- guardian.co.uk, Sunday June 22 2003 09.37 BST
Parents should be banned from smacking their children to stop abusers using discipline as an excuse for child cruelty, according to an influential report from MPs to be published this week.
The inquiry into the death of Victoria Climbié, the little girl brutally neglected and finally killed by her aunt, Marie Therese Kouao, and Kouao's boyfriend, Carl Manning, heard how the catalogue of abuse began with what Manning called 'little smacks'. Her fear of them was interpreted by social workers as a consequence of what they assumed to be strict discipline in African families.
Lord Laming QC, who headed an inquiry into her death, pointedly told the influential Commons Health Select Committee earlier this year that her case had made him realise that 'we seem to take assaults on adults much more seriously than we take assaults on children'.
The committee, in a report on the Laming inquiry to be published this week, is expected to call for the scrapping of the defence of 'reasonable chastisement' - under which parents are protected from prosecution for assault if they can claim they hit their children to enforce discipline - arguing that it gives abusive parents a loophole. The MPs brought their report forward to coincide with the findings of a second Commons inquiry, led by the Joint Committee on Human Rights, into children's rights, which is also expected to back reform over smacking.
The two reports come as the NSPCC this week publishes a MORI poll of 100 MPs showing more than four in five of them believe that physically punishing children can tip over into physical abuse. Almost half backed a change in the law.
'MPs are clearly concerned about the risks to children from physical punishment,' said Phillip Noyes, the NSPCC Public Policy Director. 'We urge them to convert this concern into legal reform to give children the same protection from assault as adults.'
He said it was now clear only a minority of Labour backbenchers supported their own Government's position - it has so far refused to ban parental smacking - with 55 per cent of Labour MPs backing a change in the law.
The Health Select Committee is chaired by former social worker David Hinchliffe, who told his colleagues that he had personal experiences of trying to prosecute abusive parents who claimed 'reasonable chastisement' in court to explain their children's bruises. As long as the defence existed, social workers 'have one arm tied behind their back when they remove a child that has been injured', he said.
Laming told the committee that he had not made direct recommendations on reasonable chastisement in his report on the Climbié case, but added pointedly: 'I would have thought people would come to the conclusion that violence towards children should be taken as seriously or more seriously than violence against adults.'
Experts disagree over how harmful smacking is to children. Research published by the government-funded National Family and Parenting Institute last year concluded that it did not work as a means of changing behaviour, but other research suggests smacks administered in the context of an otherwise loving relationship cause no lasting harm.
Liam Fox, the Conservative Shadow Health Secretary, said last night that it would be wholly wrong for the Government to interfere in family discipline. 'It is an outrageous intrusion by the state into the legitimate rights and duties of parents,' he said
Two Tory MPs on the committee, both understood to be pro-smacking, were away on other parliamentary duties when the report was finalised.
The Government announced last month that it would ban childminders from smacking their charges but would not ban parents doing so. However, the appointment of Margaret Hodge to a new post as Children's Minister has prompted charities to redouble their efforts for reform. A number of senior figures in both the education and health departments have long sympathised with the argument.
Next month Ministers will publish a green paper on safeguarding children at risk that is expected to recommend far closer co-ordination of services in response to the Laming inquiry. Both Ministers and members of the Health Select Committee, however, have reservations about some of the structural reforms of social services suggested by Laming.
MPs argue that Victoria's case showed a catalogue of failings in basic tasks social workers should have carried out, such as keeping adequate notes of meetings, rather than systemic failure. They will emphasise social workers must be accountable for their actions.
