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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, it seems a very long time since we last met to debate this Bill, and I intend to speak only once in considering all these Commons amendments. I am pleased that now the Bill has returned to us from another place, we are faced with a more robust piece of legislation. There has been genuine cross-party co-operation to get to this stage; we welcome that, because we all have a keen interest in the welfare of children. The more improvements we can make to that welfare, the better. We are, and not for the first time, dealing with some of the most vulnerable groups in society. The statistics and stories which we have all learnt since the Bill first arrived in your Lordships' House have assured us of that. It is therefore in everybody’s interests that we have been able to make such progress. I am delighted that the Government have looked so favourably on placing a duty on the UK Border Agency to have regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children in the exercise of its functions. The phrase that I used on Report was, "““protecting a child from harm is not the same as promoting his welfare””.—[Official Report, 17/3/08; col. 31.]" It is a testament to the enormous support received throughout your Lordships' House that the Government now agree. For the benefit of anyone who may have been confused by the amendment which came back from the other place, which seeks to remove the clause that your Lordships’ House had added, I should state that I am delighted that the Government have thought seriously about this issue and am enormously grateful that they have decided that the measure would have more thorough application if an equivalent clause was inserted into the forthcoming Immigration and Citizenship Bill. For the sake of protecting vulnerable children, those provisions cannot arrive soon enough. Barnardo’s has voiced a number of concerns, which the Minister has addressed. However, we share with it one concern: that the transition between the code of practice to safeguard children, to be issued under Section 21 of the UK Borders Act 2007, which will be laid before Parliament shortly and come into effect in the new year, must take into account the new stated policy intention of promoting children’s welfare. There must be a seamless transition between the codes and the guidance for staff working on the ground. I said that the Bill has seen true cross-party co-operation. We on these Benches have been encouraged by the Government’s constructive approach. We look forward to the outcome of the pilot social care practice schemes, and hope that positive findings will be acted on in due course. We of course welcome the greater support offered for disabled children and their parents, and the greater emphasis that is to be placed on family fostering and fostering closer to home. As the Minister said, we must do all we can to ensure that children do not enter the care system in the first place. We have taken important steps towards this goal in the Bill. I look on the progress that we have made with great pride. We have taken a good Bill and made it better. As I am stepping down as spokesperson for the Opposition on the children and families brief at the end of this parliamentary Session, I am delighted to end on such a happy note.