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Column 761
Fallon, MichaelFenner, Dame Peggy
Forman, Nigel
Forth, Eric
Franks, Cecil
Freeman, Roger
Garel-Jones, Tristan
Gill, Christopher
Gregory, Conal
Griffiths, Peter (Portsmouth N)
Ground, Patrick
Harris, David
Howarth, Alan (Strat'd-on-A)
Howarth, G. (Cannock & B'wd)
Hunt, David (Wirral W)
Irvine, Michael
Jack, Michael
Knapman, Roger
Lawrence, Ivan
Lightbown, David
Maclean, David
McNair-Wilson, P. (New Forest)
Mans, Keith
Miller, Sir Hal
Mills, Iain
Mitchell, Andrew (Gedling)
Needham, Richard
Nicholls, Patrick
Nicholson, David (Taunton)
Paice, James
Porter, David (Waveney)
Portillo, Michael
Shepherd, Colin (Hereford)
Shepherd, Richard (Aldridge)
Stanbrook, Ivor
Stradling Thomas, Sir John
Summerson, Hugo
Taylor, Ian (Esher)
Taylor, John M (Solihull)
Tebbit, Rt Hon Norman
Thorne, Neil
Thurnham, Peter
Wallace, James
Widdecombe, Ann
Tellers for the Ayes :
Mr. Irvine Patnick and
Mr. Roger King.
NOES
Barnes, Harry (Derbyshire NE)
Bennett, A. F. (D'nt'n & R'dish)
Buckley, George J.
Clarke, Tom (Monklands W)
Clay, Bob
Cohen, Harry
Cryer, Bob
Cunliffe, Lawrence
Dixon, Don
Dunnachie, Jimmy
Evans, John (St Helens N)
Ewing, Mrs Margaret (Moray)
Foster, Derek
Galbraith, Sam
Graham, Thomas
Hardy, Peter
Haynes, Frank
Howarth, George (Knowsley N)
Hughes, John (Coventry NE)
Loyden, Eddie
McKay, Allen (Barnsley West)
Marek, Dr John
Meale, Alan
Michael, Alun
Moonie, Dr Lewis
Morgan, Rhodri
Nellist, Dave
Parry, Robert
Patchett, Terry
Pike, Peter L.
Prescott, John
Ruddock, Joan
Skinner, Dennis
Smith, Andrew (Oxford E)
Snape, Peter
Wardell, Gareth (Gower)
Welsh, Michael (Doncaster N)
Tellers for the Noes :
Mr. Tony Banks and
Mr. Martin Redmond.
Question accordingly agreed to.
Bill read a Second time and committed.
Column 762
11.40 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health (Mr. Roger Freeman) : I beg to move
That the draft Adoption Allowance Schemes Order 1989, which was laid before this House on 22nd December, be approved.
I hope that it will be convenient for the House to take both orders together.
Mr. Deputy Speaker (Sir Paul Dean) : So be it.
Mr. Freeman : The orders, the Adoption Allowance Schemes Order 1989 and the Adoption Allowance Schemes (Scotland) Order 1989, have the effect of repealing section 57(7) of the Adoption Act 1976 and section 51(8) of the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978. Without the repeal of these sections there will be no provision for further approval of allowance schemes to adopters after 14 February.
The provision we are considering has its origin in a recommendation in 1972 of the departmental committee on the adoption of children--the Houghton committee. In its report the committee addressed the case for paying allowances to adopters in certain circumstances : circumstances in which adoption had been identified as the best future for a child, and a suitable family had been found, but in which there was a financial obstacle to the adoption. The aim would be to secure adoption for children who could not otherwise readily be adopted and who could face a childhood spent in care without a family of their own. The committee recommended that a small number of pilot schemes should be authorised as a trial of this new idea. The proposal was taken up in section 32 of the Children Act 1975, now consolidated as section 57 of the Adoption Act 1976 and section 51 of the Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978. During the passage of the Bill a number of reservations and cautions were voiced about the wisdom of the measure-- natural and thoughtful reservations, to which I shall turn briefly in a moment. Accordingly, the Houghton committee's recommendation of an experimental period was adopted by Parliament. Adoption agencies were given the opportunity to seek the approval of the Secretaries of State to schemes for payment of allowances for a period of seven years from implementation of the provision. The provision would come to an end automatically after seven years unless both Houses agreed to its continuation, and the Secretaries of State were required to publish before that date a report on the operation of the schemes.
The provision duly came into force, in England and Wales and in Scotland, in February 1982. Adoption agencies began to put together and submit for approval schemes drawn up according to guidelines issued by the Department. These agencies were for the most part local authorities, although two voluntary approved adoption societies in England now have schemes. It became clear over the following few years that the experiment was taking a somewhat different turn from--
Mr. Peter Thurnham (Bolton, North-East) : My hon. Friend mentioned that a few local authorities did not have such schemes. It is shameful that they should not. Can he identify them?
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