Certainly. In any section of the Children Act 1989, and anywhere in the Bill except clauses 4 and 5, the welfare of the child is paramount. If there is any risk of harm to the child, the court should be alert to that and take steps to protect the child. It may suddenly be faced with an enforcement problem because, for example, a mother who does not live with the child demands contact and has a court order saying there should be contact. She may complain that the dad has not allowed the contact, and she will want the order enforced.

I am concerned that in such cases the Bill says that the welfare of the child is a consideration, but not the paramount one. I am worried that people will focus on whether dad was reasonable on the day when he did not allow contact, or whether he should be punished by ensuring that there is contact. There is an Amendment to be considered later about compensatory contact, as if contact were a matter of reward for an innocent parent against a guilty one. That is absolutely the wrong approach.