Health & Safety inspectors to invade your home now..
The latest mad Government initiative I have come across is from the beloved Department of Health.
Draft guidance from NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence..(hah!) ) is now urging councils and other public sector groups to start collecting data on properties where children are thought to be at risk of unintentional injury.
This data should then be used by Councils, it would seem, to oversee the installation of ”safety devices” (smoke alarms, safety gates, oven guards, window locks etc).
Of course NICE’s suggestions include the creation of a “new government database” – naturally – so that health visitors, midwives etc can log health and safety concerns they spot. Swiftly followed, no doubt, by a visit from the Health and Safety men in black (as if they dont have enough to meddle with).
This is further evidence that the Government thinks all parents are idiots who should not really be in charge of their offspring, attempting to strip away another bit of parental responsibility to be handed over to the Nanny state.
Honestly! What happened to teaching your kids about risk and danger? I lived in a house that had a wood burning stove in the kitchen – I was taught it was HOT and didn’t go near it. I suppose my mother – who I have always thought of as a caring, responsibile parent – could have put a guard in front of it – but how would I have learned exactly? I was likewise taught to keep away from saucepans on the cooker at all times and to come down the stairs safely on my bottom – not dignified – and I don’t still do that obviously. (I won’t mention the shot gun in the wardrobe – it might give government people reading this post palpitations). But isn’t that how we all learnt ?
Of course there will be those that say that this is really aimed at poorer and/or idiot parents who dont know themselves about dangers in the home. But my answer to that is that “bad parents” (for want of a better phrase) will simply have someone else to shrug the responsibility onto. And insisting a child gate is installed doesn’t mean that it will be used. Putting in a smoke alarm won’t help anyone if the battery is taken out. Its not really solving the problem – just creating another load of snoops who have right of access to your house.
The proposals are currently out to consultation with the plan to implement them if approved. Unfortunately we all know that “consultation” doesn’t actually mean that. Fortunately it looks like this Government won’t be around next year – so hopefully we will see this one knocked on the head some time soon after the General Election.
But really!…
