Danger people will 'become used to child poverty in Wales' says Children’s Commissioner

There’s a real danger that people “become used to the levels of child poverty in Wales” rather than trying to tackle it, according to the outgoing Children’s Commissioner. 

Sally Holland makes the warning in tonight’s Face to Face with Adrian Masters. 

Her seven-year term comes to an end in April and in the programme she also sets out how she thinks the rôle should change, including transferring responsibility for it from the Welsh Government to the Senedd. 

According to the charity Save the Children, almost a third of children here in Wales live in poverty.

Sally Holland describes it as the “biggest challenge we have as a society.”

“I think there's a real risk that we actually become used to the levels of child poverty in Wales, which remains startlingly high.

"And I think again, people will say, ‘Oh, it's not child poverty like it was in the past,’ but you know, I see it and I see it in my visits and meeting children. And it is a real issue.

“I think it's the biggest challenge we have as a society because it affects every other aspect of children's lives, their mental health, educational prospects. It even affects the better off because actually, we know that more equal societies are happier and safer societies as well.”

Sally Holland is the third Children’s Commissioner since the role was created in 2001. She says it needs to be changed to recognize the way that children’s lives have changed. 

“There's a list of organisations I can scrutinise and intervene in and some of them don't exist anymore and there are new ones that do. 

“For example, I can't intervene in private schools unless they have a boarding element. Well, that's just a slightly odd quirk of the law. I can't intervene in private hospitals, and we have children staying in private mental health institutions, for example. 

“There are a number of areas and I've got a list for government that I think would make my rule stronger and I think I should be appointed by and funded by the Senedd, not by the government.”

That’s something which was recommended by a Senedd committee in 2020 but rejected by the Welsh Government which said  that “Any change in appointment arrangements and accountability will require primary legislation; there is no legislative time available in this Senedd term.”

As with every guest on Face to Face, the conversation is as much personal as professional.

She looks back at how the “shy…and quiet child living in a quiet, small town and in rural Scotland” made her way in social work and academia, moving to Wales, learning Welsh and becoming Children’s Commissioner. 

As for any advice for her successor, Sally Holland says “I think my successor will need to be very energetic, very hard working, prepared to listen and but also prepare to sometimes be a bit brave as well.”

Read more: