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Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am grateful to the Minister for that reply and to the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, and the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, for their supportive comments. We shall await the publication of the statistics with considerable interest and watch the progress of the enhanced notification scheme with equal interest. While I take the Minister’s point that the amendment is perhaps not entirely appropriate for this Bill, I hope that he will take on board the numerical point that I made: that the sheer number of children in private fostering arrangements whom we believe we are considering—of course, no one knows the precise number—dwarfs the number of inter-country adoptions. On that level, at least, the potential problems thrown up by private fostering are greatly magnified in comparison. In view of the time, it falls to me, with thanks to the Minister, to beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. In the Title: