Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill

My Lords, I agree with everything that has been said so far. I want to pick up on what the noble Baroness, Lady Stern, was saying. The figures for youth suicide in this country are an absolute scandal. The number of young people who commit suicide every year is equivalent to the numbers in a secondary school. I prefer Amendment No. 47 to the earlier amendment as it shifts the balance towards responding to the many problems encountered by young people in our society which derive, one way or another, from a lack of love in childhood. That is the root of the problem, and the chaos in family life these days in our society feeds that. We see that from the news this morning about Shannon in Yorkshire and the family circumstances from which she has come. Also, the prevalence of child pornography in the news this morning illustrates the underlying culture that we face. As a bishop, I visit youth offending institutions and it is often chilling to see the way in which they operate. Young people are regularly sworn at—I could give more details. We need a change of culture in our approach to youth justice. I am grateful to the Minister for the move that he has indicated in his introduction to this government amendment, but I believe that Amendment No. 47 points us in a better direction.