Mental Health Bill [HL]

My Lords, I wish to make it quite clear that these Benches support the amendment. Such was the enthusiasm of your Lordships for the amendment that there was no room to add my name to it, but these Benches enthusiastically support it. The British Government are a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that, "““every child deprived of liberty shall be separated from adults unless it is considered in the child’s best interest not to do so””." I know that the Government are doing their very best to implement that responsibility. In fact, great progress has been made within the criminal justice system to do that. We also know that it is the Government’s intention that children should be in age-appropriate settings when they have mental health treatment. Like the noble Earl, Lord Howe, I am relieved to be able to support the amendment without having to make any additional spending commitment. It is clear from Ivan Lewis’s statements that the Government have earmarked the necessary resources to go that step further so that no child will need to go into an adult ward in future. If we needed any proof that this amendment were necessary, we have only to read the report of the Children’s Commissioner, to which reference has been made. The Minister says that the amendment seeks to enshrine good practice in the Bill; the Children’s Commissioner’s report makes it clear that that is necessary.