Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 90: 90: After Clause 27, insert the following new Clause— ““Power of Registrar General to supply information to national authorities (1) The Registrar General may supply information to which this section applies— (a) to the Secretary of State, or (b) to the Welsh Ministers, for research purposes. (2) Information supplied under subsection (1) to the Secretary of State or the Welsh Ministers may be disclosed by them— (a) to any other person if the disclosure is for research purposes; and (b) to a Local Safeguarding Children Board for the purposes of its functions. (3) This section applies to any information that— (a) is kept by the Registrar General under any provision made by or under an enactment; and (b) relates to the death of a person who was or may have been under the age of 18 at the time of death. (4) ““For research purposes”” means for the purposes of any research that is being or may be conducted or assisted under section 83(1) of the 1989 Act.”” The noble Lord said: This government amendment relates to the powers of the Registrar-General to supply information about child deaths to the Secretary of State or Welsh Ministers as appropriate. It complements provisions in the previous clause about registrars supplying information to local safeguarding children boards. Boards in England already have a duty under Regulation 6 of the LSCB Regulations SI 2006/90 to review the deaths of all children normally resident in their area and, where appropriate, to undertake serious case reviews under Regulation 5 of those regulations. Arrangements for reviews in Wales are currently under consideration. In order to fulfil their responsibilities effectively, local safeguarding children boards require as much information as possible about child deaths. That information can be obtained from a number of sources, including registrars and the Registrar-General. Under Clause 27, we require registrars to supply information about child deaths to local safeguarding children boards in a timely manner. Under Clause 27A, we are providing the Registrar-General with a power to supply to the Secretary of State or Welsh Ministers information he receives under any enactment about the death of a person who was or may have been under the age of 18 years at the time of death. Providing a power rather than a duty will enable the Registrar-General to exercise his discretion about when to send the information to the Secretary of State or Welsh Ministers and about the format he sees fit to use. Information provided by the Registrar-General to the Secretary of State or Welsh Ministers is intended to be able to be shared with local safeguarding children boards to ensure that boards receive information about all deaths registered in England and Wales or, where a certificate is issued to the effect that a death is not required to be registered in England and Wales, in relation to persons who were, or may have been, under the age of 18 at the time of death. That includes those deaths of children that occur abroad that are not registered in England or Wales and where the fact of death is known to the Registrar-General. I beg to move. On Question, amendment agreed to. Clause 28 [Research etc. into matters connected with certain statutory functions]: