The Government has confirmed that it does not currently plan to criminalise parents who lightly smack their children in England.
Speaking at the Committee examining the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, Minister for School Standards Catherine McKinnell MP said ministers will consider the issue when Wales publishes an assessment of its 2022 smacking ban, which is due by the end of this year.
But McKinnell emphasised that “abusive parents” are already caught by existing legislation, and she said the Government should consider the views of those who might be “disproportionately affected” by removing the legal defence of reasonable chastisement.
‘Absurd’
The Minister stated: “Let us also be clear: those children who have been abused or murdered by their parents would not have been covered by the defence of reasonable punishment.”
“As the law stands, quite frankly, any suggestion that reasonable punishment could be used as a defence to serious harm to a child, or indeed death, as has been asserted, is completely wrong and frankly absurd.”
She noted that the “context in England is different from Scotland and Wales”, where smacking is banned, and any changes “would need to be considered very carefully in the light of the evidence and how they would tangibly impact the protection of children in England”.
McKinnell made the statements in response to amendments seeking to ban smacking, which were not put to a vote.
Parenting
Last year, the Children’s Commissioner for England suggested that parents could not be trusted to discipline their own children.
Despite admitting that there are “already protections for children enshrined in law in England”, Dame Rachel de Souza said it was time “to go further” and ban smacking.
In response, Be Reasonable spokesman Simon Calvert said: “There are lots of parents who know that tapping a tot on the behind to help them understand the importance of listening to mummy and daddy is one of the many techniques good parents use as part of raising healthy kids.
“The Children’s Commissioner should be focussing on kids who are being badly parented, not kids who are being well-parented.”
Most Brits oppose criminalising parents who smack