Every Child Matters 

In September 2003, the government published a green paper entitled “Every Child Matters”. This addresses issues raised by the Laming Report, and also the broader issues of helping children reach their potential.

The aim of the paper is to reduce levels of educational failure, ill health, substance misuse, teenage pregnancy, abuse and neglect, crime and anti-social behaviour among children and young people.

The paper calls for reform in several areas. The IRT initiative aims to address the following objectives from this paper:

The Government's aim is for every child, whatever their background or their circumstances, to have the support they need to:

This means that the organisations involved with providing services to children - from hospitals and schools, to police and voluntary groups - will be teaming up in new ways, sharing information and working together, to protect children and young people from harm and help them achieve what they want in life. Children and young people will have far more say about issues that affect them as individuals and collectively.