All articles written by Anne Longfield on PoliticsHome.com

17 Nov 2022 Education

The government must crack down on growing county lines child exploitation

Recently, I visited a community project on a housing estate where families told me they were being terrorised by a gang of boys, excluded from school, who were delivering a county line to an area about 80 miles away.

02 Dec 2021 Education

We need better systems to stop marginalised teenagers falling into the hands of criminal gangs

There is an ongoing epidemic of gangs, drug-running, grooming and serious youth violence in England. Harmful criminal exploitation is now an ever-present reality of some childhoods. It involves tens of thousands of marginalised and vulnerable young people, brings misery, and destroys lives and prospects.

04 Jun 2021 Education

We need to level up the education playing field

Children in many of the worst-affected areas have faced a triple whammy of long-term deprivation, digital poverty and lost learning days. More investment in education catch up is essential, it must be an economic priority.

26 Jan 2021 Coronavirus

While calls for help about child abuse increase, 600,000 vulnerable children remain invisible to the state

Data shows an increase in calls about domestic abuse in the pandemic. However, with the number of referrals to social services going down, children are being forgotten when they need us most.

10 Feb 2020 Communities

Children’s Commissioner: The youth justice system is failing too many children – it’s time for a complete overhaul

“The youth justice system should be there to rehabilitate offenders, but it is failing miserably – 76 % of children who serve custodial sentences go on to reoffend” writes Anne Longfield, Children's Commissioner for England