Contact: John Clarke, Deputy Director of Children's Services, telephone 01962 846464, email [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 In February 2007 the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre published its report `An overview of child well-being in rich countries.' In a ranked order of 21 countries, the United Kingdom was placed 21^st.

1.2 This paper sets out the main findings of the UNICEF report; explores the emerging national responses to it, including a Declaration (Appendix 1) sponsored by UNICEF but developed and agreed by the three main UK political parties and the various children's charities; discusses some of the issues for Hampshire; and summarises other research findings in relation to the contribution made by educational institutions to children's well-being.

1.3 The implications of the UNICEF report are very important in the context of the outcomes for children and young people set out in the Children Act 2004, and in the context of the corporate objectives of the County Council relating to the well-being of the people of Hampshire.

2 Recommendation

That the Executive Lead Member for Children's Services (Education) recommends to the Cabinet of the County Council that it endorses the Declaration produced in June 2007, following the publication of the UNICEF report `An overview of child well-being in rich countries', and that the principles set out in that Declaration inform the Council's future planning for the improvement of services to support the well-being of children and young people in the county.

3 The UNICEF report

3.1 `Well-being' means different things to different people but, to the Innocenti Research Centre, it has a number of dimensions: material well-being; health and safety; educational well-being; family and peer relationships; behaviours and risks; and subjective well-being. Each of these dimensions is made up of a number of different measures which, when aggregated, give a score for that dimension. The overall score and, thus, the rank order is produced from an aggregation of the score for each of the six dimensions.

3.2 Material well-being

3.2.1 All the evidence suggests that children who grow up in poverty, on average, are likely to be at a decided and demonstrable disadvantage. Child poverty can be measured in an absolute sense, as the lack of some fixed minimum package of goods and services; or measured in a relative sense as falling behind, by more than a certain figure, the average standard of living of the society in which one lives. The UNICEF report uses measures of both and, thus, it is possible for the United Kingdom - the fifth richest country in the world - to come a long way down the list.

3.2.2 Overall, on this dimension, the United Kingdom is placed 21^st out of 24 (on some dimensions more than 24 countries have been measured).

3.2.3 17% of children in the United Kingdom live in households with equivalent incomes less than 50% of the median. Only the United States of America (22%) is worse. The four Scandinavian countries are top of the list.

3.2.4 8% of the United Kingdom's children live in `working age' households without an employed parent - 20^th out of the 24 countries measured. Australia and Hungary are at the bottom, and Japan and Portugal at the top.

3.2.5 8% of young people aged 15 in the United Kingdom reported low family affluence (8^th out of 20 OECD countries). Top of the list were Norway and the Netherlands, and bottom were Poland and the Czech Republic.

3.2.6 Children and young people were asked whether they had the following items at home: a desk for study, a quiet place to work, a computer for study/work, educational software, an internet connection, a calculator, a dictionary, and school textbooks. 20% of young people in the United Kingdom said they had fewer than six of these resources - quite good compared with other OECD countries (7^th out of 24 countries). Bottom of the list were Greece (62%) and Japan (52%), and top were Norway (12%) and Australia (16%).

3.2.7 9% of the United Kingdom's 15 year-olds reported fewer than ten books in the home in the UNICEF report. The United Kingdom was placed 17^th out of 24 countries. The Netherlands and Portugal were bottom of the list, and the Czech Republic and Hungary at the top.

3.3 Health and Safety

3.3.1 Generally, the United Kingdom does better on this dimension than most of the others but, even so, is 15^th out of 25 countries.

3.3.2 The United Kingdom is 20^th out of 25 countries in terms of infant mortality, with 5 deaths per 1,000 live births before the age of 12 months. Bottom of the list are Hungary and the United States with 7, and top are Iceland and Japan with 3.

3.3.3 The United Kingdom is 21^st out of 25 countries for the proportion of babies born with low birth weight (less than 2.5 kg). Bottom of the list are Hungary and Japan, and top are Iceland and Finland.

