Call for better sun safety education follows from work of Assembly’s Petitions Committee

The National Assembly for Wales’s Petitions Committee has welcomed a report from fellow AMs which calls for more education about the dangers of exposure to the sun.

This week the Assembly’s Children and Young People Committee published the findings of its inquiry into a petition, from cancer charity Tenovus, that called for free sunscreen for all children in Wales under the age of 11.

The inquiry was carried out after the Petitions Committee referred the petition to the Children and Young People Committee.

And although the committee decided not to endorse the petition’s call for free sunscreen, Members of the Petitions Committee have welcomed the report’s call for a broader approach to sun safety.

“This is the Assembly’s Petitions system in action,” said Petitions Committee Chair, William Powell AM.

“Ultimately, the committee decided not to move forward with the call for free sunscreen, but it demonstrates that by submitting a petition to the Assembly you can push an issue to the top of the political agenda.

“As a result, a cross-party committee of AMs has called on the Welsh Government to ensure that sun safety is taken more seriously and that young people receive more education about the dangers of exposure to the sun.”

Tenovus were pleased with their experience of the petitions process in Wales.

“Through the Petitions Committee, we were able to bring to attention the wider issues of sun protection in schools and take it to the highest levels of decision making in Wales, where it was discussed with the seriousness it deserved, said Dr Ian Lewis, Associate Director of Research at Tenovus.

“We’re pleased to see that a number of points raised during the inquiry about the overall approach needed to protect children, such as the provision of adequate shade and protection offered from school uniforms, have helped form the recommendations that have been put forward by the Children and Young People Committee.

“We know that providing free sunscreen for children in schools is just one part of a wider campaign to teach children about the potential dangers of over exposure to the Sun, therefore this summer, we will be continuing with Here Comes the Sun, our annual campaign which promotes sun safety messages across the whole of Wales and reaches people in the heart of the community.”