§ Mr. RossI beg to move Amendment 16, page 15, line 31, at end insert:
(3) Arrangements may be made by a local authority under this section for boarding out a child in England or Wales or for maintaining him in any accommodation in England or Wales which a local authority in those countries is authorised to use for that purpose by virtue of section 13 of the Children Act 1948.
§ Mr. Deputy SpeakerIt will be for the convenience of the House if we also discuss Amendments 27 and 132.
§ Mr. RossUnder Section 13 of the Children Act, 1948, which is a Great Britain enactment, a local authority may discharge its duties to provide accommodation and maintenance for a child in its care by boarding it out or maintaining it in a local authority home or placing it in a family home willing to receive the child.
There are other instances of an English local authority arranging for a child to be looked after in Scotland and vice versa. The 1948 Act is to be repealed for Scotland, but it is desirable to keep in force the arrangement whereby children in care in Scotland can be boarded out or placed in a proper establishment in England and Wales, and similarly whereby children in England and Wales can be boarded out or placed in an appropriate establishment in Wales.
This is the purpose of the Amendment, which makes clear that a supervision requirement may provide for a child to be sent by the children's hearing to a place in England and Wales where suitable arrangements can be made to deal with it. This may be desirable if there is, in England or Wales, a particularly appropriate establishment for treating a certain kind of child. The Scottish local authority would remain formally responsible for the child's supervision and would have to make proper financial and other arrangements for the child while he or she was south of the Border.
§ Amendment agreed to.