HL Deb 08 May 1975 vol 360 cc457-9
Lord ELTON

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take (subsequent to the publication of the Report of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the case of Linda Godfrey) to increase the protection available to children at risk of non-accidental injury.

Lord WELLS-PESTELL

My Lords, my right honourable friends the Secretaries of State for Social Services and for the Home Department are anxious that the lessons of the tragic case of Lisa Godfrey should be widely known and are asking their professional advisers to take up with the authorities concerned the points raised in the Report. Since research into methods of identifying families where children may be at risk of non-accidential injury before such injury occurs is at an early stage, it is in practice the skill of professional workers that can best protect these children. For this reason, the Government have already taken a series of initiatives designed to increase alertness among all those concerned to the warning signs of injury and to the urgent action to be taken when suspicion is aroused.

Lord ELTON

My Lords, may I thank the noble Lord for his reply and for some of its encouraging content? Further, may I ask him whether there is any programme of Government research into predisposition to non-accidental injury to children, and what grants have been given in aid of research by non-Government agencies?

Lord WELLS-PESTELL

My Lords, the opinion of Her Majesty's Government is that this kind of research can better be undertaken by individuals who specialise in this field, and who have a wide and deep knowledge of the problem which is now before your Lordships' House. The noble Lord will know that the Government already support both research and therapeutic work. In 1974 the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children received a grant of £112,000 over a three-year period to fund the greater part of three special units to treat families in which children have been injured, as well as meeting the salaries of a play groups officer to work with such families, and of a research officer to evaluate the effectiveness of these units.

Lord ELTON

My Lords, while thanking the noble Lord for his further reply, may I ask him to accept that all Members of this House would welcome any generosity in the direction to which he refers? Does he accept that child battering is a self-reproducing phenomenon, that the child of a battered parent is likely to be a battered child? Consequently, will he accept that what is required is a 24-hour service to inject into the cycle the affection and care which is missing from it in both generations? This in an expensive arangement and will require a demand on funds.

Lord WELLS-PESTELL

My Lords, that is perfectly true, but the noble Lord's suggestion as to what in many instances may cause the battering of children is only one factor. A number of others exist. These factors are at present being investigated by individual research people. If there is anything that the Government can do in financing research I am sure they will give sympathetic attention in the light of what has been happening.

Baroness ELLES

My Lords, may I ask whether the noble Lord's Department has consulted the European Social Fund Committee? Some funds are being allocated for combating poverty, and I know that £2½ million is available for precisely this kind of scheme. Has an application been made by the Government in this connection?

Lord WELLS-PESTELL

My Lords, I am much obliged to the noble Baroness. I have no personal knowledge of this, but I shall draw the attention of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State to the noble Baroness's comments.

The Earl of ONSLOW

My Lords, in view of our differences on the Common Market, which of the two Secretaries of State, to which the noble Lord referred earlier—either for the Department of Health and Social Security or for the Home Office—will he consult?

Lord WELLS-PESTELL

My Lords, I hope that the noble Earl, and other noble Lords, would pay Secretaries of State the compliment of knowing, whatever their own personal views in this matter, that they can make a properly fair representation.