Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

Clause 8 and this group of amendments enable us to discuss two important issues. I suggest that it will be important to keep them separate in our minds. The first, from the child’s point of view, is continuity of friends and relatives when he or she is being placed, either in the same local authority area or close to it. The second is the stability of the placement itself. In London and other large conurbations, a much better and more satisfactory placement may well be available just over the edge of the boundary of the particular local authority. I am sure that the Minister has that in mind and I hope that he will continue to keep it there. At Second Reading I said that stable placements of children were worth their weight in gold, which is why I welcome paragraphs (d) and (e) in Amendments Nos. 34 and 46. They emphasise the long-term stability of the potential care placement and the consequent mental and physical health of the child. I am sure that we all agree that long, stable placements provide the environment in which the child’s mental and physical health can be cared for, preserved, maintained and improved. On those grounds, I support what my noble friend Lord Listowel said about a possible mechanism for looking at placements that have failed to last and have broken down for one reason or another. Perhaps the mechanism could look into the causes of the breakdown as well as simply the administration of it.