Ms Karen McAuley:

Deputy Whitmore's question is very important and interesting. As the committee is aware, our role as an office both in terms of our statutory complaints function and our role to promote the rights and welfare of children is a means through which we can independently assess issues affecting children and children's rights across the country, and not only to identify problems but to identify actions that we feel need to be taken in order to address those problems.

In working to highlight issues affecting children and their rights, including the assessment of needs and children with disabilities more generally, what we are trying to do is influence positive change with and for children. While the office is trying to influence change, it is not necessarily our statutory role to make those changes so, for example, it is not our role to legislate and we have no power to make budgetary allocations or to recruit staff or ensure services are adequately planned, co-ordinated and resourced to meet the needs of children and young people. I am not sure if there is a problem with our powers per se, but the reality is that what we are there to do is to highlight problems that children and young people across the country are facing in different aspects of their lives and to try to identify measures we feel are needed to address those problems, some of which may be implemented in the short term and others which may take more time, with a view to encouraging those who are mandated and have responsibility to deliver for children and young people through those measures to do just that. We are going to be initiating a review of the Ombudsman for Children Act very shortly. All going well, we hope the work to review the Act will be completed by quarter 2 of next year. We are going to be considering a wide range of matters in terms of whether the powers of the Ombudsman for Children's Office under the Act are adequate. Without trying to sound smart about it, it is important to bear in mind that we are not mandated and, ultimately it is not our role, probably rightly so, to do the job that others have responsibility to do. I hope that makes sense.