SUPERVISION OF CHILDREN MOVING TO ENGLAND OR WALES OR NORTHERN IRELAND (Hansard, 17 July 1968)

§ Mr. Millan
I beg to move Amendment No. 51, in page 44, line 13, leave out second 'of' and insert 'not exceeding'.

Mr. Deputy Speaker
I think it will be convenient to take with this Amendment, Amendment No. 50, in page 44, line 13, leave out: 'for a period of one year'. and Amendment No. 52, in page 44, line 22, leave out: 'a supervision order is made' and insert: 'a case is disposed of'.

§ Mr. Millan
Amendments Nos. 51 and 52 make improvements in Clause 72 and meet points which were raised in Committee.
As Clause 72 is drafted, it would require the court which made a supervision order on a child who moved from Scotland to England, Wales or Northern Ireland, to make it for exactly one year. In other words, there would be no flexibility at all. We are here providing that the court will have power to make an order for a period not exceeding one year, which introduces the necessary element of flexibility.
The reason for making the maximum period one year is that the child who is moving would, if he remained in Scotland, be subject to the normal review requirements of the children's hearings, which provide for a regular review in a period not exceeding one year. It would, therefore, be putting him at a disadvantage in England unless we put some term in the order. We think that we have now got this right.
If the circumstances change in England so that the court there feels that a further period of supervision of some kind is necessary, because of the circumstances in which the child is living, because it needs care and protection, or whatever the need be, the court would be able to do that.
Amendment 52 changes the wording of subsection (3) to make clear that, as soon 1545 as a juvenile court in England has cognisance of a case, any supervision requirement in Scotland falls, whatever the decision of the juvenile court in England on the case may be.
I hope that what I have said answers the point raised by the Opposition Amendment 50, which is directed to precisely the same purpose of removing the inflexibility of the one-year order and nothing else being available. I think that we have the matter right in our Amendments.