Clause 7 - Risk assessments
Children and Adoption Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Jimmy Hood (Lanark and Hamilton East, Labour)
With this it will be convenient to discuss the following amendments:
No. 36, in clause 7, page 12, line 15, after ‘harm’, insert
‘at any time during proceedings,’.
No. 53, in clause 7, page 12, line 20, at end add—
‘(4)All risk assessments undertaken pursuant to subsection (2) shall proceed on the presumption that the child’s interests are best served through reasonable contact with both his parents unless a good reason to the contrary is shown.
(5)When deciding whether there is reason to suspect that a child is at risk of harm, an Officer of the Service or a Welsh proceedings officer may only make a risk assessment where he has reasonable grounds to suspect that there is a significant risk of significant harm.
(6)An officer of the service or a Welsh proceedings office may only make a risk assessment where he has reasonable grounds to suspect that the significant risk involves a risk—
(a)to the child’s physical safety, or
(b)of sexual abuse.
(7)In all other circumstances than those outlined in subsections (5) and (6), the Officer of the Service or a Welsh proceedings officer shall not undertake a risk assessment except where directed to do so by a court.
(8)In any risk assessment based upon the likelihood of recurrence of previous events or previous risks it shall be a requirement that no reliance is placed upon previous events or previous risks in the absence of a finding of fact that those events or risks actually occurred.’.