Children and Young Persons Bill [HL]

My Lords, I am most grateful, as always, to the Minister for his courteous and detailed reply. I thank all noble Lords who added their names to the amendment and all who spoke so eloquently. I thank the noble Lord, Lord Judd, for his kind words. The noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, is not allowed to reply at Report but, following this debate, particularly given the comments of the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, she may well wish to consult on the measure and perhaps bring it back at Third Reading. As regards the now familiar argument used by the Government, I say only that the Refugee Children’s Consortium has taken legal advice which suggests that Section 11 of the Children Act 2004 would not prevent the Home Secretary from implementing the removal directions for a child or for his or her family and would at most affect the manner in which the removal occurred. As I said, the code is welcome, but the BIA needs only to have regard to it. We think that this needs to be stronger. We heard today from the noble Baroness, Lady Walmsley, and the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth of the horrors faced by these children. Many of them, as the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, said, are trafficked. They are the very children whom we are seeking to champion. Wherever these children may originally have come from, and wherever they may go, they are first and foremost children and while they are in our country they should be afforded the rights of every child. In Grand Committee, the noble Baroness, Lady Kennedy of The Shaws, said: "““When the Children Bill was going through this House … I remember thinking what wonderful legislation it was and how content I was that here was something on which I could agree with my Government … Then, one evening, I came into the House and took my place on my Government’s Benches. I was shocked to hear an amendment being moved by the Minister that would keep out of the great advances being included in the legislation the children of immigrants. Child asylum seekers would not have the protection that the Children Bill would provide to others””.—[Official Report, 14/1/08; col. GC 433.]" We now have an opportunity to right a wrong. I wish to test the opinion of the House. On Question, Whether the said amendment (No. 7) shall be agreed to? Their Lordships divided: Contents, 173; Not-Contents, 119.