My colleagues and I have, on many occasions, made known our objections to parenting orders. We do not believe that they are the right way to deal with persistent truancy—it is a classic case of dealing with the crime and not the cause of crime, by dealing with the parents but not with the causes of the truanting. I accept that there are arguments on both sides—they have been widely rehearsed in the media. We remain to be convinced that the effects of an overcrowded curriculum, of non-engagement with individual pupils and of all the difficulties that we know cause truanting are properly addressed by jailing parents. I do not want to pursue the matter too far, because it is not directly relevant to the provisions of the Bill—the arguments can be made elsewhere—but if the point can be made again, we wish to put it on record that more purposeful and constructive interventions can be made in the case of truanting children. This approach, which typifies that of the Government generally, fails to address the issue.