Children and Families Bill

Lord Mawson Excerpts

Monday 18th November 2013 Grand Committee

I am very grateful to the noble Baronesses for highlighting this important issue. I hope my answer has provided them with an assurance of the Government’s commitment to implementing the UNCRC in a way which keeps bureaucracy to a minimum and maximises the benefits to children. I hope that my responses on all these issues provide assurances to noble Lords, and I urge the noble Viscount to withdrawn his amendment.

[Lord Mawson (CB)]

My Lords, I have not been able to sit through the passage of this Bill, so I am not in a position to comment on it. However, over the past few months I have been sitting on the draft deregulation Bill which is concerned to reduce red tape and bureaucracy. I have come to the conclusion that the Government have a serious intent to get a grip on red tape and bureaucracy.

Can the Minister help me understand where this Bill and this discussion sit within this wider agenda? Will this Bill increase red tape and bureaucracy? What are its unintended consequences and where does it sit in the one-in-and-two-out agenda? It would be helpful to understand the scale of the red tape that will be generated by this Bill and this discussion. I would find it helpful to have the Minister respond to this further point briefly, if that is possible.

[Lord Nash]

I will write to the noble Lord on this matter.