Blog

We're only a few weeks into 2012 and already there's been a whirlwind of activity! Early in January, we wrote to the Rt. Hon Kenneth Clarke QC MP, Secretary of State for Justice, with our concerns at the impact on children's rights of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. Children's rights would be breached if they can no longer access legal aid under the Bill's proposals, which will significantly disadvantage tens of thousands of children and young people who will be left to deal with legal problems without proper professional representation. This includes children who suffer an injury, children living in poverty, those with special educational needs, subject to deportation or children facing problems with employment or welfare benefits. The Bill is currently being debated in the Lords and we welcome the amendments to bring cases involving children back into the scope of the Bill.

I published my first Child Rights Impact Assessment on 11 January to assess the potential effects of the Welfare Reform Bill on children's rights in England. The impact assessment considers the Bill in the light of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Human Rights Act 1998 and other international human rights obligations. We support an aspect of the Bill to extend free school meals to all children whose families receive the Universal Credit. But, moreover, our assessment highlights the potential for the Bill's provision to have adverse impacts on children including breaches of their rights. Children whose families receive welfare benefits are particularly vulnerable due to the high level of poverty amongst this group.  Children have no power to take up incentives in the Bill to find work or move to cheaper accommodation in order to have more money to live on.  Creating such incentives may have a serious impact on them as independent rights-holders. We will continue to work with the Government and Parliamentarians during the Welfare Reform Bill's progression into law to ensure that children's rights are promoted, protected and realised.

This week we issued our Landing in Dover report which looked at the experiences of unaccompanied children arriving in the UK. During our investigation we discovered the `Gentleman's Agreement' signed between the UK and France. It had allowed the UK Border Agency (UKBA) to send unaccompanied children back to France within 24 hours if they had not immediately asked for asylum. Would you treat a possibly disorientated and frightened child that way? I'm glad to say Rob Whiteman, the new Chief Executive of UKBA ended the practice once we brought it to his attention. A great deal of awareness was created by the report with the media here and abroad covering it. There are still a number of recommendations we are pursuing but change can happen.

On Monday I attended the launch of the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ)  report, ‘Rules of Engagement - Changing the heart of youth justice': We welcomed the reports call for the Government to take an evidence-based approach to how we deal with children who commit crimes and those at risk of getting into trouble. Excessive use of custody and adult oriented criminal justice processes are not the answer to rehabilitate these children. It is important for those children who commit crimes to understand the impact of what they have done if we want to see positive and lasting changes to their behaviour. The Deputy Children's Commissioner, Sue Berelowitz and I were among a list of signatories in an open letter instigated by the CSJ to highlight that current youth justice systems are in danger of criminalising too many children and young people at a young age. It is essential that the underlying causes driving children to offend are addressed before we rush to lock them up for far less serious crimes.

In the evening I attended the launch of Kids in Museums' Manifesto.  It is a great organisation that challenges every museum to see through the eyes of the child, because as the Director of the host museum, the Wallace Collection said very strongly, "children and especially teenagers need museums, but museums need them more, they are the future curators as well as your customers now." 

Kids in Musuems has worked for two years to get museums all over the country engaged in Children's Commissioner's Takeover Day, and in 2011 had a very successful year in that regard.  As a result of involvement in the day several museums are now considering apprenticeship programmes. 

They could also point to lasting change in museums because of children and young people being young curators and guides, judges and editors of new educational materials, and "secret shoppers" who test out the child-friendliness of their experiences as customers and visitors. A group of young curators at the Wallace explained very clearly what the museum had learned from them as they curated a big exhibition there, and what they had learned from the museum. Their involvement started at primary school and has continued after they moved on to secondary schools.   

As part of the School Exclusions Inquiry on Tuesday we visited an outstanding comprehensive school in Greater London, where we spoke with staff and pupils about the very inclusive nature of the school. It avoids exclusions through a combination of tailored programmes, the involvement of the local and wider business community and its engagement with students to widen their horizons and raise their ambitions.  One to one support for troubled children is also offered before a problem escalates, "tough love" discipline and clear boundaries for all are provided, and the commitment of every adult on the staff, teaching and non-teaching to the pastoral support programme for every pupil.  We are still absorbing the details as we work towards a draft report.

Finally I want to remind you Friday 20^th January is the deadline for submissions to our Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Gangs and Groups (CSEGG).

You can also read a selection of the media coverage about our work above.


Maggie Atkinson
Children's Commissioner for England