Member

I urge upon the Minister who replies to the debate that all I have been proposing is common sense but is not properly provided for at the present time. The Michael Sieff Foundation made a calculation of the savings that would be made over a five-year period if the sorts of measures in these amendments were taken. It runs to over £100 million because, if we can help those children not to end up in custody and when they get into trouble with the police to be disposed of by the court in a way that does not lock them up and take them out of education and their families, we have a far better chance of making them into responsible citizens who might even pay their taxes.