Young people meet minister to discuss children's rights issues
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes today welcomed a delegation of young people to the Department of Children, Schools and Families to discuss their views on children's rights.
The young people were part of 'Get Ready for Geneva' a Non Government Organisation, that has compiled a report as part of the UNCRC reporting process.
Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said: "I welcome these reports and am pleased to see that they represent the views of children and young people themselves. I will also be taking the views of the Department's Children and Youth Board who I regularly meet to discuss issues facing children and young people in England and Government policies that address these.
"I am pleased that so many young people are engaging in the UNCRC reporting process for the UK and I look forward to a detailed discussion on the issues the reports raised, and the progress we have made, with the UN Committee in September.
"It is true that some young people do not have a good childhood, and we are committed to doing what we can to improve life for them. However, we dispute the bleak picture currently being painted of childhood in this country. This plays into the unfair demonisation of our young people, which we know they dislike so much. It is also bad for our teachers and parents who are working so hard to do the best by our country's children and young people.
"I was delighted to meet the young people today and have a constructive discussion about what more everyone in this country can do to improve children's well being and let them know what we in Government are doing to play our part."
Considerable progress has been made on outcomes for children in this country since the last UNCRC report in 2002. More than 600,000 children have been lifted out of poverty, almost 3,000 children's centres have been established and school funding has increased by 87%. For the first time ever there has been a serious focus on play, with £235 million earmarked for children's play areas and the £190 million myplace programme will provide world class places to go to for hundreds of thousands of young people.
But the Government is not complacent about progress and formed the Department of Children Schools and Families a year ago to show how serious it was in its commitment to children.
One of the first major pieces of work from the new Department was the Children's Plan, a 10 year plan to address many of the issues raised in these UNCRC reports, including issues such as more and better childcare, excellent schools, and more places to go and things to do for children and young people.
We have already started to deliver on key promises made in the Children's Plan, including a cross government children's health strategy, the Byron review on online safety and the youth alcohol action plan. The latter strikes a new balance between enforcement and what more can be done to reduce excessive drinking by young people.
Jackson, a 14 year old member of Get Ready for Geneva said:
We're really pleased that the Minister for Children met with us to receive the report children in England have sent to the United Nations, and hear the evidence we'll be presenting to the UN later this week. We talked to her about all the things children shared with us in our children's rights investigation, and about what action the Government needs to take to protect children's rights better in England. I think human rights are important because without them children are open to abuse and unfair treatment."
NOTES TO EDITORS
In the 2007 TellUs2 survey, which collected the views of over 110,000 pupils, the majority of children (93%) said that they felt happy about life at the moment. This finding was reflected in the 2004 Family and Children Study, with 89% of 11-15 year olds reporting feeling happy about life as a whole.
The vast majority of children say they are physically healthy. In England, nearly all children and young people aged up to 15 say they are generally healthy. In the 2005 Health Survey for England, 94% of boys and 96% of girls said that their general health was either good or very good.
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Published on: 2008-06-09
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