Letting Children be Children/Annex B

by Reg Bailey

Annex B

Review approach to process and engagement

1.

Reg Bailey was appointed on 6 December 2010 by the Minister of State for Children and Families, Sarah Teather, to lead the Review and a team of officials from the Department for Education was set up to support him.

2.

Reg Bailey was asked to take as his starting point the recent assessment led by Professor David Buckingham and the reviews led by Professor Tanya Byron and by Dr Linda Papadopoulos. He has also met and discussed the issues with all three during the course of the Review.

3.

To update the evidence in this area since the work in paragraph 2 was undertaken, Reg Bailey commissioned from the Childhood Wellbeing Research Centre (CWRC) a rapid review of literature available since 2008 on the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood and a summary of regulatory frameworks in four other countries. The findings are available on the CWRC website: http://www.cwrc.ac.uk/projects.html

4.

The Review has sought to put the parents and children and young people at the heart of its work and to make sure that their opinions are reflected. This has been done in a number of ways:

• An online Call for Evidence from parents, grandparents and carers which received 997 responses. The Call for Evidence ran from 11 February to 18 March 2011 and the results are published as an appendix to this report.
• Qualitative research involving 70 parents was undertaken by Define Research and Insight Ltd.A summary is published as an appendix to this report.
• A presentation by the Children's Commissioner for England's children and young people's advisory group, 'Amplify', sharing the findings from their online survey of over 500 children and young people across England and their weekend residential workshop focusing on commercialisation issues. Details of the questionnaire and findings are available on their website: http://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uldcontent/publications/content_493
• A submission from the Department for Education's Children and Youth Board, summarising the findings of a workshop about commercialisation and sexualisation, held at their residential meeting and facilitated by the National Children's Bureau.

• A face—to—face omnibus survey, carried out with 1,025 parents of 5-16 year—olds in the UK and 520 children and young people aged 7-16 in Great Britain between 16 February and 13 March 2011 by TNS Omnibus, with data weighted to be nationally representative.A summary of the findings is published as an appendix to this report.

5.

Gathering evidence and views from a diverse range of stakeholders has been a crucial element of the Review. Examples of the positive enagagement of so many to this Review include:

• Launching a Call for Evidence from industry and wider stakeholders, from 11 February to 18 March 2011 which received 120 responses. A list of respondents can be found at Annex D of this report.
• Holding meetings with over 40 stakeholders, (retail, advertising, manufacturers, broadcasters, internet service providers, regulators, academics, and parenting experts). A full list of organisations and individuals interviewed can be found at Annex C of this report.

6.

Reg Bailey was supported by a group of critical friends: Professor Agnes Nairn, Professor Stewart Purvis, Professor Patrick Barwise, Sue Palmer and James Best who offered expertise and challenge, and acted as a sounding board for emerging ideas.

7.

Professor Ann Phoenix, June Statham and colleagues at CWRC, together with members of the Research Strategy Team at the Department for Education, have provided ongoing assistance in evaluating research and evidence.