Clause 2 - General function
Children Bill [Lords]
3:45 pm
Mrs Margaret Hodge (Minister of State (Children), Department for Education and Skills; Barking, Labour)
Although several amendments have been grouped together, I will separate them to try to make sense of them.
Clearly, involving children in the discharge of the commissioner's function is central to what he is all about. If I have a quarrel with amendment No. 6, tabled my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Wyre, it is that he is trying to prescribe how the commissioner should work. We have left in the words that he wants to delete because we want to leave discretion to the commissioner to decide how best to consult and work with children and take account of their views.