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Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

I agree entirely with the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne. I thank the Minister for that detailed reply. I look forward to reading the case law references in Hansard. The noble Lord said that we shared the same goals; the question is just how we achieve them. We think that sometimes legislation needs to be used to send a message to signpost that something has changed. The amendment would do that. It has been done in other jurisdictions, including Australia. However, in Australia, it is a presumption that can be rebutted. Perhaps we could discuss that at a later date. As regards the 40 per cent statistic, whether the figure is 40 per cent, 30 per cent or whatever, ultimately the issue is not statistics, it is people. There are far too many people who are unhappy. Although the figure refers to no contact between two and three years, after three years, contact falls off quite radically. For the moment, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.