Editorial: A welcome addition to Brown's Cabinet

He has installed one of his chief political allies, Ed Balls, as secretary for state for the newly created Department for Children, Schools and Families, while children and youth minister Beverley Hughes has had youth justice added to her remit and will attend certain Cabinet meetings. Praise must go to Brown for making responsibility for children - and we are assured young people too - a Cabinet-level position, but also to the organisations that have lobbied tirelessly for the need to have someone on the top table representing the interests of the next generation.

The signs for the future look good. Balls is believed to have played a leading role in allocating at least 200m of unclaimed assets to youth facilities in his previous capacity as economic secretary to the Treasury. He is also a keen supporter of youth organisation Kikass and disabled children's rights. Equally, Hughes is seen as a firm advocate of not just children's but youth issues and retaining the expertise she has built over the past two years can only be beneficial. Extending her remit to include youth justice will also be welcome news to campaigners who argue that young offenders are young people first and offenders second, and should be treated as such.