UK Parliament / Open data

Coroners and Justice Bill

I am most grateful to the Minister and to all noble Lords who have spoken, and I want to reassure the House that I had intended this to apply only in exceptional circumstances. I am grateful for the reassuring suggestion from my noble and learned friend Lady Butler-Sloss that Clause 36(2)(e) could potentially cover the issue anyway. I say to the noble Lord, Lord Neill of Bladen, that one of the other sorts of situations is where a genetic abnormality or an infection has been acquired, which the other children do not know about. Once that is listed in the press, the siblings will hear about it at school, which is not the best way. I also recognise the point made by the noble Lord, Lord Pannick, that the safeguard for high standards is openness, and that we are potentially balancing harms here as to what is the least dangerous situation. I want to have on the record that, having read the Editors’ Codebook, I think things have improved and it is a credit to the Government that they have taken into consideration the needs of the bereaved. I can see that this amendment is clumsy, may not achieve its purpose and is in the wrong place. Therefore, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment 24 withdrawn.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
711 c708-9 
Session
2008-09
Chamber / Committee
House of Lords chamber
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