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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

As we are discussing the first of the Government's significant changes to the Bill, I thank the Minister for listening carefully to all that was said at Second Reading and during our deliberations in Grand Committee. We have before your Lordships' House today a much improved Bill. I also thank the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, for the extraordinary care and attention that he pays to answering our concerns at length and in much detail in his letters. We are very lucky to have a Minister of his integrity and ability dealing with issues that involve some of our most vulnerable and challenging children and young people. I also take this opportunity to place on record our thanks to Jake Vaughan in the Government Whips’ Office. I sometimes think that his job is almost impossible. It is daunting to be faced with a much altered Bill just a few days before Report. To be faced with it when the House is going into recess tests even the best humour. We were therefore most grateful for the concession to recommit the whole Bill to Committee—a rare happening—so that we had the opportunity to listen to the Minister and to reflect on what he has to say and on the implications of the changes before Report. We warmly welcome the addition to the Bill of the Secretary of State’s general duty to promote the well-being of children in England in line with his current duty to promote the education of the people of England and Wales. Given the responsibilities of the new department, it makes good sense. We are particularly pleased that the new clause gives the Secretary of State a power to promote the well-being of care leavers. Will the Minister clarify the practical ramifications of such a general duty? As much of the Bill is concerned with placements and with decisions about a child’s welfare taken at local level, how much of an impact will this general duty have on those decisions? Will he also say whether the Secretary of State’s duty to promote the well-being of children will apply to children in the asylum and immigration system?