Nursery World - MPs want tighter child protection

More stringent child protection policies have been demanded by the Liberal Democrats, along with a renewed call for an independent children's commissioner for England. In an Early Day Motion on reducing the number of child deaths from abuse, Paul Burstow, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for children, proposed, 'That this House believes that the numbers of children in this country who die through abuse and neglect is unacceptable and that public policy has failed to reduce the level of child deaths over the last 30 years.'

In an Early Day Motion on reducing the number of child deaths from abuse, Paul Burstow, the Liberal Democrat spokesman for children, proposed, 'That this House believes that the numbers of children in this country who die through abuse and neglect is unacceptable and that public policy has failed to reduce the level of child deaths over the last 30 years.'

Government statistics show that severe physical abuse is 120 times more common in babies than in children aged five to 13, with the UK homicide rate for children who are one year old nearly four times greater than any other age group. Also, each week in the UK one or two children are killed by their parents and carers, and, of these child deaths, 60 per cent are aged under four.

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