Children's Commissioner

The Children and Families Bill would reform the Office of the Children's Commissioner.

Key proposals include:

  • amending the Commissioner’s function and powers
  • increasing the Commissioner's independence from Government

MPs are particularly interested in your comments on the practical implications of specific clauses of the Bill. Please make clear whether your comment relates to a specific clause or schedule.

This forum is now closed.

5 Responses to Children's Commissioner

Caroline H says:
February 25, 2013 at 05:09 PM
Obviously this part of the bill is well intentioned.

But the fact that children can and are victimised by school officials when parents make complaints in good faith once again escapes everyone’s attention and is not even mentioned in this bill.

Despite all the hype that exists there is absolutely nowhere to go to complain about deliberate failure of professional duty of care towards children. When governing bodies and teaching staff behave shabbily nobody really cares. The DfE complaint process is too lengthy and is really not fit for purpose, LA’s and Ofsted want to be seen to support schools, and even Local Safeguarding Children Boards fail to recognise that deliberate abuse of power and premeditated failure to meet a child’s needs is institutionalised abuse. Even the teaching Agency expect local procedures to have been exhausted before members of the public can make referrals

So really what difference would the Children’s Commissioner make when every conceivable government strata closes ranks to protect the adults in schools rather than the children?

Victimisation is recognised in (some) laws but as a parent you have to have very deep pockets to protect a child.

This issue is not going to go away and it should be a priority for the Children's Commissioner
Louise K says:
February 25, 2013 at 04:16 PM
Save the Children welcomes the proposed reforms to the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England (OCCE), which take forward recommendations made in the Dunford review and by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child (the UN Committee). However, there are a number of areas we have identified where the proposals could be improved to ensure the OCCE has the required powers, function and independence from Government to be a truly effective human rights institution for children.

A fully reformed OCCE would be an independent national human rights institution for children (NHRI). NHRIs are an important mechanism to promote and ensure the implementation of the CRC. The UN Committee considers the establishment of such bodies to fall within the commitment made by States parties upon ratification to ensure the implementation of the CRC and the universal realisation of children’s rights. Children’s developmental state makes them particularly vulnerable to human rights violations; their opinions are still rarely taken into account; most children have no vote and cannot play a meaningful role in the political process that determines Governments’ response to human rights. The UK ratified the CRC in 1991.

We are a member of the Alliance for Reform of the Children’s Commissioner and endorse its submission.

Recommendations for amendments to the Children and Families Bill

Independence
The UN Committee is clear that it expects human rights institutions for children to be fully independent of government. Therefore, we believe the Bill should:

• In line with the provision set out in the Equalities Act, in relation to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, require the Secretary of State to have regard to the desirability of ensuring the that the OCCE is under as few constraints as possible
• Ensure greater parliamentary involvement in the appointment and removal of the Commissioner
• Require the Secretary of State to provide the OCCE with adequate funds to sufficiently perform its functions

Powers and functions
The United Nations Paris Principles set out the powers and functions that an independent national human rights institution should have. In order to meet these standards we believe the Bill should be amended so the OCCE has the following additional functions:

• Promoting knowledge and respect for children’s rights
• Publishing an annual report which monitors the state of children’s rights in England and includes recommendations to address violations of rights
• Promoting and protect the full range of children’s rights set out in all human rights treaties as well as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• Initiating and participating in legal proceedings which strategically advance children’s rights

Children’s participation
Given the Commissioner’s role to promote and protect children’s rights, it is vital that children are involved in all aspects of the Office’s work in the spirit of Article 12 of the CRC, which gives every child the right to express their views and have them taken into account in all decisions that affect them.
We welcome the provisions requiring the Children’s Commissioner to ‘take reasonable steps’ to involve children in the Commissioner’s work and to consult children in respect of individual aspects of its work. However, this should be strengthened so there is a:

• Corresponding obligation to have due regard to the views of children wherever there is a duty to consult with them
• Reporting requirement on the OCC on the extent to which it has had due regard to children’s views

Extending the definition of vulnerable children
The Bill requires the Children’s Commissioner to have particular regard to specific groups of children – children in care, care leavers, children in boarding schools and children receiving social care services – and allows the Commissioner to provide advice and assistance. We believe the definition of vulnerable children should be expanded to include children living in custody and separated children who have been trafficked or are seeking asylum.

