News

England's first children's commissioner has promised some "quick wins" once he takes his post up full-time in July.

Speaking to Community Care following news of his appointment, Al Aynsley-Green said he already had a "very comprehensive list of issues" he wanted to deal with but had to be realistic about his finite resources.

"I am going to have to go through a rigorous process of prioritisation," he said. "And that must include some quick wins to demonstrate that the commissioner is not a poodle, as well as getting serious about advocating for those issues that children and young people feel passionately about."

The children's doctor said he was interested in copying a model he had seen in Sweden "whose only function is to look at the impact of the emerging legislation coming out of government from the child's perspective".

But given the importance placed on the post-holder's independence from government, eyebrows have already been raised within the sector about Aynsley-Green's temporary residence within Department for Education and Skills' premises, and the appointment of Margaret Hodge's former private secretary Claire Carroll to the equivalent role in his office for at least the next nine months.