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Concerns were raised about the lead professional role for young people outlined in the youth green paper at Community Care Live Children and Families yesterday.

Bill Badham, development officer for the National Youth Agency, said he feared that people holding the role will be  “bureaucratic holders of information” rather than  standing up for the young person against the system that employed them.

“I don’t think the lead professional will be people with experience of advocacy,” he said.

Badham added that young people should be able to choose who the lead professional is but that he doubted this would be the case.

Conference delegates expressed worries that employees in the lead professional role could become overwhelmed due to having too much responsibility placed on them.