Kathleen Marshall

Kathleen Marshall has been appointed Scotland's first-ever commissioner for children and young people. Her nomination was approved by the Scottish Parliament on 12 February and it is expected that she will be in post by early May. Ms Marshall, a child law consultant and visiting professor at Glasgow University, said, 'My first priority will be to set up ways in which children and young people can get their issues on the public agenda.' The 72,000-a-year job of children's commissioner is an initial five-year fixed term appointment with the possibility of a five-year extension. The commissioner will have to report at least once a year to the Scottish Parliament. The Westminster Government announced plans last September to appoint a children's commissioner for England in its Green paper, Every Child Matters. There has been a children's commissioner in Wales since May 2000 when Peter Clarke took up the position. Northern Ireland followed last October by appointing Nigel Williams in a post believed to have the widest range of powers of any commissioner for children in the world. Just before Christmas the Republic of Ireland announced the appointment of its first-ever ombudsman for children.