Maggie Atkinson, Childrens Commissioner for England said, " the Office of the Children's Commissioner (OCC) noted with interest the House of Lords debate on the care of rescued trafficked children. Home Office Minister, Lord Henley suggested the Department for Education (DfE)may ask OCC to review this case. Read more here

The ‘Speak to the World’ project, coordinated and led by the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), investigated children’s views on engaging in European and international decision-making. The project was grant funded by the European Commission under the specific Fundamental Rights and Citizenship programme (2007 – 2013). The programme supports the development of a European society based on respect for fundamental rights, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Click here to download overview and country reports

If you talk about children’s rights issues raised at your children in care council or any other meeting, then Tell Tim Loughton, the Minister for looked after children and care leavers. Click here to Tell Tim what you think

“We welcome the government’s commitment to ensuring the family justice system places the best interests of the child at the heart of decisions in both public and private law court cases. We concur with the government that this interest must be paramount in all proceedings. Read more here

Fathers and mothers should be entitled to a legally binding ‘presumption of shared parenting’ after separation, the government has announced, rejecting advice by an independent review on family justice. While the interests of the child are paramount, a ministerial group will report back in two months on what form of words will be inserted into legislation ensuring that children maintain a ‘meaningful relationship’ with their parents. Read more here

Outcome of House of Lords debate

A key debate on amendments relating to legal aid for children and young people took place in Parliament earlier this week as part of the House of Lords Committee Stage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. There was powerful support for protecting the rights of children and vulnerable young people from Peers of all parties, including Baroness Benjamin (Floella, TV presenter, LD), Baroness Eaton (recently retired Chair of the LGA, Con), Baroness Butler-Sloss (ex-High Court judge, Cross-bencher) and Lord Ramsbotham (ex-Chief Inspector of Prisons, Cross-bencher). We are particularly grateful to Baroness Massey (Lab) and Baroness Howe (Cross-bencher), who tabled and spoke to our amendments protecting young people up to the age of 24. Many Peers quoted (sometimes extensively) from JustRights briefings and reports.

No peers spoke against the amendments and the Minister, Lord McNally, cut a lonely figure as he made his fairly feeble response, in which he offered no concessions, but he did promise to give full consideration to the points made. All the amendments were withdrawn without a vote, but there was clearly sufficient support for us to feel confident that many of the issues will come back before the House at Report Stage.

We attach edited extracts of the debate from Hansard.

Or you can view the full two hour debate on the BBC website here.

What happens next with the Bill?

The Committee Stage in the House of Lords will continue over the next couple of weeks. Most of the debates on legal aid have already taken place and attention will now turn to other aspects of the Bill, including sentencing reforms.

The Report Stage of the Bill is expected to start in 5-6 weeks’ time. This is where absolutely crucial votes on amendments will be taken, as has happened recently with the Welfare Reform Bill. There are some signs already that there could be significant Tory and Lib Dem rebellions over the legal aid changes if the Government fails to offer significant concessions.

JustRights will now have to think about which amendments we want to be discussed again at the Report Stage of the Bill, and which we might be able to encourage Peers to press to a vote. If you want to be part of our deliberations on this, don’t hesitate to contact one of us.

There’s still a lot of work to be done if we’re going to be ultimately successful with our campaign, but we remain optimistic – and this is where it gets exciting, so if you want to work more closely with us in the final stages, just let us know.   

Letter to Sarah Teather

I attach a letter JustRights intends to send next week to Sarah Teather MP, Minister of State for Children and Families. The letter raises our concerns about the impact of the Legal Aid Bill on children and young people and how the legal aid cuts threaten to break a commitment she gave that the Government will give due consideration to the UNCRC when making new policy and legislation.

Lords Bill Cttee 16.01.12.docx

Sarah Teather MP.docx

Ahead of a government summit on ‘coasting school’s to be held at Downing Street later today (16 Jan) Ofsted’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has confirmed his intention to scrap the ‘satisfactory’ judgement for school inspections. Read more here

The Landing in Dover report issued today (17^th Jan) by Maggie Atkinson, Children’s Commissioner for England uncovered the 'Gentlemen's Agreement' between the UK and

Teachers are having sleepless nights about whether to report suspected victims of child neglect, a report for a charity says. Read more here