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The following speech was given by Dame Rachel de Souza, Children’s Commissioner for England, at the Independent Children’s Homes Association‘s conference on residential child care which took place on 10 June 2021. *** This is my first speech about the children’s social care system since becoming Children’s Commissioner for England in March. And I want […]

 Anne Longfield, Children’s Commissioner for England, has delivered her final speech in post with a challenge to the Prime Minister to show he is serious about children by putting them at the heart of his post-Covid plans. Her speech warned that the Prime Minister’s promise to ‘level up’ will be ‘just a slogan unless […]

Yesterday, new EU ePrivacy rules came into effect which introduced new limits on the way in which technology companies can use messaging and calling data. The rules undermine the ability of companies to use established, privacy-preserving tools such as PhotoDNA to identify child sexual abuse imagery and grooming on their platforms. These tools work in […]

Anne Longfield, responding to today’s ruling by the Court of Appeal on removing safeguards for children in care, said: “I am delighted that the Court of Appeal has recognised the vital importance of the voice of the child in care in decisions taken that affect them – including, and I would argue especially, during a […]

It is clear now that the algorithm used by Ofqual to determine this year’s ‘A’ level and GCSE results is irredeemably flawed. It is not in children’s interests for weeks of appeals and arguments among adults to continue. Nor is it in the interest of schools, which should be focusing on their final preparations for […]

A-Level students across the country are today receiving their grades, without having taken any final exams. Some will be celebrating, as they get the grades needed to take the next step in their education or begin their career. Sadly, many other students will be disappointed. While this is always the case on results day, the […]

Statement by the Children’s Commissioner for England On Friday 24th April the ‘Adoption and Children (Coronavirus) (Amendment) Regulations 2020’ came into force, and are not due to expire until 25th September. These regulations make significant temporary changes to the protections given in law to some of the most vulnerable children in the country – those […]

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, is today (Tuesday) publishing a new report “We need to talk: Access to speech and language therapy“, which shines a light on spending on speech and language therapy services (SLT) for children across the country to help identify where children who need support are falling through the gaps. […]

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, responding to the Prime Minister’s comments on children’s mental health, said: “It is welcome to hear the Prime Minister talking about providing more support for children’s mental health. A focus on wellbeing in schools and on early intervention and regular updates on children’s mental health are all important […]

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, responding to the Government’s latest plans on children’s mental health services, said: “While I welcome the Government’s commitment to developing a new children’s mental health workforce in schools over the coming years, I remain extremely concerned that significant improvements for all children are many years away. Five years […]

Anne Longfield, the Children’s Commissioner for England, commenting on the Government’s response to the Fostering Stocktake, said: “The Government is right to make stability its top priority for children in foster homes, but it must follow through on these ambitions with action. Foster carers must be given help and training to deal with issues like […]

As Children’s Commissioner I have made it a priority to investigate ways to protect and empower children online while holding social media companies to account. I am therefore pleased to hear that, thanks to the campaign led by Baroness Kidron, the Government has laid a critically important amendment to the Data Protection Bill which will […]