Cameron orders childhood inquiry

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The Conservatives have launched an inquiry into the quality of childhood in the UK.

It will look at whether "stranger danger" warnings have become too extreme, how to improve discipline and the role of the family.

Tory leader David Cameron ordered the review after a Unicef report declared the UK the worst country in the developed world to grow up in.

The party says children need less "red tape" and more "vivid lives".

'Extended family'

In a speech in Trafford, Greater Manchester, Mr Cameron promised to "audit the welfare system" to help couples stay together.

He also said childcare policies would "take account of the extended family", rather than "limiting support for childcare simply to registered childminders".

Shadow education secretary David Willetts, leading the review, said: "We have long warned about the dangers of red tape on business, we now need to worry about the red tape on childhood.

"We need to allow children to have vivid lives and everyday adventures."

The Unicef report, published last month, said the UK lagged behind in terms of relative poverty and deprivation, the quality of children's relationships with their parents and peers, and health and safety.

It also did badly in terms of behaviour and young people's own sense of well-being.

The UK had an overall placing at the bottom of all 21 countries, along with the US.

Mr Cameron said it indicated a society that was "in deep trouble".

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents said some young people were so bored by over-safe playgrounds that they sought dangerous thrills on railway tracks.

Mr Cameron said "collective disapproval" from adults when children misbehave should be a "powerful tool" for improvement.

He added: "If children are misbehaving we should say something. If we're met by a volley of abuse then other adults have a duty to intervene.

"We don't want to live in a walk-on-by society."