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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, as always, the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, has made some interesting points. She speaks with great knowledge and passion on these issues. I know that a great deal of work is going on in the promotion of the UNCRC. The noble Baroness often talks as she did today of the rights respecting schools; I hope to visit one soon. They appear to be having a significant impact on behaviour and on pupils respecting one another. As has already been mentioned, the last Conservative Government not only ratified the UNCRC with cross-party support, but played a leading role in drafting the convention. As the noble Lord, Lord Judd, said on a previous amendment, we are rightly proud of it. However, I acknowledge—I have sympathy here with the Government—that some parts of the convention are more difficult and contentious than others. The amendments tabled by the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, present a welcome way in which the duty to promote a child’s welfare is made more specific in what it is to cover and adds to the likelihood of the general duty having more effect and power. It does that without placing any extra burden on the Secretary of State. We are all searching for ways to ensure that children develop healthily, happily and safely into responsible and well adjusted adults. Supportive parents, giving trustworthy guidance, are essential for such development. Wherever possible, that should be the guidance and support of both parents. As the noble Lord, Lord Northbourne, said, there are many single parents who do the most wonderful job, often in the most difficult circumstances. Their children thrive and they are a credit to them. I wonder therefore if the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth of Breckland, might like to sit next to me, because I genuinely believe that they do a marvellous job. But most single parents do not choose the situation in which they find themselves. We should do all that we can to ensure that both parents recognise and understand—the word used by the noble Lord, Lord Judd—their duties and responsibilities to their children and that both parents, where safety is not an issue, should be allowed to play as positive a part in their children’s lives as possible. I am not a lawyer—I am only married to one—but, as the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, said, Amendment No. 39 would be better placed in guidance.