Child Poverty Bill

My Lords, these amendments were briefly alluded to on 21 January. As then, I agree with them entirely. When it comes to listing consultees, the Minister has been more than a little inconsistent on what it is important to put in the Bill and when it is not important to put something in the Bill. On 21 January, the Minister said that he would accept the noble Baroness’s amendments that explicitly related to the consultation of children because it was important to put that requirement explicitly into the Bill. A little later, following this reassuring drive for clear drafting in the Bill, the Minister stated that although, in practice, the commission was, "““likely to consult the children’s parents or wider families … I do not see that an explicit reference to either families or parents is necessary””.—[Official Report, 21/1/10; col. GC 218.]" Can he explain why consulting children directly, rather than through their representative groups, is any more important than consulting their parents?