Blog

It's been a week affected by snow, but as busy as always. Here are some of the highlights.

Last Saturday our Children and Young People's Advisory Group met for its first very positive business session, though the meeting finished early to let people get home. As I live in the North East which experienced heavy snow, I failed to get there, and was really disappointed!  

I attended the Department of Health's Stakeholder Group on the day the new Public Health White Paper was launched. It is reassuringly full of references to children and young people, whose lives take up around 70% of public health work. It will follow up from the Marmot Review and Sir Ian Kennedy's recent review of health services for children and young people. I met with Chief Nurse Dame Christine Beasley and children's lead Dr Sheila Shribman later in the week to discuss ensuring the voices of children and young people are heard in a changing NHS. 

I met with a small number of parliamentarians as the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Intergenerational Futures discussed carers, and explained what we know about young carers and their needs. There was also discussion on what all four UK Children's Commissioners are advocating for them, based on their need for support, but also their right to be children, under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

I met Catch22's chief executive Joyce Moseley for a lively, positive discussion about keeping the voices and interests of the most vulnerable and marginalised young people to the fore of our concerns. 

There are two important international things to note this week. On Monday and Tuesday the Council of Europe launched its Europe-wide campaign aiming to stop trafficking, sexual exploitation and violence. And today, UNICEF and Innocenti launch their latest report on comparisons of wellbeing between nations, and within nations between those who are affluent and those who are poor. Both are worth a read, and will inform people's thinking about and work with children.

By Maggie Atkinson, Children's Commissioner for England