Children’s rights duty on public bodies
The state has primary responsibility for fully implementing the CRC- this cannot be devolved to other bodies. Whilst the OCCE clearly has a crucial role to play in ensuring respect for children’s rights, we also believe the Bill should legislate for:
• A children’s rights duty requiring public authorities in the exercise of their functions to have due regard to the need to (a) respect, protect and fulfil children's rights; (b) actively seek and give due weight to the views of children in all matters affecting them; (c) take such steps as are appropriate to promote knowledge and understanding amongst children and adults of the CRC and its Optional Protocols; (d) ensure mechanisms are in place to investigate and rectify any violations of children's rights without undue delay; (e) ensure children are provided with
Pavan D says:
February 25, 2013 at 04:08 PM
This comment is from the British Humanist Association (BHA). The BHA is the national charity working on behalf of non-religious people who seek to live ethical and fulfilling lives on the basis of reason and humanity. It is the largest organisation in the UK campaigning for an end to religious privilege and to discrimination based on religion or belief, and for a secular state.

The BHA has a long history of contributing towards and improving state education. We provide materials and advice to parents, governors, students, teachers and academics. We also work closely with others on wider equalities issues in a range of forums. The BHA is a member of the National Children’s Bureau Sex Education Forum (SEF), the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), Rights of the Child UK (ROCK) and the Religious Education Council for England and Wales.

We welcome part 5 of the Bill, and its proposals to both strengthen the role of the Children’s Commissioner, and increase its independence from the Government. In particular, we are very pleased to see the Children’s Commissioner’s role refocused to be about ‘promoting and protecting the rights of children in England’, and the fact that this role includes ‘monitor[ing] the implementation in England of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child’. We also agree with the Joint Committee on Human Rights’ (JCHR’s) conclusion that ‘the proposed reforms constitute a very significant development with the potential to transform the Office of Children’s Commissioner into a national human rights institution capable of becoming an international example of best practice if sufficiently well-resourced.’[1]

However, we believe the changes need to go further. We are strong supporters of children’s rights, and believe that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child should be incorporated directly into UK statute, in order that the UK Government and other bodies begin to take children’s rights as seriously as we hope the Children’s Commissioner now will. We endorse ROCK’s response on this and related matters to the JCHR’ pre-legislative scrutiny of the relevant clauses of the Bill.[2]

We also regret the exclusion from the Bill of any reference to the Commissioner having to ‘have regard to any other relevant international standards concerning the rights of children which have been accepted by the UK Government, whether legally binding or not’ – as was recommended by the JCHR.

We also have a number of areas of particular concern where we do believe current UK legislation may clash with the UNCRC. We set many of these out in some detail in our 2010 contribution to CRAE’s State of children’s rights in England.[3] We also have particular concern around opt-out rights for young people which we will now discuss in more depth.

[1] Joint Committee on Human Rights, ‘Reform of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner: draft legislation’, Sixth Report of Session 2012–13, 4 December 2012: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/jt201213/jtselect/jtrights/83/83.pdf

[2] Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into ‘The role and independence of the Office of the

Children’s Commissioner for England’ – Written Evidence, 4 December 2012: http://www.parliament.uk/documents/joint-committees/human-rights/Children's_Commissioner_Written_Evidence_5.pdf

[3] British Humanist Association contribution to the Children’s Rights Alliance for England’s (CRAE) State of children’s rights in England report, July 2010: http://humanism.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/BHAcontributiontoCRAEStateofchildrensrightsinEngland.pdf
Kirsty S says:
February 23, 2013 at 02:29 PM
Its ok implementing this part of the bill, but do children know about the role of the children's commissioner and that they have the right to turn to them and ask them to help raise issues on their behalf. This is the biggest failure of anything to do with Children's rights the fact that children are not told about them. Therefore there needs to be an assurance that children will get told about the role of the children's commissioner.
Paola Uccellari says:
February 20, 2013 at 09:39 AM
This briefing summarises the priority issues for the Alliance for Reform of the Children’s Commissioner. We warmly welcome the reforms to the role of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner for England (OCCE) and the proposed legislation’s close adherence to the recommendations in the Dunford Review. However, the legislation could be further strengthened to ensure that the OCCE has the sufficient functions, powers and independence to effectively promote children’s rights.


Enhancing the independence of the OCCE
It is vital that the Children’s Commissioner is sufficiently independent to effectively champion children’s rights. We believe the Bill should:

• Require the Secretary of State to have regard to the desirability of ensuring that the Commissioner is under as few constraints as reasonably possible in determining activities, timetables and priorities.

