A report on the annual summer reception of the National Children’s Bureau

London was hot and crowded on July. There was still the aftermath of the bombings, and the police had closed down some of the tube lines as a precaution, but this did not prevent “business as usual”, and the NCB held their reception in the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre opposite Westminster Abbey as planned.

The Minister

The message was positive. In welcoming Beverley Hughes as the new Minister for Children and Families, Paul Ennals praised her openness and clarity of thought, and her ability to cut through nonsense in getting action. She in turn expressed appreciation for the NCB’s contribution.

The Minister said she was staggered by the progress that had been made and the scale of the commitment shown to provide high quality services for children. There was a real need to improve outcomes, she said, and there could be no higher priority. She had been impressed by the way that people throughout the services had taken to heart the five main aims outlined in Every Child Matters.

The priority now was the implementation of those aims through the early identification of problems and speedy intervention for individual children, and at organisational level through beacons of good practice, the creation of partnerships, leadership through children’s trusts and the involvement of children and young people, their parents and the wider community in planning.

The Minister noted the challenge ahead in creating and sustaining a good workforce fitted for the task. In certain respects it was insufficient to change standards; a cultural shift was needed too. The NCB, she said, has a critically important role to play in achieving these changes.

The Chief Executive

Paul Ennals spoke briefly about the NCB’s role. He said the NCB was “with the Government but not of the Government”. It had had a massive impact on Government policy, introducing concepts such as the emphasis on outcomes, children’s trusts, early support for disabled children, and the importance of health care for children. It had contributed in a major way to the Youth Work Green Paper (not yet out), the End Child Poverty campaign, and the Anti Bullying Alliance, among others.

However, the NCB retained its independence and felt able to let the Government know when there was a difference of views or when it felt that the Government had not gone far enough. Paul instanced work on residential care, children affected by HIV/AIDs, young offenders and black and ethnic minority children where further work was needed. He did not want to dwell on the negatives, however, as so much positive work was in hand.

The Children’s Commissioner

Al Aynsley-Green had been in post for eleven days at this point. He recognised the high expectations of him, which he found humbling. Among his first targets were raising awareness of the existence of the Commission and creating the Commission’s engine. While a London base was needed, a regional structure was also required. His budget is only £3 million, but he wanted to create a research programme as part of the Commission’s activities.

A key element throughout his work had to be the involvement of young people and listening to their views. Their participation – not just consultation – was needed, and he was giving consideration to the creation of Assistant Commissioner roles for children and young people. Issues raised by children to date included safety and security, bullying, anxiety and stress, sex and racism.

However, the Commissioner said that he did not want get caught up in off-the-cuff responses to every problem, but high among his priorities was the need to create a debate about childhood and the wider community’s expectations, so that children and young people could become central to the thinking of the populace at large. He encouraged debate and wanted to be open to people wishing to contact him.

The President

Helena Kennedy announced that it was time for her to terminate her term of office as President of the NCB, a role she had held for eight years. Who will succeed her? Watch this space.

During those eight years, the NCB has had a growing impact on national policy and legislation, and there is scarcely an issue concerning children and young people where it has not informed Government opinion through research and policy development. It has been fortunate that there has been a Government giving high priority to meeting children’s needs. The outcome has been that the NCB has been able to proceed at full steam ahead.