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Lord Laming's Progress Report

I welcome the Secretary of State's statement and congratulate Lord Laming on a thoughtful report. I also thank the Secretary of State for early sight of it. It will take time to absorb the 58 recommendations of this well-argued report, but may I make a few points to the Secretary of State? First, one notices that Lord Laming is frustrated when he says, "Now just do it." He thought that in his first report. If we are just going to do it, many of the things in the statement are part of just doing it. Furthermore, just doing it also means a lot of resource implications. Social workers who are better trained, better energised and better respected will cost a lot of money. That needs to be done quickly. Lastly, if we are to keep the new protection of children post in the limelight, can that person report to Parliament through the Select Committee? That would give them a much more independent status, and we would provide public accountability, which many would welcome.