Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the Written Ministerial Statement of 6 December 2010, Official Report, column 7WS, what consideration her Department has given to the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child when making new policy and legislation since May 2015.

Being able to analyse properly the impact of polices in relation to particular groups is a fundamental part of good policy-making. This is done in a range of ways, particularly through engagement with civil society and professionals. Cabinet Office guidance to all Government departments, including Defra, advises that child rights impact assessments should be undertaken on policy and legislative changes, and Impact assessments are regularly undertaken where the child is directly affected by proposed changes.

Rights, freedoms and protections for children are considered throughout policy-making, but the Government has also put in place extra checkpoints where it is thought additional guarantees are useful and important. These include:

• The Equalities Impact Assessment, which ensures that decision-makers understand the impact on protected groups.
• A Family Test that helps us to understand the impact of new policies on families and children