Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has issued to other government departments on implementing the Government's commitment to give due consideration to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child when considering new policy or legislation.
The Cabinet Office's ‘Guide to Making Legislation', published in July 2013, states that officials in all Government Departments are expected to have regard to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) before starting the legislative process. A copy of the guidance is available online at: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/210917/Guide_to_Making_Legislation_July_2013.pdf
It is for individual Departments to determine how best to comply with this commitment in practice. The Department for Education has offered advice to them in a variety of forms in our role of co-ordinating the forthcoming report to the UN Committee for the UK's fifth periodic review, which will set out the progress which has been made in implementing the UNCRC since the last review in 2008.