Blog

Last week I met the Chief Executive and staff at the Centre for Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP). They work to prevent children and young people being harmed by the behaviour of adults, including those they might meet online. Their website has a lot of material on it for children and adults to learn from. I was very impressed by this team of dedicated people, and the work they do. 

In the evening NCB ran its summer party, fronted by two young NCB members with speeches by several people including Sarah Teather MP, a minister in the Department for Education. It was a good chance to meet lots of colleagues and celebrate work being done with children and young people. 

I met the BBC's Children's Editor Joe Godwin on Tuesday. He is keen to work with us, and help celebrate how great most of England's children and young people are. We hope to work with him in the future, so watch this space! 

The second half of the week I both spoke at and participated in the Association of Directors of Children's Services annual conference, which concentrated on work going on in children's services across the country. Two ministers spoke there, Sarah Teather MP and Tim Loughton MP.  

We have had positive news today from the Secretary of State, Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, who has asked John Dunford to lead a thorough independent review, between now and the late autumn, of the work we do. We genuinely welcome this review, and will do all we can to inform John's work. We would urge that you contribute to his thinking if you get the chance.

By Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England