First, I thank all colleagues who have contributed to this debate, because their contributions added considerable weight to my introduction. There was obvious support across the Committee for this amendment and the issue. The noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, and the noble Baroness, Lady Hamwee, were able to give us some direct testimony of children, and the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth, as ever, gave us her insight into what is going wrong with the system and why things are as they are.
I am pleased that the Minister said that he has heard the strength of feeling on this issue. He made two points in response. The first was that a number of experts had said that because this was a matter of practice, changing the law was not the right way to try to improve contact between siblings in those care cases. There is a dynamic relationship between the law and practice, is there not? We frequently set out what professionals ought to do in legislation. Yes, we may flesh it out further in regulation, but practice is often defined in legislation. His second point was that we already have regulations that require that. Clearly, they are not working when so many children in care—by accident, as the noble Baroness, Lady Howe, said; it is not intended—are by default losing contact with their brothers and sisters.
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For clarification, in response to the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, what I actually said, which has come from the Children’s Rights Director, was that of those children in care whose siblings are in care, 63% lose contact with their siblings. The noble Baroness is right that this is counterintuitive, but apparently those living in children’s homes are much more likely to be separated
than those in foster care. One would not expect that, so there are some further questions to be asked in that regard.
The Government must take this away to consider it. The current regulations are clearly not working to the benefit of children in the way that they should. I look forward to the Minister communicating with us and returning to the issue in later consideration of the Bill so, for the moment, I beg leave to withdraw the amendment.