Children in Wales, the Umbrella Organisation for children and young people’s issues in Wales welcomes the issue of the new UNICEF report. Children in Wales has long campaigned on child poverty issues and hosts the End Child Poverty Network, funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. One of its staff members is the Chair of the End Child Poverty Network Cymru and has acted as one of the External Advisors in supporting the development of the report.

We are concerned that the complexities within the report do not translate into quick headlines.  Significant progress has been made in Wales, which is not reflected in the league table approach, as it is uses UK, not Welsh data.  Some of the data used is significantly out of date and does not reflect progress that has been made.  As it is comparative UK data, it does not reflect some of the achievements in Wales that have not been mirrored in other parts of the UK.

That said, it is an important report, as it focuses on children's well being in its widest sense and reminds us of how much we have left to do. It would be useful for the UK government to analyse the data so that comparisons within the UK can be made. It is also an important report, in that it reminds us of broader issues of children's well-being, including risk-taking behaviour by young people and subjective well being, where the data for the UK as a whole is extremely worrying. Children in Wales believes that we need to use this report effectively by learning what works so that we can develop policies and strategies which are based on best practice evidence.

Mike Lewis Policy Director at Children in Wales comments:

'We should be concerned that the UK continues to under-invest in its services for children' 

and

‘this report reminds us of the shocking truth that we still have much to do to meet the UK government’s  2010 and 2020 commitments in respect of eradicating child poverty by 50% and 100% respectively'

Mike Lewis can be contacted at Children in Wales Tel: 029 2034 2434.