Part of Adoption and Children Bill – in a Public Bill Committee am 2:45 pm ar 17 Ionawr 2002.
I am grateful to the Minister. I said that it was a probing amendment. I shall convey what the Minister has said to my hon. Friend the Member for Isle of Wight, although I am sure that he will be keen to log on to the internet as soon as he can, if he does not wait for Hansard, to read what has been said about his amendment.
The Minister made some useful points. The courts have discretion to show the reports when appropriate, although in some cases they should not be released automatically. There are obvious practical difficulties. As she said, lawyers do not wish to receive information that they cannot pass on to their clients. Other than the quite outrageous re-use of the word ''anonymised''—the Minister duly apologised for using it—it was a highly satisfactory response to the amendment. I beg to ask leave to withdraw the amendment.
Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.