The Children and Family Agency starts today, can we take the lead in measures to address the declining birthrate?

The Children and Family Agency, which was newly established as a control tower for children's policy, will start its operations on March 3.
We will be asked whether we can secure the necessary financial resources while breaking down the vertical division between government offices and lead effective initiatives such as measures to address the declining birthrate.

The Children and Family Agency was established on April 400 as an organization under the direct control of the Prime Minister with a team of about 4 people.

The inauguration ceremony will be held at noon at the base set up in a complex building in Kasumigaseki, Tokyo, attended by Prime Minister Kishida and Minister for Children's Policy Ogura.

The Children and Family Agency has been transferred from the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare to provide a wide range of child-related tasks, including ▽ payment of child allowance, ▽ consistent support from pregnancy to childbirth and child rearing, ▽ childcare administration, and ▽ child abuse, bullying, and poverty countermeasures.

In addition to formulating a wide range of children's policies that should be addressed cross-sectionally by each ministry and agency, each ministry and agency is given the "right to make recommendations" to request improvements in the overall coordination to ensure steady implementation.

The immediate major issue of the Children and Family Agency is measures to address the declining birthrate, and based on the draft compiled on June 31, it plans to accelerate the formulation of concrete measures, budget scale, and financial resources toward the formulation of the "Basic Policy" in June.

We will be asked whether we can secure the necessary financial resources while breaking down the silos between government offices and lead effective initiatives.

Major Challenge: Responding to the Declining Birthrate

A major immediate challenge is to respond to the declining birthrate.

Based on the basis for measures to address the declining birthrate compiled last month after discussions among relevant ministries and agencies, we will proceed with consideration of the specifics of measures, the scale of the budget, and financial resources.

By the time we formulate the Basic Policy in June, we will present a general framework for doubling the children's budget in the future.

In addition, it is necessary to respond to a wide range of issues that span ministries and agencies, such as bullying, truancy, child abuse and poverty, suicide countermeasures among young people, and support for children called "young carers" who are busy caring for family members.

On the other hand, the country's fiscal situation is becoming increasingly severe amid an increase in social security costs and defense expenditures expected to increase against the backdrop of an aging population.

The question will be whether we can break down the silos between government offices while securing financial resources to support a wide range of measures and lead effective initiatives.

In addition, while the Children and Family Agency has centralized operations related to children from the Cabinet Office and the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology will continue to be in charge of educational administration such as schools and kindergartens, and it is likely that the issue will be whether policies can be smoothly advanced.

What is the organization of the Children's and Family Agency?

The Children's and Family Agency was established based on a law enacted in June last year to serve as a control tower for addressing children's policy as the most important issue in society.

It was established as an agency under the direct control of the Prime Minister in the external bureaus of the Cabinet Office, and the Children and Child-Rearing Headquarters of the Cabinet Office and the Children and Families Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare have been transferred and centralized.

Ms. Yumiko Watanabe, who served as Director General of the Children and Families Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, was appointed as the first head of the administrative staff.

The Children and Family Agency consists of three departments, the Secretariat of the Commissioner's Secretariat, the Child Development Bureau, and the Support Bureau, and has a system of about 6 people.

Of these, the Secretariat of the Commissioner is responsible for planning a wide range of children's policies that should be addressed cross-sectionally by each ministry and agency, and is responsible for comprehensive coordination so that they are steadily implemented.

It is also given the "right to make recommendations" to each ministry and agency to request improvements, and plays a leading role in promoting policies throughout the government.

The Child Development Bureau is a department that is mainly responsible for policies that support the growth of children, and is in charge of ▽ payment of child allowance, ▽ consistent accompaniment support from pregnancy to childbirth and child rearing, and ▽ system management of nursery schools and children's schools.

The Support Bureau is responsible for supporting children and families facing difficulties, such as child abuse and bullying, poverty and suicide countermeasures, and support for children called "young carers" who are busy caring for family members.

On the other hand, education administration will continue to be under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and work will proceed in cooperation with them.