Clarke's successor Keith Towler, who takes up the role in March, agrees he has been left an impressive legacy, but there is no question of resting on any laurels. "There are about 170,000 children in Wales living in poverty," he says. "This highlights how poorly we're doing."
Towler, who is programme director for Save the Children in Wales, has the ideal background to be Wales's second children's commissioner. Before joining Save the Children, he worked in youth justice and community safety, and he heads up the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child monitoring group for Wales.
"I spent a lot of time working in the criminal justice system before I came to Save the Children, and all the young people I met, whether they were going through the court processes, in prevention work, in the youth justice system or even in custody, the thing that always struck me was that their basic entitlements weren't being delivered," Towler says. "Why does a lot of work go on in prisons looking at the ability of children to read and get basic skills? What's going on that stops that from happening?"
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