Clause 2 - Membership of the Commission
Children Bill [Lords]
9:30 am
Mrs Margaret Hodge (Minister of State (Children), Department for Education and Skills; Barking, Labour)
The commissioner, in having regard to the UNCRC, would have regard to it with the reservations that are in place in the UK. Like my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North, I have many asylum-seeking families in my constituency. A family in this country is covered by all the Children Act provisions and will be protected and safeguarded by all the provisions in the Bill. The question about immigration here is how the authorities implement immigration legislation and what is the prime function and purpose of that role. That does not in any way diminish the power of the authorities and the duties of social services departments and others in the UK to implement the Children Act as it stands and this Bill when it is enacted.
On new clause 8, we are keen for children and those who care for them to learn about the convention. We have therefore created a departmental website to inform children of their rights under the convention, which we hope will soon be operational. If children's
services authorities choose to do something similar, so much the better. As I have said before, the aim of the Bill is to focus on outcomes, not rights.
I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Lancaster and Wyre will accept that the tragedies that led to the Laming inquiry and hence to this Bill were invariably due to systemic failure and not to a lack of knowledge of rights. Although we would encourage awareness of rights, I do not think that it should have a statutory basis. We do not want the focus to shift from concern about the principles. We want those who work with children to focus on processes and outcomes.
On new clause 13, Ministers are required to state that legislation is compatible with the Human Rights Act 1998, which incorporates the European convention on human rights into UK law. Children and young people are therefore already covered by that assurance, so the requirement to comply with the 1998 Act covers the childproofing element of all our legislation. Both my job and the task of the commissioner, once that post is established, is to provide further assurance that legislation on planning, housing or whatever has the interests of children at heart.
My hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff, North, who tabled new clause 15, knows that we are working with the Assembly to find a way of writing that into the Bill. The Assembly, however, has yet to find a way in which they can change the law so that it would work in practice. The policy is utterly devolved, so it is totally open to the Assembly to come back to us, which it can do even on Report if it manages to devise a mechanism. We would then willingly incorporate the new clause into the Bill.
I therefore hope that Members will not press their amendments and new clauses to a vote.