RoSPA Press Office : Press Release

November 16 , 2007
EUROPEAN REPORT LOOKS AT HOW TO SAVE SCOTTISH CHILDREN’S LIVES

A report card detailing how safe Scotland is for children will be published on Tuesday (November 20) by the European Child Safety Alliance.

Scotland is one of 18 European countries covered by the scheme which looks at: how well a country is doing to make it safe for children; what priority issues need to be addressed; and which good practices should be adopted to prevent accidental injuries and save more children’s lives.

The nine areas graded on the report card will be: passenger safety; motor scooter and moped safety; pedestrian safety; cycling safety; water safety and drowning prevention; fall prevention; burn prevention; poisoning prevention; and choking/strangulation prevention.

It will also give assessments on national leadership, infrastructure and capacity.

National Child Safety Report Cards and Country Profiles will also be released about Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Scotland’s report card will be available on the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents website at 11am on November 20 at:
www.rospa.com/news/scotland/childsafetystrategy/reportcards/index.htm

Elizabeth Lumsden, of RoSPA Scotland, said: “This will be an important day for child safety. The European and Scottish report cards will give us a clear picture of how we are doing and what more we need to do to save lives and reduce injuries.

“They assess the extent of safety measures provided to children and adolescents by examining and grading the adoption, implementation and enforcement of national-level evidence-based policies. The 18-Country Summary Report Card will provide a multi-country overview to help European-level planning to support national efforts.

“The cards are designed to provide not only a baseline for assessing progress, but also a tool for identifying current policy gaps and suggesting priorities for action.”

It is hoped the review findings will galvanise action among influential policymakers and stakeholders at both EU and national level. The 18 participating countries are developing plans as part of the Child Safety Action Plan (CSAP) initiative of the European Child Safety Alliance.

The launch takes place on International Day of the Child.