3.3.4 Where the United Kingdom does much better than every other country, except Sweden, is in the prevention of child death through accident and injury. In the Unites States of America and New Zealand there is an average of 22 deaths from these causes per 100,000 children, against nine in the United Kingdom and eight in Sweden.

3.4 Educational Well-being

3.4.1 Put simply, the United Kingdom education system performs quite well in relation to other OECD countries in attainment, narrowly defined. What it fails to do is to educate all its children well. The report reveals a relatively large proportion of young people who do not participate in education beyond the age of 16, and who have low aspirations. These are not, exclusively, young people who fall into `vulnerable' groups - young people in our care, those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities, young carers, or young parents, for example. The issue is far bigger.

3.4.2 The United Kingdom is 9^th out of 25 countries in terms of the educational achievement of 15 year olds in reading, mathematics and scientific literacy - a slight decline relatively from the standards achieved by 11 year olds, as measured by tests. Here the United Kingdom is ranked 2^nd. Finland, Canada, Australia and Japan head the table for 15 year olds; Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal are at the bottom; Norway and Denmark, usually near the top of lists relating to children's well-being, are both near the bottom. The Czech Republic ranks comfortably above the majority of OECD countries, including many of its larger and wealthier European neighbours, and the United States of America. Educational attainment seems to be related more to culture and aspiration than to simple measures related to wealth.

3.4.3 More than basic skills are needed if young people are to cope well with the changing demands of labour markets. In the United Kingdom the recent Leitch Report sets out the changing nature of the economy and, therefore, the kind of educational performance that is needed to provide a workforce that is fit for purpose. The United Kingdom does much worse in this area: 20^th out of 23 countries for the percentage of 15-19 year olds in full-time or part-time education. Top of the list are Belgium, the Czech Republic and Germany. Bottom are the United States of America, Portugal and New Zealand.

3.4.4 A relatively large proportion of young people in the United Kingdom do not buy in to the kind of future adults, and government, would want for them. 35% of 15 year olds do not expect to find work requiring more than low skills - worrying because those low-skilled jobs are unlikely to exist in the economy of the future. The United Kingdom is 21^st out of 25 countries on this measure. Aspiration and expectation are highest in the United States, Poland, Greece and Portugal where fewer than 20% expect to find low skilled work; they are lowest in France where over 40% are in this position and in Japan where half of 15 year olds do not expect jobs requiring higher order skills.

3.4.5 It is unfair to place all issues relating to children's well-being, in the widest sense, at the doors of schools and colleges. While young people spend about 16% of their waking time at school there are other major influences that determine how they feel about their lives and how well they are prepared for their futures. Relative wealth or relative poverty, the quality of parenting or caring, the culture of their local - and indeed national - communities all have a powerful part to play. Nevertheless, schools and colleges do make an important contribution and the latest research into what they can do that positively correlates with improved well-being, is set out at Appendix 2.

3.5 Children's Relationships

3.5.1 Relationships with family and friends mean a great deal to children and young people and, obviously, are very important to their future emotional and psychological health. The quality of relationships is more difficult to measure than some other areas of children's lives but an attempt is made in the report. When the measures are aggregated the United Kingdom is bottom of the list and, with the United States, bottom by a long way.

3.5.2 17% of children and young people, aged 11, 13 and 15, in the United Kingdom live in single parent families. Only in the United States is the figure higher. Children are least likely to live in single parent families if they live in Italy, Greece, Spain, Belgium and Portugal. Just above the United Kingdom in the list are Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, countries which on the overall scale of children's well-being are the top four.

3.5.3 Perhaps more important than basic family structure is the amount of time given by adults to the children they care for. Fewer than 50% of 15 year olds in Germany, Iceland, Canada, Switzerland, Poland and Austria said that their parents spend time several times a week `just talking to them'. Nearly 90% of 15 years olds in Hungary and Italy said their parents did that. In the United Kingdom 60% did - about half way down the list. However, the United Kingdom was 22^nd out of 25 countries for the proportion of 15 year olds who ate the main meal of the day with their parents several times a week (65%). In Italy, Iceland and France it was over 90%.

