Child Poverty Bill

My Lords, I thank all noble Lords for their very generous comments. The heavy lifting on this, as they will know, has been done by my noble friend Lord McKenzie of Luton and an excellent Bill team. My noble friend Lady Hollis makes an extremely important point. It may be of interest for her to know that the cross-departmental working group is working with stakeholders to determine what more can be done to obtain exactly the information that she talked about: the number of relative carers. We very much back the idea of the commission considering the points that she made as part of its work, but that is for a Secretary of State working with the commission to decide. We cannot micromanage the process, but the points that she made are very pertinent. The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, wanted the voice of the professionals to be heard. Again, we very much agree with him. Consultation with professionals is essential; the system does not work without it. I assure him that those voices will be heard. The Bill includes provision to consult other, ""such persons as the authority thinks fit"." We would assume that the voice of the professionals would be included as such people. Amendment 22 agreed. Amendment 23 not moved. Clause 10 : Scottish strategies Clause 10 : Scottish strategies Amendments 24 to 26 not moved. Clause 11 : Northern Ireland strategies Clause 11 : Northern Ireland strategies Amendments 27 to 29 not moved. Clause 12 : Advice and consultation: Scotland and Northern Ireland Amendment 30 Clause 12 : Advice and consultation: Scotland and Northern Ireland Amendment 30 Moved by