launch a new communications campaign to encourage parents to let their children play outside in safe environments and take part safely in positive activities;
* Launch a new national safeguarding awards scheme to celebrate success and highlight individual contributions to improving children and young people's safety;
* Carry out a research study into the best Personal Social and Heath Education materials for teaching about safety, helping teachers to identify which resources will be most helpful for their particular school; and
* Extend anti-bullying policies and training used in schools to other settings, including children's homes, extended school services, further education colleges, youth groups.
Since the 1990s, deaths or serious injuries caused by road traffic accidents have reduced by over 50 per cent. UNICEF rates us as second among OECD countries for deaths by accidents and injuries. Many childhood diseases can now be prevented or cured. And children today enjoy opportunities that would have been unimaginable to their parents and grandparents.
But there are still significant challenges. Children of parents who have never worked or are long term unemployed are 13 times more likely to die from unintentional injury and 37 times more likely to die as a result of exposure to smoke, fire and flames than children of parents in higher managerial or professional occupations.
Children in the 10 per cent most deprived wards are three times more likely to be hit by a car than children in the 10 per cent least deprived wards.
The strategy also includes proposals to
* provide information for parents about risks of harm faced by children and through Sure Start Children's Centres ensure information is given to families of young children; and
* to launch communications targeted at parents in high risk households, advising them about the causes of accidents, and how to prevent them.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The consultation period for Staying Safe runs until on 31 October 2007. A cross-Government action plan will be published in response to the consultation.
2. Full details of the consultation can be found on http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/stayingsafe or by emailing the consultation team on staying.safe@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk
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