SUSAN WHITEWAY, of East Allington, writes:

I could not believe my eyes when I read in the Gazette that all children of compulsory school age needed a work permit from Devon County Council. Health and safety risks and affecting their education, my foot! It's just another sledgehammer to crack a very small nut.

I worked as a child in my holidays and at weekends from the age of 11. No damage to my health and safety was sustained and my education was helped by the tasks I undertook.

More and more layers of restrictive bureaucracy are being loaded onto businesses and parents – every one, in fact. I shouldn't be surprised if we will soon require a licence to breathe before long.

Yes, children were misused and abused in Victorian times as they laboured in factories, and legislation was right and good. But working in the school holidays and at weekends?

Will parents soon be required to get permission from the authorities to let their children help with the household chores? Lots of dangers there – heavy vacuum cleaners, falling off chairs when dusting, cutting oneself with a knife when washing up...

Unless youngsters can freely do some work in their free time – paid or unpaid – however will they get the work ethic? And what businesses will want to take on yet more paperwork to apply for these wretched permits?