Government demonstrates poverty of 10-year strategy
Patricia Lewsley-Mooney
Monday, April 14, 2014
I must admit some frustration at how slowly things can move forward in terms of government action for children, and how things that seem to have moved forward can appear to quietly slip back.
I have been Northern Ireland's commissioner for children for seven years and, in my final months in post, have been reflecting on the developments. When I came into post in January 2007, it seemed a time of promise, of potential progress for children and young people. A 10-year strategy for children and young people had recently been published and we were about to witness the restoration of devolution. We were hopeful that having locally elected politicians would result in more local accountability in legislation and initiatives that would meet the needs of local people.
Certainly, there is more political debate on important issues and I have developed constructive working relationships with government ministers with whom I meet regularly to discuss issues affecting children's rights and best interests.
However, I have concerns about the effectiveness of the executive's strategic delivery for children and young people. In 2010, we commissioned research that identified the barriers to effective delivery. These included a lack of commitment to and awareness of children's rights. Problems were also evident in joined-up working between departments; significant time delays in delivery; and limited participation of children and young people.
We know that an effective, resourced national action plan for children, rooted in the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child, is central to government delivery for children. This would integrate and drive government action to ensure improved outcomes for children. But there is little evidence of this in the 10-year strategy. We work closely with the First and Deputy First Ministers' office on a number of issues, so in the strategy's final years, I had understood that we would be involved in a new engagement process to consider its delivery and to work towards the development of a new longer term plan.
Disappointing developments
So I was disappointed that instead, the executive simply tweaked the 10-year strategy and merged it with the child poverty strategy. Doing so has resulted in a document that is neither an improvement on the children's strategy nor meets the requirements of the Child Poverty Act. This was done without engagement with my office, civil society or children, young people or their parents.
Since the new proposed Delivering Social Change for Children and Young People was released in January 2014, the First and Deputy First Ministers' office has undertaken a consultation process through stakeholder events, although the timescale had been limited. The re-write appears to lack any meaningful review of the previous strategy's impact on children's outcomes to determine what has, and what has not, been effective.
There are considerable challenges ahead. An Institute for Fiscal Studies report predicts that absolute child poverty in Northern Ireland will rise from 25 per cent in 2011/12 to an unprecedented 38.5 per cent in 2020/21. That is more than 10 percentage points above the level predicted for the UK. This is only one of the many challenges that must be addressed urgently for our most vulnerable children.
If devolved government is to make a difference, we need an honest review of how effectively it has been delivering for children and young people, while involving civil society, professionals, parents and, of course, children and young people themselves. This must be followed by concerted, co-ordinated action to ensure better outcomes for children through the development, resourcing and delivery of a new, long-term strategy. Then, at last, we may see real progress.
Patricia Lewsley-Mooney is children's commissioner for Northern Ireland