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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

Before Amendment No. 1 is moved, I should like to make a wider point about the Bill and pre-legislative scrutiny. This is a classic case of a Bill which, even more than previous Bills, was not well considered before it came into this House, where it has been substantially rewritten. The broader issue that the House needs to consider—perhaps the usual channels will take it on board—is that this is an exceptional circumstance for a Bill. The number of amendments is by a degree larger than the number of government amendments we have had to other Bills in previous years, and it should not become the norm.