Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

I am most grateful to the Minister for answering the amendment so fully. I am also grateful to all Members of the Committee who participated in the debate. The noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, is absolutely right—it is the fear of simply a ““tick box”” exercise that concerns people. The comments of the noble Earl, Lord Listowel, and the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, about sharing best practice are hugely useful. I am most grateful to the Minister for his commitment to draw the chief inspector’s attention to this matter because there are concerns in this area. Indeed, it is because there is concern about the quality of inspection of some of our children’s homes that we raised this matter in the first place. Many are excellent but others leave a great deal to be desired. That concern is exacerbated by the number of homes that have recently closed, as was highlighted recently in the Children & Young People Now magazine. There are clusters of homes in some of our seaside towns where the children cause much anxiety in the community and almost literally run riot. We heard earlier in Grand Committee about the depressing number of children who go missing from local authority care. Therefore, we must do all we can to ensure that inspectors paint a true picture and flag up issues of concern about the welfare of these vulnerable children, and that they are properly in tune with what we want our children’s homes to do. But for now I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 26 agreed to. Clause 27 agreed to.