Commissioner’s response to HIW announcement on Hillview Mental Health Hospital
This month Rocio responded to the Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) announcement on Hillview Hospital has had its registration suspended. The full statement is available on our website.
National Play day
On the 2nd of August we celebrated National Play Day with children in Wrexham! It was fantastic to see the city centre taken over by such a range of play opportunities. Play is such an important part of children’s lives and we were so pleased so many families enjoying children’s right to play (UNCRC Article 31). Our team ran activities that included encouraging children to draw themselves playing with their favourite toys or what they enjoy doing.
Adult Advisory Panel
This month has been an exciting time as we met with our new Adult Advisory Panel Members for the first time. It was fantastic to meet so many individuals who are passionate about creating positive change to children and young people’s lives in Wales, and we look forward to working with them over the next three years.
The primary purpose of the panel is to provide independent advice, support, scrutiny and challenge to the Commissioner and staff team, to ensure we’re effectively delivering our statutory responsibilities.
Three year strategy
Over the last few months we have published our three-year strategy ‘Making Life Better for Children in Wales’ that sets out our priorities, based on evidence gleaned over the Commissioner’s first year in office, about how we will work to promote and protect children’s rights in Wales. The strategy is available to read in both English and Welsh on our website.
Child Poverty
This month, Rocio met with Victoria Winckler from the Bevan Foundation and Chris Birt from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in Scotland to discuss the urgent need for an effective response to the issue of child poverty. The Commissioner continues to call for a clear and measurable action plan from the Welsh Government to go alongside the child poverty strategy.
Ambitions for Wales
Last year, nearly 9,000 children and young people took part in our Ambitions for Wales Survey. Parents, teachers and carers also took part in sharing their views with us. You can now access our bilingual report with the full findings of the survey on our website. We also have published resources to feedback the findings with children and young people in Wales.
Young People’s Advisory Panel
Twelve young members met this month for our monthly meeting, with discussion led by young members. The key topic this month was around the loss of green spaces, and discussed concerns about developments in their local areas. The Climate Subgroup of this panel has had an excellent response to their own work inviting local authorities to update on their work to tackle the climate emergency.