3.5.4 Children and young people were surveyed to determine the degree to which they found their peers `kind and helpful'. The results are alarming for the United Kingdom. Only 43% could agree with the statement - 21^st out of 21 countries. In Switzerland and Portugal 80% or more could agree with it.

3.6 Young People's behaviours and risks

3.6.1 The report considers the health behaviours of young people, their risk behaviours and their experience of violence. The United Kingdom is at the bottom of the list and a long way adrift of any other country.

3.6.2 On the health measures, 11, 13 and 15 year olds in the United Kingdom are less likely to eat breakfast (over 40% of them don't), less likely to eat fruit every day (over 70% of them don't), and more likely to be overweight (16% are) than in most other countries. Only in physical activity do the young people of the United Kingdom come above half way in the list (though the measure is the proportion who report being physically active for one hour or more in the previous week - which will not, of itself, ensure fitness). On health behaviours, overall, the United Kingdom is 17^th out of 21 countries.

3.6.3 The United Kingdom does very badly in terms of the risks that young people expose themselves to (21^st out of 21 countries and a long way behind). 13% of 11, 13 and 15 year olds said they smoked cigarettes more than once a week, better than four other countries but twice as bad as Greece and Sweden. 35% of the same age group reported using cannabis during the previous year. Figures were higher only in Switzerland and Canada but much lower - less than 10% - in Finland, Sweden and Greece. 31% of the same age group reported having been drunk two or more times - the highest proportion by a long way and three times higher than France, Italy, Greece and Spain. 38% of 15 year olds reported having had sexual intercourse in the United Kingdom - far higher than any other country and more than double the proportion in Poland and Spain. 70% of the United Kingdom's 15 year olds reported that they had used a condom during their last sexual intercourse - near the bottom of the list. This figure rose to 90% in Spain and Greece. Teenage fertility rates in the United Kingdom are 27 births per 1000 women, aged 15 to 19. The figures are only higher in New Zealand and the United States; and in Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Demark, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Finland, France and Norway there were fewer than 10 births per 1000 young women.

3.6.4 The experience of violence among the United Kingdom's young people is greater than those in most of the other countries. 43% of 11, 13 and 15 year olds reported that they had been involved in fighting in the last year (17^th our of 21 countries). There was a range, from 25% (Finland) to 48% (Hungary and the Czech Republic). 36% of the same age group in the United Kingdom also reported being bullied in the previous two months (16^th out of 21 countries). There is bullying in all countries, but a range, from 15% of young people who said they had been bullied in Sweden, to 49% in Portugal.

3.7 Subjective Well-being

3.7.1 The final dimension tries to gauge the perceptions of young people about their lives and the United Kingdom is bottom of the list of countries in this area too. Young people perceive their lives to be worse than in any other of the OECD countries.

3.7.2 The United Kingdom is 21^st out of 21 countries in terms of the proportion of 11, 13 and 15 year olds who rate their own health to be `fair or poor'. 25% said this about themselves, compared with 8% in those countries top of this list: Spain and Switzerland. The United Kingdom was 15<sup>th</sup> out of 21 in terms of young people `liking school a lot'. 18% did so here, contrasted with 36% in Austria and 38% in Norway which were top of the list. School is not hugely popular, anywhere.

3.7.3 The researchers used the `life satisfaction ladder' - simply a technique where respondents are invited to see their life as a ladder with ten rungs. The top rung represents the very best life they can envisage for themselves and the bottom, the worst. They are asked to place themselves on this ladder and 82% of 11, 13 and 15 year olds in the United Kingdom placed themselves below halfway (16^th out of 21 countries). Young people were most likely to perceive themselves as enjoying good lives in the Netherlands and Greece (94% and 92%) and least likely in Portugal and Poland (80% and 79%).

3.7.4 A small proportion of young people in all the countries feel `like an outsider or left out of things' or `awkward and out of place' or `lonely'. The figures of the United Kingdom are a little higher than most other countries (7% for the first, 8% for the second and 5% for the third) though they are more in line than on most of the other dimensions.

