Children were disproportionately affected by pandemic policies, with their voices not listened to and no one made responsible by the government for ensuring their legal rights were met, the Covid inquiry has heard.
Questions about how lockdown policies affected young people “weren’t even asked”, said the barrister Jennifer Twite, giving evidence on behalf of Save the Children UK, Just for Kids Law and the Children’s Rights Alliance.
Twite said: “We fear that the answer does not simply lie in the erratic decision-making and the failures of Mr Johnson or the distractions of Brexit. Although we accept those are unlikely to have helped.”
Instead young people fell foul of systemic failings, she said. “Whose role was it to consider the interests of children and make sure their needs were not forgotten in a crisis?” Twite asked.
Children were at the back of the queue when the government made its biggest decisions about lockdown and reopening the economy, said Twite.
Prioritisation of venues meant that pubs, restaurants and sports clubs were allowed to reopen before schools, nurseries and other places for children’s activities.
The 1:1 rule, where adults were allowed to meet a friend outside, meant that younger children who needed supervising were not able to do the same, Twite said. The lack of consideration disproportionately affected children in poverty who were isolated in their homes without adequate replacements for learning, food and emotional support.
This was against the rights of children as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Twite said.
She added: “The charity Playing Out wrote to the children’s minister and under-secretary of state because they were considerably concerned about the rules about children playing outdoors. He wrote back to say that outdoor play was not in his remit because the children’s minister role sits in the Department for Education.
“We know that Gavin Williamson [the education secretary] was so incidental to decision-making that it is the current position of this inquiry not even to call him to give evidence in this module. So who was there to consider the rights for children in England, and perhaps more importantly, who should have been.”
The inquiry has said it will embark on a targeted research project to hear from young people. Twite said the government must appoint a cabinet minister for children with cross-departmental responsibility for driving forward implementation of a child rights action plan.
She also called on the government to classify schools and early years settings as essential infrastructure for future health emergencies.
