Part 1Children’s Commissioner
4Other inquiries held by Commissioner
1
Where the Secretary of State considers that the case of an individual child in England raises issues of relevance to other children, he may direct the Children’s Commissioner to hold an inquiry into that case.
2
The Children’s Commissioner may, if he thinks fit, hold an inquiry under this section, or any part of it, in private.
3
The Children’s Commissioner must, as soon as possible after the completion of an inquiry under this section, make a report in relation to the inquiry and send a copy to the Secretary of State.
4
The Secretary of State must, subject to subsection (5), publish each report received by him under this section as soon as possible.
5
Where a report made under this section identifies an individual child and the Secretary of State considers that it would be undesirable for the identity of the child to be made public—
a
the Secretary of State may make such amendments to the report as are necessary to protect the identity of the child and publish the amended report only; or
b
if he considers that it is not possible to publish the report without identifying the child, he need not publish the report.
6
The Secretary of State must lay a copy of each report published by him under this section before each House of Parliament.
7
Subsections (2) to (5) of section 250 of the Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) apply for the purposes of an inquiry held under this section.