4 Conclusions and the Hampshire context

4.1 Taken overall, this research describes a serious situation for the United Kingdom's children and young people, particularly those in the teenage years.
As a nation we have prided ourselves on our enlightened social policies, on the strength of our economy and on the work we have done to protect the young members of our society and educate them to a high standard. This may have worked for most young people, but we are a long way from making it work for all. While the issues in Hampshire are not as glaring as they may be in other parts of the country, all of them exist here to one degree or another. We know, for example, from our pupil attitude survey, that a large number of young people feel disempowered in their lives in school; we know that, while our figures for young people not in education, employment or training after the age of 16 are lower than in many other parts of the country, they are much higher than in other European countries and we know that, in 2006, nearly a thousand young people in mainstream schools left the compulsory years of education without even the most basic of qualifications in educational attainment - despite, in many cases, having attained sufficient by the age of 14 to have made achieving this almost a formality.

4.2 When set against other rich countries, the United Kingdom has a high proportion of young people, some of whom are in Hampshire, who are unhealthy, poorly supported in their education by their domestic circumstances, and who experience bullying and poor support from their peers. We have too many whose current lives are blighted and whose future aspirations are low; too many who do not see themselves as experiencing, as they grow older, the quality of life enjoyed by the majority.

4.3 The United Kingdom is the fifth richest country in the world and Hampshire is a rich part of it. It is not a lack of resources that produces this situation, though it may be related to how they are distributed. It is more likely to be the product of history and culture, the nature of our society, the things we value and those we don't, the way we have come to view children and the ways adults behave towards them. Whatever is the cause, we know this is a situation that cannot be allowed to continue. We are storing problems for the future: in the lives of individuals, in the society they will inhabit and in the sharpness of our economic competitiveness, on which so many of the future resources to fund social policy depend. If the Children and Young People's Partnership in Hampshire is truly committed to prevention and early intervention we need to do something more than we are currently doing. We need to lead a debate about childhood in the 21^st Century, and the relationship between adults and children, that extends beyond the apparently narrow confines of our brief. This is about leadership in the community, not just about the management of our services.

5 Action

5.1 The aspirations set out in the Declaration (Appendix 1) are about placing children and young people at the heart of our society recognising that society itself will need to change to do this. Individuals and organisations are being encouraged to sign it and if the Children and Young People's Partnership in Hampshire were to do so, and if all the partners were to do so separately, this would give the strongest possible commitment in Hampshire to our collective will - and inform the refresh of our Children and Young People's Plan.

5.2 The Declaration came out of a conference in June 2007 sponsored by UNICEF UK. It was attended by spokespeople from the three main political parties; the offices of the Children's Commissioners of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; the Chief Executives of the country's major charities that work with children and young people; some of the academics who had produced the report; researchers into children's well-being; representatives from the countries who came out well in the report; four young people; and two people from Children's Services departments with experience of the school sector.

5.3 The Declaration seems, already, to be informing government policy. The speech of the Secretary of State on 18 July 2007 demonstrates some subtle changes of content and tone. He spoke not only of the continuation of the Children's Fund, but of an increase in funding to support children's mental health; an initiative to consult on the best ways to ensure that parents are supported in striking the right balance between protecting their children and allowing them to learn and explore safely, without being wrapped up in cotton wool; ways to extend anti-bullying policies to children's homes, extended school services, and youth groups; and an initiative designed to develop fun, safe, and effective children's play, recognising that play is a central part of any happy childhood and essential to learning and development.

6 Corporate priorities

6.1 The proposals in this report will assist in maximising children and young people's well-being in Hampshire, and demonstrate the meaning of community leadership in the context of children and young people, their parents and carers and all the services that support them. They will contribute to making Hampshire safer and more secure for all and will enhance the sense of place.

6.2 The proposals will also contribute to the fulfilment of the aspirations of the Children Act 2004 in the county.

7 Consultation

7.1 There has been no consultation in the framing of this report.

8 Legal implications

8.1 None

9 Financial implications

9.1 None at this stage, although the refresh of the Children and Young People's Plan may change the distribution of resources.

