Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

I am extremely grateful to the noble Baroness, Lady Morris of Bolton, for having moved this amendment, because it is much needed. There is a reference to the Children Act 2004. I do not think that it is something that we normally do in Committee but I hope that noble Lords will bear with me if I take the opportunity to spell out in some detail exactly what we are referring to in the Children Act 2004, rather than just express it in general terms. First, perhaps I may turn to the Explanatory Notes on the Act, as published by the Government. I find it significant that referring to this part of the Act they say: "““This section imposes a duty on specified agencies to make arrangements to ensure that their functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children””." Noble Lords should note that they do not simply say ““the welfare of children”” but that they use the word ““promote””. I hope that that word was not used lightly, as it contains a significant emphasis. Having spelt out a little more, the Explanatory Notes go on to say: "““This duty is intended to ensure that agencies are conscious of the need to safeguard children and promote their welfare in the course of executing their normal functions””." Then, the Act specifically names the agencies as, "““a children’s services authority in England … a district council which is not such an authority … a Strategic Health Authority … a Special Health Authority … a Primary Care Trust… an NHS trust all or most of whose hospitals, establishments and facilities are situated in England … an NHS foundation trust … the police authority and chief officer of police for a police area in England … the British Transport Police Authority … a local probation board … a youth offending team … the governor of a prison or secure training centre in England … any person to the extent that he is providing services under section 114 of the Learning and Skills Act … Each person and body to whom this section applies must make arrangements for ensuring that … their functions are discharged having regard to the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children; and … any services provided by another person pursuant to arrangements made by the person or body in the discharge of their functions are provided having regard to that need””." We have just had a major debate in this Committee on the issues surrounding these provisions. To leave out the border authority at this juncture almost specifically indicates that somehow all this does not apply to that body. My noble friend very genuinely gave us a very full reply in which he spelt out how he believed our anxieties were being met. I ask him to see that there is a yawning gap in that respect. Apart from anything else, there are codes of practice laid down by the Police and Criminal Evidence Act which apply to the police and other bodies and are referred to in this Bill. The same codes do not apply to the border authority. We are told that certain guidelines will be given about how it should behave but in the Joint Committee on Human Rights we were very anxious about that point. We thought that if the agency was exercising what were in effect police powers, the codes of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act should apply to them. So there is a real grey area here, just when all of us need to be satisfied that we have belt and braces in place to ensure that the needs of children are being met. Frankly, the amendment is, therefore, absolutely indispensable in meeting our objectives for children and I hope that my noble friend can respond to it.