Did you mean "sacking a child"?
David Rowlands: ...defence of reasonable punishment. Reasonable. What any of us in this Chamber would have thought was reasonable punishment is now not a defence. So, what it does is take it down to the minutiae of smacking a child, tapping a child on the hand. This is where this is a bad piece of legislation by any standards whatsoever. We have the protection of the law and I am absolutely certain that...
John Finnie: ...child in order to protect them from greater immediate harm. Paragraph (c) of amendment 2 seeks to protect the exercising of “lawful parental rights and responsibilities”. Under the current law, smacking a child can count as such a lawful exercise. The point of the bill is to change that, so that smacking a child as punishment can never be lawful. Therefore, as soon as the bill becomes...
Gareth Bennett: ...a new criminal offence. I agree that, technically, that's the case, but Crown Prosecution Service guidelines are quite clear on where the law lies on this currently. Currently, the defence for smacking a child only covers reasonable chastisement. So, logically, people who are unreasonably punishing a child in a physical manner are open to prosecution as it stands. So, there is an argument...
Gordon Lindhurst: Mr Cole-Hamilton talks about comparing us with other countries, but the suggestion of making smacking a child a common-law offence, with the ultimate penalty being up to life imprisonment, is completely disproportionate, as can be seen when we compare that with the situation in countries such as Denmark, Germany and France, where the practice is not criminalised at all.
Edward Balls: ...to any form of care or supervision which is carried out other than by a parent or member of the child's own family or household. This will resolve the discrepancy whereby a teacher is banned from smacking a child in a school, but the same teacher could administer physical punishment in an out-of-school setting. I believe this is a sensible and proportionate solution to removing this...
Mr David Hinchliffe: .... It is my view that were the change to be made over a reasonable period of time the number of allegations would fall, as given a good education programme by Government, rather like drink driving, smacking a child would become socially unacceptable". Chief Constable Grange concludes his letter on behalf of ACPO by saying that "removing the defence of reasonable chastisement would not...
Earl Howe: ...discipline to teach the child right from wrong will lay himself open to arrest. I find that completely unacceptable. I am sure that everyone should avoid smacking their children if they can, but smacking a child is not the same thing as child abuse. We need to rid our minds of any idea that it is. To say, like the noble Lord, Lord Turnberg, that most parents do not know the difference...
Richard Simpson: ...those who oppose the measures do so with good intentions. They firmly believe that smacking children is a good method of imposing discipline, that no child has ever been harmed by smacking and that smacking a child is altogether different from hitting a child. However, let us be clear about the language we are using. The word smack seems to be a softer word than hit, but the intention is...
Lord Laming: .... Although in the centre of it all it is possible to know what is offensive and what is against the interests of the child, at the margins--this is where indecent photographs and activities like smacking a child appear--there will always be an issue of judgment. As long as the law focuses upon the welfare and safety of the child, it seems to be in the right place. Judgments should be left...
Nicola Sturgeon: I may accept interventions later in my speech. I am sure that most parents would consider those methods of discipline far more effective than smacking a child. Those alternatives should be positively promoted by the Executive. Many organisations and individuals in Scotland advocate a complete and explicit ban on physical punishment by parents. That view should not be dismissed. Such a ban...
