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WQ.307/2024
WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
BY DEPUTY L.M.C. DOUBLET OF ST. SAVIOUR
QUESTION SUBMITTED ON MONDAY 23rdSEPTEMBER 2024 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON MONDAY 30th SEPTEMBER 2024
Question
"Further to the Children (Convention Rights) (Jersey) Law 2022 coming into effect earlier this year, will the Minister advise –
- when the responsibility to have due regard for children's rights when decisions are being made will be extended to other named duty bearers including certain charities, arms-length bodies of the Government of Jersey and the Parishes; and
- what support and training, if any, has or will be provided to current and future duty-bearers?"
Answer
- The Children (Convention Rights) (Jersey) Law 2022 came into force on 1 January 2024 for 3 categories of duty-bearer: Ministers, Elected Members and States Assembly Bodies.
The final category of duty-bearer, for which the Law is not yet enacted, is Public Authorities. These are set out in Schedule 1 of the Law and currently comprise the following:
Andium Homes Limited
Autism Jersey
Family Nursing and Home Care (Jersey) Incorporated
Jersey Cares Limited, also known as "Jersey Cares"
Jersey Child Care Trust
Jersey Society for the Provision of a Children's Resources Centre, also known as "Centre Point Trust" and "Centrepoint"
Jersey Sport Limited
The parishes
I plan to bring forward a Commencement Act, which will extend the Law to Public Authority duty-bearers, before the end of the current political term. Leaving a gap between the first and second phases of enactment will ensure that any learnings from Phase 1 can be used to inform the training and support offered to Public Authorities between now and the remainder of the Law coming into force.
Public Authorities took part in the consultation which was undertaken when the Law was developed and have been kept informed regarding the planned phased enactment.
- The decision to enact the Law in 2 phases was made to ensure that sufficient support could be provided to all duty-bearers at the appropriate time.
In March, I published the Children's Rights Scheme, the Statutory Guidance required by the Law.
For the duty-bearers to whom the Law currently applies, as well as officers who support them, 7 in-person training sessions and one online webinar have been delivered, which covered approximately 170 key individuals within the Government of Jersey.
An eLearning module, focused on when and how to conduct a Children's Rights Impact Assessment (CRIA) is available to all duty-bearers and staff via the government's online training platform, Connect Learning.
Direct support has been provided to duty-bearers and officers in respect of 32 separate CRIAs since the Law came into force in January. This support is provided by officers in the Children's Policy Team and continues to be available to all duty-bearers and those working on their behalf.
In advance of the extension of the Law to Public Authority duty-bearers, officers will engage with each of them to ensure an appropriate level of support is available. The detail of this support has yet to be determined, but is likely to include:
• familiarisation with the requirements of the Law;
• training on the due regard duty;
• resources such as templates for use by duty-bearers;
• access to the CRIA eLearning or similar resource; and
• ongoing officer support.
Officers will continue to liaise with the Office of the Children's Commissioner, to the best approach to offer further expert advice to Public Authorities as necessary.