Children’s Minister Jane Hutt, has made a statement in response to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child’s concluding observations for the UK.

The Minister outlined some of the steps that the Assembly Government has taken in order to improve its position on children’s rights, including:

• The establishment of a Cabinet Committee for children and young people and the National Assembly’s scrutiny committee for Children and Young People.
• Across all local authorities, multi-agency work is underway on Children and Young People’s Plans, taking into account the views of children and young people.
• Development of a national framework for universal advocacy services.
• Funky Dragon, now six years old, is gaining a powerful voice in speaking out on behalf of children and young people.
• Supporting children and young people to participate in decision making on issues that affect their lives locally, including play, bullying and environmental issues.
• Developing and disseminating National Standards for Participation.
• A strategic approach to tackling poverty.
• Supporting children and young people to be involved in developing, implementing and evaluating policies.

Further information is available on the Welsh Assembly Government website.