22 March 2001
The Prime Minister today announced the Government’s commitment to tackle the problem of young people running away.
The Prime Minister has asked the Social Exclusion Unit to work with other government departments to develop a more effective system to deal with young people who run away. A background report, published today, setting out the issues shows that:
- By the age of 16, one in nine school age children will run away for at least one night. There are 129,000 runaway incidents each year, involving 77,000 under-16 year olds.
- A quarter of those who run away will sleep on the streets, and some will survive through begging, stealing drug dealing and prostitution. As many as 10,000 runaways suffer physical or sexual abuse while they are away from home.
- Running away is a burden on the police: each missing person takes up 5 hours of police time. In Manchester, there are over 10,000 missing person incidents a year.
Announcing the consultation the Prime Minister Tony Blair said:"We must find a better way of tackling this issue. We have to make it less likely that young people run away in the first place; and if they do run, ensure their immediate safety. And we must not just turf them back where they came from without finding out why they ran away and addressing these issues." Many runaways do not receive the support they need. There is now only one refuge in the country which provides safe accommodation for under 16 year olds. Most runaways are given little help in tackling the problems which made them run away. The report also sets out ideas for consultation with agencies working with young people, parents and young runaways.
- Providing each runaway with an interview to identify and tackle the reasons for running away, based on the ASTRA project in Gloucester which has cut repeat runaways by 61 per cent and saved 75 days of police time;
- Providing a network of refuge provision and reintegration support so that under sixteen year olds can have an alternative to sleeping rough;
- Creating a named person in charge of co-ordinating services for runaways in each local area;
- Creating a National Service Framework to reduce the massive variation in the way local areas respond to runaways.
The Prime Minister also outlined two other new subject areas for the Social Exclusion Unit to study. He said: "We’ve already achieved a huge amount in tackling social exclusion. But we’re determined not to rest on our laurels - there is still much more to do before we realise our vision of society where everyone shares the same opportunities.""For that reason I have today asked the Social Exclusion Unit to report to me on Children in Care and Education and Transport and Social Exclusion." Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, commenting on the future SEU project on transport and social exclusion said: "I welcome this new study by the SEU. As the Transport White Paper and the 10 year plan make clear, transport can play an important part in promoting social justice. A third of households have no access to a car. Our support for public transport is vital to them.""We have also guaranteed half-fares on local buses for elderly and disabled people; established measures to make public transport accessible for disabled people, improved transport links for rural communities and we intend to do the same for isolated urban neighbourhoods." John Hutton, Minister of State at the Department of Health, welcomed the Prime Minister’s plans for the Social Exclusion Unit to consider the education of looked after children. He commented"It is so important for children to have the benefits of a good education, and to achieve their potential. Without qualifications, it is very difficult for them to make a successful transition to adulthood. The Government have already taken action to raise educational attainment for looked after children, and we have a team of advisers helping local councils to implement our guidance on the education of children and young people in care. We are very pleased that the Social Exclusion Unit will be helping us in this work."
Notes to editors
Press contact: Rod Watson or Ebba Brooks on 020 7276 2123/2083
- The background paper (including consultation questions) Young Runaways is available from the Social Exclusion Unit’s website at www.cabinet-office/seu, or by calling 020 7276 2077. The consultation on young runaways will end on 22 June 2001.
- The Social Exclusion Unit publishes a second report today called Preventing Social Exclusion, which sets out the Government’s approach to and achievements in tackling social exclusion. Both reports are available from the Unit’s website at www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/seu.
- The Children and Young People’s Unit report: Tomorrow’s Future: Building a Strategy for Children and Young People, is also published today. It is available from the Unit’s website at www.dfee.gov.uk/cypu
- The Social Exclusion Unit was set up in 1997 by the Prime Minister to drive forward the Government’s work on tackling social exclusion. It works on a topic basis, looking at intractable problems and those which involve many different government departments. It is staffed by a mixture of civil servants and external secondees. More information can be found at: the SEU’s website.
- The remit for the young runaways project is: ‘ To develop recommendations on how to make running away less likely and ensure runaways’ short and long term needs are safely met’. The project will report in the Autumn to the sub-committee of the Cabinet Committee on Children and Young People’s services, chaired by Paul Boateng.
- The remit for the children in care project is: to look at educational achievement among children in care.
- The remit for the transport and social exclusion project is to look at the range of issues surrounding transport and social exclusion which includes establishing the extent to which lack of mobility contributes to social exclusion and to develop transport and other policy options that overcome this barrier.
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