Ms Grainia Long:

The first key practical thing will be putting the best interests of the child at the centre of the Bill. That will make a big difference. As an organisation, the ISPCC will need to use the Bill as a lever for change. We want to require organisations that work with children through the criminal justice system to demonstrate that they have prioritised the best interests of children when undertaking interviews of children and in taking account of the views of children. There is a reason the UN Convention states that key phrase really clearly. Putting that in the main text of the Bill rather than just in the preamble could be a game changer. That is the lever we could then use.

I would echo Ms O'Malley-Dunlop's point on implementation. The Bill will stand or fall on just how seriously we take it. If we do not take it seriously, it will just be another Bill with the best of intentions.

We listen to 460,000 children a year. It still shocks me that we have to listen to that many children and there are many more who do not feel they can call. We need to change how we think about children. This is the first piece of really serious legislation for children following enactment of the children's referendum and the change to the Constitution. It could be something that looks and feels very different from anything that has gone before. That means providing for listening to and treating children differently. We have set out some of the changes we need to make and hopefully I have given two practical changes which the committee could consider.