News

A bill to protect children and establish a children's commissioner will be published in the next parliamentary session, the Queen confirmed today in her annual speech to mark the opening of parliament, writes Clare Jerrom.

Plans for the introduction of a bill to provide all children born after September 2002 with a Child Trust Fund, with an initial endowment of £250 from government and more for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, were also confirmed.

As anticipated, the Queen said the government would introduce a bill on further changes to the asylum process, including the establishment a single tier of appeal against asylum decisions and other measures to "tackle abuse of the system and fraudulent claims".

Disability campaigners will welcome the news that a draft bill responding to a review of the law relating to disabilities is also to be published as part of the government's programme to extend the rights and opportunities of disabled people.

Mental health campaigners will be less content though, with plans for a mental health bill and mental incapacity bill noticeably absent.

However, the Department of Health insisted it was fully committed to reforming mental health legislation and that a revised mental health bill would be brought forward for pre-legislative scrutiny "as soon as possible".

The Queen confirmed that "delivering a world class education system" remained the government's number one priority.

The government will also continue to reform the National Health Service by giving more choice to patients, more freedom to staff, and more control over hospitals to local communities.

Other measures in the Queen's speech include:

• modernisation of the laws on domestic violence and the creation of a commissioner post to speak up for victims and witnesses
• a bill to enable more young people to benefit from higher education, including the abolition of upfront tuition fees
• strengthening of local authorities' and schools' powers to enable them to tackle antisocial behaviour
• a draft bill on charities to modernise charity law
• legislation on housing to protect the most vulnerable