On Monday [19 October] the Children’s Commissioner published The Childhood Lottery, a new landmark dataset and interactive map, bringing together more than 160 measures to examine the challenges facing children in every area in England.
The Children’s Commissioner named the hardest places to grow up in England and warned of a ‘state of emergency’ in some communities.
The Childhood Lottery has assigned an overall score to each top-tier local authority showing where life can be more challenging for a child. The rankings are based on almost 100 scored metrics covering access to health and social care, education and housing, safety in their community, opportunities to play and whether children have a voice in the decisions made by leaders.
Portsmouth ranked the 12th hardest place to be a child in England. By contrast, areas in which Hampshire is the top-tier local authority, ranked the 20th easiest places to be a child.
Amanda Martin, Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North, who was a teacher for 24 years before entering Parliament, said she was “shocked and saddened” to see Portsmouth rank as one of the worst local authorities areas on a number of metrics. Click here to read more.