Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

My Lords, I thank the Minister for his response and other noble Lords for their support for the idea of this amendment. I am sure that it would not be beyond the capability of the Government and their lawyers to draft guidance which, while setting down the range of circumstances under which these powers should be used, could at the same time make it clear that the discretion of the court was not fettered or limited to those situations. One would not want to fetter the court. Perhaps a practice note to go with such guidance might be helpful. My enigmatic remark related to conversations I have had in confidence with members of the judiciary, so I cannot go any further than that. I am particularly taken by the comments of the noble Baroness, Lady Howarth of Breckland, about the amount of time spent on children in public law and private law. I am looking for rigour and consistency and I do not argue for one moment that the Section 37 powers are not robust. What we want is for them to be used and used consistently. It is like the risk assessment issue—some people did it but others did not. In some circumstances where they did not, there may have been a problem. This is why the noble Baroness wanted to introduce her successful amendment. My approach is the same. In some cases these powers are used perfectly appropriately; in others, one has the feeling that there are situations where they should be intervention and there is none. That is why I think guidance might be helpful. It is not the answer to everything—guidance is only guidance. But it can have considerable power when it relates to issues like this, where a child could be killed if the courts did not use the powers appropriately. The pressure on them to comply with the guidance would be considerable. I am sure all the expert practitioners in the country would want to contribute to the consultations that take place before the publication of these guidelines. I am sure the Government would not be short of experts to advise them on such guidance. I have listened to what the Minister said. Perhaps we can have a conversation about this issue before the next stage of the Bill. I tabled the amendment in the spirit of the constructive development of the safety issues of the Bill. I beg leave to withdraw the amendment. Amendment, by leave, withdrawn. Clause 12 [Power to charge]: