My Lords, I rise to speak on this group of amendments not least because children’s mental health and well-being was the subject of one of my amendments in Committee. I am delighted that noble Lords have brought this issue back to the fore with their amendments, and I am even more pleased that, from Amendment 1, we can see that the Minister listened to those concerns, because the change it proposes makes explicit the importance of the mental health of the vulnerable young people who are the subject of the Bill. This is a significant concession. I congratulate the many noble Lords who have been working hard to achieve it. This is, surely, what those of us who put down amendments in Committee were seeking—for this to be taken seriously and put in the Bill. The Government should be congratulated on making this significant concession.
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The concession obviates the need for the other amendments in this group, much as I support the impulse and motivation behind them. To give one example, Amendment 8 concerns the duty to promote physical, mental and emotional well-being. The statutory guidance, on the top of page 14, states that health and well-being should encompass emotional, mental and physical health and well-being. Being statutory guidance, this has the power that we want. We now have recognition in the Bill of the importance of mental health.
This is not the end of the story. There is still a huge amount of influencing to be done. It is important to note that the statutory guidance is in draft. There are lots of ways of thinking about how it could be improved. The influencing work will go on. Rather than giving attention to further amendments, we should focus on improving and finalising the statutory guidance.