Children and Adoption Bill [HL]

My Lords, the noble Baroness is extremely kind in her remarks about my work. It is always a delight to work with the noble Baroness. In our previous discussions we talked about grandparents. The noble Baroness is absolutely right to raise the issue. Grandparents often provide the lynchpin between parents in dispute. I recognise and value very much the work that so many grandparents do, and I have been very fortunate to listen to grandparents describing that. They of course can make application to the court, and they will be listened to, about their rights to have access to their grandchildren—again always on the basis of the child’s interests being paramount and in the vast majority of cases it would be in their interests to see their grandparents. I hope the noble Baroness will look back on some of the debates we have had. I completely agree with her that grandparents play a vital role, and we are very keen to ensure that they have the Government’s support in being able to work with their grandchildren. I apologise only that I did not make that important point clearer in my final remarks.