Baroness Bennett of Manor Castle (GP)

My Lords, I say humbly and briefly, following that expert explanation of Amendment 51 from the noble Lord, Lord Meston, and its powerful reinforcement by the noble and learned Baroness, Lady Butler-Sloss, that I attached my name to this amendment simply because I thought it was such an important one, following our debate in Committee. I felt that it should have a full slate of signatures from as broadly around the House as possible. I do not claim any particular expertise here, but my intention to do this was strengthened by the joint briefing from the Law Society, Mind and the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition. It is quite notable and I am sure many noble Lords will have received it. That briefing is explicitly on Amendment 51, which just shows the level of concern on this issue among NGOs. It is worth saying—it is kind of stating the obvious—that, as the briefing notes: “We consider that the test should be on the face of the Bill, not in a Code of Practice as the Government suggests. This is because the courts have made clear that codes of practice should reflect the law and cannot create law”. That sets out clearly to me, as a legal lay person, where we are. As the joint briefing then says, “a clear and consistent approach to assessing a child’s competence can only be achieved by including a test in the Bill. The Code is not the right place”.