Many Yorkshire children failing to develop properly, study says

Just 42 per cent of children in Hull reach a “good” level of development by the time they are five years old, with Doncaster and North Yorkshire at 43 and 44 per cent, respectively.

The regional average is 50 per cent, lower than the national average of 51.7 per cent according to figures from the Institute of Health Equity at University College London. Institute director Professor Sir Michael Marmot said: “We continue to fail our children. How can this still be happening?

“For three years the Institute of Health Equity has published evidence showing we are failing our children.

“It is unacceptable that only half of our five-year-olds are achieving a good level of development.

“(So far) we have seen that the more deprived the area, the worse the early childhood development.

“In 2011 in England as a whole only 59 per cent of children have a good level of development at age five.

“Now only 52 per cent of children at age five have a good level of development.

“When we first looked at these figures we assumed there must be something wrong with the measurement.

“How can it be the case in England, one of the richest countries in the world with our long history of being a brainy country, that only 52 per cent of children can have a good level of development?”

He said that when compared to other western countries England is “bumping along the bottom” in the rankings for early childhood development. “We are doing really badly,” he added.

“One strategy for reducing these avoidable inequalities in early childhood development is to reduce deprivation, improve living standards for families with children.”

The figures show that some local authorities are performing significantly better than others.

Yorkshire’s best performing area is Wakefield at 57 per cent while across the country it is Greenwich in south east London, where 69 per cent of children age five reach their expected level of development.

“However good or bad the school is, which will of course have an impact on children’s performance, children’s level of development as they enter the school is a potent predictor.

“That measure gets worse and worse the lower down the social hierarchy they are.”

He said he believes that poor performance relates to deprivation and the quality of services to support children and their 
parents before they start 
school.

“In looking at children’s development you have got to look at children, parenting, the circumstances in which parenting takes place – the conditions of parents’ lives – and the general social context.

“Of course, some children will do better than others because it’s in their genes or things of that nature but we know the quality of parenting is crucial.

“We know input from parents or other carers on talking to children or reading to children, playing with children, singing with children and warmth – emotion, cuddling, loving – are all vital to children’s development.”