News Insight: Maggie eyes the rocky road ahead

The pre-election Tory signals looked ominous for Maggie Atkinson. The party made plain its intention to review the role of children's commissioner while Michael Gove, now Education Secretary, said he agreed with the select committee report at the time of her appointment that "she was not the right person".

The controversy stirred by her interview with The Times in March, in which she called for the age of criminal responsibility to be raised as emotions were running high over the return to prison of James Bulger killer Jon Venables, heightened her predicament.

But for all those early knocks in the post, Atkinson has that steely look of a survivor. Gove, she reveals, has promised her and deputy Sue Berelowitz a meeting with all of the Department for Education ministers: "Their diaries have been crazy ... but I'm told they want to talk to us before (parliamentary) recess," adding she is "buoyed with great hope".

She notes the coalition has made "some fairly important direction setting announcements about some other bodies." Her office is thus far unscathed; so it's business as usual.

Since arriving four months ago, she has scrapped the 11 Million name introduced in 2007 after research showed children didn't understand it. Changing the logo to say "Children's Commissioner", has cost "well under £1,000". She says 11 Million was "a fantastic brand for a strong campaign to bring children and young people's issues into the light" but not so fantastic a name for an organisation.

A government review could in theory extend the commissioner's powers to take up individual cases like her counterparts in the other UK nations. But, "to have ombudsman powers you would have to quadruple our size and resource," Atkinson says, given England's under-18 population. Unlike her predecessor Sir Al Aynsley-Green, she is satisfied with the current remit to influence policy. She inherited 25 staff and a £3m budget, working out at 25 pence per child. "I say to children and young people: 'My job is to listen to what you have to say and to take it back to people who make decisions about your life'."

Spheres of influence

On specific policies, she is in talks with the Home Office and UK Border Agency about making real the pledge to end the detention of immigrant children. The commissioner's office has published several reports exposing the mistreatment of asylum seekers at the Yarl's Wood immigration removal centre.

She says immigration minister Damian Green "is not hanging about" but neither is he "prepared to simply open the gates". A report from civil servants is due by 12 July with recommendations published soon after. "There is a real will, not least because detaining asylum seekers before you deport them is not only disruptive and upsetting, it's very expensive," she adds.

On social work, the commissioner's office has been charged with "facilitating the voice of the child" in Professor Eileen Munro's review of child protection. She describes the review, which aims to cut bureaucracy, as "a bit like refocusing the camera lens one more notch" from the Social Work Task Force chaired by Moira Gibb, which concentrated on training and supervision.

But Atkinson urges the government to be careful in its plans to publish serious case reviews in full, to avoid identification of siblings and safeguarding professionals. She welcomes the family justice review launched last week but is scathing about Labour's decision to give the media access to family courts, which made it through the pre-election parliamentary "wash-up" of legislation.

On youth justice, she is encouraged by Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke's emphasis on rehabilitation of convicted criminals and the ramifications for young offenders.

Children's participation is a core part of the commissioner's role. Takeover Day, where young people assume the jobs of adults for a day in November, is expected to grow this year to involve 40,000 young people and 1,500 organisations. The entire Co-op movement, Atkinson reveals, is on board for the first time.

She warns that participation programmes with the young may be "seductively easy" for councils to cut: "You need to be brave and find a way to hold on to as much universal and discretionary work as you can."

Atkinson, a former Association of Directors of Children's Services president, will address this week's ADCS annual conference. Her themes are, broadly, the role of local authorities in an "increasingly diversifying schools system" and partnership working in this age of austerity.

On matters of resilience, she might know a thing or two.

COMMISSIONER'S CALENDAR - PLANNED ACTIVITIES

• Summer 2010 (July-August) Submission to child detention review; publish research with young people in custody on practices such as strip-searching and separation; commission research into children's views on key education policy; collate responses from children and young people for Eileen Munro's review of child protection
• Autumn 2010 (September-November) Publish 'think pieces' from commentators on key aspects of education policy; publish joint report with UK Youth Parliament on children and young people's views of health services; report on best practice to encourage participation of marginalised groups; run Takeover Day (12 November); report on children-in-care councils; publish The Home Front, a report on parenting in conjunction with Demos; interim report on mental health needs of young offenders
• Winter 2010/2011 (December-February) Report on participation activity in schools; art project with young carers, who communicate aspects of their life through artwork; programme of activity to improve perceptions and reporting of young people