The children's champion and a baffling name change that cost £93,000
The Children's Commissioner has been criticised for spending £93,000 of taxpayers' money on a rebranding exercise.
Opponents say the new name - 11 Million - is meaningless and money which should have been spent helping children has been wasted.
Sir Al Aynsley-Green, who was appointed two years ago to head the newly created Office of the Children's Commissioner, hired PR firm The Team to create the new identity.
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He said the name was a reference to the 11 million under 18-year-olds in England. 'Our brand emphasises our purpose, priorities and the central role children and young people hold in leading our work,' he added.
But Tory MP David Davies said: 'That is not going to be clear to anyone. They have wasted £93,000 dreaming up a name that isn't clearly going to say what it is all about, instead of spending the money on looking after children.'
The Team - which has worked for several other Government departments - is said to have canvassed more than 3,000 young people to develop the new name.
Lisa White, of 11 Million, said the PR firm's role had included 'identifying the organisation's vision, mission and values'. It also created a logo, based on the figure 11.
In 2001, The Team was paid £110,000 for designing the Government's ten-year strategy on education document, at a cost of around £537 per page.
Nick Cook, 18, from Cornwall, who was one of those consulted, said: 'The name Office of the Children's Commissioner sounded too formal and stuffy.
'We wanted a name that was all about children and young people.'
However, marketing experts have expressed surprise at the choice.
Mike Barnato, of consultancy Strategy And Marketing Partners, said it looked as if they were trying to find a trendy name in the age of the websites such as MySpace.
'The original title was rather pompous, but who is going to know what this means?,' he said.
The Children's Commissioner has an annual budget of £3 million and aims to make sure children's interests are taken into account in policy making.
