Member

67: After Clause 4, insert the following new Clause— “Abolition of common law defence of reasonable punishment(1) The Children Act 2004 is amended as follows.(2) In section 58 (reasonable punishment: England), omit subsections (1) to (4).(3) After section 58, insert—“58A Abolition of common law defence of reasonable punishment(1) The common law defence of reasonable punishment is abolished in relation to corporal punishment of a child taking place in England.(2) Corporal punishment of a child taking place in England cannot be justified in any civil or criminal proceedings on the ground that it constituted reasonable punishment.(3) Corporal punishment of a child taking place in England cannot be justified in any civil or criminal proceedings on the ground that it constituted acceptable conduct for the purposes of any other rule of the common law.(4) For the purposes of subsections (1) to (3) “corporal punishment” means any battery carried out as a punishment. (5) The Secretary of State may make regulations for transitory, transitional or saving provision in connection with the coming into force of this section. (6) The power to make regulations under subsection (5) is exercisable by statutory instrument.(7) This section comes into force six months after the day on which the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2025 comes into force.58B Promotion of public awareness and reporting(1) The Secretary of State must take steps before the coming into force of section 58A to promote public awareness of the changes to the law to be made by that section.(2) The Secretary of State must, five years after its commencement, prepare a report on the effect of the changes to the law made by section 58A.(3) The Secretary of State must, as soon as practicable after preparing a report under this section—(a) lay the report before Parliament, and(b) publish the report.(4) The Secretary of State may make regulations for transitory, transitional or saving provision in connection with the coming into force of this section.(5) The power to make regulations under subsection (4) is exercisable by statutory instrument.””Member's explanatory statement This new clause would abolish the common law defence of reasonable punishment in relation to corporal (physical) punishment of a child taking place in England, amend certain provisions of the Children Act 2004 relating to corporal punishment of children and place a duty on the Secretary of State to report this change.