The ex children’s commissioner has informed the Covid-19 inquiry that the government must apologise to children for the damaging errors and flawed decisions it made during the pandemic.
'Doom Loop' Within Ministers Led to Failure to Assist Young People
Giving testimony to the investigation's open session, Anne Longfield stated that a cycle of fatalism within government leaders resulted in the government did not manage to do enough to support the younger generation.
She argued that the extended lockdowns and education shutdowns were to blame for the surge in psychological, welfare and conduct issues continuing to affect children and young people.
These children and young people who lived through the coronavirus crisis – some of whom will now be adults and some of whom are just starting school – are due a official sorry from the government leader in parliament once the inquiry has published its concluding findings,” she stated.
Formal Apology Would Recognise Avoidable Mistakes and Damage Caused
A formal sorry would give the government an chance to formally acknowledge the preventable errors and the harm that was caused to numerous children’s welfare, education, physical condition, development, and security, following choices that were made by the administration at the time in 2020 and 2021.
“It would be a chance to apologise, and to assure that lessons really will be taken on board, in case of a future health crisis or national emergency in the years ahead.”
Children’s Interests Were Secondary to Bars, Shops and Older People
Longfield said her recommendations or views were infrequently sought by the administration throughout the pandemic, and informed the investigation that the needs of young people often “were placed after in the line to pubs, retail outlets, amusement centres but also grown-ups, the whole time”.
Social Care Support Reduced During Crisis
She was especially disapproving of the administration's decision to drop several elements of welfare services during the pandemic, including diluting requirements for visits to vulnerable children.
Limitations on visits and the growing use of virtual meetings allowed some families to avoid or hide their living conditions, Longfield suggested.
“Families, if they chose to, could easily see how they could hold the meeting in a tidy, very clean room, and the other parts of the home might not be the same,” Longfield said.
Reduced standards implied social workers were unable to talk to vulnerable children without their guardians present, or to speak with additional relatives who might have worries.
Absence of Inventive Thinking in Schools and Child Welfare
The former commissioner said she was disappointed that the government failed to use any inventive thinking regarding educational institutions and child protection that other parts of government, like the NHS, had employed to solve problems.
“There was no the kind of Nightingale moment that hospitals got, in schools. Numerous measures could have been handled in another way around maintaining education access but they were not.
“In the same way with social care, [the authorities] moved straight to an result around reducing duties,” she added.
After-Effects Continue to Affect Children
Longfield stated the after-effects on children and young people were still being felt, referring to the twofold increase in long-term non-attendance from education, the 80% increase in education, health and care plans provided for children with special needs, and a 300% increase in autism spectrum diagnoses among children since before the pandemic.
Longfield commented the evidence “is completely conclusive on the increase in virtually every indicator of [increased] vulnerability, from pre-Covid to today”.
