The UK has been accused of failing its children, as it comes bottom of a league table for child well-being across 21 industrial countries

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6359363.stm

"
BBC NEWS
UK is accused of failing children
*The UK has been accused of failing its children, as it comes bottom of 
a league table for child well-being across 21 industrial countries. *

The Unicef report looked at 40 indicators including poverty, 
relationships with parents and health.

The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland head the list.

Children's charities have condemned the findings. The government says it 
has made progress on child well-being through several initiatives.

Unicef - the United Nations' children's organisation - says the report, 
titled Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Wellbeing in 
Rich Countries, is the first study of childhood across the world's 
industrialised nations.


	
HAVE YOUR SAY
* Not enough parental time is spent in bringing up our children *
John Nicholls, Altrincham

Unicef UK executive director David Bull said all the countries had 
weaknesses that needed to be addressed.

"By comparing the performance of countries we see what is possible with 
a commitment to supporting every child to fulfil his or her full 
potential," he said.

* 'Out-of-date' *

The UK rated highly for education but was in the bottom third for all of 
the other categories.

A spokesman for the UK government said its initiatives in areas such as 
poverty, pregnancy rates, teenage smoking, drinking and risky sexual 
behaviour had helped improve children's welfare.


	* We simply cannot ignore these shocking findings *
Bob Reitemeier
Children's Society

Welfare Minister Jim Murphy said the Unicef study was an "historic" 
report, which used some data which was now out of date.

"It looks at some information and analysis from perhaps six, seven, 
eight years ago," he told the BBC's Newsnight. "Some of the information 
really is out of date in that sense.

"If you look at the teenage pregnancies issue, for example, we're now 20 
years low on teenage pregnancy levels, and on homelessness as well 
there's been real progress there as well - a 25-year low in terms of new 
homelessness, so there's an awful lot we have achieved."


	
CHILD WELL-BEING LEAGUE TABLE
1. Netherlands
2. Sweden
3. Denmark
4. Finland
5. Spain
6. Switzerland
7. Norway
8. Italy
9. Republic of Ireland
10. Belgium
11. Germany
12. Canada
13. Greece
14. Poland
15. Czech Republic
16. France
17. Portugal
18. Austria
19. Hungary
20. United States
21. * United Kingdom *
/ Source: Unicef /

But he acknowledged the Unicef report was important. "Hopefully it leads 
to a wider conversation about what more we can do to eradicate poverty," 
he said.

The Children's Society has launched a website to coincide with the 
report, www.mylife.uk.com, which allows children to answer a series of 
surveys about their lives.

The society's chief executive Bob Reitemeier said: "We simply cannot 
ignore these shocking findings.

"Unicef's report is a wake-up call to the fact that, despite being a 
rich country, the UK is failing children and young people in a number of 
crucial ways."

The Children's Commissioner for England, Professor Al Aynsley-Green, 
said he was not surprised by the report's findings.

"It's very much in line with what children and young people are telling 
me about their lives today, and I think the shocking conclusion is that 
as a nation we have been failing our children and young people."

* 'Failed generation' *

Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, said it was 
"shameful" to see the UK at the bottom of the table.

"This report shows clearly that despite the UK's wealth, we are failing 
to give children the best possible start in life," she said.

"The UK government is not investing enough in the wellbeing of children, 
especially to combat poverty and deprivation."

Shadow Chancellor George Osborne accused Chancellor Gordon Brown of 
having "failed this generation of children".

"After 10 years of his welfare and education policies, our children 
today have the lowest wellbeing in the developed world," said Mr Osborne.


	
REPORT FINDINGS
UK child poverty has doubled since 1979
Children living in homes earning less than half national average wage - 16%
Children rating their peers as "kind and helpful" - 43%
Families eating a meal together "several times" a week - 66%
Children who admit being drunk on two or more occasions - 31%

He also said government could encourage parents to have greater 
involvement with their children through "a framework of more flexible 
working".

But he added: "I don't actually think government has the answer to all 
these problems.

"This is not all about politicians in Westminster passing laws, it's 
about social responsibility, it's about parents taking greater 
responsibility for their children, it's about trusting teachers in 
classrooms, it's about us as neighbours in a society playing our part as 
well."

A spokeswoman for the government said it regarded the improvement of the 
life of British children as a matter of particular importance.

"Nobody can dispute that improving children's well-being is a real 
priority for this government," she said.

"We recognise that Unicef does vital work in this area.

"We are working hard to improve all children's life chances and the 
report confirms that children's educational attainment at 15 in the UK 
compares well with many other EU countries."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/6359363.stm

Published: 2007/02/14 00:20:07 GMT

© BBC MMVII
"
*Unicef report in full (1.5MB)* 
<http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/13_02_07_nn_unicef.pdf>

Henk Elegeert

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