§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health whether he has completed revision of the regulations governing the conduct of private children's homes and local authority community homes; and whether corporal punishment has now been prohibited in these establishments and in homes registered under the Registered Homes Act 1984.
§ Mrs. CurrieThe Residential Care Homes (Amendment) Regulations 1988 prohibited corporal punishment in homes registered under part 1 of the Registered Homes Act, 1984. A wider revision of regulations governing the conduct of local authority community homes and voluntary homes provided under the Child Care Act, 1980 and the prohibition of corporal punishment in them has not been completed. Private children's homes are the subject of the Children's Homes Act, 1982, which is unimplemented.
We are committed to introduce legislation on the law on child care and family services as soon as Parliamentary time can be found. We intend to seek through that legislation a common regulation making power covering local authority community homes and voluntary and private children's homes. Full revision of regulations will be made when that power is available.
Action to produce revised control and discipline regulations to apply to local authority community homes and voluntary homes, which will specifically prohibit the use of corporal punishment, is in hand and we plan to issue draft regulations for consultation very shortly. It remains the Department's policy that corporal punishment has no place in the management of children's homes. The authorised use of corporal punishment in children's homes is thought to be virtually extinct.