CHILDREN NOT TO BE CARED FOR AND ACCOMMODATED IN UNREGISTERED CHILDREN'S HOMES (Hansard, 23 October 1989)

§ Mr. Mellor
I beg to move amendment No. 126, in page 52, line 37, leave out subsection (5) and insert— '(4A) A child is not cared for and accommodated in a children's home when he is cared for and accommodated by—

(a) a parent of his;

(b) a person who is not a parent of his but who has parental responsibility for him; or

(c) any relative of his.'.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this we may take Government amendment No. 127.

§ Mr. Mellor
The amendments tighten up the definition of a children's home in clause 56: they are drafting amendments.

§ Mr. Mellor
I beg to move amendment No. 301, in page 53, line 6, leave out from beginning to 'and' in line 7.

§ Mr. Speaker
With this we may take Government amendment No. 313.

§ Mr. Mellor
The amendments are concerned with the definition of a children's home. Amendment No. 301 is part of the package of new measures to which I referred when moving the motion for the order of consideration, aimed at safeguarding the welfare of children in independent schools. The amendment extends the definition of a children's home to include all independent schools which provide accommodation for not more than 50 pupils and which are not approved for special education. The requirement has been removed that at least one of the children being accommodated must be looked after by a local authority. All such independent schools, in addition to being registered with the Department of Education and Science, will now have to register with the local authority within whose boundaries they lie. As regards independent schools, the definition of a children's home will mirror that of a residential care home.

§ Ms. Hilary Armstrong (Durham, North-West)
May I make it clear that the amendment, in a sense, technically "sorts out" clause 56, while the new clause that we shall be debating later spells out the implications for independent schools?

§ Mr. Mellor
The hon. Lady is quite right. The amendment deals with the special arrangements for very small schools with fewer than 50 pupils. As I have said, the Bill as originally drafted required one of the children to be looked after by a local authority if such a school was to be within the definition of a children's home. Now any such school, whether or not any single pupil is placed there by a local authority, will fall within that definition, and so will have to be registered with the local authority.
The arrangements made for independent schools more generally do not involve registration but involve certain inspection arrangements with which we shall deal later. The proposal is part of a package, so I thought it right to refer to it as a part of the careful reconsideration that we have been giving that section of the Bill, in the light of discussions in Committee and of certain matters that were the subject of television programmes and, I think, a good deal of public concern a couple of months ago.