10 Personnel implications

10.1 None

11 Impact assessment

11.1 If the aspirations in the Declaration inform the thinking and plans of the Children and Young People's Partnership, impact assessment will be better done in the future. It will concentrate minds in respect of which children and young people are truly `vulnerable', and allow the partnership to allocate resources and services to lessening the effects of that vulnerability on future lives.

12 Crime prevention issues

12.1 Children and young people who enjoy a sense of well-being are less likely to engage in crime or anti-social activities. Direct links between the proposals in this report and crime prevention are difficult to draw, but an increased focus on child well-being, in its widest sense, should produce a positive impact in time.

13 Views of the Local County Councillor

13.1 At this stage the views of local county councillors have not been sought.

Section 100 D - Local Government Act 1972 - background documents

The following documents discuss facts or matters on which this report, or an important part of it, is based and have been relied upon to a material extent in the preparation of this report.

NB: the list excludes

1. Published works

2. Documents which disclose exempt or confidential information as defined in the Act.

None

Appendix 1:- The Declaration on Child Well-being - 8 June 2007

Following the publication of the UNICEF report An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries in February 2007, we believe that the following measures must be acted on if we are to improve children's well-being in the UK.

The current level of child poverty in the UK, the fifth richest economy in the world, is unacceptable and does not reflect the decent society we hope for. We believe the UK should remain committed to halving child poverty by 2010 and to ending child poverty by 2020. We support the need to spend time, energy and money to ensure this becomes a reality. We believe that these targets should be met across the four nations of the United Kingdom.

All children and young people experience the opportunities and stresses of modern life. We know that life for some children and young people in the United Kingdom is more difficult than we want it to be.

We must place children and young people at the heart of our society by listening to them and respecting their hopes, views and concerns. We know that this will bring about a change in the way we live our lives. That change will be for the better.

To improve children and young people's well-being, the UK must become a country in which:

· Children and young people, their families and people who care for them, have the support, skills and resources to help children and young people to explore their dreams

· Places of learning help children and young people to be confident and happy

· Children and young people feel safe, and are free to explore their world and take risks

· We all work together to make space for children and young people to enjoy childhood

· All children and young people have someone to talk to and somewhere to go when they need it

· All children are valued and deserve our help, support and love, including when they are in trouble

· All children and young people feel included and cherished whatever their background or beliefs and wherever they come from

· Mental health services are there for children and young people when they need them

· Children and young people play an active role in shaping the services and activities that affect their lives

· The good things that children and young people do are shown fairly in stories in newspapers, on television and in other media

· We live up to the promise we made when we signed up to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of the Child

· These principles are urgently put into our policies, laws and behaviours.

Appendix 2 : Achieving Well-being through Education: Research Findings

This is a summary of research culled from a variety of sources and presented in headline form. Much of it is well know to educationalists but perhaps has been seen, in some places, as tangential to the main purposes of schools and colleges. It is not. All the research evidence shows a very strong correlation between the well-being of children and young people and their attainment. Educational institutions that concentrate specifically on developing well-being, generally add more value to the attainment of children and young people.

Well-being is enhanced in educational settings where:

· Specific emphasis is placed on helping children and young people to acquire the skills to be resilient and self-regulating. They understand that things do not always go as they would like and they can cope with disappointment. They develop the skills to control their own behaviour and do not need external forces to control it.

· A high value is placed on the quality of relationships between children and children, children and adults, and adults and adults. The quality of these relationships is seen as a key factor that underpins learning and attainment.

· A high value is placed on helping children and young people to develop a sense of self worth, respect for themselves and others. Educational institutions that are rights-respecting and have Rights, Respect and Responsibilities at the core of their work improve well-being in their children and young people.

· All opportunities are taken to allow children and young people to be autonomous. This is taken very seriously and is firm policy in settings that improve the well-being of children and young people.

· Children and young people are involved in the assessment of their work and assessment is seen, mainly, as being formative rather than summative. Well-being is improved where children and young people understand that assessment is there more to help them, than to judge them.

· Children and young people recognise that adults are learning, as well as themselves.

· There is an explicit understanding that the beliefs of adults - about expectations, aspirations and ability - matter. Inappropriate beliefs that put a ceiling on the achievement and attainment of children and young people are confronted.