Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I congratulate the Government on a considerable move forward in their Amendment No. 36. The amendment of the Liberal Democrats, Amendment No. 47, would be even better; none the less, I recognise the great improvement in Amendment No. 36. I refer to one element of it. Proposed subsection (2)(b) refers to the Children and Young Persons Act 1933 and uses the word ““welfare””. It is about time that ““welfare”” was updated to be relevant to 2008. Section 1(1) of the Children Act 1989 specifies that the welfare of the child is paramount, as the noble Lord, Lord Thomas of Gresford, said, but it is interesting that Section 1(3) also provides a checklist on the way in which ““welfare”” is to be understood by judges and magistrates in the family courts. I am not suggesting that every item on that checklist would be appropriate for young offenders, but some would be. One of them is, for example, "““his physical, emotional and educational needs””." The Government should, not necessarily in primary legislation—and I appreciate that I have not put down an amendment—but somewhere, provide something similar to the checklist in the Children Act to guide magistrates, in particular, and judges on how they should interpret ““welfare””, whether that is done under Amendment No. 36 or Amendment No. 47. We would then know what welfare really means and give it the prominence and significance that it should have. It must not just be a word, but have real meaning. Somewhere that meaning should be elucidated, so that judges and magistrates can use and rely on it when considering sentencing.