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Equality Bill [HL]

I have a question about Amendments Nos. 8 and 99. I am probably as concerned as anyone in the Committee about the well-being of children, but I do not think that you can consult children in a vacuum. Rightly or wrongly, our society decrees that children grow up in a family and are, as far as is possible, brought up by their parents. If you create legislation that increasingly provides for children to be consulted without providing for consultation with their parents or their family, you send a confusing message to the child and to the parents. There is perfectly good justification for consulting children. Older children have interesting and important ideas, and one needs also to hear the feelings of younger children, which are sometimes difficult to understand unless you know the children well. However, consultation with children, depending on their age, must be linked with consultation with parents and families. Otherwise, the children will get the wrong message that their parents and their family are not important and are not respected by government. Parents and families are increasingly getting the message that this Government believe in direct approaches to children, leaving families out of the picture. The noble Baroness is nodding her head; I knew that she would. This issue is something to be aware of, so I suggest that, at the least, the amendment should say, ““children and families””.