Children and Young People's Unit (Hansard, 20 October 2003)

§ Margaret Hodge

The Children and Young People's Unit co-ordinates UK participation in the EU Open Method of Co-ordination on Youth Policy (Youth OMC) and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) through a variety of methods.

Co-ordination with the Devolved Administrations

The Unit chairs a Devolved Administrations Liaison Group (DALG) which meets for half a day, four times a year. Membership is comprised of officials with responsibility for EU youth policy and child rights policy from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Youth OMC and the UNCRC are standing agenda items.

The Unit holds two half-day bilateral meetings per year with officials in each of the Devolved Administrations. Again, the Youth OMC and the UNCRC are standing agenda items.

The Unit has an information sharing arrangement with the Devolved Administrations where written information is circulated quarterly by e-mail to officials updating them on developments and new initiatives for children and young people in each country of the UK.

These formal arrangements are reinforced with regular working-level contact between the Unit and each of the Devolved Administrations.

Co-Ordination with Westminster Departments

At a formal level, co-ordination on both the Youth OMC and the UNCRC has previously been undertaken through the Children and Young People's Unit Interdepartmental Steering Group. With the recent machinery of government changes following the creation of a Children and Families Directorate within the Department for Education and Skills, structures for cross-Whitehall co-ordination are currently being reviewed. Formal co-ordination of the Youth OMC and the UNCRC will become part of the new arrangements.

At working-level, the Unit has daily contact with officials across Whitehall on these two issues.