Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, I must declare an interest, first as chairman of the Local Government Association's Children and Young People Board and, since the Children Act 2004, as lead member for family and children's services in Kensington and Chelsea. I have seen first hand how local government can make a positive difference to the lives of people locally. As advocates of diversity in school provision and...
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Walmsley for bringing this important topic to the House for us to debate again. I know that the coalition Government take early intervention very seriously, and I am sure that they will be listening to our contributions-the Minister is with us. I know that they want to ensure that effective strategies are put in place throughout the country. Early...
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, what work is being done to improve the training of health visitors to enable them to identify the mental health needs of new mothers, which can impact very negatively on the emotional attachment between mother and child?
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, I, too, thank the noble Baroness, Lady Gould, for initiating this important debate, and congratulate all the women who today have made their maiden speeches. One area has been an ongoing issue throughout history and continues to have a huge impact on the lives of many women. I refer to rape of women during conflict. According to Amnesty International, rape is now used as a...
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, does my noble friend agree that it is a travesty that only 1.4 per cent of health service spending goes on primary prevention? Can he impress on his noble friend the Minister the importance of assessing the effectiveness of early intervention, even if it takes a little while to understand it?
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Lord on securing this debate on this important topic, which is of great interest to me; and I welcome the contributions of other noble Lords, in particular those who are making their maiden speech. There is obviously much knowledge in this House in this area. I believe that this debate, as has been said, is timely, as it follows the publication of Frank...
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate and, in particular, I would like to speak about those children for whom the state is the corporate parent, as many noble Lords have done. In my own local authority, I am a corporate parent to these children in our care, and I regularly meet with them to hear about their achievements and successes, of which there are many, and...
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, I welcome the opportunity to take part in this important debate on the strategic defence and security review. Although I do not have the military and service career experience of many noble Lords present, I speak not only as a service child myself but also as someone who has spent much of her political life looking at the role of the state in regard to families and children. So I...
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, I congratulate the noble Baroness, Lady Warnock, on initiating this very timely debate, coming as it does a week after the deadline for submissions of evidence to the Government's SEN Green Paper. I chair the Local Government Group's children and young people's board; my remarks therefore reflect the views of local councils, for whom the needs of the child and the young person are...
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, I welcome my noble friend Lady Gardner's Question. In my own council ward we have a number of so-called "supercars" that are imported for a few weeks in the summer. The two main problems that cause disturbance to residents and visitors alike are the noise generated by very powerful engines as cars race around the streets and appalling traffic congestion. Kensington and Chelsea...
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: I apologise; I am coming to the question. Neither the council nor the police have powers to deal with the nuisance element. Will the Minister work with local authorities when he is reviewing regulations?
Baroness Ritchie of Brompton: My Lords, it is my great privilege to be standing in this historic House in the company of so many noble and distinguished Lords. I thank you most sincerely for the very warm welcome that I have received since I arrived in this House in June. In particular, I thank my sponsors, my noble friends, Lady Hanham and Lady Morris of Bolton, and my mentor, my noble friend Lady Sharples, who has...
