Page 4212 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 26 November 2013
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Children and Young People Death Review Committee—annual report
Paper and statement by minister
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Disability, Children and Young People, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Women, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Racing and Gaming): For the information of members I present the following paper:
Children and Young People Act, pursuant to subsection 727S(5)—ACT Children and Young People Death Review Committee—Annual Report 2012-2013, dated 31 October 2013.
I seek leave to make a statement in relation to the paper.
Leave granted.
MS BURCH: The committee was established in 2011 as an independent, multi-sectoral committee under the Children and Young People Act 2008 with members appointed in January 2012. The committee is currently chaired by Dr Penny Gregory and there are 12 other members of the committee representing ACT government directorates, ACT Policing and non-government community sectors. The committee has a number of functions, including establishing a register of deaths of children and young people, identifying patterns and trends in relation to the deaths of children and young people, and determining research that would be valuable in this area.
The role of the committee is to identify what may be learnt from the circumstances of a death of a child or young person. The committee is able to make recommendations about legislation, policies, practices and services for implementation by the government and non-government bodies with the aim of preventing or reducing the number of deaths of children and young people in the ACT and improving services.
The committee’s first annual report was presented to the Assembly in November 2012. I am pleased to be able to table the second report produced by the committee. Today I table a report that provides an overview of data related to the deaths of ACT children and young people over a five-year period from 1 July 2008 to 30 June 2013. The report does not make any recommendations.
In this period there were 155 deaths of children and young people recorded on the register and 115 of these children and young people were recorded as normally living in the ACT. Of these 115 deaths, 10 are awaiting a coroner’s findings and will be included in subsequent annual reports. Accordingly, the year’s annual report provides information about the deaths of 105 ACT children and young people. The report does not include any reviews of specific cases or trends in relations to the deaths of children and young people for the period 2008-13. It is anticipated that the committee will undertake individual reviews as dictated by the data it collects and release other reports and fact sheets in relation to these data and individual reviews.
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