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Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

In speaking to Amendment No. 72, I shall speak also to Amendments Nos. 83, 101, 112 and 121 which deal with the point that the noble Earl has made. We recognise that there is an important issue about the applicability of warning notices and enforcement orders in respect of orders made under the Children Act 1989 before the Bill comes into force. The four amendments that stand in my name on the Order Paper seek to meet those concerns. First, the amendments ensure that an enforcement order or an order for financial compensation cannot be made following a breach of a contact order unless a warning notice setting out the consequences of breach was given to the person in breach or the person was informed of the terms of the warning notice before the breach took place. Secondly, they provide that a further or more onerous enforcement order cannot be made following the breach of an enforcement order unless a warning notice setting out the consequences of breach was given to the person in breach or the person was informed of the terms of the warning notice before the breach took place. Thirdly, the amendments enable applications to be made for warning notices to be attached to contact orders already in existence—indeed, all new warning orders will have such warning notices attached anyway. This will ensure that existing orders can be made subject to the provisions of the Bill where applications are made for that to take place. We believe that these amendments meet the concerns that the noble Earl has raised but, as a matter of natural justice, we do not believe that it is possible to serve enforcement orders unless a warning notice has been issued or there is a warning notice attached.