Former Home Secretary to advise children's commissioner

Smith will be joining the commissioner's advisory board which provides Longfield and her office with strategic advice and challenge.

As well as giving strategic support, the board advises the commissioner on how best to use her legal powers to effect change for children and acts as a sounding board for Longfield's policies and proposals.

"I'm delighted to be asked to join the children's commissioner's advisory board," said Smith, who chairs Sandwell Children's Trust and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

"Anne Longfield has brought real focus onto the needs and experiences of children, especially the most vulnerable and it's an honour to be able to use my policy and children's services experience to support this groundbreaking work."

Other members of the board include former children's minister Edward Timpson, government care adviser Sir Martin Narey and Alison O'Sullivan, past president of the Association of Directors of Children's Services.

Smith worked as a teacher before being elected as the MP for Redditch in 1997. Her first government post came in 1999 when she was appointed a parliamentary under-secretary within the Department for Education and Employment as it was then called.

In 2005 she became schools minister. She became the UK's first woman Home Secretary in 2007, a post she held until 2009. She left parliament after losing her seat at the 2010 general election.

Also on Longfield's advisory board are David Halpern, chief executive of the government's Behavioural Insights Team, and Josh MacAlister, the founder of the social worker training scheme Frontline.