Human Rights (Joint Committee)
3 June 2026
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Human Rights (Joint Committee) House of Lords
00:05 - 03:28
Speaker 1
Good afternoon, and welcome to the second meeting of the new session and the fifty second meeting of the parliament of the joint committee on human rights. As the name implies, we are made up of 12 members drawn equally from both houses and come from varied political backgrounds. We're tasked by parliament to examine how public policy, including and wider questions impact the human rights of UK citizens. On our web page, you can see a range of recent reports and inquiries, and they include thematic inquiries on transnational repression, supply chain transparency, and modern day slavery, and the failure to bring to justice British citizens who were involved in the genocide of Yazidis and other minorities. Our current inquiries include legislative scrutiny of the Northern Ireland troubles bill and thematic inquiries into the impact of artificial intelligence on human rights and the impact of security, safety, and protest on human rights.
But we've also been looking and examining the human rights of children in social care and the extent to which the human rights of children in England are protected in the social care system. Our inquiry has included on the ground visits to great cities such as Leeds and York and a private roundtable discussion with some of the young people who have come through the system, and they shared that experience with us with great candor and sensitivity, and we greatly welcomed it. This is the fifth and the final oral session of the inquiry. And to conclude our evidence, we're very pleased today to welcome the minister for children and families, Joc McAllister, OBE, and we'll explore with him some of the issues around adequacy of accommodation, the availability of complaints mechanisms, and the disappearance of unaccompanied asylum seeking children. Josh McAllister is the labor member of parliament for Whitehaven and work Wokington and has been an MP since 07/04/2024.
He was appointed parliamentary undersecretary of state, minister for children and families at the department for education on 09/07/2025. But prior to becoming a member of parliament, the minister was responsible for leading an independent groundbreaking review of children's social care, which was published back in May 2022. We, on this committee, have no doubt about the minister's personal commitment to his portfolio or about his knowledge around the issues which we're gonna be talking about today. And I know that he has been joined today by his colleague, Helen Waite, who is the director of children's social care, and you are very welcome too. Now to set the ball rolling, I've got a general question.
And after I've asked that, perhaps I'll turn to my colleagues, beginning with sir Desmond Sway, member of parliament, to explore the issues in more granular detail. But, minister, to what extent are human rights principles embedded in the framework applicable to children in social care, and how do you take human rights into account as you carry out your work in that area?
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