§ Mr. Conwayasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has any plans to introduce legislation to extend the powers of court-appointed guardians ad litem in care proceedings to protect the interests of their charges.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe powers of court-appointed guardians ad litem were recently reappraised as part of a wider review of child care law conducted by an interdepartmental working party. The working party's report was published as a consultative document in October 1985. Its recommendations included a proposal that the guardian ad litem should have access to all local authority records, in line with current practice in the large majority of local authorities. We are now considering responses to the report and we hope to make an announcement soon on how we intend to proceed.