---

Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, those of us who attended the meeting with the Minister on social work practices and how they were to be rolled out will be very impressed with the amount of work that has since been done by the Minister. I support the amendments for the reasons that the noble Baroness, Lady Sharp, set out; that is, that the commitments in them are not in the public domain and it is important to have them read out. I, too, am attracted to the idea of a report to Parliament on the success or otherwise—one hopes, the success—of the piloting arrangements, as well as to the requirement that the evaluation be carried out by a body that is independent of the appropriate national authority and of any local authority. I fully support the amendments and endorse that, too, of the noble Earl, Lord Listowel.