I am grateful to Opposition Members for raising the important issue of the United Nations convention on the rights of the child, to which the Government are fully committed. We have already taken and continue to take steps to raise awareness of and strengthen action to promote the rights that the convention contains, as well as the safety and welfare of children more generally. Implementing the UNCRC has been a continuous process by successive Governments since its ratification in 1991, and we must never cease to look for new and better ways of promoting the rights and interests of children. However, the question is what the best way to achieve that is and what will have the most impact on changing behaviours and improving the way in which we consider children’s rights in policy making.

The Government do not believe that introducing the duty set out in the new clause is the right way to achieve those goals. As has been mentioned, a UNCRC due regard duty was debated in the other place, where Lord Nash set out clearly the Government’s position and why we think that such a duty is not the best way forward.

Our commitment to the UNCRC is already reflected in legislation. For example, the Children Acts 1989 and 2004 set out a range of duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Section 11 of the 2004 Act places duties on a range of organisations, including local authorities, the police, health services and a variety of other agencies, to ensure that their functions and any services that they contract out to others

“are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children”,

which is one of the key rights set out in the convention. In 2013, we issued statutory guidance to directors of children’s services that requires them to

“have regard to the General Principles of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and ensure that children and young people are involved in the development and delivery of local services.”

Recent legislation in the area—particularly the Children and Families Act 2014, which I took through the Bill Committee, as well as many aspects of this Bill—provides further examples of how we constantly seek not only to protect children’s rights but to enhance them. Ofsted plays a role in assessing the experiences of children and young people and testing the quality of support through the single inspection framework. The Children’s Commissioner has a statutory function of promoting and protecting the rights of children, having particular regard to the UNCRC. Those responsibilities and powers were strengthened in the 2014 Act.

So there is a lot in place already, but I agree with Opposition Members that there is more we can do. There is no doubt that introducing a duty is one of those options. The hon. Member for South Shields spoke about Scotland and Wales. Although they have ratified the convention, they have not incorporated it into their domestic law, as is the case in England. Both have more recently gone down the route of a “having regard” duty, but they have chosen significantly different approaches and it is still too early to understand fully what the consequences of those different approaches will be. However, I will continue to look carefully at their emerging impact and, having assessed that, will remain open-minded about the right way forward in due course.

Although we are not persuaded that the duty is the right approach, we agree on the need to focus on changing the culture so that officials and practitioners think about children and their rights as an integral part of their everyday work. In many ways, that is the concept behind the corporate parenting principles set out in clause 1. I want those who work with children, particularly those who work with the most vulnerable children, to recognise that that concept is a moral imperative and see the benefits of better policy and delivery that it will bring. As was pointed out by the hon. Lady, we issued a written ministerial statement in October last year. It is about changing culture across Government at both the national and the local level. We also responded to the UN’s concluding recommendations through that WMS and a letter from the permanent secretary to his counterparts across Government. We are determined to follow through with a number of other significant measures designed to embed children’s rights in Whitehall and beyond.

First, as the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston mentioned, we have introduced a programme to raise awareness of the UNCRC among civil servants and to increase understanding of what it means to have regard for the articles on carrying out public duties in relation to children. The programme will include a new core learning and development offer through Civil Service Learning, and an offer through the policy profession led by the director-general for children and social care and the chief social worker. That work is beginning now, and I expect to see the learning and development offer in place within six months. That goes further than any previous Government have in making the UNCRC an integral part of civil service development.

Secondly, we have made a commitment to work with the Joint Committee on Human Rights on how to promote and embed good practice, including through the use of children’s rights impact assessments. As those develop, I am sure that Opposition Members will want to have further information about how they can be of benefit.

Thirdly, later this month the Department will host a roundtable with the likes of UNICEF and the Children’s Rights Alliance for England to explore how we can develop the framework of action for which the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston was calling. We will have input from those who have the experience and expertise to support us to change behaviours and culture and to promote children’s rights in policy making both locally and nationally.

Fourthly, the Department will work with UNICEF—I have had an opportunity to meet it on a number of occasions recently—to spread best practice from local authorities that are effective in promoting children’s rights and in articulating the principles and values associated with such practice. We will also ensure that the next review of the statutory guidance, “Working together to safeguard children”—the main piece of statutory obligations for those working with children in the care system and on the edge of care—looks at the underpinning principles and how those can be strengthened to reflect children’s rights.

We will, of course, continue to discuss and review progress with relevant non-governmental organisations as well—this cannot be the preserve of Departments alone—while also continuing to observe and assess the results of those various approaches to implementing the UNCRC, in particular in Scotland and Wales. As I said, we will keep an open mind on where we may be able to go further in the future. I hope that our comprehensive piece of work, hitherto unprecedented by a Government, will embed the UNCRC as deeply and as broadly as possible across government nationally and locally and that it will provide the reassurance that hon. Members are looking for.