Friends of the Earth Cymru promote wide remit Children's Commission

Friends of the Earth Cymru today put forward innovative proposals for a wide-remit and widely based Children's Commission in Wales. The group's proposals are detailed in a report entitled 'Sharing Our World' which was launched in the National Assembly building today. The report was written for FOE Cymru by Lesley McCarthy a campaigner for children's inclusion.

The Assembly is committed to establishing a Children's Commissioner in Wales and is currently consulting with the public. Secretary of State, Paul Murphy has already said that an amendment to the Care Standards Bill would give statutory powers to a Commissioner within Social Services. However, FOE Cymru would like the remit of the Commissioner to be expanded to cover all issues that significantly effect children, from social services to transport, environment and planning. To be effective at grassroots level with such a wide remit the group have proposed a Commission with around twenty Assistant commissioners based in regional offices around Wales. FOE Cymru say that the health, safety and fitness levels of UK children is worrying. The group point out that the UK has one of the worst child road-injury rates in Europe yet Councils are proposing development on playing fields (1) and the Government has done little in the recent road traffic speed policy review to make streets safer for children to play and make their own way to school.

Neil Crumpton of FOE Cymru said:

"The Commission would provide a socially inclusive framework to address today's local problems of children ranging from abuse and poverty to fast traffic in streets and the building over of treasured play areas. By including today's children in our decision-making they in turn may acquire the skills necessary to meet the global challenges of the 21st Century and protect future generations."

"Global issues such as climate change, over use of resources, genetic modification, and the nuclear legacy all require highly socially inclusive responses and children brought up in inclusive communities will be best placed to make those responses."

Notes

1) Conwy Council have plans to build on playing fields at Erias Park, Colwyn Bay which has caused so much alarm among children and adults that a campaign group supported by various celebrities has been set up. Barry Council are similarly trying to develop a local green space used by children. Other Councils with green spaces may also have plans to sell off such land.

Road crashes are the single biggest killer of school age children, accounting for two-thirds of premature child deaths. More than 200 children die each year on Britain's roads, and nearly 6,000 are seriously injured. Speed is a major factor , In residential areas where car speed has been reduced from 30mph to 20 mph, child pedestrian casualties have fallen by 70% (TRL 1996). Denmark radically reduced its child road injury rates by involving all sectors of local communities.

Children especially those from poorer families are particularly exposed to excessive road speed. A child is 50 times more likely to be killed by a motorised vehicle than by a stranger.

2) Introduction to 'Sharing Our World

In the final months of 1999 Friends of the Earth Cymru commissioned and supported Lesley McCarthy who is a promoter of children's inclusion to write a report about a wide-remit, grassroots-based Children's Commission in Wales. FOE Cymru became involved because Lesley presented a convincing prima-facie case that such a Commission would be the most effective way of promoting children's inclusion and protecting their rights.

The report describes and details the practicalities of delivering an effective Children's Commission in Wales. The Commission would have a remit covering all areas that affect children, from social services to planning and transport policy. The Commission's staff would be independent and pro-active friends and advocates of all children in Wales as well as defenders of their rights. The Commission is designed to be accessible and child friendly. All children and young people would know that the Commission is there for them, whatever their concern and thus approaching the Commission would be stigma free. This report assumes that at least initially such a Commission would not have statutory powers or rights but these could evolve in time and with experience.

The Commission would have a staff of about 40, over half of whom would work out of 10 local offices, backed up by a semi-independent research group based in a dedicated children's resource centre or 'Children's House'. Further expertise would be called in on an ad-hoc basis where necessary. The Commission as envisaged would cost £1.5 million per annum to run and its budget would be under control of the National Assembly.

FOE Cymru propose that such a Children's Commission should be established in Wales. We believe it would be instrumental in enhancing the quality of life of all today's children and meet the spirit and obligations of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It would create a framework to promote the inclusion of young people in the decisions made which affect their lives and or their communities. Such early experience in active citizenship would likely encourage a greater degree of participation in democratic processes as they grow to adulthood. Any improvements to quality of life and participatory democracy would benefit future generations and this would help Wales meet its commitment to sustainable development which is a remit written into Wales's act of nationhood.

FOE Cymru believe that a grassroots approach is fundamental. Children's rights and needs should be delivered in practice as opposed to existing in theory. Many of the issues and developments that most effect children need timely local representation or intervention. Independent, pro-active and on-the-spot action would achieve results by anticipating and averting problems from happening in the first place. There is little point in a high tower approach with a centralised, under resourced office trying to effect change from afar and compiling evidence of what has gone wrong for set-piece court cases. This would only leave children as passive victims of events happening in their lives.

The cost of a grassroots approach would reap much greater dividends. Many budgetary decisions are made with little or no understanding of their effect on children. Our adult intentions are presumably assumed to be in the best interests of children but there is often little evidence or attempt to justify this with 'child impact statements'. For example, just from the standpoint of road safety the Commission would almost cover its annual running costs if it achieved a reduction of even a few child road victims per year. This is because each fatality is estimated by the DETR to cost over £1 million and each serious injury over £100,000. Indeed, the UK has one of the highest child pedestrian injury rates in Europe so there is a large margin for improvement in this area alone. We are sure that other professions, whether their work directly involves children or not, could see worthwhile cost benefits also.

The Commission would be expected to quickly gain experience in assessing the effect on children of potential policies and decisions made by public bodies whether they relate directly or indirectly to children. The way we plan our cities, communities and rural areas reflects our values and the result is a physical, and often concrete, representation of our cultural attitudes to children. The Commission would be there as a friend to children giving them support and confidence by for example helping them to articulate their feelings. The value to children of playing fields, play areas and safe, unpolluted streets is a good case in point. Fast traffic in streets and no play areas can only adversely affect children's safety, fitness, health, independent mobility and even classroom attentiveness.

As this Century progresses the social, environmental and economic issues facing the fast increasing global population will present complex sustainability challenges which will test even the most socially inclusive countries. Friends of the Earth Cymru propose that a Children's Commission as envisaged and detailed in this report is an inspired and practical way to include all the 600,000 children in Wales in our adult lives. We believe that this would give children the tools and skills necessary to meet this global challenge and create a sharing world at the start of the 21st Century.