Swansea education and child welfare officials have welcomed new calls from the United Nations to ban parents smacking children.

The UN has urged the British Government to outlaw all corporal punishment in the family. A UN new report says the Government has failed to meet its obligations since signing up to the Rights of the Child Act 11 years ago.

Sara Reid, assistant children's commissioner for Wales, who is based in Swansea with children's commissioner Peter Clarke, said Wales had already taken a harder line than England on the subject.

She said: "The Assembly has taken a slightly different view on the issue from England.
"We have already seen a difference in that in England childminders are now permitted to smack children if they have got parental consent.
"But children in any sort of day care or education in Wales are protected from such punishment and that is in line with the United Nations.

"I think smacking is not necessarily the best discipline.
"Not smacking a child isn't easy sometimes, but I believe it doesn't help them understand why they shouldn't behave in a certain way.
"Children subjected to violence could become quite violent themselves if they see violence as being acceptable." Shirley Doveton, head teacher of Sea View Community Primary School in Mayhill, said she backed the UN view.

She said: "I am not somebody who believes in corporal punishment and also as a parent I can say that smacking is not something I would ever advocate.
"I think there are ways and means of trying to get children to co-operate without having to resort to smacking.
"We have adopted the viewpoint of the United Nations that children should be respected," she added.