Dustin Hutchinson, who has helped shaped the work of our policy team for a decade, looks back on NCB’s achievements influencing government policy affecting children and young people.
As I prepare to say goodbye to the National Children’s Bureau, it’s an opportunity to look back on all that we have achieved since I joined ten years ago.
I remember feeling rather daunted about taking the minutes of an All-Party Parliamentary Group for Children (APPGC) event on children’s social care on my first day. Little did I know just how impactful our work influencing government policy in this area would turn out to be!
I was fortunate to have the opportunity not long after that nervous first day to present oral evidence and support young people to do the same to a Select Committee on social media and mental health. Shortly after that, I worked with a group of young people to co-produce the guidance for Select Committees taking evidence from young people. The young people were delighted to have the chance to speak in Parliament and to know that their insights were shaping parliamentary processes.
As the role of the APPGC in the social care policy debate grew in significance, I helped run and co-author two impactful parliamentary social care inquiries as part of our secretariat duties.
Off the back of these inquiries I was able to secure a major five-year Wellcome Trust-funded project, Living Assessments, which involved dynamic research and partnering with those with lived experience to have a positive impact on children’s social care policy. I was proud to be named as co-investigator alongside the University of Cambridge and University of Kent.
Amplifying lived experience is the heart of all our work at NCB, and over the course of the project, young people with social care experience presented to HM Treasury and the Department for Education (DfE), attended a care experienced day of action in Parliament, met ministers including the Chief Secretary to the Treasury and the Secretary of State for Education as well as presenting at over ten parliamentary events.
The Living Assessments research was heavily cited in the Independent Review of Children’s Social Care and Government Social Care Reform Strategy and in recognition of this work, I received a letter from the Children’s Minister of behalf of the Prime Minister recognising the impact of the research evidence and the insights of the young people who we supported to contribute to the Review.
Dustin speaking at the Living Assessments end of project event, alongside NCB CEO Anna Feuchtwang and three of the young people involved in the event
I was incredibly proud when our work on Living Assessments won the University of Cambridge’s Vice-Chancellors highest award for impact, and our work was also highly commended in another award from the Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health. My involvement in that project also led to me becoming a Visiting Researcher at University of Cambridge, with whom we co-authored five journal articles examining social care data evidence to achieve the best outcomes for children and young people.
Living Assessments gave us the foundations on which to build another major collaborative project with the University of Cambridge – this time funded by the National Institute for Health Research. Over the last four years, COACHES has studied the effectiveness of mental health support for children with social work involvement.
NCB has led the impact and influencing work of this project, engaging with over 150 officials, securing coverage with the BBC, The Big Issue and being interviewed alongside an expert-by-experience co-researcher on LBC radio. The research also informed the Children’s Minister’s paper on mental health for children in care for the Secretary of State for Health.
And now our partnership with Cambridge University has secured another major Wellcome Trust grant – so our successful collaboration can continue!
Working in partnership alongside my courageous colleagues across the children’s charity sector has been a memorable part of my time at NCB, including the award-winning Children At the Table campaign which brought together the UK’s leading children’s charities to focus on key priorities ahead of the General Election in July 2004.
As time progressed my influencing roles became formalised – sitting on government Working Groups and Task and Finish groups to develop and update social care statutory government guidance. I worked with many NCB colleagues in our role as APPGC Secretariat to support parliamentary members to table amendments and achieve government concessions and commitments and legislative change as the Health and Care Act and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act passed through Parliament.
Formalising our role further I worked to secure NCB as the DfE evaluation partner alongside Verian and Alma Economics evaluating the pathfinders of Family Help reforms. This evaluation was recognised by Department for Education, alongside wider sector work, in helping secure over £2bn of Family Help funding from the Treasury in the last Spending Review.
After fifteen APPGC parliamentary events and managing the APPGC through the pandemic (not to mention a few General Elections!), in June 2026 I attended my final event as Secretariat. At the parliamentary event I was touched that Chair Jess Asato MP recognised my collaborative approach and commitment to young people’s voice in Parliament and received a round of applause from the audience.
When Jess had to leave suddenly mid-event to vote in a division, I was invited to step in as Chair – a huge rise from that first day taking minutes!
I am proud to have worked alongside wonderful colleagues past and present in NCB’s Policy and Public Affairs team, to have achieved such influence and to have collaborated with inspiring colleagues across the NCB family and the wider children’s sector.
Ten years on, I have learned that change is possible. Policymakers and Parliament can be supported by advocates to listen to and to act on the insights of those with lived experience and robust evidence.
Children and young people with social care experience repeatedly told us, “we want things to change so others don’t have to go through what we have gone through”. And I hope for many children and families across the country this will be the case.
I am now leaving NCB to take a well-earned career break, which I am very much looking forward to and the opportunities it will bring.
I look forward to returning to children’s policy and public affairs in 2027! Please do get in touch on LinkedIn if you want to collaborate in the future.