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Safeguarding Children

We are not only looking into that possibility but intending to act on it and trial it in some areas of the country to see if it can work. I am grateful for my hon. Friend's call for urgent action. I am pleased that the Select Committee is looking into the wider issue in Denmark, and we look forward to its report. As I said, my starting point is not that there should be a presumption that we should tilt the balance of child protection away from keeping children in the home and towards taking them into care. That is not the appropriate judgment to make at this time, and it is not a signal that I want to send. I want to know that in every case where the child's safety needs to be protected we are acting and there are no barriers in the way. I do not think that a starting point of wanting to take more children into care and away from their families is the right place to be at this time. However, we will wait to see the Committee's report and the work of Lord Laming before reaching final judgments.