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7.45 pm
I have argued consistently in Committee about every limb of this important new clause. It has the full support of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, to which I am grateful for its assistance, and the Children's Charities Consortium, which has been supportive. Finally, I thank Dr. Andrew Broadbent for his assistance.
I commend this all-important new clause to the House. Without it, the Bill will be deficient. This is a Family Law Bill, which means that it must cover both parents and children. If we do not cater for the children, who are often the victims of divorce, we fail in our duty. I urgently commend new clause 12.
Mr. Boateng:
New clauses 12 and 14, with amendment No. 106, are an important package of improvement to the Bill. The Government's response to date gives one cause to celebrate because when we examined the substance of new clause 12 and new clause 14--which the Minister said during the debate on new clause 10 that he will accept--in Committee, the Government's response to them and to amendment No. 106, which deals with mediation, was less than satisfactory.
The hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy(Mr. Llwyd) made a considerable contribution in Committee to protecting and furthering the interests of children. I and my hon. Friends the Members for Hornsey
and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche), for Barking (Ms Hodge), for Hampstead and Highgate (Ms Jackson) and my hon. Friend from Nottingham, Sherwood--
Mr. Peter Luff (Worcester):
Just Sherwood.
Mr. Boateng:
That is in Nottinghamshire, is it not?
Mr. Paddy Tipping (Sherwood)
indicated assent.
Mr. Boateng:
Quite so. I have not forgotten my Robin Hood and all that flows from that.
In Committee, hon. Members returned repeatedly to the interests of children. We recognised, as the Government have now recognised, the central role of children in the Bill. By the turn of the century 3.7 million children will have experienced at least one parental divorce. The impact on a child of its parents divorcing is considerable. The valuable research that has been carried out in this area highlights the need for effective multi-agency intervention to counter the negative impact of divorce on children. Perhaps in the past too little attention has been paid to supporting children whose parents have separated. All too often it is a neglected family justice matter and a neglected mental health issue. It is good to know that in the House there is at last developing a consensus on the need for intervention and the need for a legislative framework in which that can take place.
The Morton commission, a royal commission on marriage and divorce, concluded that it was right to accept that the breakdown of family relationships could often lead to emotional disturbance in children and could sometimes lead to anti-social behaviour. It concluded that it was essential that after a divorce everything possible should be done to mitigate the effects upon the children of the disruption to family life. It is only now, many years after the deliberations of that commission, that the House is turning its attention to how that might best be achieved.
The White Paper recognised that there was an issue but seemed uncertain, as does the unamended Bill, about how it might best be addressed. I well remember the response of the then Minister when this issue was raised in Committee. There was a willingness to listen but, as was often the case in Government responses at that time, the willingness to listen was not followed by a willingness to act. On the contrary--at that time, for reasons that are not entirely clear but which have become clearer as the hours, minutes and days of this busy week have passed, the Government were strangely unwilling to act to meet the concerns that were expressed in Committee.
There has been, albeit at a late stage, a recognition of the importance of the package that the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy, my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green and I have constructed, with the active assistance of the Children's Charities Consortium. I, too, should like to associate my party with the words of appreciation from all parts of the House of that body. It has striven with great zeal and diligence to further the interests of children. That is no wonder, because as the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children study "Children Speak" stated in 1994, all too often what emerges from a study of the divorce system is a feeling by the child that, "Nobody listens to me." At least now, as a result of the House's consideration of the Bill, somebody will be obliged to
listen. If there was nothing else--mercifully, much else has been gained from the process--the House could draw a certain degree of satisfaction from that in itself.
The Opposition feel that this issue needs to be kept under constant review. The Government have accepted that an advisory body should be established to advise the Lord Chancellor on these matters. The Opposition welcome the fact that the Government have taken up an idea that we put forward on Second Reading and have established such an advisory body.
Mr. Rowe:
The hon. Gentleman says that this issue needs to be kept under constant review. What exactly does he mean? The arrangements that are made at the beginning of a divorce are often made in the shadow of the most extraordinary bitterness and hostility between the parents, and in those circumstances the court flounders. Later, however, when passions have cooled and other arrangements have been made by the parents, it is absolutely indispensable that the voice of the child should be heard again. Is that what the hon. Gentleman means when he speaks about matters being under constant review?
Mr. Boateng:
I am happy to address that point. The constant review of which I spoke ought to be carried out to see exactly how the clauses and the regulations that are made under them work in practice in the interests of the child. One of the values of the advisory body that was established under the Children Act 1989 has been the way in which it has been able to examine the legislation in practice and to suggest practical ideas on how it might be improved and how the Government might, where necessary, legislate in future to improve and develop good practice in the light of experience. That is what I meant, and the advisory body ought to be given an important role in that area. We are establishing a welcome framework for regulations and we need to make sure that the content of the regulations is right and apt and that there is a subsequent process of review and monitoring when they are put into effect. I know that in Committee the hon. Member for Mid-Kent (Mr. Rowe) had a particular interest in the role that should be played in relation to children. I take his point entirely.
An important matter that we are not currently debating--I must take care not to stray out of order--is dealt with by amendment No. 106, which helps to assist in the development of how the interests of children should best be catered for within the context of mediation, an issue that considerably exercised the Committee. Much work remains to be done in developing mediation in this area.
Mediation has an enormously important role to play and it has enormous potential, and I want to give credit to the work that has been done. There is a need to build on that work to see how the interests of the child can best be brought to the fore and kept in the frame during the mediation process. Credit should be given to the important work done by National Family Mediation, with support from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in looking at the rapid development in thinking on the involvement of children in mediation. It looked at the issue of training, so that mediators are better equipped to deal appropriately with the interests of children during mediation. The matter requires attention, resources and a commitment from the Government.
Mr. Streeter:
I am pleased to respond to the debate, and to pay tribute to the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (Mr. Llwyd) for his sterling efforts in tabling an amendment that the Government are pleased to accept. I agree that there is no more important task than ensuring that children's interests are protected as fully as humanly possible. The debate was slightly ruined by the rather unfortunate personal attack on my immediate predecessor as Parliamentary Secretary by the hon. Member for Brent, South (Mr. Boateng). My hon. Friend the Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Evans) has been tireless over the years in championing children's causes, and we should pay tribute to him.
Mr. Boateng:
I would hate it to go on the record that I had made a "personal attack" on the hon. Member for Brecon and Radnor (Mr. Evans). It was not a personal attack--it was a political attack. There could not have been a more obdurate Minister in relation to the matter. Had he been prepared earlier to take a more conciliatory approach towards the concerns of my hon. Friend the Member for Hornsey and Wood Green (Mrs. Roche) and the hon. Member for Meirionnydd Nant Conwy(Mr. Llwyd), we would not have reached the present difficulties. It was not a personal attack, but a political attack--and a well deserved one.
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