Clause 7 - Risk assessments
Children and Adoption Bill [Lords]
10:30 am
Maria Miller (Shadow Minister (Education), Education; Basingstoke, Conservative)
I was going to cover that point after discussing amendment No. 36, which I think is more straightforward. Amendment No. 45 requires quite a bit of thought.
Amendment No. 36 is a useful addition; it clarifies that a child can be at risk at any point in time. As we have discussed before, it is important that the child’s welfare is of paramount concern at all times during the proceedings. Although we would never feel it appropriate to use compulsory risk assessments, which was suggested in amendment No. 34, we believe that amendment No. 36 offers a degree of clarity. Perhaps the Minister could offer her thoughts on that as well.
On amendment No. 45, as I said, the role of risk assessments is important and always—[Interruption.]