Children: Physical Punishment

Baroness McIntosh of Pickering Excerpts

Tuesday 16th June 2026 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

My noble friend is right that it is, as I have emphasised, already illegal to assault a child. He is also right to identify what we can most effectively do to prevent parents feeling that they need to resort to smacking in order to discipline or control their children. The £900 million that we are investing in the Best Start in Life centres, for example, is being used to develop parenting education on behaviour management. How do you set appropriate boundaries? What type of methods should you and could you use to discipline your children? That feels like a more constructive and wide-ranging response than a change in the law at this point.

[Baroness McIntosh of Pickering (Con)]

My Lords, did not the Preston Davey case prove that the current situation is simply not working? That poor boy was sexually assaulted and abused for months. The question has to be asked: why did no one from any agency pick this up?

[Baroness Smith of Malvern (Lab)]

One of the important points about the legislation that we have just taken through this House is a stronger duty to report abuse and to share information. We must continue to support and train all professional staff who work with children to understand their responsibilities to both recognise and report abuse when they see it.