The Children’s Commissioner for England has a statutory responsibility to promote and protect the rights of children in England. Part of the Commissioner’s role is to represent the rights and interests of children across government and scrutinise and review government policy or legislation to understand the potential effects on children.
The Children’s Commissioner is granted a power in law to collect evidence from persons exercising functions of a public nature where that information can be used to inform the Commissioner in their role.
The Children’s Commissioner’s Office (CCO) collects several datasets from the Department for Education (DfE) for a range of analysis investigating the lived experience and outcomes of children. The data is used to explore how interventions, policy and provision can be better placed to improve outcomes for all children. Analysis often focuses on the most vulnerable children in society as these are most in need of additional support and better service provision.
The Children’s Commissioner uses the analysis conducted by the CCO to inform legislators, elected representatives, civil servants and other arms-length bodies responsible for decision making of the specific issues that children are experiencing and where policy needs to change.