I thank the Minister for her response. The case has been made by all the speakers, and I thank those who have given of their expertise today for that.
I shall make a few comments. I am hearing about a great deal of guidance and information packs coming out but not about what local authorities must do rather than what they should do. I want to hear what they must do. I return to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, under which the welfare of the child is paramount. Clearly in some of the cases we have heard today, the welfare of the child is not paramount. Local authorities do not need information packs; they need the will to support these vulnerable families and children.
I will look at the Ofsted report if the noble Baroness can point me to it. It sounds like an interesting breakthrough. I was involved in the legislation that the noble Baroness mentioned earlier. We managed to get one or two little chinks, but we did not get far enough. I hope that we might get further with these amendments. It is quite clear that there is a lack of local authority support to family and friends carers. They should have teams or individuals specifically to support such carers, particularly when they are providing stability for children, often in an emergency, as we have heard. The emotional and educational outcomes are better for children in family and friends care.
I am happy that the noble Baroness will meet those of us who are interested and the family and friends care network so that we can look at this issue again and try to put some steel into it. It is not only children who will suffer; family and friends carers will also suffer because they do not have the money or the support for the magnificent job they are doing. I beg to withdraw the amendment.