The urgency with which this legislation is being introduced to Parliament demonstrates the importance of these issues. It lays a foundation for change in many children’s lives – many of whom have been neglected or hidden by services working in silo.
As Children’s Commissioner I have called on successive governments to introduce a unique identifying number for children and a register of all children not in school. Writing these two landmark measures into law will be of huge significance for any child currently at risk of harm in this country – it must now be supported by proper data-sharing between organisations so no child can become invisible in the system.
For children who are at risk of serious harm or abuse today, there can be no delay: children with complex needs, who are being deprived of their liberty without a say in decisions about their care. Children in crisis who are being housed in caravans because there aren’t enough safe homes. And children at risk of abuse who are kept hidden at home, invisible to services that should be protecting them.
For these children, this legislation cannot come quickly enough. For them, I will always be pushing for this work to be more ambitious, more quickly.
