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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, there can be no one in your Lordships’ House who does not support the intention of the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, and who does not admire her tenacity in pursuing this cause. I did, however, sympathise with the Minister when he said that the problem in many situations lies beyond the statutory framework and cannot be resolved in law because it relates to those who were in care at a time when records were not kept appropriately; he spoke of his own records, which were destroyed. There seems to be a world of difference between what the Minister is saying about the existing statutory framework, with the obligation to keep records and the Data Protection Act allowing post-care adults access to their records, and what is happening on the ground, where care leavers are being denied that access because they are told that the information is highly personal and that they cannot have access to it. The noble Baroness, Lady Barker, is right to say that there needs to be a review of this.