Appendix 3 Memoranda from the Department
for Education
A. Job Description and Person Specification
Role Remit
The Children's Commissioner's primary function is
to promote and protect the rights of children, with a particular
focus on ensuring that the views of the most vulnerable children
are heard; and that the rights of children in vulnerable circumstances
are upheld.
As such, the Commissioner has a unique role in monitoring
the implementation of children's rights, supporting the achievement
of better outcomes for children and challenging breaches of their
rights. Using his/her statutory powers, the Commissioner can investigate
any matter affecting children and make recommendations for changes
to legislation, policies or practices, so that they better promote
and protect children's rights and are compatible with the United
Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and other
human rights instruments.
The Commissioner is an independent champion for children,
making sure their views and interests are heard and their rights
are respected. The Commissioner will therefore influence the development
of policy, legislation and the way public functions which affect
children are delivered.
The Commissioner will raise awareness of children's
rights and ensure that their views and interests are brought to
the attention of key decision-makers, such as Government Ministers
and leaders of local services, in order to ensure that services
for children and young people are responsive to their needs.
Through working with and commenting in the media,
the Commissioner will promote positive images of children and
young people and challenge negative stereotypes; and facilitate
and encourage children and young people's participation in decision-making
at both national and local levels.
The Commissioner will highlight issues for the Government
and other public bodies to consider, with a view to supporting
continuous improvement in outcomes for children and young people
and, where problems occur, support and challenge those organisations
to find solutions.
Legislative Framework
The legislation relating to the Children's Commissioner
is permissive, allowing significant flexibility for the Commissioner
to determine how best to carry out his or her primary function
of promoting and protecting children's rights. A non-exhaustive
list of activities contained in the legislation serves to illustrate
the breadth of the Commissioner's remit and includes:
· gathering
and promoting awareness of the views and interests of children;
· advising central
and local government and those who work with children, on children's
rights, views and interests;
· monitoring
the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights
of the Child (UNCRC) in England;
· investigating
any matter relating to the rights of children, including the adequacy
of complaints and advocacy services for children;
· carrying out
and following up on children's rights impact assessments on new
policies and legislation that affect children;
· commissioning
research relevant to the rights, views and interests of children;
and
· providing advice
and assistance to children who live away from home or are in receipt
of social care services.
NB: The Commissioner is not an Ombudsman and, in
general, cannot conduct investigations into the case of an individual
child.
In exercising the primary function, the Children's
Commissioner is required to:
· involve
children in all work undertaken and in particular to have regard
to the views of those children who do not have other adequate
means of making their views known;
· ensure children
are made aware of the Commissioner and his/her work and how to
communicate with him/her;
· publish reports
on any matter that the Commissioner has investigated, considered
or researched;
· appoint an
advisory board;
· consult annually
on his or her draft business plan;
· report annually
to Parliament on the impact that the Commissioner has had on the
promotion and protection of children's rights;
· ensure the
efficient running of the Office of the Children's Commissioner
(OCC) and act as OCC's Accounting Officer, responsible for the
efficient and proper use of the public funds it receives;
· work closely
with the Children's Commissioners in Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland and the European Network of Children's Commissioners;
and
· work with a
wide variety of other bodies to promote children's rights and
the delivery of public functions and services in a way which respects
children's rights.
NB: The Commissioner's statutory remit is set out
in full in Part 1 and Schedule 1 of the Children Act 2004, as
amended by Part 6 and Schedule 5 of the Children & Families
Act 2014.
Person Specification
The successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate
most of the following:
· an
understanding of the issues and problems facing children and young
people from different backgrounds, and the ability to bring about
changes that have a demonstrable impact on children's lives;
· an understanding
of the delivery of public services affecting children and the
policy context within which those services operate;
· the ability
to lead a high profile and complex organisation, create effective
partnership working, influence stakeholders and provide effective
challenge;
· the ability
to successfully communicate with a wide range of audiences-including
children, decision makers, government, parliament and the media;
· the ability
to think strategically about the issues affecting children in
order to represent their views and interests effectively;
· the ability
to engage with and gain the confidence of children and young people
in order to effectively represent their views and interests;
· an understanding
of how children's rights are protected and promoted through the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC),
domestic legislation and other international treaties; and
· a sound grasp
of financial management and the importance of securing value for
money.
B. Children's Commissioner for England Recruitment
Process
Role and Person Specification
The role and terms of appointment for the Children's
Commissioner for England are defined in Part 6 and Schedule 5
of the Children and Families Act 2014.
The person specification for the role was drawn up
in consultation with civil society organisations and the current
Children's Commissioner. The Education Select Committee and the
Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) were invited to comment
on the draft person specification and changes were made accordingly,
for example:
· In
the list of personal attributes, "Parliament" should
be included in the list of audiences.
