---

Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, Young Minds, the mental health charity for children and young people, conducted research into mentoring and an overview of the literature. It found that the most effective mentoring was long term and not target focused. Shorter-term work, which focused on getting something done in a young person’s life, was not as effective as a longer-term relationship. The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, reminded us that more than 60 per cent of young people coming into care do so as a result of neglect or abuse in the family. Many of those children need to learn to love again and they need long-term relationships into their 20s. After all, children on average leave home at the age of 24, so it is not too much to ask for this amendment to be agreed.