Blog

We have published our July e-newsletter packed with information and news, and our report on my East Midlands visit. Last week I had a busy, constructive meeting with John Dunford, who is leading our review. He will be meeting children and young people as the summer ends, and he wants to hear from everybody. Information about how to contribute is available on the Department for Education website. Though most government consultations seek adults' views, under-19s can still contribute to this; their views will be heard. 

The last few weeks have been particularly busy.

Two weeks ago I had a constructive meeting with John Dunford, who is leading our review. He will be meeting children and young people as the summer ends, and he wants to hear from everybody. Information about how to contribute is available on the Department for Education website. Though most government consultations seek adults' views, under-19s can still contribute to this; their views will be heard. 

On Tuesday 20 July I went to the launch of Catch-22's Network and met four young people who told "turnaround" life stories. Their courage in doing so made it a particularly uplifting event. The Princess Royal, Moira Stewart and Will Young were there too!  A couple of days later I sat in a web "hotseat" with Local Government Improvement and their members for a couple of hours.  I also met the BBC's Alison Holt to discuss telling children and young people's positive stories, spoke with Mumsnet website reps about doing a web chat with their many users in the Autumn and had a positive conversation with the United Kingdom Borders Agency (UKBA) about the work they are leading, to find better ways than detention to deal with children whose asylum applications have failed. 

Last week I went to a meeting with the Secretary of State for Health, discussing the big changes he has planned, again including a consultation on the Department of Health website.  On Tuesday I met a new Minister from Tasmania, where they are just starting out on integrating education, social care, health and justice for children and adults, and wanted to know how this has gone here since 2004 and I spoke with people we are working with on a participation pilot across a number of local authorities in South East England. The project will have lots of things to share with others, so watch this space!  On Wednesday I went to Swindon to meet the youth council - as always when I meet young people playing positive roles in communities, it was an incredibly lively event!

You can read more about our work including our report on my visit to the East Midlands in our July e-newsletter which was published last week.

By Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England