Talking with Parliamentarians

Since the last update for the webmag back in June, it’s been a quiet period for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Children (APPGC). This is mainly due to Parliament’s long summer recess, and the 3-week recess for Party Conferences, during which time we cannot hold meetings.

Children, data protection and mobile technologies
On 15 July the APPGC hosted a meeting to discuss the potential benefits and problems of ‘passive location services’, which is a new technology that is being marketed by mobile phone companies to allow parents to track the whereabouts of their children.

Passive location services work by a person applying to a mobile phone company to track a child’s phone. The mobile phone company checks the person’s details and sends a text message to the child’s phone, asking the child to text back if it is okay for the person to track the child’s whereabouts. At any time after that, the person can go online or use their mobile phone to request details about where the child is, without the child knowing when this is happening. However, the service can only show where the phone is (not necessarily the child) and will only work if the phone is switched on and is receiving a network signal. The Children’s Charities’ Coalition on Internet Safety (CHIS) has reservations about the scheme for the following reasons:

• The registration process must be made secure enough to ensure that the adult tracking the child is who they say they are and has a legitimate connection to the child – as some people go to great lengths to abuse children, and the service should not facilitate this
• The tracking service may give a false sense of security to parents, as it only tracks the child’s phone and not the child
• It could disadvantage children in vulnerable circumstances, particularly those in a domestic violence refuge, runaways, or those in a children’s home
• It may not benefit relationships, and particularly trust, between parents and their children. Parents could text or phone their child if they want to know if the child is okay
• There are issues around the child’s ability to give consent (dependent on their age and maturity), obtaining the consent of the parent or legal guardian as well as that of the child, and how the child being tracked can opt out of the service at a later date

Election of Parliamentary officers of the Group
The last meeting of the APPGC also included the Group’s AGM, at which Parliamentary members of the Group elected the Officers for the coming year. Hilton Dawson MP and Baroness Massey of Darwen (both Labour) continue to co-chair the Group. The Earl of Listowel and Baroness Howarth of Breckland (both crossbench peers) continue in their roles as Treasurer and Secretary respectively. Baroness David (Labour) and Baroness Walmsley (Lib Dem) continue to act as Vice-Chairs of the Group. The Group is also delighted to welcome two new Vice-Chairs: Annette Brooke MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Minister for Children and Young People and Tim Loughton MP, Conservative Shadow Minister for Children and Young People.

Future meetings
The APPGC is still following the Children Bill closely as it progresses through Parliament, and our meetings in the autumn are likely to reflect this. We hope that the existing Children’s Commissioners from the other 3 nations of the UK will join us again for a meeting in October. We will also be holding meetings to discuss Children’s Trusts, and the Children’s Workforce.

Other topics for future meetings later in the year include: a meeting with disabled children and young people from the organisation Triangle; a meeting with a number of other All Party Groups on supporting children and families who are affected by drug misuse; and a meeting on parent-infant attachment.

Please contact Alison Linsey, Clerk to the Group (email: alinsey@ncb.org.uk):

• To be added to the email mailing list to receive minutes and notices of meetings
• For copies of minutes from any of the meetings
• For a free copy of the Group’s report ‘Commitment to Children’
• For any further information about the Group.