§ Mrs. Wiseasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when the Government's response to the First Report of the Select Committee on Violence in the Family will be published; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MoyleThe Government's response to the Select Committee's report about policies and arrangements for the prevention, management and treatment of cases of violence to children has been published today in a Command Paper Cmnd. 7123. As the White Paper makes clear, we have been able to accept the great majority of the Select Committee's recommendations.
We shall be sending copies of the Government's response to the appropriate field authorities and to professional, representative and voluntary bodies asking them and their members to take it into account, together with the Select Committee's report, in planning services for children who have been or are at risk on non-accidental injury, and their families. We shall be holding further consultations with the authorities and professional bodies concerned about the Select Committee's recommendations on registers with a view to further guidance later.
We recognise, however, that the extent to which recommendations that have been accepted can be implemented by the authorities and professions concerned, and the speed of implementation, will depend on the availability locally of the necessary resources both of finance and manpower, and we acknowledge in the White Paper that where the implementation locally of particular recommendations depends on extra resources there will be a varied response.
The Government hope that the Select Committee's report and the White Paper 603W will help all those who are working together to reduce the number of tragic cases of non-accidental injury to children.