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Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I add my thanks to those expressed to the Minister and congratulate her on picking up this important issue and running with it in a way which is not the same as your Lordships had proposed but is perhaps even better. I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Bolton, because it was her amendment that led to your Lordships’ House initially discussing this issue, to which the Government have listened so effectively. It is a great tribute to her work that she is able to step down from her portfolio—we regret that she is doing so—on such a high note. I thank her for all our cross-party work together during the years since she joined your Lordships’ House. I share her concern about whether the new clause in the Immigration and Citizenship Bill should be equivalent to what your Lordships had done. The Minister has today reassured us on that matter, and did so in writing in her letter of 7 November, for which I thank her. She has also made it quite clear that her department will remain engaged with the Home Office on this issue throughout the process. I share the concern of the noble Baroness, Lady Morris, too, about the transition phase, but I am encouraged that the Minister’s letter makes it clear that she will continue working with the Refugee Children’s Consortium group of organisations. I am sure that keeping them closely engaged with the process will ensure that the Government make sure that the transition is as good as we could have wished. It is regrettable that it has been postponed, but let us hope that it will have been in a good cause.