London's children haven't given up on progress. They aren't yet sucked into the negativity spawned by the inability of capitalism to solve even the basics of life in London. But there are major challenges ahead for them...

Growing up in London – the challenge for children

WORKERS, NOV 2007 ISSUE

The United nations recently published its report into children's lives. British children didn't come out too well – at least, their quality of life didn't. The picture corresponds roughly with press reports, and you wonder how much the children asked about their quality of life were influenced by what they had read or heard in the news.

In London, all the news reports seem to be bad in relation to young people. There is a constant stream of accounts of violent attacks, knifings and shootings perpetrated by young people in our capital city. These are real and the perpetrators need dealing with, no liberal doubts required. What has to be remembered is that muggers and gangsters and so-called "foot-soldiers" are a threat but they're not typical of London's children. But how have we got to this pass and how do children view the existence we have forged for them?

What children say
Southwark Council regularly surveys the youngsters in its schools. The "Pupil Voice" shows, among many things, the following views of children growing up in some of the poorest and richest areas in the country.

• 66 per cent of secondary children and 80 per cent of primary children felt secure and safe at school.
• 18 per cent of pupils said they had been bullied quite often at school whereas 47 per cent said they'd never experienced bullying; 35 per cent had been but not often.
• 47 per cent thought that their secondary school acted against bullying and 69 per cent thought primary schools did.
• Somewhat surprisingly, 78 per cent of primary and 71 per cent of secondary children said they had not been the victims of crime. More worryingly, 27 per cent of secondary children claimed to have been the victims of crime. In Southwark, that represents around 2000 children.
• Only 1 per cent of primary children go home for lunch.
• 28 per cent of students didn't play computer games; 12 per cent spent more than 5 hours a day playing on their computers.
• 72 per cent of youngsters would like to go on to higher education when they leave school.

An estate in Tower Hamlets: the percentage of people living in poverty is not declining in the central London boroughs, where 48 per cent live in poor households. Photo: Workers

While there are some negatives in the responses, the children seem surprisingly optimistic and well motivated. They haven't given up on progress. They aren't yet sucked into the negativity spawned by the inability of capitalism to solve even the basics of life in London. But there are major realities we have to deal with as a class, if our next generations are going to be able to build a future, here.

The conditions of life for many of the capital's children are not good. In inner London, 50 per cent of children live in overcrowded accommodation. This means that at least 150,000 children are living in poor conditions.

The situation is exacerbated by the speculative building that's going on, regardless of the needs of the population. Land is at a premium. Developers try to cram as many flats as possible into the smallest space. Hence, an explosion of expensive and small flats and very little family-sized accommodation at affordable prices. One-bedroom flats in the East End are now selling at just under £300,000. Families are being driven out or driven into hopelessly unsuitable accommodation. Meanwhile, rents are going through the roof and it's called a "boom". The 4000 who shared the City bonuses at Christmas fuel 'buy-to-let', whilst 14000 families are in temporary accommodation at an average cost in rent of £300 per week.

Households without work
A third of children in Inner London are brought up by a single parent and though that is not necessarily a problem for the individual, in general terms, two parents tend to be better than one. What makes life more difficult in London is that 40 per cent of single-parent households do not have income from employment and over 60 per cent of single-parent households are living below the poverty line.

Contrary to anecdotal evidence, it's harder for people to find part-time work in London compared to elsewhere in Britain. There is a real shortage of work that enables people to work around school hours. So we are witnessing massive degrees of poverty amongst children and young people in the capital.

Across London as a whole, the percentage of children living in poverty has fallen to about 35 per cent. However, in the central boroughs it hasn't moved from 48 per cent of all children living in households with income below 66 per cent of the average.

Again, this means that as well as living in poor accommodation, hundreds of thousands of London's children are existing below the poverty line.

Children in the capital Poverty Over 40 per cent of all London children and over 50 per cent of Inner London children are living in poverty. Poverty is closely associated with unemployment. Education London children do less well at GCSE (marginally) than do children nationally. At other stages, London's children are some 10 per cent behind the rest though this masks wide variations in performance. Housing England's 10 most overcrowded areas are in London. Overcrowding is closely linked with childhood illness and injury. Road traffic accidents In 2004, there were 4200 child casualties on London's roads although this shows a decrease since the early 1990s. Infant mortality rates Inner London rates generally are higher compared to Outer. Overall, 2001-2003, the rate was 5.7 per 1000. Stillbirth is often associated with small birth weight. Health Children self-reporting on their own health compare with national rates. Around 90 per cent think they are in good health. However, young people's sexual health is the worst in the country. Conception rates amongst the under-18s are 21 per cent higher in London than in the rest of England. Rates of gonorrhea are twice that of the rest of the country. The rising trend of sexually transmitted diseases amongst the young continues. Mental health Disorders among children and young people, particularly young males (11-15), are higher than the national average. Diet Children in London eat more fresh fruit and vegetables than in the country as a whole (most primary schools subscribe to the Fruit for Schools programme). Youth and crime Southwark, Westminster and Hammersmith and Fulham have the highest incidence of youth crime. In 2004-05, young people accounted for 21 per cent of all those accused of crime. Westminster, Bromley, Haringey, Lewisham and Croydon were the areas with the highest numbers of youth accused of crime.

Easy to import labour
London's secondary-age children do better than the national average. However, a third of London's jobs are going to require pre-degree-level qualifications and 50 per cent of our children are still not approaching those levels. That means it's easy for employers to encourage cheap foreign labour to come into the jobs, putting further pressure on the workers and their children already here, regardless of their origins. Because of inward migration from both abroad and from the rest of Britain, London's children experience high levels of mobility. This puts a massive strain on London's schools with over twice the national levels of pupil mobility and twice the levels of teacher turnover. It is hard for children to settle in such circumstances and whilst it is predominantly a problem in the central boroughs, nonetheless it is having a knock-on effect throughout the capital.

The so-called Mayor's London Plan, if it were ever to be enacted, would start to ameliorate many of these problems, especially around housing. If the proposals of the London Housing Associations were to be taken up, again, the capital's children would have a better start in life. Is that likely?

Gordon Brown's eco-housing, mentioned in his "election address", can be safely ignored. We know it won't happen and the allocation to London wouldn't even scratch the surface. But being cynical isn't enough. The knowledge in our class of what is necessary to guarantee every youngster the "world class citizenship" we're told is their birthright, is second to none. We have plans for housing; plans for schools; plans for health and plans for recreation. They may be entitled "The Mayor's", but we researched them and we wrote them. But plans are precisely what they will remain unless we grasp the nettle and act as a class to get them implemented.

London's children are more likely to have respiratory health problems; less likely to commit suicide but more likely to be attacked and be the victim of violent crime than their counterparts elsewhere in the country. They are also more likely to suffer mental health problems and in some parts of the city are less likely to be in education or in training or work.

Most of our children have high aspirations for themselves and their country and their city. We must look at and decide how those dreams can become real. Recognising how vibrant and positive most of our children are is a start.

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