§ Baroness Burton of Coventry asked Her Majesty's Government:
§ What progress has been made in the child safety campaign due to be introduced in September or October as announced by the European Commission (HL Deb., 16th June, col. 370).
§ Lord StrathclydeMy Lords, the launch date for the European child safety campaign has been postponed. The Commission has experienced difficulties in finalising its contribution to the campaign. Until these problems are overcome it will not be possible to give a revised date for the launch.
§ Baroness Burton of CoventryMy Lords, that is a most disappointing Answer, which I expected but for which the Government are not to blame. As the Minister will be aware from his brief, we have now been on this matter for some two and a half years. As the Commission has fallen down so badly on what it said it would do, can the Government do anything both to spur indignation and stir up initiative among the organisations concerned in this country? Would it be possible to get on with our plans? Will the Government support such an endeavour?
§ Lord StrathclydeMy Lords, I am grateful to the noble Baroness for that question. She is quite right in saying that the Government are not to blame in this matter, and we continue to work with child safety organisations such as the Child Action Prevention Trust and RoSPA in this most important and vulnerable area. From the Government's point of view, there is no question of delay leading to a standstill on child safety. Other initiatives are going ahead continually such as the recently launched toy safety campaign and the publication of the Keep Them Safe and Keep Your Baby Safe booklets.
§ Lord Brougham and VauxMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that there is great disappointment that the Commission cannot launch a scheme? May I suggest to my noble friend that he contacts the Commission to suggest that it contacts RoSPA, which I am sure would be only too pleased to help put such a scheme on the road?
§ Lord StrathclydeMy Lords, the Government are always pleased to pass on the messages of the noble Lord, Lord Brougham and Vaux. RoSPA is a highly respected organisation and I shall pass on his comments, as well as those of the noble Baroness, Lady Burton, to the Commission.
§ Baroness Ewart-BiggsMy Lords, in view of the importance of a campaign which aims to reduce the number of accidents to children in the EC by 10 to 20 per cent. by 1995, does the Minister know what reasons the Commission give for the delay and the specific actions that the Government have taken to encourage the EC to launch the campaign?
§ Lord StrathclydeMy Lords, the Government were informed by the Commission earlier this year that it would launch its campaign in September or October this year. Since then things have gone badly wrong for the Commission and the major projects that were to be its responsibility have all come up against severe problems. This has led to the delay that I have mentioned. The campaign was to be divided into three parts: the building of a giant house involving an imaginative display of safety hazards, the production of a logo and the establishment of a computer database system. None of these has gone ahead because of various legal technicalities and disagreements with other member states. Specifically, as I mentioned in a previous answer, the Government are not letting that delay their campaign for child safety, which, as the noble Baroness knows, is extremely important. The Government are very much aware of the problems.