§ Mr. Cryerasked the Attorney-General if he will introduce legislation to ensure that the Official Solicitor is made responsible for children taken abroad by persons other than those persons who have been granted custody of the child or children by the courts.
The Solicitor-GeneralI am grateful to the hon. Member for his suggestion, which is, I recognise designed to deal with a genuine problem. But I regret to say that it is not practical and is open to objections of principle. The Official Solicitor is an officer of the Supreme Court whose functions do not extend beyond England and Wales. The United Kingdom has signed but not yet ratified the European convention of recognition and enforcement of decisions relating to custody of children. In addition, early in 1983 the Government intend to issue a consultation paper on the desirability and implications of our signing the Hague convention on the civil aspect of child abduction. Both the Hague and the European convention will, it is hoped, assist in this matter.