The need to ensure all children are safe online, not just under 16s
A version of the below blog appeared on Politics Home. As Children’s Commissioner I have been clear that all online services – not just social media platforms – that use harmful features and functionalities should be banned from access to children. The government is due to respond to the consultation on banning social media for […]
The Big Future: Speaking to children in Nottingham and Leicester
I wrote last week about why we should listen to children. This week, I have found myself thinking about what it means to give children a voice. Sometimes, this is cultural. As I stood outside Nottingham University with my team, our conversation turned from the session with educational psychologists I had just taken part in, […]
Growing up in the online world: a national consultation – Response from the Children’s Commissioner
In the time I have been Children’s Commissioner, the online world has changed rapidly, as have the ways in which children interact with it. Perhaps the single biggest change is this: we used to speak about the differences between children’s offline and online lives. But over the time I have served as Commissioner, the walls […]
The Big Future: Speaking to children in Birmingham
I have been thinking about politics a great deal as I travel the length of England promoting my survey of children The Big Future. I don’t mean what happens in Westminster, or what dominates the news. I mean the messy and beautiful business of how we go about deciding how we live together. Last week, I was in Preston, and […]
Guest Blog: Ensuring ‘Every Moment Matters’ for babies, children and young people with life-threatening and life-shortening conditions, and their families – Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice Â
Today’s guest blog comes from Sophie Andrews OBE, the CEO of Noah’s Ark Children’s Hospice. Sophie has worked in the charity sector for 30 years and has operated in both National Chair and CEO roles. She was awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year’s Honours list. She is a published author and accomplished motivational speaker and her TEDMED talk has been […]
The Big Future: Speaking to children in Lancashire
I have been reflecting on my visit last week to Cardinal Newman College in Preston last week, as I visit children all around the country as part of The Big Future. While there, I spoke to children about their views on a range of topics, but I had arrived on the final day of college for the year 13s, and so our conversation turned to my survey, and their thoughts […]
A new Youth Advisory Board to share experiences and views on AI in EducationÂ
Aged 16-18? The Children’s Commissioner is recruiting a new Youth Advisory Board for the Department for Education for you to share your experiences with AI and views on AI in Education. Apply here. About the AI in Education Youth Advisory Board AI has the potential to help teachers, support personalised learning, and improve outcomes, but it must be used safely […]
Statement from the Children’s Commissioner on the Milburn review of young people and work
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “Young people want a good job and that should be our starting point. I’ve heard from hundreds of thousands of children – they are ambitious, they want to do well, they want to work. I’m pleased their voices and their ambition have been included in this review. “Young […]
Statement from the Children’s Commissioner on the sentencing in the Fordingbridge rape case
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said: “The rape of two teenage girls in Fordingbridge is deeply disturbing and has shocked people across the country. My thoughts are first and foremost with the two girls and their families, who have shown extraordinary courage in speaking out about these heinous crimes. “No child should experience the […]
Walk to School Week: What do children say about walking to school?Â
I launched my biggest and final survey of England’s children: The Big Future by going for a walk with some brilliant young people. I travelled to Cumbria, the first leg on a journey that will take me all over the country. I hiked with Scouts along Hadrian’s Wall, who told me about their lives and hopes […]
Children’s Commissioner’s Submission: Department for Education SEND Consultation
As Children’s Commissioner, I have a statutory duty to ensure that children’s views are heard. And so I want to begin, as I always try to do, with something that a child told me. I was working with a group of children, and I asked one of them what they wanted from their support service. […]
The Big Future: Speaking to children in Cumbria
Last week, I launched my biggest survey yet of England’s children: The Big Future. But surveying children was not enough. I knew I wanted to continue to speak to, and crucially hear from, England’s children personally. I began that work in Cumbria, at Hadrian’s Wall. I will end it at Land’s End. Over the coming months, I will […]
Archived Content
Improving the living situation of children living in secure accommodation
Anne Longfield, Children’s Commisioner for England, has written to Vicky Ford MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children and Families, Lucy Frazer QC MP, Minister of State, Ministry of Justice and Nadine Dorries MP, Minister for Patient Safety, Suicide Prevention and Mental Health regarding concerns about children in living in secure accommodation, particularly those […]
Children in custody during lockdown
Since the start of the Covid pandemic, the Children’s Commissioner’s Office has investigated and highlighted concerns about the treatment of children in secure settings. Our briefing in May used data collected from the Youth Custody Service (YCS) alongside a series of interviews with children to shine a light on conditions for children in custody during […]
Help at Hand annual report 2020
Our 2020 annual report for Help at Hand, our advice line for children in care.
Response to the DfE’s announcement on unregulated accommodation for children in care
Anne Longfield, responding to the DfE’s announcement on unregulated accommodation for children in care, said: “The Government’s ban on unregulated provision for under-16s in care is very welcome, but needs to go further and include all under-18s. There are too many teenage children in care living in completely unsuitable and sometimes dangerous accommodation, including hostels […]
Five things you need to know about SEN in schools
How children’s needs are met (or go unmet) in schools, and the implications of these for the SEND Review and other reforms
Building back better
When I became Children’s Commissioner for England six years ago, I set out an ambitious vision for a nation where childhood is understood and celebrated and where the voice of all children is listened to at the heart of Government. I had in mind a particular group of children who, in my experience of working […]
Building back better – Anne Longfield’s final speech as Children’s Commissioner
 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 […]
Speech
Characteristics of children entering care for the first time as teenagers
Last year, research from my office showed that even before the pandemic, there were 120,000 highly vulnerable children in England who were falling through the gaps in education and social care. This group of children – equivalent to 1 in 25 13-17 year olds – all had significant additional needs and vulnerabilities but were not […]
Spend over £25,000: 2020 – 2021
We publish details of all spending over £25,000 on a quarterly basis. 1 April 2020 – 30 June 2020 Nil 1 July 2020 – 30 September 2020 Transaction date Merchant name Transaction amount Entity Details 14/08/2020 National Audit Office £33,600.00 OCC External Audit Services 1 October 2020 – 31 December 2020 Nil 1 January 2021 […]
Still not safe
The public health response to youth violence