• Provide for greater parliamentary involvement in the appointment and removal of a Commissioner. For example, the legislation should require the Secretary of State to have due regard to the views of parliament in relation to candidates for appointment, and involve parliament in any decision to dismiss a Children’s Commissioner.

• Ensure the Children’s Commissioner has sufficient funds to carry out his or her functions by requiring the Secretary of State to provide the OCCE with such sums as appear reasonably sufficient for the purpose of enabling it to perform its functions.

Extending the definition of vulnerable children
The legislation requires the Children’s Commissioner to have particular regard to specific groups of vulnerable children, and allows the Commissioner to provide advice and assistance to those groups of children. The groups specified include children in care, care leavers, children in boarding schools and children receiving social care services. We believe the definition should be extended to include children living in custody and separated children who are seeking asylum or have been trafficked.

Strengthening the powers and functions of the Children’s Commissioner
We believe that the legislation should grant the Children’s Commissioner all those powers which a national human rights institution (NHRI) should have. The Bill should add the following additional functions to the Children’s Commissioner:

• Raising public awareness of children’s rights by promoting knowledge of and respect for the human rights of children and young people.

• Monitoring the extent to which children’s rights are realised by publishing an annual report that examines the state of children’s rights in England, providing recommendations for action by government and others.

• Initiating and participating in legal proceedings regarding specific cases of children.

Strengthening the involvement of children in the work of the OCCE
Given the Commissioner’s role to promote and protect children’s rights, it is vital that children are involved in all aspects of the Office’s work. We welcome provisions requiring the Children’s Commissioner to ‘take reasonable steps’ to involve children in the Commissioner’s work and to consult children in respect of individual aspects of its work. However, this should be strengthened. We believe the legislation must:

• Wherever there is a duty to consult children, include a corresponding obligation to have due regard to their views.

• Require the OCCE to report on the extent to which it has had regard to children’s views

A children’s rights duty for public bodies
The state has the primary responsibility for ensuring children’s rights are upheld. This duty cannot be discharged by tasking other bodies (such as the OCCE) with the job of promoting and protecting children’s rights. We therefore believe the Bill should introduce:

• A children's rights duty requiring public authorities in the exercise of their functions, to have due regard to the need to (a) respect, protect and fulfil children's rights; (b) actively seek and give due weight to the views of children in all matters affecting them; (c) take such steps as are appropriate to promote knowledge and understanding amongst children and adults of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Optional Protocols; (d) ensure mechanisms are in place to investigate and rectify any violations of children's rights without undue delay; (e) ensure children are provided with information and assistance about making representations and protecting their rights; and (f) inform children of the role and function of the Children's Commissioner.

• A duty on the OCCE to publish a statutory code of practice in this duty.

This briefing is endorsed by members of the Alliance for Reform of the Children’s Commissioner:
Action for Children
British Youth Council
Children England
Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE)
The Children’s Society
National Children's Bureau (NCB)
NSPCC
Save the Children
UNICEF UK

Related information

What is Public Reading?


Public Reading is an initiative to give members of the public the opportunity to provide their views on Bills before they are made into law. This is the first Public Reading to be run by the House of Commons and is a pilot of the process. Comments on the Bill will be made available to the Committee of MPs responsible for examining the Bill in detail so that they can take them into account when deciding whether to make changes to the Bill.

About the Children and Families Bill


The Children and Families Bill contains provisions to change the law in several areas relating to children and families.

Explanatory Notes


The Government publishes explanatory notes alongside a Bill to assist readers in understanding the proposed legislation

Additional Comments?


Comments on areas not covered by the listed Bill topics, or broader comments on the Bill as a whole (including anything that you think should have been included in the Bill but is not) should be posted as an additional comment. As this Public Reading is a pilot, we are also keen to hear your views on the public reading process itself.

Public Bill Committees


A Bill Committee is appointed for each Bill that goes through Parliament and is named after the Bill it considers. Public Bill Committees have the power to take written and oral evidence. The Committee examines the Bill line by line and reports its conclusions and any amendments to the Commons, where MPs debate the Bill further.

Pre-legislative Scrutiny


Some provisions in the Children and Families Bill were published in draft form last year so that MPs could scrutinise them and recommend changes to be made before the Bill itself was introduced to Parliament. Four different Committees from the House of Commons and the House of Lords examined draft clauses.