Tam Baillie

Baillie worked as the Director of Policy for Barnardo's from 2003 to 2009,^[7] having been the assistant director before this.^[8]

Bailie's nomination for Scotland's Commissioner for Children and Young People was approved by Scottish Parliament on 22 April 2009,^[9] after an interview process which included children and young people as well as Members of the Scottish Parliament.^[10] In September 2010, he launched "The Right Blether", a consultation to gather views, ideas and advice from youngsters to inform a national vote in November.^[11] Around 74,000 school-age children and young people took part in the national vote. The following year Baillie launched another consultation "A Right Wee Blether" intended to allow very young children to express ideas.^[12] A row developed over caricatures of Baillie that had been commissioned at the cost of £4,000 as part of a website redevelopment.^[13][14] There were also internal HR problems at the Commissioner's office when Baillie took over that took several months to deal with. These issues led to multiple enquiries by journalists and politicians under Freedom of Information legislation.^[14]

After an initial two-year term, a Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body panel interviewed Baillie in January 2011 and also gave consideration to letters and to press coverage.^[13] On 10 February 2011 he was reappointed for a second term, to serve until May 2017.^[15] A further consultation exercise, "A Baby Blether", asking parents to express views on behalf of their children aged up to two years, was launched before Baillie's second term finished.^[14]