HC Deb 15 October 1969 vol 788 cc466-8

Lords Amendment No. 28: In page 29, line 3, at end insert new Clause "B": B.—(1) The Secretary of State may by order designate for the purposes of this section an order of any description which— (a) a court in the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands is authorised to make by the law for the time being in force in that country; and (b) provides for the committal to the care of a public authority of a person who has not attained the age of eighteen; and (c) appears to the Secretary of State to be of the same nature as a care order other than an interim order; and in this section 'relevant order' means an order of a description for the time being so designated and 'the relevant authority', in relation to a relevant order, means the authority in the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands to whose care the person to whom the order relates is, under the law of that country, committed by the order. (2) The Secretary of State may authorise a local authority to receive into their care any person named in the authorisation who is the subject of a relevant order; and while such an authorisation is in force in respect of any person he shall, subject to the following subsection, be deemed to be the subject of a care order committing him to the care of the local authority. (3) This Act shall have effect, in relation to a person in respect of whom an authorisation under this section is in force, as if sections 20(2) and (3), 21 and 29 and in section 25(4) the words from 'and if' onwards were omitted; and it shall be the duty of a local authority who propose, in exercise of their powers under section 13(2) of the Children Act 1948, to allow such a person to be under the charge and control of a person residing outside England and Wales to consult the relevant authority before exercising those powers. (4) An authorisation given to a local authority under this section shall cease to have effect when— (a) the local authority is informed by the Secretary of State that he has revoked it; or (b) the relevant order to which the authorisation relates ceases to have effect by the effluxion of time under the law of the place where the order was made or the local authority is informed by the relevant authority that the order has been discharged under that law; or (c) the person to whom the relevant order relates is again received into the care of the relevant authority; and if a local authority having by virtue of this section the care of a person to whom a relevant order relates is requested by the relevant authority to make arrangements for him to be received again into the care of the relevant authority, it shall be the duty of the local authority to comply with the request.

Mr. Elystan Morgan

I beg to move, That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment.

This Clause provides for the accommodation, in the care of local authorities in England and Wales, of children and young persons subject to court orders made in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

The law, which is contained in Section 83 of the Children and Young Persons Act, 1933, provides that, if the insular law enables children or young persons over 17 years of age to be sent to approved schools in England, a child or young person with respect to whom such an order is made may be received into such approved school as the Secretary of State may direct. He is then treated as though he were subject to an approved school order under our law.

Following the abolition of the approved school order procedure in England and Wales this will no longer be possible, and it was necessary to make other arrangements.

Question put and agreed to.

Subsequent Lords Amendments agreed to.

Forward to