Young children's right to be heard

The Childcare Act (2006) has provided the first legislative underpinning for the rights of young children. The right to an integrated, quality, play-based framework for development and learning from birth to five acknowledges children's right to services that fully meet their needs. But the Act goes further than this; it requires local authorities to have regard to the views of young children in the design, development and delivery of early childhood services'.1 There was much debate in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords that led to the duty on local authorities to have regard to young...