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You may have seen in the news last week that the Government has commissioned an independent review of the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. The review was launched with a call for evidence from now until 4 October and we expect the report to be published in the autumn. In particular, it is looking at our role and function, the value for money we provide, and how we relate to other organisations supported by government.
I and staff at the Office of the Children’s Commissioner welcome the review as it provides an excellent opportunity: to take stock and assess the impact we have had over the last five years; to hear what people and organisations we have worked with say about us; to tackle some of the knotty issues regarding our role and powers that have been debated since the Office of the Children’s Commissioner was formed; and also to look at the ways in which we can better serve children and young people.
If you, or any of the young people you work with, would like to read more about the review or to respond to the call for evidence, you can do so on the Department for Education’s website. It is very much ‘business as usual’ for us whilst the review is underway - we are continuing with our extremely busy work programme.
You will read in this edition that we have been asked by the Government’s Munro Review to gather children and young people’s views of the child protection system, and we are working with the Diana Award to develop an advisory group of children and young people to help guide all areas of our work.
You will see that we have addressed conferences, spoken out on key issues concerning children and published our 2009-2010 Annual Report. I hope you will also take time to read about the visit by children from Torbay to tell us about their experiences of children's social care, and be encouraged by the report on young people’s influence on decision-making in Calderdale.
The team have also been busy preparing for Takeover Day 2010, launching our Twitter feed and working with young people to create a film about our work, which you can see on our homepage and on YouTube.
I hope you have also been keeping up with our blogs!
I am always keen to hear feedback on our work including on this newsletter so do let me know what you think of it, you can reach me by email.
With best wishes
Maggie Atkinson
Children’s Commissioner for England
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