Yes; it is actually a very good briefing, which raises some good points and is a perfectly well argued paper. I disagree with its conclusions, but that does not detract from some of the points that it raises, which reinforce our case. The pre-legislative scrutiny Committee, of which the hon. Member for Stockport was a member, made a recommendation about amending the welfare checklist. On page 31 of its report it said:

“We endorse the recommendation of the Constitutional Affairs Committee”— which had also taken this subject on board—

“that an amendment should be made to the welfare checklist in the Children Act 1989 to ensure that the courts have regard to the importance of sustaining a relationship between the children and the non-resident parent.”

That is absolutely right and reflects what our amendments would do.

To return to statistics, a CAFCASS study advised that only 0.8 per cent. of fathers were prevented from seeing their children by way of a court order, although that is still quite a significant figure given the hundreds of thousands of people who go through the court system. Is not the implication that there is no reason why the other 99.2 per cent. of fathers should not have reasonable contact with their children? That should be the default position. The 0.8 per cent. of fathers whom the court deemed a problem are those who must be argued against, but it should be assumed that all other fathers are reasonable fathers who should be allowed reasonable contact with their children. That is in the children’s best interest.

It can also be argued that a better, equitable division of contact that is based on reasonable contact is much better for the custody parent, and the mother in particular. It takes the pressure off them, because they do not have to go back constantly to argue the toss in court. If the non-resident father is happy that the situation is equitable, that is less stressful for him, less stressful for the children and must, therefore, be less stressful for the custodial mother.

Through this long string of amendments, we are trying to achieve something that is fundamental to our view of the Bill and to the divisions between us and the Government. The Government claim, and often pronounce, that they seek to achieve what we seek to achieve, but they lack the commitment to include the wording and key measures in the Bill that are fundamental to achieving those aims.

Our aims would clearly set out for a separating mother and father what the norm will be, what will be expected of them and what will happen to them if they do not respect the judgments made. It is as simple as the principle that one is innocent until proven guilty: someone is a good parent until it is proven reasonably that they are not. In the absence of that, we would establish the principle that it is the norm that reasonable contact should be assumed after a split by adding it to the welfare checklist, thus improving it. It should be the norm because it is in the best interests of the child to maximise their contact with parents who have split. Surely, therefore, the Committee should take our amendments on board.