Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

moved Amendment No. 24:"After Clause 5, insert the following new clause—"    ““SANCTIONS AGAINST FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF VIOLENCE OR SIGNIFICANT HARM    After section 10 of the Children Act 1989 (c. 41) insert— ““10A   SANCTIONS AGAINST FALSE ALLEGATIONS OF VIOLENCE OR SIGNIFICANT HARM (1)   The Secretary of State may make regulations to require the court to act in accordance with subsection (2). (2)   Where during the course of contact proceedings— (a)   a person makes an allegation of violence or significant harm against another person; and (b)   the allegation is found by the court upon investigation to have been fabricated; the court must have regard to this finding when considering any representations by either person about contact arrangements with a child and may treat it as an aggravating factor when considering whether to make an order under sections 11J to 11N.”””” The noble Earl said: My Lords, in moving Amendment No. 24, I shall speak also to Amendment No. 25A. I hope Amendment No. 24 is self-explanatory. It is designed to highlight what I am afraid is a common occurrence in a separation or a divorce, and that is where one of the spouses manufactures an allegation of violence against the other spouse. Of course, that buys time, and often a great deal of time. No allegation of violence can ever be dismissed as being insignificant or of no account. If the allegation is of violence against a child, it carries even more serious implications: indeed it can be potentially fatal to any request for contact time by the accused parent. My noble friend Lady Morris and I have been approached by a number of groups who have raised this issue with us. We believe it is genuine. It is quite separate, of course, from the issue of enforcement. The Bill attempts to deal with the case of a resident parent who is obstructive or otherwise non-compliant in adhering to a contact order. But there is no provision for a parent who, for his or her own end, lies to CAFCASS about the actions of the other parent and makes out that abuse or domestic violence has taken place when, in fact, it has not. We believe it would be sensible to include in the Bill a clause along the lines of the amendment which says that where an allegation of domestic violence has been made, and that allegation turns out, on investigation, to have been made up, there should be consequences. The consequences would be up to the court, but I am suggesting that the court would have a duty to have regard to the fabricated allegation when making a contact order and should regard it as an aggravating factor in the context of any enforcement order being considered. The existence of a provision of that kind would, I think, act as a deterrent. I hope that the Minister will at least sympathise with the intent behind the amendment and give me some mild words of comfort. On Amendment No. 25A, in part, the intent behind this amendment has been superseded by that of the noble Baroness, Lady Gould, whom I congratulate, without hesitation, on her success in winning the approval of the Government for her amendment. It is certainly a step forward. If she reads our amendment, she will see that we are trying to do something even more powerful. I was very drawn to the amendment that she and her noble friend Lady Thornton tabled in Grand Committee, and I was rather sorry that that amendment did not return for further consideration on Report. However, our concern here is that in too many cases the concerns about the safety of the child are never resolved; they are allowed to drag on for a considerable period, often without a decision on whether the child is at risk. The only problem that I see with the amendment of the noble Baroness, Lady Gould, is that there is no sense in it of urgency or time horizons. In this amendment we have tried to introduce those time horizons because we think that it is important that the impetus in these matters is maintained by the court. It is very important for CAFCASS to do its work, but we do not want to see any slippage or lack of action. Child safety should clearly be tackled from the outset and expeditiously. We are concerned that in too many cases an allegation is made which raises concerns over child safety that is then subsequently not addressed sufficiently, with allegations lying on file. It is clearly in the child’s interests, but also in everyone else’s, for such allegations to be fully investigated as soon as possible. I hope that the sense of that amendment will commend itself to the Minister as well, although I have no expectation that he will wish to adopt the wording we have suggested. However, I place the thought with him for his consideration and guidance. I beg to move.