Drowning is a preventable public health issue – we need urgent action to avoid more summers of tragedy
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Water safety is fragmented across multiple departments – we need a minister with responsibility for drowning prevention
The recent heatwave over the May bank holiday and half term drew people across the country to our beautiful beaches, rivers, and lakes, seeking fun in the open water as some relief from the blazing sun.
Sadly, as we often see when temperatures soar, this was overshadowed by the deaths of 19 people from drowning – including 13 children. Too many lives are being cut short in open water. When I led a Westminster Hall debate on water safety recently, MPs from across the House spoke movingly about the devastation of drownings that have either happened in or affected people in their constituencies.
Drowning deaths are a public health emergency and should be treated as such. A new report from the Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS) out today lays bare the devastating impact of drowning deaths on families, friends and communities.
Each year, around 33 children in England drown: the equivalent of a classroom of children lost every single year. Most drowning deaths are highly preventable, says RLSS.
And far from being random accidents, there are clear patterns of health inequalities, with children in the most deprived areas drowning at twice the rate of the least deprived. Boys, Black children and children who are known to social care, are also all more likely to drown. This cannot continue.
There are clear patterns of health inequalities, with children in the most deprived areas drowning at twice the rate of the least deprived
As temperatures soar, we must be clear about the action needed to prevent more summers of tragedy. Already in the last year we have seen a significant step in the right direction. Following the recent curriculum review, the DfE confirmed that water safety education would be made a compulsory part of the national curriculum. This was rightly welcomed by RLSS and other leading campaigners and bereaved families. But its implementation cannot be left to chance or postcode – all organisations, including Ofsted, must ensure that this vital new curriculum content is being taught consistently and that the same essential lessons are being learnt across the board.
And there is still much more to do to ensure that water safety is at the heart of government. There is no single lead for co-ordinating that work within the government. Water safety is fragmented across multiple departments and does not have a specified accountable minister in the same way as, for example, flooding or fire prevention. That’s why I’m backing campaigners who say that the government should appoint a minister with responsibility for water safety and drowning prevention; someone who can lead a concentrated and fully joined-up approach across relevant government departments to tackle this pressing issue.
The government should also commit to a national swimming and water safety strategy, based on up-to-date evidence about children’s access across this country to swimming lessons and water safety education. Currently, access to pools is uneven and lessons vary in quality and duration. A quarter of children finishing primary school are still unable to swim, too many – especially in deprived or minority communities – are being left behind.
Other campaigners have put forward some equally vital proposals. My colleague Lee Pitcher MP, who has been a doughty campaigner on this, has called for “Sam’s Law”: a legal responsibility to maintain and ensure access to safety equipment around reservoirs and water bodies, and a specific criminal offence of vandalising safety equipment around those water bodies. This campaign is now backed by the Mirror, and I hope we will see action soon.
There is no shortage of proposals to help prevent drownings; we now need the determination and political will to match the urgency of this task. For every victim and their families and friends, we owe it to them to try.
Darren Paffey is the MP for Southampton Itchen and chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Water Safety Education
