§ Mr. MacleanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what initiatives his Department will take to promote Child Safety Week on 22 to 28 June. [47197]
§ Ms JowellThe Government's public health strategy, as outlined in the Green Paper "Our Healthier Nation", made accident prevention a priority area. We have already proposed a target to reduce the rate of accidents by at least a fifth by the year 2010 from a 1996 baseline. We are particularly concerned that accidents in childhood show a strong social class bias, with children in Social Class V being five times more likely to die in an accident than children in Social Class I.
The Department has a significant and on-going interest in promoting Child Safety Week as part of its commitment to the reduction of childhood accidents by providing funding to the Child Accident Prevention Trust which organises Child Safety Week. Furthermore, the Department publicised this year's initiative in the March and May editions of "Target" magazine, which reaches a wide audience in health authorities, local authorities, voluntary organisations, schools and the private sector.