Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

Would Members allow me to do so in three sentences? I do not want to take up the Committee’s time. The Cassel takes in the entire family, the children and both parents—if there are two parents—for up to three months, if necessary. My noble friend Lady Howarth will probably know rather more about it even than I do. I have been involved with the hospital for a number of years. Countess Mountbatten is its president. The hospital does not fit in very well with the National Health Service. What it offers is national but it is run by, as one would imagine, a regional set of NHS trusts. It is therefore out on a limb. Over the years that I have known it—now 25, I suppose—it has been at the point of closure three or four times. I had an agonised letter from it just before Christmas, which I passed on to my noble friend Lord Listowel, and I believe he has been in touch with one of the Ministers about it. It is difficult to know how to help the organisation. It needs support from individuals and organisations, but it needs government funding as well. If the Cassel fails, there will be more children in the criminal system than there are now. I will happily discuss this elsewhere, perhaps over coffee.