· In the fifth
bullet point, the text should read "in order to represent
their views and interests effectively".
· The person
specification should include a reference to the need for the candidate
to know about or have direct experience of how best to involve
children from different backgrounds in human rights issues.
· The candidate
should be able to demonstrate as a personal attribute a strong
commitment to children's rights.
The advertised and final person specification requires
that the successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate
most of the following:
· the
ability to lead a high profile and complex organisation, create
effective partnership working, influence stakeholders and provide
effective challenge;
· an understanding
of the issues and problems facing children and young people from
different backgrounds, and the ability to bring about changes
that have a demonstrable impact on children's lives;
· an understanding
of the delivery of public services affecting children and the
policy context within which those services operate;
· the ability
to successfully communicate with a wide range of audiences-including
children, decision makers, government, parliament and the media;
· the ability
to think strategically about the issues affecting children in
order to represent their views and interests effectively;
· the ability
to engage with and gain the confidence of children and young people
in order to effectively represent their views and interests;
· an understanding
of how children's rights are protected and promoted through the
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC),
domestic legislation and other international treaties; and
· a sound grasp
of financial management and the importance of securing value for
money.
Advertisement
The post was advertised in the Sunday Times on 13
July and in The Guardian Online. The duration of the appointment
is fixed by legislation and offered on a fixed 6-year term with
no possibility of extension or reappointment.
A copy of the advertisement is available in Annex
A.
The selection panel
An independent selection panel was established comprising:
Olivia Grant (Chair and OCPA assessor), Elizabeth Clarke, Barrister
(Independent Member), Sir Martin Narey (Independent Member) and
Chris Wormald, DfE Permanent Secretary.
Sifting of applications
The panel met three times during the process: firstly
to consider all applications and draw up a long-list of applicants
to be invited to take part in an initial interview; secondly,
to consider the outcome of those interviews and draw up a shortlist
of candidates; and thirdly, to interview the shortlisted candidates.
Before the final interviews, shortlisted candidates
were invited to meet a panel of eight young people assembled by
the DfE from organisations and groups with a direct interest in
and relationship to stakeholders. The interview panel took account
of the views of the young people's panel in their consideration
of the shortlisted candidates.
After the interview panel had presented its conclusions
to Ministers, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children
and Families, Edward Timpson, met with the candidates who were
deemed appointable. Ministers have collectively formed the view
that the strongest candidate for this role is Anne Longfield,
and as such the Education Select Committee have been invited to
hold a pre-appointment hearing with her and report on their conclusions.
Under Schedule 1 to the Children Act 2004, paragraph
3, the power to appoint the new Children's Commissioner for England
rests with the Secretary of State for Education.
Annex A
C. Key changes to the functions and duties of
the Children's Commissioner resulting from provisions in the Children
and Families Act 2014
The reforms to the Office of the Children's Commissioner
broadly followed the recommendations of the independent review
carried out by John Dunford in 2010, notably changing the primary
role to promoting and protecting children's rights, securing greater
independence from government while making the OCC more open and
accountable, strengthening and clarifying some of the OCC's powers,
and transferring functions previously held by the children's rights
director (largely in relation to looked after children) from Ofsted
to the OCC.
Specific changes are:
· The
Children's Commissioner's primary function will change from 'promoting
awareness of children's views and interests' to 'promoting and
protecting children's rights'.
· The
change to the Commissioner's primary function will apply to the
Commissioner's UK-wide role in respect of non-devolved matters.
· The
indicative list of activities that the Commissioner may undertake
in the discharge of the primary function has been extended to
include: carrying out child rights impact assessments of new policies
and legislation; bringing matters directly to the attention of
Parliament; and monitoring the implementation of the UNCRC in
England.
· In discharging
the primary function, the Commissioner must have particular regard
to vulnerable children.
· The
Commissioner may provide advice and assistance to certain groups
of children who receive social care support or live away from
home.
· The
Commissioner's powers of entry have been extended so that as well
as entering premises for the purpose of interviewing children,
the Commissioner may also observe standards of care/interview
staff working in the premises.
· There
is a new requirement on the Commissioner to appoint an advisory
board.
· There
is a new requirement on the Commissioner to consult on a draft
business plan.
· The
Commissioner may lay his/her annual report directly before Parliament
(rather than via the Secretary of State).
· 1The
requirement on the Commissioner to consult the Secretary of State
before launching an inquiry, and the provision that enables the
Secretary of State to direct the Commissioner to undertake an
inquiry, have both been removed.
· The
provision for a Commissioner to be appointed for a second term
has been removed and future appointments will be for a single,
six-year term.
· The
2014 Act provides for the Secretary of State to make an interim
appointment, for a period of 6 months, or until a new Commissioner
is appointed (if sooner).
· The
requirement on the Commissioner to appoint a Deputy Commissioner
is removed.
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