Following lobbying by the Children's Rights Alliance for England (CRAE), regulations that come into force today (1 April 2010) require local authorities and their partners (the Children's Trust Board) to have regard to the Convention on the Rights of the Child when preparing, reviewing or revising their plan for local children's services.

The Children and Young People's Plan must be published by 1 April 2011. Regulation 5(1) of The Children's Trust Board (Children and Young People's Plan) (England) Regulations 2010 states that:

When preparing, reviewing or revising a plan, the Board must have regard to the importance of acting, so far as possible, in a way which is compatible with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. 

Carolyne Willow, CRAE's national co-ordinator, warmly welcomes the development:

'This is something we have been pushing for several years because it will require local children's services to have a really strong focus on protecting children's rights. The Convention on the Rights of the Child sets international minimum standards for all for those working with and for children. Children and their families should be able to see practical changes in the services available to them, but also feel the differences in how they are treated by professionals. The Convention is clear that children should always be treated with respect, dignity and fairness and their views taken into account in all matters affecting them.'

CRAE will be writing to Directors of Children's Services to suggest ways of implementing the regulations, and will follow this up with more detailed advice. As well as urging this reform, CRAE has been pushing for the Secretary of State for Children to be required to have regard to the Convention in promoting the well-being of children (Section 7, Children and Young Persons Act 2008). This change has not yet been accepted by Ministers, though has strong Parliamentary support.