Welsh children’s commissioner calls for complaints and advocacy system

The children’s commissioner for Wales, Peter
Clarke, has announced a far-reaching review of arrangements to
safeguard and promote the rights and welfare of young people in
Wales.

During
a speech to the all-Wales social services conference in Swansea, he
outlined plans that include setting up an advocacy, whistleblowing
and complaints procedure in every social services
department.

He
told conference delegates that social services played a key role in
the lives of the most vulnerable children. But he said that there
was an undoubted need for a national advocacy, whistleblowing and
complaints procedure, and stressed the importance of giving
children a role in shaping the services and structures.

“I
hope that the review will be an invaluable policy-making tool,
helping to shape the future of children’s services in Wales and
making the goals of those working within those departments
achievable,” he said.

Delegates heard that for the
first step in the process, the commissioner’s team would look at
present arrangements in social services departments throughout
Wales, and that children and young people will be involved in the
design and evaluation of the mapping exercise.

An
initial questionnaire will be sent out to all 22 of Wales’ social
services departments next month and further information would be
gathered through a series of in-depth interviews. Clarke told the
conference that he intends to publish his report in February next
year and that it would be followed by a full evaluation of services
in 2003-4. In the longer term the children’s commissioner team will
undertake similar reviews in health authorities and education
departments in Wales.

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