Sir, Lord Laming (report, March 5) identified 12 occasions when Victoria Climbié might have been saved by social workers, police or the NHS. It is difficult to believe that had a Children’s Commissioner been in post these failures of practice would not have occurred.
Indeed, the appointment of a commissioner is likely to make matters worse. It will generate a bureaucratic support structure that will justify its existence by issuing directives, gathering information and seeking statistics, all of which will place a further burden on already overstretched professionals, putting vulnerable children at risk.
Further, this structure is likely to formulate policies and initiatives that, under pressure from children’s charities, will seek to limit the right of parents to discipline and correct their children through reasonable